1st Express Build "Shelby"

[DeLuxe]

I have had a blast sourcing wood, reading and learning about TWs here on the forum and bringing this build to life. This was a slow and steady project as I had a cabinet maker use the lumber I found. He was able to get 4 cabs for me out of it so I bought 4 blank chassis (from seaside) and enought blank garolite to make 6 pairs of boards. I bought nutserts, punches, a wood burning kit and a Dymo... After thinking this through for weeks here she is. I still need to quiet her down a bit. I think my bright cap dressing is the chief offender. I might have got an on - on by accident. I might also give a little twist to my long parallel run. Maybe shorten the NFB wire. I like dead quiet at idle and this beast has a little more white noise than I'm used to. I only had time to roll a few tubes through V1& 2 but I'll get back to it in the morning. Still, this is a very unique circuit! It requires a little bit of playing style adjustment. But that's a good thing. Sounds killer through my D-Style cab with creamback Celestions!

[LeftyStrat]

Beautiful. Is that maple?

[Mark]

Very nice build, I'd be happy with that. The cab looks great!

I wish I was good with woodwork.

Why don't you put a VVR kit in it?
That would make the volume more manageable and it's easier on the valves.

I'm tempted to stick one in my Rocket. Though these are suppose to be a "clean" amp.

[DeLuxe]

Rolling preamp tubes...

[M Fowler]

Great looking amp.

I would have used that bottom inside board for the top with all that figuring in the wood.

[DeLuxe]

This morning I "dressed" her wiring a little and that quieted a little. I had tube covers and decided to ditch them because they add a faint rattle. This thing is ALIVE... The biggest overall effect came from an hour or so of tube-swapping out of my "stash". I read it here a hundred times but somehow thought I could use new production tubes that I have had good experiences with. Not so. I had to dig deep and came up with a surprising discovery. I have several "trumpets" but the big winner for V1 in this build is a British 12AX7 that was made for Bogen. Then both V2 & V3 spots were filled by a pair of old Mil-Spec USA made 12AX7s. Not what I would have guessed! I laid out what I thought would be a great combo and literally had to roll them all and audition everything I had in 12AX7. I didn't bother to hit the pile of AT/AU/AY.

[DeLuxe]

I forgot to mention that I bought shellac flakes and grain alcohol to french polish the cab.

I just recorded some sound clips and converted them to MP3. They are less than 10 MB but still not uploading for some reason. Any advice?

[DeLuxe]

Better pictures...

[M Fowler]

No that junior doesn't match please refer to the guitar finish section for a new finish job.

[ampgeek]

Very, very nice!
Love the T-Rex = Trainwrecks motif!!
Well done.
Dave O.

[DeLuxe]

No that junior doesn't match please refer to the guitar finish section for a new finish job.

Is that better?

I am actually planning on doing at least one of the remaining cabs in a tobacco burst...

[Mark]

The question I forgot to ask was regarding the Mercury transformer set.

What influenced your decision?

Even the Classic Tone transformer set looks pretty good, and there are a lot of options.

[DeLuxe]

I have built enough with MM to get the preferred pricing which brought them closer to the retail price on some of the other options. My main other two contenders were the Heybors (but Mojo is out of the PT and when I called they said that they would not be ordering any more and took the PT off their site) and Hammond. Both would have been deeply discounted. Without discounts anything else would be within striking range of the MMs. I have always had great experiences with Patrick and Mercury. And always been thrilled with the results. In fact, my ears are slightly ringing right now! Plus I like selecting end bell colors and seeing them mounted and presenting.

[DeLuxe]

BTW, thanks for all of the encouragement!

[RJ Guitars]

Fantastic looking amp. Is that the official TW transformer set from MM? I have a set of them here but they are red but otherwise kinda look the same.

...My main other two contenders were the Heybors (but Mojo is out of the PT and when I called they said that they would not be ordering any more and took the PT off their site) and Hammond...

After being a distributor for Heyboer for years, I also decided not to furnish them any longer. They were really great to work with but it was specifically QC issues TW power transformers that finally pushed me over the edge.

Did I read that correct... Hammond? I know some folks like 'em but my own ears have just never heard one that made me think "that's as good as it gets" - could happen, I've just been sheltered from it thus far? YMMV

I am curious why Pacific wasn't one of your options?

Nice amp!

rj