Need parts advice for Blackface Princetone Reverb project

[MichaelDrakeSmith]

Hello. I am putting together the parts list for my first scratch build project. A Blackface Princeton reverb. I have created the parts list, but i am not sure of which brands to purchase. A buddy suggested Hammond transformers. I don't know what kind of resistors , capacitors, pots to buy though. I want to build a 1st class tone machine. For example, I see Recon resistors for $3+, while I see many others for $1-. I'm willing to pay the higher price if I should. But I'd rather not if it doesn't really make a difference. I also don't know what kind of caps. Carbon composite, etc. Should I use different brand/types of caps in different parts of the circuit?

Can someone straignten the new guy out?

Thanks

[dcribbs1412]

Hi
my advise is to keep it simple
try and use as many parts from each vendor(shipping costs)
AES.com,Hoffman.com,turetboards.com,Mojo etc.
build it with decent parts.then tweak and replace with more expensive parts later(if needed).Mine seem to always go over budget.
bottom line is spend enough for your "1st class tone machine" but have some left for tweaking and of course....the next build

my 2 cents
D

[M Fowler]

You can get a resistor kit Carbon Film from many vendors. Use Hoffman for small coupling caps and filter caps he has a great choice. Turretboards.com for parts, Mojotone, (AES) tubesandmore.com, mouser, and on and on. Do some parts hunting.

PM Technology has blank slant Fender style chassis you geet in any size you want undrilled.

[mcrracer]

You can get a resistor kit Carbon Film from many vendors. Use Hoffman for small coupling caps and filter caps he has a great choice. Turretboards.com for parts, Mojotone, (AES) tubesandmore.com, mouser, and on and on. Do some parts hunting.

PM Technology has blank slant Fender style chassis you geet in any size you want undrilled.

Who has the carbon film resistor kits?

[Structo]

MichaelDrakeSmith,
Don't know what your experience is with tube amps or electronics but it was very helpful for me to build an amp kit as my first DIY tube amp.
All the hard work of sourcing the parts has been done and you get a full meal deal with everything in it that you need.
Multiple shipping charges can quickly increase the overall price point.

If you have done this before then I respectfully withdraw my suggestion.

But if a kit may interest you, Weber, Mission Allen all make pretty good blackface kits that may help you out here.

[David Root]

+1 on Tom's advice. You will save a grundle of money on shipping, the parts are good quality (except Weber, a bit cheaper) and the kits come with pretty good instructions from what I've seen (at least from those three companies).

Allen has the rep as a BF Fender specialist so I would go with him personally. His iron is excellent (Heyboer and Magnetic Components). Mission has the rep for Tweed though I think.

[Bear]

But if a kit may interest you, Weber, Mission Allen all make pretty good blackface kits that may help you out here.

Mission does BF kits? That's a pretty well kept secret on their site, then.

[selloutrr]

I rebuilt a 66 Princeton reverb a couple xmas ago. I used reissue iron from tubesandmore.com. Cts pots, sprague caps and jj can caps. I tried several tone caps i went with mojo oil caps. They sound very smooth if I was to build it today I'd use the sozo blue reissue caps, clones of the original fender caps. I used a reissue reverb pan from angela's.

[Bob-I]

I can't talk highly enough about the oversized power transformer from Allen amps, TP25.

I built the same amp a few months ago and I love it. I used the Allen PT and chassis, Mercury components Deluxe OT from Triode Electronics on ebay. The resistors are 1W Xicon CF, tone and blocking caps 6PS series ODs from tubesandmore.com. I used a Mojotone cabinet with a 12" Warehousespeakers.com Brittish lead speaker.

That covers the major compoments I used. Good luck with the project.

[Andy Le Blanc]

dito on the keep it simple.....

At it most basic it's one or two gain stages around the tones and volume,
depends on the configuration, then you have a split load or cathodyne inverter.
The power side is a push pull and more determined by the tube type you choose.
They're all the same really, different trannies and tubes but the configuration
is all the same.

You can build damn near anything on a flat sheet of whatever for around
three times the cost of the iron using terminal strips.

store.triodestore.com/

has $75 transformer bundles

[MichaelDrakeSmith]

Thanks everyone for the input.

[MichaelDrakeSmith]

Does anyone have any experience with the Weber 6A14 combo kit? It's the Fender Pinceton reverb model. I've been looking all over the web. I heard one that sounded great on youtube, but I've also heard that they use some cheap parts. I've been using the Weber parts list, from their site, to create my own scratch built version, using input from everyone (including this site) that i can get it from.
The complete weber combo kit costs $585. My scratch built parts list is up to $682 without a speaker and all of the input plugs and a few other small parts.
What are the cheap parts that Weber is using? I'm wondering if it would be more reasonable to buy the weber kit, then upgrade the lower quality parts?
Thanks

[mcrracer]

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.

[martin manning]

Have you looked at Mojo's BFPR kits?

[MichaelDrakeSmith]

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.