New to the board---and I have a few questions!

[drgonzoguitar]

Hey everybody! I have been reading about building a TW Express amp from this board for a bit. There are some really phenomenal amp builders out there on this board. I am a USAF vet, so most of my electronics education comes from a radio/wideband/CCTV/photographic maintenance perspective (I was cross trained three times due to personnel consolidations in the early 90's). I have built an amp before and have done TONS of mods on amps and effects.

I have a few questions:

1)I am thinking about using a 8x17x3 aluminum chassis. Any thoughts? It seems aluminum is the way to go according to KF.

2) On my previous amp I built, I used cloth wrapped solid core wire. What kind of PVC wrapped wire do you recommend?

3) This amp is going to be a labor of love and art, but I plan on gigging with it when I am finished. How many people have given up their effects to gig with this amp? Any concerns with noisy power bad grounds in bars and clubs with this amp?

4) Should I use an Dr. Z Airbrake or THD Hot Plate for giggable attenuation?

5) What 2x12 cab speaker combinations do you recommend? I am currently a pair ROLA era Celestion Lead 80s in a 112 combo/extension speaker combination.

I am not looking to mass produce an amp. This is for me (and friends) to gig or record with. All respect in the world to Ken Fischer and his amazing design.

Thanks for all of your input!

[paulruby]

8x17x3 will work great.

I use 18ga stranded teflon wire but use what ever you like. It's your amp. Teflon won't melt or burn so is far easier to use. IMHO.

This is a very gigable amp but is loud. Use whatever attenuation you think you need.... I would build the amp first and then figure that out.

I like G12H30, 2X12 or 4X12 closed back. There's tons of speaker discussion on this board to search through...

[captain_rusty]

I've got a Liverpool clone. I threw everything out of my pedalboard except wah, tuner and delay.

The Pool is I think a bit quieter than the Express, but I certainly don't need to attenuate it for gigs. Of course, it depends what style of music you play...

[leaveitalone84]

I use a 2x12 combo with a Weber Alnico Silver and an Alnico Blue. Both 30 watts with light doping. Sounds really great, I can get great countrish tones when rolling down the volume, and just sweet crunch when I roll up. I have an Airbrake too (which I cloned) its great to cut down a little volume, but my drummer is loud and I dont really have a problem unattenuated per say.

Since it's a combo I still need to deaden the chassis to get rid of the extra "feedback"

I don't really use effects but I have a board with a true bypass strip and take everything out if I can with the master bypass. I use a Strobostomp tuner, RMC Wizard Wah, Dunlop Rotovibe (must use True bypass box, TONESUCK when its off) and a EB Volume Pedal Jr.

The Volume in a loop is nice because I can go from crunch to clean with a button press. Sometimes theres too quick of a change to hit the volume knob on the guitar, especially since I sing in the band too.

I'll be picking up a delay, and BYOC compressor soon as well.

This amp sees everything. If you put in crap it'll sound like very loud crap, so pedal choice is very important. Great Cables are a must as well. They way I see it, you spend big $$$ on a guitar and amp...you should add that 10% to cables and effects as well.

I haven't had a problem with bad power yet, but just get a good quality shielded power cable and run it into a well filtered powerstrip/conditioner. Computer APC's are great as well. They supply a nice clean sine wave, albiet a little heavy. . .

[drgonzoguitar]

Thanks for all of the great information! I will start posting pics and clips once the building process has started.