A new girl is born!!!!

Express, Liverpool, Rocket, Dirty Little Monster, etc.

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redshark
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:42 pm
Location: Veracruz, Mexico

A new girl is born!!!!

Post by redshark »

My express was born this evening around 7pm.

I will take pics later but, details of the birth:

Voltages:
V1a 198.6
V1b 179.5
V2 270.5
V3a 198.7
V3b 205.7
V4
plate voltage 414.7
screen 397
bias -34.15
V5
plate voltage 414.5
screen 397
bias -34.15

B1 414.7
B2 408.1
B3 320.4
B4 300.6
B5 283.3

sylvania 6V6's bias at around 25 mA

I need to find a matched pair of Siemens EL34's but I kinda like the 6V6's. This is my second express build but I feel it is a little bit rounder and smoother than the first in 2009. Of course very early to say, the caps need to break in but I dig it!!
Preamp tubes are what the Dr. ordered!! ;) tungsram and pre-war Ei's.

I will post pics later! I need a name for her. Have to play her more to figure out her personality and then pic a name!!

Love it!!!
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xtian
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Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by xtian »

I'd smoke one if I had one. Congrats!
I build and repair tube amps. http://amps.monkeymatic.com
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ampmike
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Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by ampmike »

Congrats Bro,I like the 6v6"s in my express has well.Tried the 34"s,just ain't happening .Glad to hear she doing so well,can wait to see some pics,Mikey
Custom Built Amps for Sale!http://faithamps.weebly.com/
redshark
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Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:42 pm
Location: Veracruz, Mexico

Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by redshark »

Thanks guys!! Mike I will leave it like this for a while but I know I will miss the EL34 sound too!!
redshark
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:42 pm
Location: Veracruz, Mexico

Pics!!

Post by redshark »

Ok this are some pics of my amp. 2 things will be changed!! the annoying looking fuse holder for correct littlefuse fuse holder and the caps going to the bright switch cause they are inverted and the reason for that is that the only 100pF that I had wasn't long enough to make it to the upper side of the switch (yeah, yeah it was a used one and the leads were cut before!! :) ). I will fix that on monday and also do my old school DYMO labels.
I did the wood burning on the faceplate and although I'm not an artist it looks OK! The cab was made by ampmike!! I will post pics of that later!! Mike I hope this build makes justice to the beautiful cherry cab you built for me!!! :D Thanks!!

I'm proud of this more accurate lead dress and original board with flea clips. What can I say? she sounds awesome and is on break-in period!!
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Last edited by redshark on Fri May 10, 2013 12:49 pm, edited 4 times in total.
redshark
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:42 pm
Location: Veracruz, Mexico

Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by redshark »

More pics!!
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dcribbs1412
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Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by dcribbs1412 »

Congrats redshark
great looking build

Darin
vibratoking
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Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by vibratoking »

Nice build! Your pics are very well done too. Nothing like high res, focused and good lighting!
redshark
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Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:42 pm
Location: Veracruz, Mexico

Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by redshark »

Thanks guys!! but most of all, thanks to the amp garage forum that makes all this posible and also thanks to Allyn Meyers for making this parts available to all of us!!
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Blackburn
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Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by Blackburn »

Man, nice build. Sweet Mallories... :o

What tubes do you have in there now? Never seen those pre tubes before. I just got the same 9.1K Vishays for cheap and plan on using them in mine.
redshark
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Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:42 pm
Location: Veracruz, Mexico

Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by redshark »

Preamp tubes are pre-war yugo Ei labeled siemens in V2 and V1 and V3 are hungarian tungsram.
Thanks!!
redshark
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:42 pm
Location: Veracruz, Mexico

Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by redshark »

I've been experimenting with preamp tubes this weekend. Put some mullard long plates and those ones sound sweet. I will try to work a combination of amperex and mullard for the preamp although I have to say the combination of tungsram and Ei is hard to beat!!
I like also how the combination of mallory TC and CDE caps worked out for the power filters. The amp has a smoother sound that my first express. In that one I used F&T's. I still don't understand why some people that had built express amps say they are too bright.
Neither this one or my first build have been bright. Maybe is the "correct" lead dress of those blue and yellow wires that run to the bass pot that makes the diference between a bright and fuzzy or round and smooth express. Who knows!!
steve_p
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Location: Easton, Massachusetts

Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by steve_p »

Nice brown mallorys..... :wink:

Amp looks great. I am thinking about swapping in some 6v6's to mine to give them a shot as well.

Enjoy
redshark
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:42 pm
Location: Veracruz, Mexico

Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by redshark »

Hey Steve!! thanks!! now you know where the brown Mallorys are!!

I think 6V6's have a good sound on the express circuit!! I just think we are all more used to the EL34 sound which is great if you have Siemens or even better with old Telefunkens or Mullards.

I had tried RCA, GE and sylvania 6V6's.

The sylvanias are more raw sounding on this circuit at least and louder!
The RCA's are what Ken described as more Hi-fi. GE's were good too but for now I'm running Sylvania's.
redshark
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:42 pm
Location: Veracruz, Mexico

Re: A new girl is born!!!!

Post by redshark »

This is how she looks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVFga2LpaGo

This is how she sounds...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bZvXiOklN0

sorry for the sloppy playing, if I was an awesome guitarist I would do that for a living. Still, I'm trying to show the amp dynamics and sustain, clean to mean. Recorded with a crappy camera. Alesis video track.
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