5E3 Amp Build

hotpickups

RiftAmps said:

Barnezy said:

Modulus_Amps said:

 No, definitely not normal, and the lamp is lit up too?

Is that a 100w filament lamp you are using?

Also it does not look like you have the PT bolted down properly?

60w bulb. The dim bulb tester, isn't lit up anymore than if I plugged another device in. It's not lighting up as if there is a short. 

One nut is missing as I moved the earth across one. All others are tight. Put the last one back now. 

As mentioned, when I placed a box under it and leveled it the noise stopped. Voltages are being delivered as they should be. 

A 100w bulb is better in this application. It'll allow up to 416mA of current (see Ohms law) at 240v which still is lower than the consumption of nearly every guitar amp >5w but crucially, it won't glow in a non-fault condition such as powering up with no valves installed. A 60w bulb will emit a slight glow, which may confuse the user into thinking there is a fault when there's not.

Nice build BTW!

And this is exactly why I wanted to do one of @RiftAmps amp build courses Chris knows his stuff and I’ll be in safe hands 

Barnezy

Thanks guys. 

I did try to find a 100w bulb in the shop, but good luck. I had a 60w in the house, so went with that. The bulb is very dim, in the video it looks brighter than it is. 

Thanks @RiftAmps , I appreciate the compliment, praise indeed coming from you. 

Thanks @Modulus_Amps for responding so quickly. Lesson learned, always tighten all bolts on the PT.  

@hotpickups if you're not comfortable dealing with electricity, then doing a course might be best. You just really need to take care and follow the rules you've learnt your entire life. You wouldn't stick your fingers in a toaster, so don't do it in a live/charged amp. I believe there is a lot of fear about amps, due to the charge held in a filter cap, but if you treat the amp the same as if it is plugged in, until you've discharged the caps, then you're good. Discarging the caps isn't hard or scary. Here's my home made device a 5W 2k resistor, a pice of wire, two lolly sticks and some insulation tape. 



Hopefully I'll have a video to post of it up and running by the end of today! 

Barnezy

DONE. 

All finished. Final testing and in to the cab. 

I've had about 20 minutes on it so far and really like it! The speaker is brand new so looking forward to that breaking in. 

I've really enjoyed this build and have learnt alot along the way about how an amp actually works. I would highly recomend it to anyone considering doing this! 

I'll get a vid up in the next few days. 

Keefy

Well done! Building your own amp is very satisfying, now enjoy it

RaymondLin

Have a wow, but the speaker at 90degrees is bugging me.

Barnezy

RaymondLin said:

Have a wow, but the speaker at 90degrees is bugging me.

Haha thought it would be better for access to the terminals. I noticed alot of amps come like this. Not good for OCD I realise. 

Modulus_Amps

Nice and well done, for a first build you have done a great job! better than some boutique amps I have seen anyway.

Never heard one with that speaker actually, really need to get one myself, last time I looked them up they said they took a while to break in, but once they had, they sounded really good

TTony

Nice work - that looks really neat and tidy.  Encouraging to read that it *can* be done too ...

hotpickups said:

And this is exactly why I wanted to do one of @RiftAmps amp build courses Chris knows his stuff and I’ll be in safe hands 

I was actually booked to do Chris' course in March.  As it happens, he had to cancel the day (due to non-Covid illness) and we thought no-biggie, do it the following month.  Little did we know ...

Keefy

Barnezy said:

DONE. 

All finished. Final testing and in to the cab. 

I've had about 20 minutes on it so far and really like it! The speaker is brand new so looking forward to that breaking in. 

...

What model Jensen is that?

springhead

Well done!  Very satisfying. 

Barnezy

Keefy said:

Barnezy said:

DONE. 

All finished. Final testing and in to the cab. 

I've had about 20 minutes on it so far and really like it! The speaker is brand new so looking forward to that breaking in. 

...

What model Jensen is that?

It's a P12Q. I read a lot of 5e3 forums and many said the was the best bar a Webber, which seem to cost a fortune to ship over here. It's pretty cheap, £95, so thought it was worth a punt. It's 40w so should avoid too much speaker breakup, which I can't sat I'm that keen on. 

Its sounds very stiff at the moment, but I'll play some heavy music through it for a couple of hours a day and see where we get to in a few weeks. 

Modulus_Amps said:

Nice and well done, for a first build you have done a great job! better than some boutique amps I have seen anyway.

Never heard one with that speaker actually, really need to get one myself, last time I looked them up they said they took a while to break in, but once they had, they sounded really good

Thanks Michael. Deffinately enjoyable. I'll be doing a Priceton next I'll be in contact soon. 

Chris.B

Well done, that is a great looking and very neat build, something to be proud of.  Looking forward to seeing and hearing it in a demonstration video.

mattacjones

I am hugely impressed!

mattdavis

That is amazing. Really well done!

Jonathangus

Tidy!

We'll neead to hear clips, though.

Rocker

Very impressive work, well done. 

Barnezy

So the finishing touches are now done. 

Shellac'd the tweed and put the faceplate on. Speaker is starting to break in, so will post a vid soon. Loving the simplicity of the amp. Using it with a Nightlight Jr attenuator so able to cranck in to overdive. So much better than any pedal. 

Before


Durring 


Finished

RaymondLin

Happy ending!

hotpickups

Lazy J are getting nervous  

TTony

I’m getting seriously tempted to just get a kit and crack on.

I was going to do Chris’ course to *learn* the basics first, but maybe I’ll have to get a kit first, and do the course second.  That way, I guess I might have more experienced questions to work through on the course.

Tempting, tempting, tempting.