Any interest in seeing some Dumble Tweed Deluxe photos?

[M Fowler]

Am I suppose to set the PI trimmer by ear or voltage?

[ampgeek]

Charlie's layout drawing provides resistance measurements for each side of the trimmer.

I have to believe those would make a decent starting point...but...probably and "ear job" from there.

Cheers,
Dave O.

[M Fowler]

Thanks Dave, I forgot about the info on the layout.

[ampgeek]

My pleasure mate!

Cheers,
Dave O.

[Bear]

Another vote for clips.

Or at least some written rundown about what these guys are about. Like "If you want a 5E3 but with more ____ and less _____, . . . " I haven't come across any real description combing all the threads.

[M Fowler]

Well for me it is very hard to put down in writing the differences maybe soon I be able to.

Last year I built a 5E3 with Mission Amp's master volume mod.

Currently building a stock 5e3 that a friend gave me the chassis a year ago for which I built the board and loaded the chassis last year but didn't get around to wiring. I will now.

I can then compare the Dumble Tweedle Dee to the two above versions.

Mark

[dorrisant]

Thank you Charlie Wilson, thank you to all who sussed out the layout and schematic!

Can't wait to hear your clips...

Tony

[Bear]

Point of curiosity: is the speaker 8 ohm or 16? In his own designs, I gather that HAD often favors using an 8 ohm speaker off a 4 ohm tap. Hadn't seen anything beyond the model, so I thought this was worth clarifying whether there was an intentional mismatch.

[talbany]

OK
Since nobody has posted any clips of the amp I will go ahead and give my review on it first..

The amps I played were 2 Mojotone 5E Kits (Stock)
One was built totally stock 5E and the other was built directly off Charleys layout..I did not build the amps but they were put together by VVT Amps..
Parts used were 6Ps series OD's and same type resistors and filtering, voltages..Speakers were Celestion V series..

First impressions were
TweedleD was a bit tighter and better focused than the stock 5E which was flabbier and softer..I would think this is due to the split cathodes added filtering higher PI voltages and design..The TweedleD had a smoother transition into distortion and a bit more compressed (I credit this to the Dumble PI,and hotter bias) as it didn't seem to suffer the dreaded raspy-ness as the standard cathodyne PI we hear in these amps and of coarse in the Princeton's..Also the split cathodes would also help smooth things out as well..The amp also had a bit more headroom than the stock 5E and seemed to have a bigger sound and plenty of 2nd order harmonics(similar to having it put in a slightly bigger cabinet) after you find the sweet spot on the PI trimmer..Because the amp seemed less congested with all that low end as well as the PI balance,hotter bias it did seem to want to feedback and bloom a bit better than the stock 5E but I would not consider it a drastic improvement..YMMV!!!

Overall
The basic tone is still all 5E3 so think of a good sounding 5E that's tighter focused,smoother,and slightly bigger sounding that's basically what I got walking away..
I did prefer the TweedleD mod better for my style but for me still didn't have enough headroom to stay clean with most of the drummers and most of the gigs I play (it's still a 5E) however if I were sitting in for a few tunes or doing a small dinner jazz type gig it would be fine..If you like playing distorted all night you should be OK as well, YMMV!!..
Overall a cool amp (if you like 5E's) but at the same time just wasn't impressed enough to build one..Your opinion could very well be different!!!

Two in Stereo would be very cool..

BTW..I did Steve's PI mod and noticed virtually no change in tone
Hope this helps!!

Tony

[vibratoking]

Tony, thanks for all that information. A nice service to the community for sure. I have a feeling that this is the kind of information that will put this mod into perspective.

I really want to try the 6G3 front end. Like the Mission kit.

[ToneMerc]

OK
Since nobody has posted any clips of the amp I will go ahead and give my review on it first..

The amps I played were 2 Mojotone 5E Kits (Stock)
One was built totally stock 5E and the other was built directly off Charleys layout..I did not build the amps but they were put together by VVT Amps..
Parts used were 6Ps series OD's and same type resistors and filtering, voltages..Speakers were Celestion V series..

First impressions were
TweedleD was a bit tighter and better focused than the stock 5E which was flabbier and softer..I would think this is due to the split cathodes added filtering higher PI voltages and design..The TweedleD had a smoother transition into distortion and a bit more compressed (I credit this to the Dumble PI,and hotter bias) as it didn't seem to suffer the dreaded raspy-ness as the standard cathodyne PI we hear in these amps and of coarse in the Princeton's..Also the split cathodes would also help smooth things out as well..The amp also had a bit more headroom than the stock 5E and seemed to have a bigger sound and plenty of 2nd order harmonics(similar to having it put in a slightly bigger cabinet) after you find the sweet spot on the PI trimmer..Because the amp seemed less congested with all that low end as well as the PI balance,hotter bias it did seem to want to feedback and bloom a bit better than the stock 5E but I would not consider it a drastic improvement..YMMV!!!

Overall
The basic tone is still all 5E3 so think of a good sounding 5E that's tighter focused,smoother,and slightly bigger sounding that's basically what I got walking away..
I did prefer the TweedleD mod better for my style but for me still didn't have enough headroom to stay clean with most of the drummers and most of the gigs I play (it's still a 5E) however if I were sitting in for a few tunes or doing a small dinner jazz type gig it would be fine..If you like playing distorted all night you should be OK as well, YMMV!!..
Overall a cool amp (if you like 5E's) but at the same time just wasn't impressed enough to build one..Your opinion could very well be different!!!

Two in Stereo would be very cool..

BTW..I did Steve's PI mod and noticed virtually no change in tone
Hope this helps!!

Tony

Thanks Tony, if I get my chassis back in the next few days I'll get my two finished up.

Mike

[talbany]

Tony, thanks for all that information. A nice service to the community for sure. I have a feeling that this is the kind of information that will put this mod into perspective.

I really want to try the 6G3 front end. Like the Mission kit.

Your welcome!!
I really tried to be as honest as I could..I know it's easy to get carried away with these amps and they really do sound GOOD!!..Being that I have played (and sometimes built) some really great sounding pieces and am lucky enough to have a few in the collection my standards on how an amp sounds can very well differ from others who might not have been as fortunate as I have been..
Something to keep in mind as well>> Anyway those that love the smaller tweeds should really dig it..

Good luck with the 6G3..Sounds like a wonderful amp..

Thanks Tony, if I get my chassis back in the next few days I'll get my two finished up

Mike..COOL!.I am very much intrested in your opinion as well..I am just 1 dude's opinion..
Good Luck

Tony

[ampgeek]

Thanks a ton Tony!

Great to hear an objective (well...as objective as this "sport" can possibly get) opinion regarding the circuit as shared by the good Charlie Wilson.

Sounds like those of us that have a love/sometimes dislike (again, hate is too strong a word!) relationship with small Tweeds, Deluxes in particular, could really benefit from giving this build a go.

Sincerely,
Dave O.

[Zippy]

BTW..I did Steve's PI mod and noticed virtually no change in tone

Since the PI mod is to make it easier to dial in the PI balance/imbalance, might it be that your selection of fixed values came out in the same sweet spot as the variable bias control?

Given some of Steve's expressed experiences with output transformers, I have to consider that his amps may have something else going on that may be more trannie mojo than other Stuff.

Thanks for the review.

[CHIP]

I'm not very adept in describing tone, but
Tony's assessment of the tweedle dee is reflective of what I have found with the amp I built.
Thanks Tony!

I do have a question for Talbany,
How did you find the sweet spot on the PI?
I set my trimmer as close to CW's values as I could.