Advice for newbies

[kiwibilt]

Howdy fellow tonefreaks
I want to build my first amp. Cant afford the real vintage gear, so I figured I would build it myself. I've ordered Morgan Jones books so I understand the how & the why & will build a simple 5F1 circuit first. I will be building my own bespoke cabinet & had planned on using a larger Celestion G12N as the amp will be used for both a test bed for a couple of Strats I will be building & also blowing harp through & will more often not be used at the point of breakup or beyond.
Any tips on 5F1 mods and/or speaker selection would be greatly appreciated, as well as any local sources (NZ or Oz) of quality components or NOS.
My next amps will be ~
Marshall SV20H clone or 20 watt JTM45, 1959SLP clone & 212 upright enclose with Greenbacks
65 Fender Deluxe Reverb clone (AB764) with Cezar Diaz mods & 15' remote cabinet
Trinity Amps 20 watt Dumble ODS clone (cabinet/speakers ?)
I'm also looking for local sources of Alder Strat bodies & Vintage style necks (21 frets). I REALLY like the neck on my SG so was thinking of trying a Maple V Neck with a 12" radius first & then a Rosewood or Ebony thin C shape with the same. I can re radius necks to a common radius, but have never tried compound radii's. Would a 10 through 12 compound radius be better ? I know Musikraft make great necks & can shape Custom radi'i.
Im sold on Klein pups for the Maple Strat as Im loooking for more of a clean Fender tone to early Jimmy Vaughn distortion, but for the Rosewood Strat, I'm after Hendrix/SRV...any suggestions ?
Thanks in advance for any constructive advice & please humour the newbie...

[Cdog]

Hey dude, welcome to the forum.
Building Amps is fun, so long as it's done safely. Pretty easy to die poking around in a tube amp if you aren't careful. Rob Robinette's site is a great resource for fender amp projects, including the champ.
https://robrobinette.com/Amp_Stuff.htm

[kiwibilt]

Cheers Cdog & thanks for the welcome & the link & rest assured mate, I have a healthy respect for voltage & amps lol.
I can wire a car or a house in 1/2 a day, but never really got into electronics, which is why I scored some text books & will start with a simple circuit.
Looking for 240v Mercury Magnetic transformers & a chassis first I think. Know anyone who has used the Chinese turret boards on ebay ? They appear to use quality components ?

[Slowy]

Cheers Cdog & thanks for the welcome & the link & rest assured mate, I have a healthy respect for voltage & amps lol.
I can wire a car or a house in 1/2 a day, but never really got into electronics, which is why I scored some text books & will start with a simple circuit.
Looking for 240v Mercury Magnetic transformers & a chassis first I think. Know anyone who has used the Chinese turret boards on ebay ? They appear to use quality components ?

You have serious ambitions! Welcome to the Forum. There's several people here who have the expertise to offer useful counsel. The rest of us will fill our popcorn bowls and settle back to ride along. Could be fun. Best of luck!

[MikeC]

Howdy fellow tonefreaks
I want to build my first amp. Cant afford the real vintage gear, so I figured I would build it myself. I've ordered Morgan Jones books so I understand the how & the why & will build a simple 5F1 circuit first. I will be building my own bespoke cabinet & had planned on using a larger Celestion G12N as the amp will be used for both a test bed for a couple of Strats I will be building & also blowing harp through & will more often not be used at the point of breakup or beyond.
Any tips on 5F1 mods and/or speaker selection would be greatly appreciated, as well as any local sources (NZ or Oz) of quality components or NOS.
My next amps will be ~
Marshall SV20H clone or 20 watt JTM45, 1959SLP clone & 212 upright enclose with Greenbacks
65 Fender Deluxe Reverb clone (AB764) with Cezar Diaz mods & 15' remote cabinet
Trinity Amps 20 watt Dumble ODS clone (cabinet/speakers ?)
I'm also looking for local sources of Alder Strat bodies & Vintage style necks (21 frets). I REALLY like the neck on my SG so was thinking of trying a Maple V Neck with a 12" radius first & then a Rosewood or Ebony thin C shape with the same. I can re radius necks to a common radius, but have never tried compound radii's. Would a 10 through 12 compound radius be better ? I know Musikraft make great necks & can shape Custom radi'i.
Im sold on Klein pups for the Maple Strat as Im loooking for more of a clean Fender tone to early Jimmy Vaughn distortion, but for the Rosewood Strat, I'm after Hendrix/SRV...any suggestions ?
Thanks in advance for any constructive advice & please humour the newbie...

I went down a similar path to you for the same reason. I am a qualified technician but had virtually zero experience with valve amps. I suggest you firstly build a light bulb current limiter used for first time power ups & testing (a must IMHO), 2. get at least one decent multi-meter, 3. Build a kit for your first amp - they come with great instructions and make a great foundation for learning/getting used to working with lethal voltages. Good luck!

[rickenbackerkid]

I recommend a kit for the first amp. Just to get your hand in, before you go full noise. The Mercury Trannies are supposed to be fabulous, but I'd suggest Hammond to start with - they are excellent and like 1/3rd the price. Available from element14, along with all the caps and resistors you'll need.

As MikeC says, a current limiter, good Multimeter with clip on leads are essential safety items.

[MikeC]

I recommend a kit for the first amp. Just to get your hand in, before you go full noise. The Mercury Trannies are supposed to be fabulous, but I'd suggest Hammond to start with - they are excellent and like 1/3rd the price. Available from element14, along with all the caps and resistors you'll need.

As MikeC says, a current limiter, good Multimeter with clip on leads are essential safety items.

+1 for Hammond transformers.

[GrantB]

I recommend a kit for the first amp. Just to get your hand in, before you go full noise. The Mercury Trannies are supposed to be fabulous, but I'd suggest Hammond to start with - they are excellent and like 1/3rd the price. Available from element14, along with all the caps and resistors you'll need.

As MikeC says, a current limiter, good Multimeter with clip on leads are essential safety items.

+1 for Hammond transformers.

+2 - including their OT's

[Marshmallow]

Cheers Cdog & thanks for the welcome & the link & rest assured mate, I have a healthy respect for voltage & amps lol.
I can wire a car or a house in 1/2 a day, but never really got into electronics, which is why I scored some text books & will start with a simple circuit.
Looking for 240v Mercury Magnetic transformers & a chassis first I think. Know anyone who has used the Chinese turret boards on ebay ? They appear to use quality components ?

As for the turretboard
I've been using the 2mm Fr4 board for my builds. The chinese ones should also be okay if you can't be bothered making your own.

[Marshmallow]

I recommend a kit for the first amp. Just to get your hand in, before you go full noise. The Mercury Trannies are supposed to be fabulous, but I'd suggest Hammond to start with - they are excellent and like 1/3rd the price. Available from element14, along with all the caps and resistors you'll need.

As MikeC says, a current limiter, good Multimeter with clip on leads are essential safety items.

+1 for Hammond transformers.

+2 - including their OT's

+3 - as well as the OT. Although, mercury not necessarily better than Hammond, just different.

[kiwibilt]

Thanks all for your comments & advice
I'm' "kinda" going to build a kit...with a few mods. I have schematics & layouts from Fender to Mojotone, will use the Mojotone Small Parts kit, a decent Turret style board, but...as I want to add a choke, I may have to make my own chassis. I want to use a Celestion C12N @ 8ohms, so need a larger output transformer. I also want to move the fuse & put an on/off switch in the faceplate & maybe follow Rob Robinettes mods & add some resistors to smooth out the signal path. Anyone done this before ?
Hey MikeC...are you qualified as an amp tech & if so, how did you become qualified ? Ive looked for courses through Udemy etc & even the analogue courses arent really audio related.
Thanks again...

[MikeC]

Thanks all for your comments & advice
I'm' "kinda" going to build a kit...with a few mods. I have schematics & layouts from Fender to Mojotone, will use the Mojotone Small Parts kit, a decent Turret style board, but...as I want to add a choke, I may have to make my own chassis. I want to use a Celestion C12N @ 8ohms, so need a larger output transformer. I also want to move the fuse & put an on/off switch in the faceplate & maybe follow Rob Robinettes mods & add some resistors to smooth out the signal path. Anyone done this before ?
Hey MikeC...are you qualified as an amp tech & if so, how did you become qualified ? Ive looked for courses through Udemy etc & even the analogue courses arent really audio related.
Thanks again...

I'm a qualified technician from 40 years ago with what was then "The New Zealand Post Office". As an NZPO telecommunications technician I did a four year "technicianship", with NZPO courses, exams and annual 9 week block courses at ATI (now AUT). I'm now also a "qualified" valve amp tech because I've built about a dozen amps from scratch, repaired many and am still alive . I'd be surprised if there were any amp tech courses available today.

[MikeC]

Cheers Cdog & thanks for the welcome & the link & rest assured mate, I have a healthy respect for voltage & amps lol.
I can wire a car or a house in 1/2 a day, but never really got into electronics, which is why I scored some text books & will start with a simple circuit.
Looking for 240v Mercury Magnetic transformers & a chassis first I think. Know anyone who has used the Chinese turret boards on ebay ? They appear to use quality components ?

As for the turretboard
I've been using the 2mm Fr4 board for my builds. The chinese ones should also be okay if you can't be bothered making your own.

Me too and I often build the boards myself. Also, many boards (e.g. Fender Blackface, Trinity) aren't available at all or are eyelet boards - I prefer turret boards to work with.

[kiwibilt]

MikeC
Lol...yeah, back in the day when apprenticeships were actually worth something. I did my Automotive Engineering apprenticeship in the late 70s early 80s & learned how to actually fix things, not just replace components...

[kiwibilt]

Here's a handy link to the RCA Receiving Tube Manual I just found. I must be turning into a nerd because this is fascinating lol. How your fingers/strings/pickups can alter the flow of millions of electrons to shape tone is akin to electrickery.

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-C ... l-1937.pdf