Grab And Go S.S.S.

[jazjamr]

In today's venues it is always a struggle to get the tone that inspires you, at the lower volumes required. I have used 6V6 powered amps the last few years to cope with this. The general consensus is , you can not achieve good S.S.S. tone in a lower powered package. As I am one that always seems to try bucking the norm, here is my attempt at a compact S.S.S. gigging amp. First of all my thanks to all of the great contributors to T.A.G. and Doug Hoffmans Forum , without whom projects such as this would be impossible. I have built a single channel AB763 and a 6V6 Marshall . The circuit of the S.S.S intrigued me. I have a fundamental understanding of the Fender circuit, but there were things in this one that puzzled me.

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The boards are built on Amplified Parts 3mm perf Board. Chassis is Hammond 16x8x3. I initially wanted to use Vishay 1813 Axial caps throughout, because of size restraints. However Mouser only had 3 .1uf in stock . No other suppliers had them. I used .1 and .047 Orange Drops I had in stock for the tone stack. The 360pf treble cap is a Vishay poly . I just hooked up the Reverb Tank this morning. This amp has a clarity in the lower notes that is unique . Clean sustain is excellent.
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. Thanks again SLUCKEY M HARTMAN R COLGAN ERVIN and all the other great contributors to T.A.G.

[Guy77]

Congrats on a great build! I remember using those chassis a long time ago and they were very sturdy just hard to cut through but you managed fine.

Cheers

Guy

[jazjamr]

Working On Tolex today. Hoping to get everything together this weekend. I'll try to get a playing vid up soon. I've played it on the bench. Really love the tone. No major problems so far. No oscillation. Haven't played it turned all up though.

[jazjamr]

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My first attempt at Tolex. I used a Hammond 290 FX power transformer. ClassicTone TW35 Trainwreck style output transformer. Mojotone choke and Reverb transformer. MOD 3 spring medium reverb tank. We know that most early tube amp designs came straight out of tube manufacturers manuals for utilization of their products. Leo Fender worked with and improved these designs for dependability, serviceability and headroom. I've often wondered about Mr. Dumble's designs, thought process, research and prototyping. Obviously he was deep into this subject. For example, in the mixing circuit, why were two complete dual triodes used. M. Hartmans amp uses one dual triode. The 376 v.d.c. on HT4 exceeded the 350v rating on 1/2 watt dropping resistors. I used 3 watt Vishay @ 750 v.d.c. Since I had the 3 watt resistors on hand, I decided to use them on all plate resistors. The bias circuit developed -378 v.d.c. In place of the 130k bias tail resistor, I used a 1 watt 250k multi turn pot with a 220k pin 2 to 3 giving me 80k to 250k adjustment. 6L6 and 6V6 tubes can be biased properly. There is no hiding with this amp. Whatever you play is reproduced accurately. I saw S.R.V. in 1989 with Jeff Beck. His mastery of this circuit at 150 watts is amazing to this day. Enough rambling.

[dcribbs1412]

Nicely done!

[bschifke]

Looks awesome! Any sound clips?

[jazjamr]

This amp has been quite a learning experience for me. Although it is easy to get great tones from it, there are so many options to learn. The reverb is maybe the best reverb circuit I have heard. In previous reverb equipped amps I've played adding reverb seems to make the amps footprint smaller in the band mix. Not so with this circuit. After choosing the preamp gain, I am running it at about 2:00, there is little change in the character of the amp regardless of where the master is set. The amps sustain and tendency to edge into smooth feedback is quite remarkable. I used a Twin Reverb power transformer and a Trainwreck 35-watt output transformer, with the biasing ability to run 6L6 or 6V6 output tubes. With JJ 6v6 tubes it seems as loud as 50-watt 6L6 powered amps. I guess this is because of the cathode follower driver. I have always had to run my Fender amps at about 2:00 to get them to respond like this amp. I have been experimenting with the filters and am starting to get a feel for the possibilities. I have used the amp at 2 practice sessions and will be taking it to its first gig today. I will try to get some clips recorded and posted. I used a 120pf cap in the bright switch. A little more subtle than 250pf. It is good for humbucker equipped guitars. The deep switch is interesting. I like it with my Fender style guitars, but there seems to be a small signal loss when it is engaged. It seems to me that the circuit is bleeding some frequencies through the .01 cap to ground leaving the lower frequencies. The ET90 speaker is excellent, by the way. Any tips on the reverb controls, the filter section, and deep switch will be greatly appreciated. I'm really enjoying the amp and am looking forward to our gig this evening. Again, my thanks to all the fantastic contributors to the Amp Garage.

[BarryW]

nice build! I love the size. I've been building slightly smaller sized versions of larger amps as well. Which circuit did you build? though I've built many ODS circuits and JM variants, I'm still wrapping my head around the SSS versions.

[bschifke]

Looks amazing!

Sound clips would be a lovely way for us to better appreciate the work you have done here!

[jazjamr]

I have finally got the videos of the S.S.S. combo prepared. Health issues in my family have delayed many of my personal pursuits, but I was recently able to prepare these videos. Several years ago, my son brought me a Stratocaster in pieces. The neck and body had been separated by force. There were cracks in the body and the neck to body screw holes were stripped. There were also some parts missing. Only one of the original pickups was present. Upon closer investigation I discovered that it was a 1968 Stratocaster. After gluing the body cracks, plugging the stripped screw holes with Maple, refretting, refinishing, replacing missing parts and installing a set of Fender Pure Vintage 65 pickups, it is the best Stratocaster I've ever had. Much better than the 70s Strats I bought new. The sound through the S.S.S. was pure Stratocaster. My personal guitars I built, use Lawrence Wilde Noiseless L200 pickups. Although they are great pickups, nothing sounds exactly like quality single coil Strat pickups. This Strat gives a true representation of a Dumble S.S.S. circuit with a vintage Fender.

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Here are the links to the videos.https://youtu.be/hRpcc8M1Wjchttps://you ... UUge5gjZWA Video 1 uses the neck pickup for two songs. Video 2 uses the neck-middle, middle, birdge -middle and bridge pickup settings in different songs. I tried to use music that would highlight each pickup position. I wish that I had this amp throughout all my years of playing, but it is only with the contributions and help from the member of the Amp Garage that it is possible! My Sincere thanks to all of you!

[Guy77]

I have finally got the videos of the S.S.S. combo prepared. Health issues in my family have delayed many of my personal pursuits, but I was recently able to prepare these videos. Several years ago, my son brought me a Stratocaster in pieces. The neck and body had been separated by force. There were cracks in the body and the neck to body screw holes were stripped. There were also some parts missing. Only one of the original pickups was present. Upon closer investigation I discovered that it was a 1968 Stratocaster. After gluing the body cracks, plugging the stripped screw holes with Maple, refretting, refinishing, replacing missing parts and installing a set of Fender Pure Vintage 65 pickups, it is the best Stratocaster I've ever had. Much better than the 70s Strats I bought new. The sound through the S.S.S. was pure Stratocaster. My personal guitars I built, use Lawrence Wilde Noiseless L200 pickups. Although they are great pickups, nothing sounds exactly like quality single coil Strat pickups. This Strat gives a true representation of a Dumble S.S.S. circuit with a vintage Fender.Chassis Top Front.JPGDSC00030.JPGDSC00032.JPGAngle.JPG Here are the links to the videos.https://youtu.be/hRpcc8M1Wjchttps://you ... UUge5gjZWA Video 1 uses the neck pickup for two songs. Video 2 uses the neck-middle, middle, birdge -middle and bridge pickup settings in different songs. I tried to use music that would highlight each pickup position. I wish that I had this amp throughout all my years of playing, but it is only with the contributions and help from the member of the Amp Garage that it is possible! My Sincere thanks to all of you!

Sounds great, congrats!
Which version of the SSS did you build?

Cheers
Guy

[jazjamr]

SSS 002 Dumble's circuit is very intriguing. I often wonder how the circuits are designed. Trial and error? Mathematics?