Ted Webers amp parts

[billsterl]

I see that alot of Ted Webers amp parts are much less expensive than other sites especially his cap prices. Has anyone had experience building his kits? Or should I stick with name parts? Some of his caps are alot less like 20% of a Sprange Atom. I'm a Newbee so what do I know!

[Bob-I]

I see that alot of Ted Webers amp parts are much less expensive than other sites especially his cap prices. Has anyone had experience building his kits? Or should I stick with name parts? Some of his caps are alot less like 20% of a Sprange Atom. I'm a Newbee so what do I know!

I've built 2 of his kits and used a few of his parts. Here's my take.

The filter caps are pretty poor. I had one fall apart in my hands, another very noisy and had to be replaced.

The tone caps are similar in sound to Mallory's, which to my ears is a bit dry. I prefer Xicon or Sprague PS series Orange Drops. You can get Sprague 715's in a kit for a small uplift in price.

The resistors are decent enough, but I prefer higher quality metal films for plate load and carbon comp for signal carrying.

The pots sound and work fine, but are a bit fragile, loose backs and weak threads, plus they feel a bit sloppy.

The jacks seem to work fine, but they feel a bit cheep, as are the switches although I've never had any fail.

Now the major components. The xformers are solid and sound decent. I've had no problems at all with the power xformers, no excessive heat and the voltages are as rated. The output xformers sound ok, not as good as the one's I've bought from mojo or AES but acceptable and the price is right. The chassis are excellent, solid and the look beautiful. The cabs, once delivered are as solid as anything else I've seen and of course the speakers are Weber.

Bottom line, the kits make a nice amp but there are some parts I'm tempted to replace.

[UR12]

I see that alot of Ted Webers amp parts are much less expensive than other sites especially his cap prices. Has anyone had experience building his kits? Or should I stick with name parts? Some of his caps are alot less like 20% of a Sprange Atom. I'm a Newbee so what do I know!

Personally I wouldn't deal with the man if he was the last vender on earth but that's just my opinion. 18watt.com was shut down for a while back in March because of threats of litigation by Mr Weber because someone on that forum was talking badly about the quality of his parts. So I doubt you will see many here tell you that they like or dislike his kits or parts. I might suggest that if you want to build a TW inspired amp that Nic at Ceriatone has great prices, great service and a great product. Doug Hoffman also has the great service and products. Both Nic and Doug Hoffman are members of this site, contribute here, are well respected and great guys. You get what you pay for.

Here's a link on this forum regarding the problems with BBQ boy (Alias Mr Weber)

http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... ght=18watt

Just my 2 cents

[Bob-I]

Yes, I agree that Mr. Ted and Mr TA are both as*.... I refuse to finish that statement on account of....

[UR12]

I Some of his caps are alot less like 20% of a Sprange Atom. I'm a Newbee so what do I know!

I almost forgot to mention that I read somewhere that the Sprague Atom has been discontinued recently. The supply of these caps will start to dry up shortly so ya better get em while you can. The Malory TC series are $16 to $20 ea already. Having said that, there are a lot of caps out there that have better tolerances, smaller physical size, better temp coefficients and will do a fine job. They also cost less.

[Icetech]

UR12, i am gald to see that someone else feels the same way as i do about buying from him, was starting to think i was the only one... 18watt was like a home to alot of people.. and we supported his kits fully and helped his customers and he took a giant dump over everyone there...

Now most people won't even post his name over there.. you will see things like W****, gotta love men that use lawyers rather than making a call themselves:)

[smokin' tone]

+1 on what Dana said. I have never bought from him and never will after that event. Also what I keep hearing from everyone is that you should upgrade the switches, jacks, pots, caps and possibly resistors and the trannies aren't the best. That don't leave you with much left. You just bought a nice chassis and some wire. I guess the only deal might be the cab and chassis.

[CathodeBiased]

I have been buying stuff from Ted Sr. for close to ten years, and I will not stop because he or his son threatened litigation. People have to realize that there are ramifications for disparaging a vendor's products.

It does not take a rocket scientist to realize that "low price" generally means inferior quality . However, in many cases, "low price" means that the vendor has a short "supply chain" (i.e., he/she is either the OEM or distributor). On the flip side, high price often means lack of economy of scale, not necessarily high quality.

My advice to anyone who wants to bad mouth a vendor is that they better have the facts and a lawyer to support their claims before making a negative posting, especially if the person making the claims is another vendor. The U.S. is a very litigious society, which is why I stopped building amps. Any small builder who is not insured to the hilt is one amp malfunction away from losing his/her entire life's work, and my wife and I are not willing to lose our house and savings because some idiot did something stupid with one of my amps.

[jaysg]

I almost forgot to mention that I read somewhere that the Sprague Atom has been discontinued recently.

Vishay/Sprague has a series they recommend as a replacement...forget the series name. They're probably fine and probably smaller. Those Illinios Capacitors in recent Dumbles are an interesting surprise.

[CathodeBiased]

I have Xicon electrolytic caps in amps that have been played hard for ten years, and they are still holding up well.

[MarkB]

Bob's comments on components seem mostly spot on to me, although I've had no problems with the filter caps. I go to Ted for the products he does best, and I"ve always been happy with them, just like thousands of other buyers have. He's had a super reputation for years now as a helpful, generous guy, and I'll be happy to buy from him again.