| Prototype # 5 - 'Flint L'il Head' 18 watt |
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| This is a push pull EL84 amp with an extra preamp section. I've had a ton of problems with some of the parts in this amp - I WON'T be buying from certain manufacturers again! I payed $8.50 for some pots - EACH - and they turned out to be CRAP!! Instead of highest quality - they were lowest quality!! I've returned to buying regular pots from the USA. I also had some caps that looked promising but turned out to be leaky - I canned the whole box... I replaced the transformer since it's field is too great for this kind of amp - I needed a shielded tranny... Such is the way of prototypes - I get to worry about them and pull my hair out - you get to buy the working and tested model! |
| Prototype #7 - 'FLINT L'il Rack' 5 watt |
| This is my latest L'il Punch 3 watt design - I built it in a weekend and it ran perfectly without testing or trouble shooting! I guess I'm getting good! I have the layout down pat, and it doesn't really matter if I build a rack mount or a combo - the circuit is tested and reliable. This amp has Volume and Gain; boost/cut style Bass and Treble controls; plus my active Midrange control. It also has a shielded power tranny and a separate filament tranny with a soft start circuit to protect the tubes. There is a built in 8 ohm switched load in case the speaker gets disconnected. It uses 2 - 12AX7a tubes and 1 EL84. It has SS rectifiers and 350uf of capacitance - it doesn't hum. The last thing I did to this amp was to add a unique high gain circuit, and now it has an adjustible sweet spot! At full volume and gain, it's just like having a fuzz tone - only better, and very low noise and hum. In fact, the hum is so low even I am impressed! With the gain turned down, it behaves more like a 'conventional' amp. |
| The amp has 2 - 12AX7 tubes, one is for the preamp, and one is required for the active mid range control. It is a mid that works, and can either put the guitar IN YOUR FACE, or give you a great scooped sound. Some people are reminded of the Vox 'chime' sound. I'm building the amp in as modular a form as I can, so that I can easily change features. For example, a reverb circuit has been tested, using a 6K6 tube and an Accutronics spring, and will be offered on other amps. Vibra circuits are next... I have the standard Fender type, and a new digital type I designed. |
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| Here you can see the inside of the amp. Both the top and bottom panels come off, and the front hinges down - great for servicing! I'm doing a lot of work on this amp, and when it's finished it won't look quite like this. |
| Prototype Amp #8 - custom order -sold!- |
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| This is my standard amp circuit, with 'standard' tone stack bass and treble, and an active midrange control. 2 - 12AX7s and 1 EL84 class A circuit. There is also a monitor Lineout jack installed. It lives in a solid pine box, with re-movable plywood spk baffle. The perfect amp for bedroom or playroom! It's designed for a 10" spk but is big enough to take a 12". It was custom ordered and will be delivered soon... Drwow was kind enough to test it out with a Jenson speaker and he liked it - a good sign! Maybe he'll Email me a review of the amp... and I can post it here... |
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| The wiring is point to point, with a star ground system for no hum or noise, and is direct - more purpose than show! It uses SS rectifiers and 350uf total of filter capacitance. There is an Airpax dual-pole breaker used as the on/off switch - no fuses to worry about! Filaments are powered by a separate transformer with a slow-start resistor to eliminate current surge and to provide the proper 6.3v with todays higher AC values. |
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| The amp is installed in an enclosed aluminum box. The power and filament transformers are separate. The 2 preamp tubes are in shielded cans. Front panel has input, lineout, and speaker jacks. Controls are Volume, Treble, Midrange, Bass. |
| This amp looks and sounds great! |
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| This is a hand made TRUE POINT TO POINT amplifier design, as you can see... No circuit boards... no turret boards... no eyelet boards... just air space and terminals! With the volume control up full blast there is no noise. Sometimes I'm not sure if it's turned on, I have to pick up the guitar and hit the strings to hear a sound! The addition of the high gain pot does add a touch more noise, but nothing like the horrendous buzz of some high gain amps around, which I won't name, but you know if you have ever played one! |
| You know, lots of people talk about using carbon resistors, or cloth wire, or special fancy transformer metal, or any of a number of things - but this is all marketing! And usually a bunch of bull! The funny thing is, they will talk about the sounds of the 'great vintage amps' and yet we know that those amps were made from whatever parts happened to be available at the time. They didn't use carbon resistors to get great tone - they were the only thing being made! As for the fancy transformers - you won't find them in the vintage amps - they were only recently invented! So don't let people con you with a lot of catchwords like 'carbon' and 'orange' and all kinds of other things. Remember, there are only 3 electrical properties, resistance, capacitance, and inductance - don't let people try to convince you there are more! In the case of a carbon resistor, for example, it has only resistance. It's capacitance is not only too low to measure with practical tools, if it was made of other materials the capacitance wouldn't be changed! And as for inductance, it's much the same - what the resistor is made out of won't affect it! The only properties of carbon resistors you should know about are their instability, tendency to go off value, and their high noise. Just think about how they are made - a glob of carbon and goo stuck on a wire - using the same principals of a carbon microphone! (No wonder they make noises...) As for me - I'd rather have reliable film resistors. |
| This amp was possibly sold to my friend Dwane, about 10 minutes after he played it... he started by saying "I'd love to have this amp" and "I didn't think they made these anymore", and ended up by saying "I MUST have this amp!" So we made a deal! BUT he may take a higher power amp, he has to gig with them first! He played it this weekend at a club north of Montreal. Web site size limits me from posting the video... but he did send me some samples from his studio, and I'm putting them up now! He used a Mexican Strat, Seymore Duncan Hotrail in the bridge, Dimarzio HS-1 in the middle, and HS-3 in the neck. The cab was a 1x12 Celestion, open back Marshall. Right click a linc and 'save target' to download to your computer. Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 3 Sample 4 Sample 5 Sample 6 Sample 7 Sample 8 Sample 9 Sample10 Sample 11 Sample 12 Sample 13 Sample 14 Sample 15 Sample 16 Sample17 |
| I lent this amp to my friend Evan and will see how he likes it... I will publish his opinion soon! It's got a high-gain preamp, and is quite loud... I finally got all the bugs straightened out, and the hum level is extremely low for a high gain amp. |
| Unfortunately I wasn't able to fabricate my new design chassis in time for this one, so it is the old style 'combo and box chassis' that has been done for decades... But it is probably the last old style combo that I will make! |
| UPDATE: Evan returned the amp so that Dwane can try it! Evan will soon be picking up the proto #4 amp to try the high gain feature... Right now Dwane has both number 5 and number 7... I suspect that Dwane may take the proto #4 and Even will get a new custom build! |