The Amp Garage

I like the Hammond steel chassis! The aluminum ones are a bit on the thin side. I have built amps on both and prefer the steel as it seems more sturdy. I did not find the steel to be much harder to drill.

I've always used Carling switches rated 6A @ 125V, 3A @ 250V. Since we are only switching a few hundred milli amps at best we are fine.

I no longer use standby switches after reading Kevin O'Connor's books. They are not needed.

Leigh jig cantplay? That is awesome work!

Does anyone make a PT for this amp with the correct high voltage winding as found in the original tweed Princeton? There are several kits and replacements out there, but I can't find one with the correct high voltage winding. I bought an Allen Champ kit a long time ago and that has 310V center tappe...

Nice looking amp! Bet it sounds good too. I'd love to do something like this but I live too far away. Price seems reasonable. Good luck with your classes!

EL84"s or 6V6's?

Point A: Get a good soldering station and learn how to solder perfectly before building an amp. If you do not have good soldering technique your amp won't sound good or maybe even not work. Find an old junk black and white TV or tube radio and practice soldering on that first. People throw these thi...

Never done that Littlewyan, that is touch the thing, but I know that this resistor does get very hot! At first I had it resting against the board and it turned the G10 epoxy under it a nice golden brown! So perhaps I'm flirting with danger here. Since leaving an air space between the board I've not ...

The 1k/25w cement resistor shown in original Trainwrecks were mounted to the board without problems. I see no problem with this case resistor bolted to the board rather then chassis. As I recall metal cased resistors are not capable of their full power rating unless they are attached to a heat sink...

First amp I built was from a kit, an Allen Accomplice kind of, like a deluxe reverb with master volume. When I first fired it up it worked but sounded like a tiny transistor radio! I had mixed up a 470 ohm resistor with a 470K ohm resistor somewhere in the build thereby reducing gain a thousand fold...

Thinking about building my first amp. I'm pretty good at soldering. And my father is a master electrician. But what is the best way to build one? I'm thinking of a Liverpool from Ceritone. How easy is it to follow the instructions, etc. Any place I should look for maybe a more identical clone? If y...

Very informative. I do wonder what wire/capacitors/valves Ken would have used today. Also my reason for moving to 20AWG wire is the insulation breaks so easily on the 22AWG stuff I've got, little bends in the wire really show and it just looks untidy and doesn't stay in place that well due to it be...

Switchcraft jacks are the best, they will last for decades! What is the alternative? Those shitty jacks found in British amps that break constantly? Show me a jack that is better! As for JJ tubes I have no complaints, never had a bad experience. The switching jack on Switch Crafts (Switchcraps) is ...

Switchcraft jacks are the best, they will last for decades! What is the alternative? Those shitty jacks found in British amps that break constantly? Show me a jack that is better! As for JJ tubes I have no complaints, never had a bad experience.

Did a quick google search for nte5278AK and lo and behold the parts are readily available from several vendors. I've used them in a few amps several years ago with great results. I tried using a switch so i could switch between the higher and lower voltages and that works fine, but be careful! It is...

Thanks RJ! I've been a lurker here for at least a decade. Thought it was about time I started contributing to this great community which has helped me out so much over the years.