mcrracer wrote:If you are going to build amps you have to learn how to buy even the good parts at discounted prices. You can not save any money paying full retail prices on everything. The kit sellers have learned how to do this.
Do you know how to do that? If so, can you pass along the process?
Kits can sometimes keep the cost down other times I keep the cost down by doing all the hard work. Drilling out my cheaper blank chassis, design and either build or order faceplates. Buy components in bulk. Buy transformers on bulk buys with other members on forums or the case of Allyn and rjguitars they keep the cost down for us.
Build your own cabinet, or shop around until you find a deal on a cabinet that will work for you.
If you want a Fender Princeton amp that looks like an old Princeton then it will have to be the original or one of the kits sold my Marsh, Mojo, Allen Amps or others.
Otherwise pickup some pine to build the cabinet, a cheap chassis and build.
I'm not really trying to save every penny possible here. I know that buying bulk would help. I'm only planning to build one amp though (at least I think), I am mainly interested in feedback about the weber kits. They are so much lower priced than any of the others, that i am wondering if i can make up the difference by buying the better parts after the fact. Even if i have to pay full price for those parts.
Please keep us posted as this is looking like you will be getting a great amp in the end. Phalanges has a killer Princeton which I wanna dupe.... someday.
MichaelDrakeSmith wrote:yes. I've looked at the Mojo kits. They're pretty expensive. I believe i can put the parts list together on my own, using top quality parts and come in a couple of hunderd less than Mojo.
I'm wondering if the Weber kits are really low quality, or if i could put one of them together, then replace a few of the lower quality parts, ending up with a really good amp for hundreds less than Mojo, Marsh, Torres, etc.
Ok, a Mojo complete kit is $1014. A Marsh complete kit is $855 (-$159), all high quality brand-name parts, with options to drop or upgrade some (OT, speaker, cab). It's hard to believe you can do much better on your own, and gathering the parts yourself will take a lot of time and effort. Some want that experience, and some don't.
If you do your research, this amp can be built for $300 t0 $400 max including a cab. Make your own eyelet/turret board, drill your own chassis, resistors , caps, eyelets/turrets and wire in bulk, reasonably priced transformers. Search for the best prices on tubes, Ebay. Get a local carpenter to build your cab or do it yourself. Learn what materials to make the cab from and don't go overboard. Learn how to buy your parts wholesale. Do your research to figure out what parts to buy...ie. which parts make an audible difference and which ones don't. Schematics and layouts are all over the Net...or draw up your own. You will have to do some work to make this happen.
OR pay $500 to $900 for a kit where someone else has done all of the legwork.
... I know that buying bulk would help. I'm only planning to build one amp though (at least I think)...
Anyone ever said that before?
I've never gone the kit method, but you can probably do better sourcing the parts yourself if you're patient enough.
A common problem is that not everything is available from the same place. Every time I have a list of parts to order, I wind up dealing with 3 or 4 different suppliers to get what I need. The shipping costs add up fast if you're not careful.
Regarding Weber kits I have no first hand knowledge of their kits but many people buy them and from other forums I have heard replace the jacks and the pots unless the kit has been updated currently to better parts.
In your situation perhaps their kit is the viable solution for you on this project.
Ampgarage has had nothing but trouble with them so that is why no one is promoting their kits, hope this helps.
I have used their chassis and transformers without any problems.
I just had a dozen Princeton Blackface Reverb Chassis made up out of 3/32" Aluminum. Beautiful looking blank chassis but just barely a good start as far as getting the task completed. These will take some decent metal working punches and or step drills to finish up the chassis which is not always trivial as a first time build... then the project might get kinda hard after that.
I had a similar chassis made up for the Blackface Champ cabinet. I am currently working toward stuffing a low power push pull circuit into these and then stuffing that into a prefabbed Blackface cabinet.
If you don't have a custom circuit in mind for your build then the Mojotone predrilled chassis with front and rear panels isn't all that expensive unless you have unlimited time. Then you can probably do better, but if time is money the prefab kit is not a bad deal. Send me a PM if you want me to see what my dealer cost is at Mojo. I might be able to save you a few bucks.
Attached is my first swing at a parts list for the Princeton reverb ($917). It's based on the parts list from the weber site, but i I used Angela.com, tedweber.com, and HauffmanAmps.com to find parts that i felt were quality. Going the self sourcing route (so far) definitely puts me in the price range of Mojo and Torres. Any input on what i have listed would be appreciated
Weber $585
Torres $949
Mojo $1013
I'm leaning heard towards a Weber kit. It would leave me with at least $350 in my pocket for upgrade parts or beer money.
Who am i kidding. The beer money is already budgeted. This would leave me more mony for playing with the amp.
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I built two Weber kit Bassman (5F6A) in 2006. Both were very fine sounding amps after some different pre-amp tube selections/swapping. Not that the stock tubes sounded all that bad...but....it got better with other tubes.
I found the following kit supplied items to be somewhat "chinzy":
Pots
Pilot light
1/4" jacks
Toggle switches
Again, not that they didn't work but, if I were on your Weber quest, I would plan on upgrading those items.
I can't recall what specific brands those were and things may have changed (for better or for worse!) since then so YMMV.
I am not aware of any recent general issues with Weber as mentioned in a previous post. Hope that others will weigh in on this as I often consider them as an option when approached by others with requests for amp building advice.
rj you have to keep me updated on your adventures pal because I just ordered another custom 19 Fender slant style chassis going into a SS Deluxe 90 combo and a Super Reverb chassis.
