Tips for an Express build

[showsii]

Hello Everyone,

I have been doing a lot of reading recently on the Express on TAG and think im ready for my first Express build. I plan on following the build guide religiously.


I have have almost all the parts and will begin soon. I wanted to see however if there is a specific thread or some more reading material I can study before I begin. Basically I wanted to ask for some more tips or hints that I might be missing specifically related to everyone's Express building experience.

Thanks for the help!

Ian

[Big Jim]

Lead dress, lead dress, lead dress. Take particular care around the bright switch. Also, search out some nice glass....particularly low microphonic pre amp tubes. Get a bunch together and see what sounds best. Use the right silicone for your cap stack, some types emit corrosive gases. I think GE silicone II is ok. Some say to use silicone to deaden vibration around the bright caps and switch. Make sure to get some cork sheeting to go between your bottom plate (which is necessary) and the headcab. These amps can be real finicky, so take your time, and you should wind up with a bonafide face melter. Not everyone will agree with everything I said here, but this is what I did to mine and it sounds pretty good. I'm sure I forgot some things, but I'm sure others will chime in.

[Bruciep07]

One thing I always screw up are the OT leads. I've learned to leave the OT primary leads at full length and temporary solder them in place to confirm I have the proper OT wire going to the proper tube. If the wires are swapped, you'll get a horrific squeal that'll wake the neighbors. Only cut the wires to size "WHEN YOU'VE CONFIRMED" they're in the right spot. I tend to think I'm right, only to find out after I've cut and soldered that I'm wrong. Spliced OT wires bug me...

[fishy]

First port of call should be the build guide in the files section. It was put together to help people put one together and fire it up.

[Gibsonman63]

+1 on the lead dress. Once people started building tube amps, they no longer felt the need to build ships inside of bottles. The wires will eventually go where you want them to if you keep at it long enough. I have had nights where I felt that I accomplished something by running 3 or 4 wires.

[eazilyled]

If you follow the build guide you should be fine. It helps to constantly refer to the Francesca photos during the build.

[KellyBass]

All good advice...follow the build guide. It's excellent.

But, after your build is complete, don't be afraid to "slightly" tune the amp to your individual taste. Tiny differences in capacitor values and types, especially around the treble knob and brite switch, can make huge differences in the overall sound.

It's such a great design to have fun, experiment, learn and finally, kick some serious butt, with!

[showsii]

This is great! Just what I needed!

The build guide will be my best friend. I will take extra care on the lead dress for sure.

On that note, does this means strictly solid core and if so where to source? I'm having a hard time finding a good place.


Thanks everyone! I'm excited

[fishy]

Both stranded and solid core have been used. The solid core can be unforgiving and does not like to be bent too often and so you should avoid bending wires un-necessarily.

McMaster gets my vote for PVC wire.

[M Fowler]

I would never recommend that NTE wire shown in the BOM.

Mark

[steve_p]

Another vote for mcmaster. They have 600v solid in all the colors and gauges you could need. I think the minimum is 25ft per type.

[Bob S]

Lead dress is critical - I found that 1/8" completely changes the Express.
Every time I try to get smart by shortening leads around the V1/ TMB /Bright Switch area it sucks the tone.
Get a bunch of low noise tubes for V1. It's a challenge for sure.
When you are starting to like what you hear, put a few hours play time on the circuit - it will settle in and smooth out.
Use Log pots where they are called for.
I've made a lot of these mistakes & a quite a few more.
I've just improved mine until it sounds awful & buzzes like a queen bee.

She will be back to normal sometime soon...
Remember - everything matters.
Good Luck with your build. Lots of excellent help here!

[Super_Reverb]

In terms of lead dress, solid wire stays where you place it generally. High gain amps like express are senstive to parasitic coupling (capacitive or magnetic) which cause positive feedback. Signal voltage levels are high in this type of amp, so grounding is important.

Obviously changing the layout from what is documented on this forum takes you into uncharted territory. It isn't necessarily a problem, but could be.

Suggest you follow guildelines here on TAG, unless you have a good reason to deviate or are prepared to troubleshoot stability issues.

Keep your wiring neat - it will make checking and debugging much easier and you'll have bragging rights on your posted gut shots.

Finally, don't rush through your build. You only get to build it once (unless you are a tweeker ), but you will be playing it for hundreds and hundreds of hours.


rob

[milkyBK370]

This is a fantastic thread for those of us who have a few builds under our belts but haven't taken the Express plunge yet!!

[Picker]

You'll do fine. Follow the build guide and when you run into something that you are not sure about, come and either search the forum or post a question. The people here are awesome and answered countless foolish questions for me on my build. In fact, I just kept a running thread open and asked questions as I went posting pictures to help explain the problem I was having.

Other advice... take it slow, check and double-check everything.