1st time express attempt

[mac0611]

Hi everyone,

I am about ready to attempt an express build. I have been following alot of the threads since I first came upon this site. There seems to be many different schematics and options regarding the express amp. I would greatly appreciate any advice as to which schematic to follow, along with layouts, as well as materials information and suppliers that can provide such. Thank you, and thanks for a great site!

[doctord02]

You want the Kelly '90 schematic, it's taken from a known Express amp. In the files section. Compare it to the photos posted of Franchesca; they match...

[mac0611]

thanks for the reply, doc. Does anyone make chassis? I don't have the resources to fabricate one from scratch.

[UR12]

thanks for the reply, doc. Does anyone make chassis? I don't have the resources to fabricate one from scratch.

You can check out this thread for chassis options.

http://maximoaudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=56

Moose also sells transformers you cna find him in the for sell area of this board.

http://maximoaudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=376

Good luck with your build!!

[mac0611]

thanks so much UL12! I definitely want to use the transformers Moose has. How about boards and such? Do they have to be manually fabricated? I notice from reading, that alot of the component choices are critical right down to the board material. I don't want to be spoon fed, just want to get into the ballpark, and hopefully I can contribute something of value to this site in the future. Thanks again!

[UR12]

thanks so much UL12! I definitely want to use the transformers Moose has. How about boards and such? Do they have to be manually fabricated? I notice from reading, that alot of the component choices are critical right down to the board material. I don't want to be spoon fed, just want to get into the ballpark, and hopefully I can contribute something of value to this site in the future. Thanks again!

I don't think that the board material has a lot to do with the sound of the amp but the board sizes and layout IS critical. The board is layed out to give you the shortest possible wires from the board to the tubes and controls. From experience I can say that if you follow the pictures of Franchesca and use the same layout you shouldn't have much trouble building a great sounding amp. I am in the process of fabricating a set of boards for my brother this weekend. I can probably build you a set while I am making his. The terminals that Ken used on his boards are all but extinct and I will be making my brother's boards using turrets. If your interested let me know.

As far as other critical parts I think that the caps on the preamp board, Tubes and transformers are probably the most critical. The resistors used are run of the mill carbon film 1/2 watt that you can get just about anywhere. I wasn't able to get the 25 watt 1k and the 9.1k resistors for the power supply locally and had to order those.

Myself and many others have spent a lot of time trying to find the EXACT parts that Ken used, in my case just for nostalgia's sake. I wanted to build an Express as close to the original as I could. Unfortunatly anyone using my amp will probably not care how exact is is on the inside but just how it sounds.

[mac0611]

Hi UL12,

thanks for all this info. My e-mail is r_celia61@hotmail.com shoot me an e-mail and we'll talk