Miniwreck aka Lite Rail

sst4270 · Post by **sst4270** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:54 pm

Just finished building a Miniwreck for my nephew. Wow! I absolutely love the tone. Will try to post clips in the next couple of days. I'm not much of a guitar player, but a friend of mine is gigging tonight so I'm gonna take it up before the gig and record him showing off some of his chops. Thought you you'd all like to see it in the mean time. Much much thanks! goes to Steve Liberty for providing the circuit here on this forum and gut shots of his amp at: http://www.freedomtubeamps.com/

I modified the layout slightly from the photos of Steve's amp to clean up the chassis work and simplify assembly, but otherwise stayed true to his circuit layout. As you can see from the photos it's pretty sparce in there.

It has only the slightest amount of typical SE hum. Tone controls are quite functional. The tone this thing gets right out of the box is fantastic. Having built a wreck clone previously I must say that it does a great job of emmulating that Trainwreck magic, albiet in a much smaller format. However, it also has it's own unique character. Distinctive, even. As Steve has stated previously it takes pedals great. (unlike a Wreck) Big gigantic plus for a practice amp. It also has plenty of volume for practice, or studio work. I'm sure it would play loud enough even in a small venue through the right cabinet.

My nephew is gonna love it!!

Sincerely,

Steve T

sliberty · Post by **sliberty** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:30 pm

Nice work Steve. Wait until you try it through a 4x12! Can't wait to hear your clips.

leaveitalone84 · Post by **leaveitalone84** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:35 pm

What is the theory about why this takes pedals better?

sliberty · Post by **sliberty** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:38 pm

The Express, being a push pull amp, has a phase inverter which kicks the living @#$% out of the power tubes. The MiniWreck, being SE, doesn't. So, I suspect that the additional gain of a pedal can be more readily handled in the MiniWreck due to its overall gain level being lower.

In fact, in my Express (the UniWreck), I have installed a 1M pot in place of the 1M resistor n the leading edge of the phase inverter. I use it as a master volume of sorts. When turned down, thus lowering gain to the PI and the power tubes, the UniWreck takes pedals VERY well.

Lonely Raven · Post by **Lonely Raven** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:47 pm

Interesting. Can it still grind at bedroom levels if it's connected to a 1X12? Or is even a single output tube a bit loud?

I'm needing something smaller since the TW Express is just too much for apartment living.

sst4270 · Post by **sst4270** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:58 pm

I played it through a Jensen P8R (8" alnico - 25W) this morning. Perfect size bedroom level practicing. Then with several distortion pedals and a Holy Grail reverb I was able to get lots of tone at really quiet levels.

I'll be putting it through a 2-12 tonight in a medium sized club. I'll let you know how that goes.

Steve

kec · Post by **kec** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 6:17 pm

Nice job Steve. Look forward to hearing the clips.

El_Martin · Post by **El_Martin** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 8:38 pm

Hi Steve!

Nice built, clean looking

I can play my Sovtek 50 Watt Bassman/Plexi copy in my bedroom.

...someone's got to stirr up the feathers from time to time

But seriously: 5 Watts into a real good 12" is too much. A less efficient speaker might help. OTOH 5 W is enough to get some feedback.

My latest built uses a single half 12AU7 in SE. Run into your usual 12" it is still too loud in a room, in case your mates do not appreciate your playing or would like to telephone in the house.

Ciao
Martin

Post by **Allynmey** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 5:46 am

Nice job Steve!

sst4270 · Post by **sst4270** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:30 am

Went to visit a friend and Bass/Guitar maker Kevin Brubaker today with the Miniwreck aka Lite Rail. There was another player there who let me record him shreddin' on my amp (since I'm not a lead player at ALL.)

Anyways, enjoy the clip.

Details:
Amp: Lite Rail
Guitar: Brubaker HFRSL Custom² ( www.brubakerguitars.com)
Cab: Budda 2-12
Mic: Audio technica Pro24 stereo condenser mic > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 digital recorder.
Zero effects & zero processing
Edited gaps in the recording out with Wavepad Master's Edition
Player: Jimmy

DocRocz · Post by **DocRocz** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:26 pm

Could someone direct me to the schematic of the Miniwreck?

Thanks

Found it!

Zippy · Post by **Zippy** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:44 pm

sst4270 wrote:I played it through a Jensen P8R (8" alnico - 25W) this morning. Perfect size bedroom level practicing. Then with several distortion pedals and a Holy Grail reverb I was able to get lots of tone at really quiet levels.

Thanks, Steve. I've been interested in SE amps for some time. The clip you posted sounds plenty crunchy without distortion pedals. Does this amp clean up as well? I"m wondering whether it might have clean headroom with the 6L6 option.

sst4270 · Post by **sst4270** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:25 pm

Thanks for the compliments.

I found Steve Liberty's schematic here:
http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

Using it and the photos of his amp I was able to make mine.
See link above.
I changed a couple of the values from his original schematic.
Also, I found the SE hum to be a bit too much for my taste so I borrowed a trick from the AX-84 guys and lifted the virtual ground of the filaments (2-100ohm resistors) and placed it on the cathode of the 84. That virtually eliminated the hum by DC biasing the heaters.

Very elegant solution those guys came up with.

Mine does not clean up very well at all. At least not at any usable volume.

Regards,

Steve

sliberty · Post by **sliberty** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:03 pm

Steve,

I am curious about the iron you used. That schematic listed the iron from my prototype (15 watt Heyboer and Hammond 270-DAX - not what I use these days). What did you use for the OT and PT?

Steve

sst4270 · Post by **sst4270** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:51 pm

PT: Hammond 270DAX
OPT: Hammond 125ESE

The Amp Garage