I'd probably go one step higher and do a turret board if you want to experiment. A bit more mod friendly than PCB, and the traces will never fail if you're new and overheat something - can't imagine the PCB is very rugid, but that's not the point. $300 for any amp kit let alone a 2204 is damn cheap.
@@LateNightYinzer it's not a kit for $300, you only get the circuit board for $300. After you have the circuit board you will need a metal chassis, tubes, head cabinetry and speaker cabinet and a speaker so your gonna have to spend at least $500+ more to get it proper.
@@GunsandGuitars I too am a bass player who plays guitar. While no one could ever accuse me of playing a bass like a frustrated guitarist, I have had bass players accuse me of playing guitar like a frustrated bass player..... .....which makes me a below average guitarist.... However, what separates me from all the other below average guitarists, is I’m a bass player.....and I know when _not to play_ :-)
I just bought a kit! I've built multiple guitars before and I've always wanted to get into amp building. This is perfect for beginners who don't know where to start.
You have the coolest YT channel! I have learned so much from you! I started playing guitar in '91, and up till last year I was afraid to do any work to my guitars besides change strings hahahaha.... since January of '20, I have modded, painted, and rebuilt 13 guitars and have built 3 from scratch (no kits)! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience! Looks like I might have to also try building an amp!!! Thanks again for all the inspiration and instruction!
I know it's been a while, and I appreciate the content. When you're building, considering putting together a variable output transformer or a voltage soak (using a lightbulb) so you can test for shorts and whatnot before you throw full 120v power at a build. Not sure if you've done that since. The bulb method is way cheaper, and it will literally light up very brightly if you have open shorts like that while protecting the equipment.
No kidding. I just built a JCM800 MV. Already had the transformers, chokes, chassis and tubes, still spent almost $200. Pots, knobs, Cliff jacks, turret board, filter caps, etc., etc. - it all adds up.
The circuit board is $300 and the chassis is probably$175 and the cabinet is probably$175 add tubes and speaker at least $100s piece for those so it's around $900 after all it's said and done 🤷♀️🤔✌️
@@AuntAlnico4 circuit board is not 300 bucks. That's ridiculous. It would cost like 10 bucks to do a 1 off prototype of a pcb. Maybe another 50 at the most to populate it.
KLD fills the void in providing a large variety of amp kits that allow studio, jam and stage micd options. The fact they sell an Ampeg Portaflex clone is awesome. In my experience All my 100 watt mesa and marshall amps Even at large clubs or out door gigs. Never turned up past 4 or 5. Actually sound guys got pissed about being too loud. So these 25 watt kit amps let you expand your amp collection. Ive built tube amps from old tv parts other kits. Fun projects that sound awesome. Gonna make several of these KLD kits. Lots of room for modding. If you look around tubes can be found for reasonable prices.
My two had 6550 and sounded like an 800 should sound, like most sold in US, Canada and Japan. El34s are a slightly different flavor. 6L6 is interesting, would like to compare. He should make note of them. But with that guitar how can you know what your hearing? Should use a normal guitar for this.
Looking at the kit on their website they say the kit can be biased for el34’s,6L6’s, kt88’s, etc. So it’s really up to whatever the builder wants to do.
Any tube guitar amp, 50 Watts or more, makes a perfect bass amp, specially in the studio. Might still need a bass speaker cab for maximum range. Cool vid !
NEVER plug a bass into a guitar speaker. Amps are fine as far as I know, but guitar speakers are not designed for the low frequencies and it will kill the speaker cones.
@@SlimeyGuitarStrings you're kinda right, but i wouldn't say "never". I wouldn't worry to much about that unless you're playing with the amp cranked! At small gig/recording volumes most speakers will do just fine handling those bass frequencies, infact a lot of popular guitar speakers these days were originally designed as bass speakers, Celestion Greenbacks come to mind as one example. If you dial them in well, a lot of guitar ams work fantastically for recording bass
Yes indeed! I love them for recording as they sound great when dialed in and they're often far cheaper than the super high headroom tube amp bass equivalent
The original Ampeg B-15 is what we need a kit for. I think it was the first small combo that really held it's own, and add a spring reverb and it would be great for blues guitar too. It doesn't hurt that I already have the cab 😁 Trinity has a cool ampeg kit but it's over 700 bucks.
A very cool mod I learned from my Laney Gh100TI (which is almost a JCM800 circuit) is the resonance switch. It doubles the negative feedback by putting another 100K resistor in parallel with the existing one resulting in a tighter chest bumping low end.
Thanks for reviewing this and telling us about your experiences; This is a very valuable reference for a lot of us. That said, I don't think this sounds anything like a JCM...this is very fuzzy sounding and there's none of that Marshall thump.
That's exactly what I thought. I didn't want to comment that, but since you did, I can't agree more. This vid should be titled: "how I wasted $300" lol
@ 4:15 is why the old school techs in my old radar repair shop had a pet name for l the first time we applied power to a newly repaired component of our radar set. We called it the Smoke Test, or Smoke Check. It may also be used as a verb. Example: "Did you Smoke Test that ASR Transmitter yet?" The past tense would be: "Why, yes, I Smoke Checked it this morning before the Air Traffic Controllers arrived to break it again." Finally, a message from the National Dyslexic Bass Players Foundation: "Dyslexic Bass Players Untie!!! Or just swap those two wires and Smoke Check it again." Thank you very much.
Just built a kld jcm kit the one in the link but the link took me to the kit with the board and components separate unlike the board you got components all soldered. .... Well I built the version that needs components soldered on the board and wasn't expecting it to even work but it works and quiet. Thanks for a great find 👍
That’s awesome man! Sorry the link was for the wrong product, but great job hand wiring your first kit! I’m about ready to hand wire my first kits. Very exciting, and I’m stoked to hear your success story.
Not to be contradictory, but with a 20 watt Jet City head I was buried in the mix with my band, I wound up having to borrow a head to get through the gig. It kinda depends on who you play with, I suspect.
First off, the pickup configuration in that strat is beyond cool. Lovely playing! The pushed clean sound of that amp is really nice--kinda like a plexi. The overdrive doesn't scream jcm800 to me, but it sounds REALLY good. It reminds me of a JTM45 with a little more tightness and gain. Excellent vid. I want one....
When I saw this vid come up I was thinking how it would be great when this company makes a bass amp kit, but in the meantime Dan will let me know how these kits are holding up. I remember the Fender clone and have been hoping for a bass kit since then. It's great to hear about the quality components and that you say their service is awesome. It's so great that they are going to be designing a bass amp kit!!! Can't wait!!!
I like how you play your minor 3rds. Going to give that fingering a go. Great video, thanks for the review. An inspiration for me to build my own tube amp.
Yes, a bass amp kit is something I have been wanting to find for some time. The pricing on the full valve bass amps are just out of reach for people like me so a kit would be ideal. Fortunately I believe that converting this kit would be relatively simple as the differences between guitar and bass amps are mostly in the pre-amp and gain sections. I would love it if they could engineer it to match the tone of the old Marshall 1992 Super Bass head - that would be perfect for some Motorhead style goodness. Especially since Marshall don't even seem to build bass amps any more. The cheapest bass valve amp (not hybrid) I could find out about is the Ampeg PF-20 T for £529. So if KLD could make a bass amp kit and stay below the £200 mark like they have with the kit in the video it could be a real winner.
There was alot of testing JCM800 output transformers and the ones that did not have cloth insulated wires were not as good with the overdriven tones ! The original transformer is highly recommended !
It has adjustable bias so you can use 6l6 or el34, 6v6, kt88, etc. but I believe the original Marshall JCMs in American shipped with 6l6 and were later changed to el34 to match the British version
So since it smoked, definitely check the caps and low value resistors. It's probably still working because they were bypass caps, or PSU regulation and there's just a smidge more noise than there would be. (I'm sure it's as quiet as you say, but something to do!)
When I was troubleshooting after I smoked it, I did check the resistance on the caps and they checked out. Someone else here mentioned that the smoke probably just came from the diodes and therefore didn’t affect anything else (I don’t know enough about this to know if that’s true or even makes sense) but I can’t find any damage and it definitely makes less noise than most other tube amps I’ve played on (part of that could be that I got a good set of tubes this time).
I haven’t seen these kits before. I just looked and the Bassman 25 looks very interesting too. I’ve been planning to build a jtm45 and the idea of a 25w is even better. A Bassman is very easy to convert to a jtm45, very similar, in fact they share a schematic it’s simple things like NFB that makes the difference.
I thumbs up ... but can't believe you didn't go el84s instead of 6l6. Since the tubes is one of the main things that get that marshall tone. Im still in awe that you even attempted. Good work .. longtime viewer here. B safe out on the road.
If I didn’t already have a tube amp I would get one of these. Nice chops btw. It’s pretty obvious you are a bass player. You have good timing with your bass notes when you play that funky stuff. It sounds pretty dope.
A 7025 is basically the same as a 12AX7 or ECC83, it's just a lower-noise equivalent, Fender use them a lot as the V1 in a Fender amp's preamp circuit.
About 4 years ago I bought the assembled Pilot 15H, used on eBay for under £90. The UK distributor was then selling off the rest of their stock so bought a new PVA18H, the handwired Marshall 18 clone, collected direct from their warehouse for only £165. Since then there has been no sign of them in the UK. I run a small festival where I provide backline for all the acts. I offer a VHT 12/20RT and these two heads plugged into a couple of mini stack of 1x12s. Plenty of volume to cope with a heavy handed drummer, and taking the XLR line outs direct into the PA they sound great. An AC15 style head would be interesting.
you cannot see what made smoke ? Maybe just a wire but check your "big" caps, if one has bubble or pointy head or anything not standard, change it (or if it's a resistor that looks brown/black/grey, change it also). It could save more issues in future :).
I actually bought a JCM 800 bass amp w/ two 4x12 cabinets in the early 1980s. At 100 watts, it wasn't enough oomph for bass, but at the time I wanted it to match guitar players' amps on stage. I was much happier with my 70s' Ampeg SVT and 8x10 cabinet. I still have the JCM 800 stack. I wish I still had the SVT. How about an SVT build?
I had something similar happen when I built a kit, your transformer will start to make noise (the one that smoked) over time. If ya tighten the screws on the transformer it will make the noise sort of go away. But when that thing smoked it did indeed to do damage.
Hey, I built one last year too, and it also arrived with the wrong faceplate.. so I cut mine like you did and carried on. Recently I reached out again to kld and they have a new person working there that totally understood what I meant and didn’t try to make me feel like an idiot like my previous conversation with kld. A week later the correct faceplate came in the mail! He helped me so much. Maybe reach out to them with a pic and I bet they’ll send you a new one too! Good luck
I built the older version of this amp last year. Had some major issues with the diagram (me dumb dumb with electrical) and it was the point to point version. Zapped myself a few times, effects loop and xlr don’t work, neither does the presence. But, the gain on mine sounds great, and it takes pedals like a dream. It was a great week long project, and it does work over a drummer, though the hum from my terribly twisted heater wires was pretty present.
I can't wait for that bass amp kit. I've been wanting to build one but haven't known where to start. I play 4 &5 string basses but just run (through pedals) DI into interface atm. Want a nice amp to practice though without booting my whole PC up and maybe something I can take with me without too much difficulty for rehearsals/small gigs.
Most amp kit should have a fuse protection design, JCM had 2 set of fuse protect main power and hot side, Can't believe such great amp kit even without a fuse.
Looks like the IEC (electric plug connector) socket is fused. I don't see a fuse for the secondary (high voltage side of the transformer) on the schematic. You could add one or two.
After going through the comments I'm almost tempted to put 6L6 tubes in it out of spite. xD I'm already cooking up ideas for a custom faceplate, enclosure, and matching cabinet. Wish me luck!
Nice!.. Whoa, two years on, guess I missed the Memo :) Tube Bass Amp? I Love it (did they MAKE one?) Only.. What would be the defining difference? I mean Lemmy used a Marshall right? What would make a BASS tube amp different? Here's my 2 cents (something i actually made)... This wasn't me building to purpose, just a dirt poor (things aint changed much) squatter wanting SOME kind of amp - started with this EL84(6BQ5) railway station Public Address thing with a 100v line out tap - I ditched the tube rectifiers (sorry, can't STAND 'em) put in their place an extra output stage, so I had double the power - then gradually changed the guts around, more gain, bigger opt (I kept the original one - liked the sound of it getting saturated) and lower coupling C's - THAT turned out tricky as HT(B+) volts would swing all over when i hit a note, so i stabilised Pre HT, used BIG HT(B+) CAps per stage, and a some grid stoppers to limit blocking disto4rtion, I was VERY fond of the thing, yet sadly it got destroyed with a bunch funky junk in a nasty ol' London Eviction.. I had a Vox for a while (a scrap chassis i found junked) and it was interesting how I'd made something similar - hot biased EL84s, only THIS thing gave WAY high HT volts, and the Tfr sweated from running basically 2 amps lol - I changed it for something more sensible rated, but I preferred the sound on crazy voltage (the NOS Tubes could take it - only 'NOS' as I got my stuff from junk and thrift shops!) i wouldn't reccomend trying it with today's tubes (if you do, try 'n keep G2 voltage below 350 huh?) I'd dig recreating this if i get some interest... ? Maybe with 6L6GC or EL34 as this would be a mite underpowered for most folks - sure sounded loud to me mind ;)
Dan you can build a tube bass amp for less than $300. Bassman AA864 or 5F6A. Transformers from classictone or weber speakers. Turret or eyelet board from Hoffman amps. Hoffman makes them and pretty good with shipping them fast.Tubes, caps, resistors, pots from tubedepot. Chassis from Angela instruments or you can watch uncle Doug on how he makes them
Since you're a Blues guy, you might want to check out an elusive Mack Heatseeker amp. Would really enjoy watching you do an amp build based on that circuitry
you should do their 5f6A bassman kit instead if you were wanting a bass amp? As far as the chassis goes and KLD making changes, good luck, I had the same issue with the 5F6A kit, neither the JCM or the bassman kit are new to their lineup. Also , your not the only one with a diagram issue, the bassman kit I had to contact them and point out they had the wrong diagrams uploaded for the 5F6A kit, Yes they sound great nice and quiet, but crank up that presence knob and you'll get a different story. Their "handwired"kts are the exact same just preassembled.
6L6 can typically dissipate 17W (30W as an absolute max). This is about the same power as goes into a driver. And the transformer is pretty small for 25W. I'd suggest the amplifier gives about 15W (with 10% of THD). Which is not a big difference.
Not many electronics components work well after they produce smoke, most of them do not even work at all. Did you check voltages after that? Were there any instructions on measuring anything after building it? What I mean is that if you remove the treble pot for example, I am guessing the amp would still "work", that is, it will produce sound but... Thanks in advance.
Always with the groovy funky riffs on bass and guitars . Ya got some hitters there bro lmao . Remind me of some tom merelo style . that bass playing flows into the guitar riffs lol. I mess with it a lot of fun !
It's a nice build but I ordered a kit from them before and they are not true clones. They don't use tube rectifiers and chokes so the sound is much different than an exact clone. Plus the jacks, pots, caps aren't the best quality. It's not an easy thing to build an amplifier and using low quality parts just complicates matters further. Also, the pre soldered wires were way too short to run them correctly. It's important to run the plate and grid wire properly to eliminate noise and the wire length just isn't there to do that.
Heck ya, review all that stuff… the only thing about that kit is normally Marshall JCM 800 has el34 power tubes. Not that the 6l6s sound bad, they sound great. I would love to build one of those. Wondering if they have a 50watt version though, then I’d have to build the head box for it too. No problem. Thank You GnG cool amp…
I bought one already assembled. I had to put tubes in it. I don't think it sounds like a Marshall. I have the JCM 900. But it is good amp for the price and would buy another amp from them.
Cool vid. Can’t say it sounds anything like a jcm 800 I’ve played or heard tho. I think this is like the first time I’ve heard anyone refer to a hrdx as sounding awesome :0)That said good on u for making a vid on it I’ll have to look kld up some more. Cheers!
I visited KLD's web site and reviewed a few of the options. I am not clear on the difference between the JCM25, the JCM25P and the JCM25PC. It appears that they might be only different in the level of pre-assembly but I am no confident enough to pull the trigger and order one. Can someone nail it down for/with me? I will definitely be using the kit as a test-bed for modifications.If it really does come with metal-film resistors then at least that is one mod I will not have to do. I bought a Black Heart many years ago. It was a pretty quiet amp to begin with but swapping out the stock resistors for metal film (just the input at the front of the signal chain), that amp could be turned all the way up (5W) and there was no hiss. It did hum, but that was solved by rerouting and (to take advantage of common mode rejection) twisting some of the signal wires together.
Hey Landon,cool little build ,while watching the video I though I'd call that amp "Texas Chainsaw 300" going off what you said about chainsaws and the build price , that was cool ,I'd need a big as magnifying glass to do that soldering job goog stuff, to see you bring it back to life after your little fire would have been cool n interesting..😎✌
Great video,amp sounds great even without some of its smoke ! Lol Probably something I would do.I liked the clean and the gain sound from it .A true test would be to use el34 tubes like the JVC comes with . Great job makes me wanna get a kit !
I notice that they offer a mother board for the Marshall Bluesbreaker, but not a complete kit. How does one build one? Can a complete hand wired amp be converted? Would the controls be different than on an original version?
So i built a marshall jcm 800 clone spent 960 dolalrs same price that my marshall vintage modern full stack with matching cabs costed new at guitar center the forst year the vintage modern came out. Best investment i ever made guitar amp purchase wise and i was only 12 when i bought it with lawnmowing money i saved up. But buolt the jcm800 last year like this one and soent close to a grand jaut on the head but it sounds exactly like a real jcm 800 sode by side. And my jcm 800 is a full 100 watt clone and i can switch it from 1watt,25 watts, 75watts and 100 watts all on one switch
Catastrophic failure survived? sold. I feel like this might be a good place to start with modding marshalls without destroying/ruining a vintage amp
Definitely practice on a kit first! Just like guitar building, don’t take the belt sander to your vintage strat without practicing on a kit!
I'd probably go one step higher and do a turret board if you want to experiment. A bit more mod friendly than PCB, and the traces will never fail if you're new and overheat something - can't imagine the PCB is very rugid, but that's not the point. $300 for any amp kit let alone a 2204 is damn cheap.
@@LateNightYinzer it's not a kit for $300, you only get the circuit board for $300.
After you have the circuit board you will need a metal chassis, tubes, head cabinetry and speaker cabinet and a speaker so your gonna have to spend at least $500+ more to get it proper.
@@AuntAlnico4 wow $300 for the pcb alone? That’s more expensive than an actual pcb from Marshall.
Bass player... I knew there was a reason I liked you. I'll be keeping an eye out for that bass amp kit. Thank you for getting that done.
🤘🎸 bass players unite!
Sign me up for one also!
Fun fact: Bass players are more fun to be around.
@@GunsandGuitars I too am a bass player who plays guitar. While no one could ever accuse me of playing a bass like a frustrated guitarist, I have had bass players accuse me of playing guitar like a frustrated bass player.....
.....which makes me a below average guitarist....
However, what separates me from all the other below average guitarists, is I’m a bass player.....and I know when _not to play_
:-)
The backbone of any band-bass
I just bought a kit! I've built multiple guitars before and I've always wanted to get into amp building. This is perfect for beginners who don't know where to start.
You have the coolest YT channel! I have learned so much from you! I started playing guitar in '91, and up till last year I was afraid to do any work to my guitars besides change strings hahahaha.... since January of '20, I have modded, painted, and rebuilt 13 guitars and have built 3 from scratch (no kits)! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience! Looks like I might have to also try building an amp!!! Thanks again for all the inspiration and instruction!
I know it's been a while, and I appreciate the content. When you're building, considering putting together a variable output transformer or a voltage soak (using a lightbulb) so you can test for shorts and whatnot before you throw full 120v power at a build. Not sure if you've done that since. The bulb method is way cheaper, and it will literally light up very brightly if you have open shorts like that while protecting the equipment.
Real tribal, do you have a preferred tutorial that you can share with us on how to build and then properly use this type of device? Thanks.
@@hotchow8766 Go and check Uncle Doug's channel!
Actually, this video should have been title “Build a JCM800 kit for less than $300 (after providing $200-300 in tubes and associated electronics)”
No kidding. I just built a JCM800 MV. Already had the transformers, chokes, chassis and tubes, still spent almost $200. Pots, knobs, Cliff jacks, turret board, filter caps, etc., etc. - it all adds up.
The circuit board is $300 and the chassis is probably$175 and the cabinet is probably$175 add tubes and speaker at least $100s piece for those so it's around $900 after all it's said and done 🤷♀️🤔✌️
@@AuntAlnico4 Where the hell are you paying $175 for a chassis?? You can get a chassis for $25-$65 tops.
@@franciscopelayo1648 or, get some thin sheet metal, then bend it into shape, and drill out the holes yourself...
@@AuntAlnico4 circuit board is not 300 bucks. That's ridiculous. It would cost like 10 bucks to do a 1 off prototype of a pcb. Maybe another 50 at the most to populate it.
KLD fills the void in providing a large variety of amp kits that allow studio, jam and stage micd options. The fact they sell an Ampeg Portaflex clone is awesome. In my experience All my 100 watt mesa and marshall amps Even at large clubs or out door gigs. Never turned up past 4 or 5. Actually sound guys got pissed about being too loud. So these 25 watt kit amps let you expand your amp collection. Ive built tube amps from old tv parts other kits. Fun projects that sound awesome. Gonna make several of these KLD kits. Lots of room for modding. If you look around tubes can be found for reasonable prices.
JCM 800'S have EL34 Power Tubes That is a very part of the Marshall sound.
I was thinking the same thing... EL34's are where that Marshall sound come from
or 6550s
My two had 6550 and sounded like an 800 should sound, like most sold in US, Canada and Japan. El34s are a slightly different flavor. 6L6 is interesting, would like to compare. He should make note of them. But with that guitar how can you know what your hearing? Should use a normal guitar for this.
@@deanallen927 I been looking for one with 6550s for the longest with no luck, might have my amp tech replace one of mine that has el34s with 6550s
Looking at the kit on their website they say the kit can be biased for el34’s,6L6’s, kt88’s, etc. So it’s really up to whatever the builder wants to do.
This looks great. I'm definitely going to order one.
I was definitely blown away by it
Same here
@@Bruh-bx9mh I think we all were !
Any tube guitar amp, 50 Watts or more, makes a perfect bass amp, specially in the studio. Might still need a bass speaker cab for maximum range.
Cool vid !
NEVER plug a bass into a guitar speaker. Amps are fine as far as I know, but guitar speakers are not designed for the low frequencies and it will kill the speaker cones.
@@SlimeyGuitarStrings you're kinda right, but i wouldn't say "never".
I wouldn't worry to much about that unless you're playing with the amp cranked!
At small gig/recording volumes most speakers will do just fine handling those bass frequencies, infact a lot of popular guitar speakers these days were originally designed as bass speakers, Celestion Greenbacks come to mind as one example.
If you dial them in well, a lot of guitar ams work fantastically for recording bass
Yes indeed! I love them for recording as they sound great when dialed in and they're often far cheaper than the super high headroom tube amp bass equivalent
The original Ampeg B-15 is what we need a kit for. I think it was the first small combo that really held it's own, and add a spring reverb and it would be great for blues guitar too. It doesn't hurt that I already have the cab 😁 Trinity has a cool ampeg kit but it's over 700 bucks.
Ceriatone Aunt Peg.
I had one of those back in the day and I messed up and let it go...Magnificent amp
Not paying anything near that money for an amp with metal film resistors and cheap ass Mallory 150 caps.
A very cool mod I learned from my Laney Gh100TI (which is almost a JCM800 circuit) is the resonance switch.
It doubles the negative feedback by putting another 100K resistor in parallel with the existing one resulting in a tighter chest bumping low end.
Now that mods 4 me!
Thanks for reviewing this and telling us about your experiences; This is a very valuable reference for a lot of us. That said, I don't think this sounds anything like a JCM...this is very fuzzy sounding and there's none of that Marshall thump.
That's exactly what I thought. I didn't want to comment that, but since you did, I can't agree more. This vid should be titled: "how I wasted $300" lol
Yeees we want a video on the upgraded guitar! looove wiring hacks!
@ 4:15 is why the old school techs in my old radar repair shop had a pet name for l the first time we applied power to a newly repaired component of our radar set. We called it the Smoke Test, or Smoke Check. It may also be used as a verb. Example: "Did you Smoke Test that ASR Transmitter yet?" The past tense would be: "Why, yes, I Smoke Checked it this morning before the Air Traffic Controllers arrived to break it again." Finally, a message from the National Dyslexic Bass Players Foundation:
"Dyslexic Bass Players Untie!!! Or just swap those two wires and Smoke Check it again."
Thank you very much.
Just built a kld jcm kit the one in the link but the link took me to the kit with the board and components separate unlike the board you got components all soldered. .... Well I built the version that needs components soldered on the board and wasn't expecting it to even work but it works and quiet. Thanks for a great find 👍
That’s awesome man! Sorry the link was for the wrong product, but great job hand wiring your first kit! I’m about ready to hand wire my first kits. Very exciting, and I’m stoked to hear your success story.
Dan, is it possible to get the smoke back inside the amp?
😂💀
🤣
I think it looks better on the water.
Diy bass tube amp kit? YES, PLEASE! :)
Please. Do the guitar mods vid. I'd love to see what you've done.
Not to be contradictory, but with a 20 watt Jet City head I was buried in the mix with my band, I wound up having to borrow a head to get through the gig. It kinda depends on who you play with, I suspect.
Cant wait for the bass amp, you are doing gods work for us bassists
First off, the pickup configuration in that strat is beyond cool. Lovely playing! The pushed clean sound of that amp is really nice--kinda like a plexi. The overdrive doesn't scream jcm800 to me, but it sounds REALLY good. It reminds me of a JTM45 with a little more tightness and gain. Excellent vid. I want one....
When I saw this vid come up I was thinking how it would be great when this company makes a bass amp kit, but in the meantime Dan will let me know how these kits are holding up. I remember the Fender clone and have been hoping for a bass kit since then. It's great to hear about the quality components and that you say their service is awesome. It's so great that they are going to be designing a bass amp kit!!! Can't wait!!!
I like how you play your minor 3rds. Going to give that fingering a go. Great video, thanks for the review. An inspiration for me to build my own tube amp.
I just happened to search for this amp as you posted this video! Nice timing :D
Perfect! That’s good luck
Yes, a bass amp kit is something I have been wanting to find for some time. The pricing on the full valve bass amps are just out of reach for people like me so a kit would be ideal. Fortunately I believe that converting this kit would be relatively simple as the differences between guitar and bass amps are mostly in the pre-amp and gain sections. I would love it if they could engineer it to match the tone of the old Marshall 1992 Super Bass head - that would be perfect for some Motorhead style goodness. Especially since Marshall don't even seem to build bass amps any more.
The cheapest bass valve amp (not hybrid) I could find out about is the Ampeg PF-20 T for £529. So if KLD could make a bass amp kit and stay below the £200 mark like they have with the kit in the video it could be a real winner.
I’m guessing they are gonna go after ampeg, since they are typically the most popular tube bass amps. I was rooting for ashdown...
Hughes and Kettner from Germany made some lovely tube amps for bass around 10 years ago.
There was alot of testing JCM800 output transformers and the ones that did not have cloth insulated wires were not as good with the overdriven tones !
The original transformer is highly recommended !
FYI, Marshall JCM 800 uses EL 34’s , not 6L6’s.
It has adjustable bias so you can use 6l6 or el34, 6v6, kt88, etc. but I believe the original Marshall JCMs in American shipped with 6l6 and were later changed to el34 to match the British version
@@GunsandGuitars Very well. Thanks Brother
Great news on development of the bass amp! 🤞🏽👍🏽
There is a 20w JCM 800 now
So since it smoked, definitely check the caps and low value resistors. It's probably still working because they were bypass caps, or PSU regulation and there's just a smidge more noise than there would be. (I'm sure it's as quiet as you say, but something to do!)
When I was troubleshooting after I smoked it, I did check the resistance on the caps and they checked out. Someone else here mentioned that the smoke probably just came from the diodes and therefore didn’t affect anything else (I don’t know enough about this to know if that’s true or even makes sense) but I can’t find any damage and it definitely makes less noise than most other tube amps I’ve played on (part of that could be that I got a good set of tubes this time).
I haven’t seen these kits before. I just looked and the Bassman 25 looks very interesting too. I’ve been planning to build a jtm45 and the idea of a 25w is even better. A Bassman is very easy to convert to a jtm45, very similar, in fact they share a schematic it’s simple things like NFB that makes the difference.
I would love to see you review a hi-gain KLD amp if they have one. Great video as usual, thanks for being you .
Thanks michael!
I thumbs up ... but can't believe you didn't go el84s instead of 6l6. Since the tubes is one of the main things that get that marshall tone. Im still in awe that you even attempted. Good work .. longtime viewer here. B safe out on the road.
Do you mean el34’s? I could have done that (although the original American JCM 800s had 6l6). But you can’t swap 6l6 for el84 that I’m aware of.
If I didn’t already have a tube amp I would get one of these.
Nice chops btw. It’s pretty obvious you are a bass player. You have good timing with your bass notes when you play that funky stuff. It sounds pretty dope.
A 7025 is basically the same as a 12AX7 or ECC83, it's just a lower-noise equivalent, Fender use them a lot as the V1 in a Fender amp's preamp circuit.
Woah this project is so sick! Thanks for showing this to me :)
About 4 years ago I bought the assembled Pilot 15H, used on eBay for under £90. The UK distributor was then selling off the rest of their stock so bought a new PVA18H, the handwired Marshall 18 clone, collected direct from their warehouse for only £165. Since then there has been no sign of them in the UK. I run a small festival where I provide backline for all the acts. I offer a VHT 12/20RT and these two heads plugged into a couple of mini stack of 1x12s. Plenty of volume to cope with a heavy handed drummer, and taking the XLR line outs direct into the PA they sound great. An AC15 style head would be interesting.
This looks great, I think you did a great job👍🏽Another great work Dan, can’t wait to see more!
Thanks Tracy!
you cannot see what made smoke ? Maybe just a wire but check your "big" caps, if one has bubble or pointy head or anything not standard, change it (or if it's a resistor that looks brown/black/grey, change it also). It could save more issues in future :).
Bought a wangs 2204HW for $800 free shipping, did a JEL mod as well as a SIR #36 mod…nails that slash AFD tone, never looked back
I love this channel! You always find ways to convince me to part with my money!
I thought I was convincing you of ways to save money 🤦♂️💀
@@GunsandGuitars I guess both things are true. I hadn't really considered building an amp before. It's so affordable how can I not though?
The amps shown at 15:17 has the wattage incorrect on most amps as 2-6L6/el34 tubes cannot put out 15watts but 50 watts !
Bass amp kit customer here. Looking forward to it.
Heck yeah!
Any time you work on an amp you should have a current limiter. Easy to make with hardware store parts.
I can't wait for that bass kit! Hopefully that wasn't just a tease
Thanks for doing these Dan, really helpful.
I actually bought a JCM 800 bass amp w/ two 4x12 cabinets in the early 1980s. At 100 watts, it wasn't enough oomph for bass, but at the time I wanted it to match guitar players' amps on stage. I was much happier with my 70s' Ampeg SVT and 8x10 cabinet. I still have the JCM 800 stack. I wish I still had the SVT. How about an SVT build?
I cant wait for the bass kit
Cant wait for the bass amp, hope it's gonna be like an ampeg
I had something similar happen when I built a kit, your transformer will start to make noise (the one that smoked) over time. If ya tighten the screws on the transformer it will make the noise sort of go away. But when that thing smoked it did indeed to do damage.
Hey, I built one last year too, and it also arrived with the wrong faceplate.. so I cut mine like you did and carried on. Recently I reached out again to kld and they have a new person working there that totally understood what I meant and didn’t try to make me feel like an idiot like my previous conversation with kld. A week later the correct faceplate came in the mail! He helped me so much. Maybe reach out to them with a pic and I bet they’ll send you a new one too! Good luck
I built the older version of this amp last year. Had some major issues with the diagram (me dumb dumb with electrical) and it was the point to point version. Zapped myself a few times, effects loop and xlr don’t work, neither does the presence. But, the gain on mine sounds great, and it takes pedals like a dream. It was a great week long project, and it does work over a drummer, though the hum from my terribly twisted heater wires was pretty present.
I can't wait for that bass amp kit. I've been wanting to build one but haven't known where to start. I play 4 &5 string basses but just run (through pedals) DI into interface atm. Want a nice amp to practice though without booting my whole PC up and maybe something I can take with me without too much difficulty for rehearsals/small gigs.
Most amp kit should have a fuse protection design, JCM had 2 set of fuse protect main power and hot side, Can't believe such great amp kit even without a fuse.
Looks like the IEC (electric plug connector) socket is fused. I don't see a fuse for the secondary (high voltage side of the transformer) on the schematic. You could add one or two.
I would also like to add that the JCM PC doesn't come pre-soldered. If you want the pre-built board you would want to buy the JCM P
Oh hey, I just got their kit to make a Vox AC15!!
I would LOVE to get a kit for the early Ampeg B15
Awesome dude!
Great Vid
Yeah man would love an update video of the C&G guitar!
All smiles, got several kld amps..gt30hk, gt15hk,cpl 5 watts, 18 watt tmb.
Yongdong Pan is very nice guy. Bought 20? Rev tank / driver brd sets too
After going through the comments I'm almost tempted to put 6L6 tubes in it out of spite. xD
I'm already cooking up ideas for a custom faceplate, enclosure, and matching cabinet. Wish me luck!
Nice!.. Whoa, two years on, guess I missed the Memo :) Tube Bass Amp? I Love it (did they MAKE one?) Only.. What would be the defining difference? I mean Lemmy used a Marshall right? What would make a BASS tube amp different? Here's my 2 cents (something i actually made)...
This wasn't me building to purpose, just a dirt poor (things aint changed much) squatter wanting SOME kind of amp - started with this EL84(6BQ5) railway station Public Address thing with a 100v line out tap - I ditched the tube rectifiers (sorry, can't STAND 'em) put in their place an extra output stage, so I had double the power - then gradually changed the guts around, more gain, bigger opt (I kept the original one - liked the sound of it getting saturated) and lower coupling C's - THAT turned out tricky as HT(B+) volts would swing all over when i hit a note, so i stabilised Pre HT, used BIG HT(B+) CAps per stage, and a some grid stoppers to limit blocking disto4rtion, I was VERY fond of the thing, yet sadly it got destroyed with a bunch funky junk in a nasty ol' London Eviction..
I had a Vox for a while (a scrap chassis i found junked) and it was interesting how I'd made something similar - hot biased EL84s, only THIS thing gave WAY high HT volts, and the Tfr sweated from running basically 2 amps lol - I changed it for something more sensible rated, but I preferred the sound on crazy voltage (the NOS Tubes could take it - only 'NOS' as I got my stuff from junk and thrift shops!) i wouldn't reccomend trying it with today's tubes (if you do, try 'n keep G2 voltage below 350 huh?)
I'd dig recreating this if i get some interest... ?
Maybe with 6L6GC or EL34 as this would be a mite underpowered for most folks - sure sounded loud to me mind ;)
Dan you can build a tube bass amp for less than $300. Bassman AA864 or 5F6A. Transformers from classictone or weber speakers. Turret or eyelet board from Hoffman amps. Hoffman makes them and pretty good with shipping them fast.Tubes, caps, resistors, pots from tubedepot. Chassis from Angela instruments or you can watch uncle Doug on how he makes them
Since you're a Blues guy, you might want to check out an elusive Mack Heatseeker amp. Would really enjoy watching you do an amp build based on that circuitry
you should do their 5f6A bassman kit instead if you were wanting a bass amp? As far as the chassis goes and KLD making changes, good luck, I had the same issue with the 5F6A kit, neither the JCM or the bassman kit are new to their lineup. Also , your not the only one with a diagram issue, the bassman kit I had to contact them and point out they had the wrong diagrams uploaded for the 5F6A kit, Yes they sound great nice and quiet, but crank up that presence knob and you'll get a different story. Their "handwired"kts are the exact same just preassembled.
Marshalls do not use 6L6s. They use el34s
6L6 can typically dissipate 17W (30W as an absolute max). This is about the same power as goes into a driver. And the transformer is pretty small for 25W. I'd suggest the amplifier gives about 15W (with 10% of THD). Which is not a big difference.
Not many electronics components work well after they produce smoke, most of them do not even work at all. Did you check voltages after that? Were there any instructions on measuring anything after building it? What I mean is that if you remove the treble pot for example, I am guessing the amp would still "work", that is, it will produce sound but...
Thanks in advance.
dont know if its your KLD amp or the seymour duncan pickup but the sounds at 12:44 are off the freakin planet. i need that sound bro.
Yes we want to see the updates.
Really cool stuff... one question, though: doesn’t a JCM800 have EL34 power tubes? Love your content.
Yeah, actually. But the 900 iirc and some versions of jcm2000 come with 6l6 stock. So, somewhat close I guess
Always with the groovy funky riffs on bass and guitars . Ya got some hitters there bro lmao . Remind me of some tom merelo style . that bass playing flows into the guitar riffs lol. I mess with it a lot of fun !
It's a nice build but I ordered a kit from them before and they are not true clones. They don't use tube rectifiers and chokes so the sound is much different than an exact clone. Plus the jacks, pots, caps aren't the best quality. It's not an easy thing to build an amplifier and using low quality parts just complicates matters further. Also, the pre soldered wires were way too short to run them correctly. It's important to run the plate and grid wire properly to eliminate noise and the wire length just isn't there to do that.
I would love a 1w plexi and jcm 800
I rented an sc20h and it was waaay to loud for the living room and the sweet spotof these amps are pretty high
Cool kit Dan.
Thanks David!
Not really a JCM800 with 6L6 power tubes. I'd sure love that tube bass amp kit! I'll keep my eye out for it
An Ampeg B15 kit would be sick
Seriously! I think they are designing it based on an ampeg portaflex
I miss my little vox all tube 4 watt. Since I own an apartment it's mostly headphone playing.
I am confused as to not using EL34’s?.. Were you offered the option of tube sockets when you ordered?
No, but the amp has adjustable bias, so you can run 6v6 or el34’s if you want to
Oh very interessting. What are the specs/voltage ratings for the Power Transformer?
Dan, This is amazing! I don't think I would have the guts to build this. Great job!
Hey you know that a jcm 800 is a copy of a fender bassman with a few more gain stage. A bassman is and was intended for bass😊
Heck ya, review all that stuff… the only thing about that kit is normally Marshall JCM 800 has el34 power tubes. Not that the 6l6s sound bad, they sound great. I would love to build one of those. Wondering if they have a 50watt version though, then I’d have to build the head box for it too. No problem. Thank You GnG cool amp…
Agree on the EH 7025's...my favorite new tube fore tone
Wonder if there are easy hot rod mods that they could change from the factory for an additional fee
I bought one already assembled. I had to put tubes in it. I don't think it sounds like a Marshall. I have the JCM 900. But it is good amp for the price and would buy another amp from them.
This amp sounds nothing like a jcm800 in this video. So I feelu
Cool vid. Can’t say it sounds anything like a jcm 800 I’ve played or heard tho. I think this is like the first time I’ve heard anyone refer to a hrdx as sounding awesome :0)That said good on u for making a vid on it I’ll have to look kld up some more. Cheers!
We need more bass on this channel!
Guitars + guns = LIFE! 💪🏻
It passed the burn-in test.
I honestly wonder if that had any effect on the tone.
To get a sweet-sounding amp you have to nearly fry it first, lol.
Would like to see what u did to your strat.wiring, whole 9.Thx
When has Marshall ever used 6L6 power tubes? Sounds more like a Fender design
Power amp tubes have no influence on sound, only the circuit does
I visited KLD's web site and reviewed a few of the options. I am not clear on the difference between the JCM25, the JCM25P and the JCM25PC. It appears that they might be only different in the level of pre-assembly but I am no confident enough to pull the trigger and order one. Can someone nail it down for/with me?
I will definitely be using the kit as a test-bed for modifications.If it really does come with metal-film resistors then at least that is one mod I will not have to do. I bought a Black Heart many years ago. It was a pretty quiet amp to begin with but swapping out the stock resistors for metal film (just the input at the front of the signal chain), that amp could be turned all the way up (5W) and there was no hiss. It did hum, but that was solved by rerouting and (to take advantage of common mode rejection) twisting some of the signal wires together.
Hey Landon,cool little build ,while watching the video I though I'd call that amp "Texas Chainsaw 300" going off what you said about chainsaws and the build price , that was cool ,I'd need a big as magnifying glass to do that soldering job goog stuff, to see you bring it back to life after your little fire would have been cool n interesting..😎✌
I saw it on Reverb the base kit and it comes with the chassis
can't wait for that bass amp kit! hope its ampeg or orange
next time, include also which speaker you're using, that's important too (more important than the audio interface!)
Great video,amp sounds great even without some of its smoke ! Lol Probably something I would do.I liked the clean and the gain sound from it .A true test would be to use el34 tubes like the JVC comes with . Great job makes me wanna get a kit !
I notice that they offer a mother board for the Marshall Bluesbreaker, but not a complete kit. How does one build one? Can a complete hand wired amp be converted? Would the controls be different than on an original version?
So i built a marshall jcm 800 clone spent 960 dolalrs same price that my marshall vintage modern full stack with matching cabs costed new at guitar center the forst year the vintage modern came out. Best investment i ever made guitar amp purchase wise and i was only 12 when i bought it with lawnmowing money i saved up. But buolt the jcm800 last year like this one and soent close to a grand jaut on the head but it sounds exactly like a real jcm 800 sode by side. And my jcm 800 is a full 100 watt clone and i can switch it from 1watt,25 watts, 75watts and 100 watts all on one switch