My vintage build

[WastedProps]

Greetings techies/DIYers/tinkerers

I'm new to this forum and to tube amps (been dabbling in electric guitar build and effects pedals for years)

I'm about to start building a vintage style tube head with a few different parts scavenged from various places.

[IMG:905:837]http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y45 ... d89900.jpg[/img]

this is the lowdown so far...

bought a half finished project off ebay, a ECL86 valve amp with a EM84 magic eye... I plan to couple this with another 6v6 rectifier tube amp I'm buying off another bloke to run a twin amp head.

[IMG:784:441]http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y45 ... ef10a0.jpg[/img]

[IMG:784:441]http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y45 ... 659ac2.jpg[/img]


6v6 amp

[IMG599]http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y45 ... 98d6c.jpeg[/img]

I plan to use vintage parts I scavenged off this 1950's radiola TV.

[IMG:784:441]http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y45 ... fdd411.jpg[/img]

it'll have a clean channel (6v6) and a vintage gain channel (EM84) inside the same head.

I may need some guidance along the way, but the main thing that has been eating me is if I should have the option to combine the two channels as well...? using the 6V6 essentially as an additional preamp for the EM84.

The hard part will be not having schematics of the two amps, I've looked and looked for the type of amp the EL34 is, but all I think i could find was it's possibly a westinghouse console amp.??? unlees someone could shed more light.?

thanks in advance guys.

Jas.

[Stevem]

So are talking about having two different complete output stages, or just being able to switch from output tube to output tube?

Also keep in mind that in regards to combining two different channels that they both need to have the same amount of gain stages other wise they will be out of phase with each other when you do combine them!
You might want to slither over to the AX84 site and look at the amp builds they offer info on!

[sabredude]

What are you using to create those awesome drawings?

[Phil_S]

What are you using to create those awesome drawings?

If I could only make tweed actually look like that....

[WastedProps]

What are you using to create those awesome drawings?

I'm a graphic designer, so this is native to me ha ha. It's adobe illustrator. Takes a bit to get your head around I spose

[rp]

Get that TV working, bet it can pull in old episodes of Uncle Floyd or Joe Franklin that are still trapped in the ether and haven't bounced off into outer space yet.

[Stevem]

Or the MIke Douglas show when he had John And Yoko on for the whole week if I recall right!

[WastedProps]

Get that TV working...

unfortunately I cannot... it's now disassembled for parts.
I did have it working, and displaying a picture, but it was simply too big and heavy for me to geep as an ornament.

I'll be recycling some of the components and parts of the garnishes for my build.

[WastedProps]

So, a little bit of an update...

a few years ago I had a housefire that burnt most of my guitars, amps and equipment (no insurance as I hadn't technically moved out there to live yet)
of one of the amps that got a little fried was a marshall mode 4 head. i remembered I had kept the burnt head for some reason or another... well, luckily I did!

I'll be upcycling it to use for my twin tube deluxe project...

stripping back the cooked tolex

[IMG:600:336]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... v205fm.jpg[/img]

As the chassis orientation was wrong for what I wanted with the original heavy mode 4 chassis, I opted to have an aluminum one made as a local sheetmetal place. I'm a graphic designer by trade, so I made up plans to have the slots plasma cut in the back, and a slot in the front for the EM84 to show through.

here you can see the old stripped down mode four chassis
[IMG:600:336]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... bp0zm2.jpg[/img]

Here's the rough layout on the two amps for the head. on the left we have a AA764 with 12AX7's amp and on the right we have the ECL86 console amp with the EM84 magic eye.

[IMG:600:336]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... xgagbc.jpg[/img]

just ordered most of the components for the AA764 and the turret board. might ditch the old power transformer that came with the 6v6 and go a more suitable fender style PT

here's an updated layout to the amp so far...
[IMG:859:1024]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... 1ky4ap.jpg[/img]

[WastedProps]

Hello again folks, I have a bit more of an update to my build, and alot has happened since I posted last...
Have been sourcing all the materials and components for the build, and I managed to identify the little orphan amp I bought from ebay that I'll be using for one of the amp stages.

I understand that as this is my first build, the layout isn't going to be as well thought out at a veteran amp builders layout... that aside, I'd just be happy if I can get sound out of it.

[IMG:960:540]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... yts8ek.jpg[/img]

[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... 5eht4a.jpg[/img]

So with the amp I bought off ebay (which turned out to be an Edwardian Elite 4 reel-to-reel player) it had a power transformer that had pare terminals, and looked fairly tired looking, so I decided to house it inside an ABS box to neaten it up and to protect any stray hands...

[IMG1821]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... bl5307.jpg[/img]

[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... u81kuy.jpg[/img]

[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... fvteki.jpg[/img]

Drilled hole in the top to vent if it gets warm...

[IMG1821]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... pwuchm.jpg[/img]

Started drilling the fascia...

[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... jxeon5.jpg[/img]

For the keen eye, yes that is the incorrect value of can cap, it's been gutted to fit a set of 3 correct value electrolytics in there...

[IMG1821]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... fdwiro.jpg[/img]

[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... u5ktbw.jpg[/img]

test fitted everything...

[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... eigvfh.jpg[/img]

[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... sv74os.jpg[/img]

with tubes

[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... thqcnd.jpg[/img]

Started the wiring... remember, there are two amps in here...

[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... n3rd7v.jpg[/img]

So this is how it sits as of yesterday arvo.

[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... 2xzxl0.jpg[/img]

[WastedProps]

So I have been plowing ahead with this build... if it wasn't hard enough wiring one amp in this chassis, I've made it even harder for myself with two!!

as the elite 4 PC board had to be mounted upside down to it's usual orientation and the fact I wanted the tubes exposed above the chassis, I had to wire jumpers (in reverse) from the bottom of the PCB to the new chassis mounted sockets.
this has it's ups and downs... the positives is that if I ever need to make any alterations or repairs the there's enough slack in the jumpersto give me plenty of access... the downside is it makes it VERY messy, with 6 inches each of 18 jumber leads... this may well possibly lead to unnecessary noise in the amp... but I'll just keep telling myself it's my first build... ha ha

found that the original on-off pot for the elite 4 switches both active and neutral, and I only has a spst switch I was going to use... after asking if this would suffice, I decided to just be safe and order a new dpst switch.

[tubelectron]

Nice effort of recuperation of vintage stuff, WastedProps... I hope that you won"t front too much hum and adverse noise issues

A+!

[WastedProps]

I hope so too mate...

now, I need a little guidance on this build...
Why do I have the feeling I need a 'switching matrix' in my amp i'm building... I came accross someone elses build where he uses one (with no real description or how-to, I've tried looking up what they do, but only found one or two builds where someone is switching between amps inside the same head... As I have a AA764 that'll be sharing the same head as my Elite 4 tube amp, thus sharing output and input...

I thought I could just switch the input between the two with the footswitch. a little clarification please...

[WastedProps]

here's a few more current pics.

[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... yvmtwt.jpg[/img]

[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... mmglea.jpg[/img]

Not the best pic, but it alot neater then before...
[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... d1qkvu.jpg[/img]

Just waiting on my custom designed bezel for the magic eye
[IMG576]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... peaso0.jpg[/img]

[WastedProps]

gentlemen I present to you: one of the last remaining pieces to my amp build... A 3D printed bezel in METAL! Thanks again to my mate for his amazing skills transforming my basic sketches into this beautiful piece of work! - This is to border a nice viewing window for my EM84 magic eye... design inspiration came from a vintage magic eye bezel I saw off the net.

[IMG:960:540]http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp21 ... xk3qt0.jpg[/img]