Canadian Express build

[aceofbones]

After a long and slow build I'm finally there! I want to put a massive thank you out to everyone who helped get this together. RJ for the box of parts, Colossal for the inspiration and help along the way, and Sluckey, stevem and Phil_S who helped chase down some gremlins and get me making proper noise. I'm super happy with how it has turned out. What an absolute beast of an amp. I'm glad I also built an attenuator, so I can actually use this at home.
I'm undecided on leaving the logo on or not, but for now it's there temporarily.

[joeboo88]

Looks great, really like the cabinet. I also got a box of stuff from Bob a few years ago to help me build my Canadian Express too.

Again very nice build..

[Colossal]

Excellent!! That turned out really nice. As for your Bones logo, I think it's a nice nod to Trainwreck. I see you added 2n2 ceramic over the 2n2/150k RC on V2. Do you find the added bass to be useful at low settings of the VVR?

[aceofbones]

Excellent!! That turned out really nice. As for your Bones logo, I think it's a nice nod to Trainwreck. I see you added 2n2 ceramic over the 2n2/150k RC on V2. Do you find the added bass to be useful at low settings of the VVR?

Thanks very much Dave! It's all due to the amazing content here, that it turned out as good as it did.

Thanks for your opinion on the logo. I didn't want to just put the Trainwreck logo on since it's clearly not a real 'wreck, but figured if Ken's nickname was good enough for his amps, then my nickname styled after his should be good enough here.

I did indeed, I did all the Ingrid mods because, from all the audio clips I could find, that sounded the best to me. That said, I honestly haven't put much time into the VVR yet. I tried it to make sure it functioned properly. I even took it fully out of the circuit to see if it was affecting anything, noise-wise, and it made no change whatsoever to the amp, so I put it back in. I've been using my attenuator, and it has been fantastic, so I haven't really tried just the VVR yet. When playing the amp I've been dialing the bass down and using the bright switch because it is a friggin bass machine! Not sure if that's just the 2n2 ceramic or a combo of guitar, and speakers in the 2x12 I built as well? I may have to pull it out to test the difference. It could also be that I haven't tolexed my back panel, so it's not installed and my cab is open backed at the moment. Either way it's pretty intense.

I am loving playing it though! Nice cleans with only a hint of crunch, depending on how hard I pick, to full on insane gain with just the volume knob on the guitar. It's so much fun!

[gktamps]

Beautiful build! Beautiful work on the head shell and cabinet.
What speakers are you using?

[aceofbones]

Beautiful build! Beautiful work on the head shell and cabinet.
What speakers are you using?

Thanks very much. I’ve got a pair of WGS Veteran 30 speakers.

[ChopSauce]

Great build for sure!

So, you grounded the VVR straight with the local ground for the power tubes!?.

I never saw that before.

[aceofbones]

Great build for sure!

So, you grounded the VVR straight with the local ground for the power tubes!?.

I never saw that before.

Thanks. I wasn’t sure where best to ground it, and saw another build on here that grounded their VVR in the same spot. They apparently had no issues so I did the same. I’m open to changing it if there’s a reason to.

[Koop_m]

Looks great! I'd keep that logo - very nice touch.

[aceofbones]

Looks great! I'd keep that logo - very nice touch.

Thanks Koop_m

[ChopSauce]

Great build for sure!

So, you grounded the VVR straight with the local ground for the power tubes!?.

I never saw that before.

Thanks. I wasn’t sure where best to ground it, and saw another build on here that grounded their VVR in the same spot. They apparently had no issues so I did the same. I’m open to changing it if there’s a reason to.

I wouldn't change anything if I were you. Yet I'm not 100% sure that my noise issues are due to a poor VVR grounding location, I will try your solution instead!

[aceofbones]

I wouldn't change anything if I were you. Yet I'm not 100% sure that my noise issues are due to a poor VVR grounding location, I will try your solution instead!

Ahh, fair enough. Thanks, ChopSauce. Good luck with your noise issues.

[Reeltarded]

Lovely work on all points! It's all top shelf work!

Lift one end of that 2n2 and see if the amp doesn't sing a good bit better. It tubbed out my Liverpool and stopped mid sing A LOT.

I think it is a late mistake for strat players with low volume control settings and small R7.

[aceofbones]

Lovely work on all points! It's all top shelf work!

Lift one end of that 2n2 and see if the amp doesn't sing a good bit better. It tubbed out my Liverpool and stopped mid sing A LOT.

I think it is a late mistake for strat players with low volume control settings and small R7.

Thanks very much. It's my first build, so I appreciate the kind words!

Oh, interesting. I will give that a try for sure. Thank you.

[Reeltarded]

You don't have to be so nice, I mean Canada, so I get it.. but really..



You did an amazing job, all counts.

The focus of the stock coupler will make the amp sour.. soar! I meant soar!