I am a Navy 2M (miniture and micro soldering) technician. May I recommend to your viewers cutting, tinning and shaping all your wire ends as you did at 8:28. Also, I would prep the pots, scrape or use eraser prior to installing. Tiny shavings could flake off and cause a short in your amp. Love the flux, flux is your friend when soldering. Clean job love it. Nice work.
My previous military 2M training shows through (USN). But it is important not to over assemble a project. MIL-SPEC assembly techniques are way cool, but Leo Fender assembled amps with much less precision and I am always amazed at how well his amps survive the decades of regular use.
+Deneteus I guess technically he is correct. Why not do the best job we can do though? It does not add time or much effort at all. Like I said. I enjoyed the video and the training.
After 25 years as an electrician for a day job, I would say the 120VAC is more dangerous. It grabs you and you can get "hung up" and die. The DC tends to toss you against the wall and burn your fingers. Momma got nailed with a cap I had reformed. I am positive I discharged it, but you know how they can be. Thank God it was not at the 400 v. My other tube power supplies are X-kits, and a Jap model with Jap versions of a 6L6. Luxman used the tube. It is a great unit too! reg E&I!
I've always wanted to build an amp from a kit. Going back to the 70's when people were doing that kind of thing a lot. I've been hesitant because I thought it was too complicated. This video showed me that it is a lot of detailed work, but that the kit comes with a solid set of instructions on how to get it done. Great video. Very well done.
I built one of these a few years ago. Great amp and fun to record with too. Not too sure what "mods" are in place from an original 5e3 but it sounds killer and very sensitive to the right hand. You can go from clean to "dirt" by playing harder. Just a fun amp and it's cool to point at it and say "I built that" and have your buddies be even more impressed.
Outstanding video. The assembly manual may be the most comprehensive manual I have ever seen produced. Not a big surprise though as Rob Hull always does outstanding work. I posted this on my facebook page. Tube Depot has been on my website for years as some folks here may already know. Great work!
For a tube regulated supply it is stable as bedrock 100,000 miles from a fault zone. You need a 5R4 low loss base rectifier for them and 6 6W6GTs. I use a Chatham JAN 5R4 in mine. The warm up delay is a feature, which I have incorporated into some of my own amp designs. A 6C30D works great. They delays are work off of heat which is really handy. I got my knuckles into that horribly placed B+ term in my mom's Supro 1624T in 1980 and I was hooked! zzt! I suppose I'll post my newest junk find.
I'm about to build my first 5F2a from scratch and have watched all of your videos. They are really well executed and very helpful. Tell Steve not to scratch his Les Paul with his car keys! ;-)
man what an inspiring video I really want to build one of these and a Marshall 18 watt .Was just starting to wonder what I would have to do to build my own amps.This stuff is fascinating to me.
Learned something very valuable watching this... tin the wires good, then use a blob of solder to fasten the wires to the tube pins. Trying to get two hands into that tiny space is nearly impossible, and extremely frustrating.
Nice work. Tidy lead dress too. Not a fan of the PCB though. I reckon the double sided boards and tracks introduce stray capacitances. I prefer thick gauge hookup wire instead.
I had absolutely no idea what was going on the entire time and I still watched the entire thing. I'm fascinated by your electronics ability. How long have you been tinkering with electronics and how much experience would I need to pull something like this off?
Hi, sorry to bother you Rob,, but with the 450V +B you get with the GZ34 and the 357V AC secondary on the large power transformer , what are those pour 6v6 idling at with the 250 ohm cathode bias resistor. The old 5e3 was using the same resistor value but with a 5y3 rectifier and 360V plate voltage, and it was allready running pretty hot.
Absolutely great video, however I don't understand why you need a ground switch when you have a three prong plug. Aground switch used to be for an old-fashioned plug to cut hum.
I am onto really cool old bridge that I can prototype with matching impedance ratios. I also own that Lambda in the background. I outgrew it and have 2 Gates 500 V 3A unregulated, and a 1200 V Fluke 3 A. The Lambda is on a curve tracer for matching tubes like nothing else can. You can kill yerfelf with the B+ or the 120 primary. That gives me 6 amps at 1000 volts with diodes for protection. 5E3 must be the most common kit amp. The parts are so so, but Fender bought low bid parts anyway.
Not a fan of the PCB or the speaker but after watching this and the 18watt & Jtm45+ videos i must say your solder joints are damn beautiful. Nice sheen to them meaning you used correct heat and speed, sometimes you see people doing these kits and most every solder joint is flat in colour caused by using incorrect heat and too much time which is bad because the joint can go cold over time. When people start these kits they really should buy a board and some turrets to practice getting their heat and soldering speed just right because if you haven't got the proper soldering skills you probably shouldn't go poking around in there trying to find a cold joint or other failure caused by faulty soldering.
I would lockwire/safety wire those 3 pots with .020" copper safety wire. Sometimes called .020" breakaway copper safety wire. Can be had at any aviation outlet. Red and black guarded switch covers have holes for that wire. One of many applications in a flight deck: A Nuclear Stores Consent switch. The weapons officer has to break the wire to lift the guard on the switch to arm nuclear stores. Special tools are not required for twisting .020" copper wire.
Hmm. My bad - I honestly thought the 5E3 was a tidbit more complex than the 5F1. But in that case, I'll have to have a go at the 5E3, it's so cool. Thanks for your insight.
I love how he starts the video with "great project to put together in an evening and an awesome little amp" followed immediately by "remember, the voltages inside the amp will kill you! :)"
Notice at 9.42, speaker magically changed to a jensen Neo 12-100, (98.4db vs 94.6db for the Jensen Mod 12-50) that should bump up output.. Wow nice build. That PT looks huge.. With the supplied GZ34 rectifier what voltages are you running the jj 6v6 at ?. I understand that the jj's can take huge plate voltages and run more current than any other 6v6.. ..I see in the manual that feedback is mentioned. Are you running the amp with a NFB from output back into PI ??
@TubeDepotTV Man thanks..good luck with that 35w iron.I bought one from radio shack.P O SHIT.I can solder it s just not for me..i just built my start with custom shop pick ups and us pots wuth a blender today..Just not my thing..GREAT JOB on these amps by the way..NO JUst build me an ampeg SVT for 300 and I'm ALL In!!!
I see the link for the new power transformer that is included in the kit is the deluxe reverb transformer from classictone. Good move.. This one is rated at 330VAC/120mA compared to the previous one that had around 355VAC/120mA rating. The 330VAC is perfect for a 5y3 to get a cooler bias and more vintage correct PI/preamp voltages. Also include a 12ay7 instead of a 12ax7 in V1. I did calculate the idle dissipation of the 355VAC//250ohm combination and it was ~18.9 watt pr tube.. yeicksss
@TubeDepotTV I'm afraid we're out of thermonuclear proximity fuses, but we still have hallf tin of play- doh, hot glue, a nail clipper, about six feet of bootlace and a bottle of tabasco... ;)
Taken from Wiktionary: Capitalize 1. In writing or editing, to write in capital letters, in upper case, either the entire word or text, or just the initial letter(s) thereof.
The lacquring og tweed has many variations. Some like to like to use Shellack 50/50 with alcahole. Others like to use Nitrocellousa lacquer (old scool). When you lacqure the cab (spray) What kind of lacquring do you use? - best from Iceland
hi ! why you use gromets on tubes sockets screws inside metal box ? the screws are in contact to metal box and ground on outside box , have some isolation beetwen primary ground and secundary ground? tnx you
i'd throw out the rubber tube sockets and use some ceramic ones. some of the old amps i've rebuilt you can cut those rubber sockets and find carbon tracing burnt through them.. cost a couple bucks more but no more smoking tubes... (well unless your bias is way out....)
Hot rodded Champ amps were how Mesa Boogie got started. I like the SE touch responsiveness a lot. I have a Magnatone stereo amp to fix. The echo circuit is motor boating the whole amp. It is a relaxation oscillator. I am hoping if I get rid of the idiot mods it stops. Next step is freeze spray as it only starts when the internal cab temp is over 105 degrees F. I shall be boostin' some preamp gain stages on it. After fixing a Gizmotron last night? A $2K POS! I found 5 NOS NIB & they are trash.
I've always wanted to build a small amp. (I've built loudspeakers, furniture, and assembled computers.) However, I remember ordering and trying two solderers, and neither worked well enough. I then tried a third solderer and it also seemed to work poorly. Finally, I had an epiphany--I SUCK at soldering. Oh, well. XP
When I solder wire onto a speaker, I place a piece of paper under the terminals to protect the speaker should something drop off of the terminal. Better safe than sorry. Yes, it happened to me ONCE!
don rutter just get a tele and a simple fender amp and crank that fucker up as high as it goes. That's how the blues has always been played. This is for a hobby.
I am a Navy 2M (miniture and micro soldering) technician. May I recommend to your viewers cutting, tinning and shaping all your wire ends as you did at 8:28. Also, I would prep the pots, scrape or use eraser prior to installing. Tiny shavings could flake off and cause a short in your amp. Love the flux, flux is your friend when soldering. Clean job love it. Nice work.
My previous military 2M training shows through (USN). But it is important not to over assemble a project. MIL-SPEC assembly techniques are way cool, but Leo Fender assembled amps with much less precision and I am always amazed at how well his amps survive the decades of regular use.
***** I guess ego does not allow you to accept constructive criticism
+TruthOldSchoolStyle Sounds like a 'haters gonna hate' comment that adds nothing to Jaime's recommendation. People always learn the hard way.
+Deneteus I guess technically he is correct. Why not do the best job we can do though? It does not add time or much effort at all. Like I said. I enjoyed the video and the training.
+Jaime Gonzalez The flakes will probably fry themselves and go away.
High class workmanship once again; great job. It's 11:15pm here in the UK right now and all I wanna do is get to it in the shed! Inspiring stuff.
this guy seems like the nicest human that has ever been alive
He doesn't seem real to me
Lol
What about Mr Rogers or Bob Ross?
You've never heard of keanu reeves have you
Turns out he’s eaten 17 people. Goes to show you never really know someone.
After 25 years as an electrician for a day job, I would say the 120VAC is more dangerous. It grabs you and you can get "hung up" and die. The DC tends to toss you against the wall and burn your fingers. Momma got nailed with a cap I had reformed. I am positive I discharged it, but you know how they can be. Thank God it was not at the 400 v. My other tube power supplies are X-kits, and a Jap model with Jap versions of a 6L6. Luxman used the tube. It is a great unit too! reg E&I!
It's a pleasure to watch you build that. You obviously take a lot of pride in your work which I can appreciate.
I've always wanted to build an amp from a kit. Going back to the 70's when people were doing that kind of thing a lot. I've been hesitant because I thought it was too complicated.
This video showed me that it is a lot of detailed work, but that the kit comes with a solid set of instructions on how to get it done.
Great video. Very well done.
this is sweet, I hadn't realized how much actually goes into wiring an amp....
I built one of these a few years ago. Great amp and fun to record with too. Not too sure what "mods" are in place from an original 5e3 but it sounds killer and very sensitive to the right hand. You can go from clean to "dirt" by playing harder. Just a fun amp and it's cool to point at it and say "I built that" and have your buddies be even more impressed.
Outstanding video. The assembly manual may be the most comprehensive manual I have ever seen produced. Not a big surprise though as Rob Hull always does outstanding work. I posted this on my facebook page. Tube Depot has been on my website for years as some folks here may already know.
Great work!
I just put one of these together. It sounds great .I had no experience in electronics .Well worth the money .
This is by far one of the coolest videos I have ever watched.
For a tube regulated supply it is stable as bedrock 100,000 miles from a fault zone. You need a 5R4 low loss base rectifier for them and 6 6W6GTs. I use a Chatham JAN 5R4 in mine. The warm up delay is a feature, which I have incorporated into some of my own amp designs. A 6C30D works great. They delays are work off of heat which is really handy. I got my knuckles into that horribly placed B+ term in my mom's Supro 1624T in 1980 and I was hooked! zzt! I suppose I'll post my newest junk find.
I'm about to build my first 5F2a from scratch and have watched all of your videos. They are really well executed and very helpful. Tell Steve not to scratch his Les Paul with his car keys! ;-)
man what an inspiring video I really want to build one of these and a Marshall 18 watt .Was just starting to wonder what I would have to do to build my own amps.This stuff is fascinating to me.
Learned something very valuable watching this... tin the wires good, then use a blob of solder to fasten the wires to the tube pins. Trying to get two hands into that tiny space is nearly impossible, and extremely frustrating.
Nice work. Tidy lead dress too. Not a fan of the PCB though. I reckon the double sided boards and tracks introduce stray capacitances. I prefer thick gauge hookup wire instead.
super cool ... its so easy these days with all the good kits out there !
The red blue and Brown wire sure plays a mean pin ball!
I had absolutely no idea what was going on the entire time and I still watched the entire thing. I'm fascinated by your electronics ability. How long have you been tinkering with electronics and how much experience would I need to pull something like this off?
Hi, sorry to bother you Rob,, but with the 450V +B you get with the GZ34 and the 357V AC secondary on the large power transformer , what are those pour 6v6 idling at with the 250 ohm cathode bias resistor. The old 5e3 was using the same resistor value but with a 5y3 rectifier and 360V plate voltage, and it was allready running pretty hot.
Absolutely great video, however I don't understand why you need a ground switch when you have a three prong plug.
Aground switch used to be for an old-fashioned plug to cut hum.
I am onto really cool old bridge that I can prototype with matching impedance ratios. I also own that Lambda in the background. I outgrew it and have 2 Gates 500 V 3A unregulated, and a 1200 V Fluke 3 A. The Lambda is on a curve tracer for matching tubes like nothing else can. You can kill yerfelf with the B+ or the 120 primary. That gives me 6 amps at 1000 volts with diodes for protection. 5E3 must be the most common kit amp. The parts are so so, but Fender bought low bid parts anyway.
Not a fan of the PCB or the speaker but after watching this and the 18watt & Jtm45+ videos i must say your solder joints are damn beautiful.
Nice sheen to them meaning you used correct heat and speed, sometimes you see people doing these kits and most every solder joint is flat in colour caused by using incorrect heat and too much time which is bad because the joint can go cold over time.
When people start these kits they really should buy a board and some turrets to practice getting their heat and soldering speed just right because if you haven't got the proper soldering skills you probably shouldn't go poking around in there trying to find a cold joint or other failure caused by faulty soldering.
@TubeDepotTV Thanks Rob. Been building amps for over 15 years. Just adding my opinion based on experience. Still, as I said, nicely put together.
I would lockwire/safety wire those 3 pots with .020" copper safety wire. Sometimes called .020" breakaway copper safety wire. Can be had at any aviation outlet. Red and black guarded switch covers have holes for that wire. One of many applications in a flight deck: A Nuclear Stores Consent switch. The weapons officer has to break the wire to lift the guard on the switch to arm nuclear stores. Special tools are not required for twisting .020" copper wire.
Indeed useful. I am thinking of a future project - but i have a some learning to do first. Thanks again. Kind regards from Stockholm,Sweden
Hi great job. What's the name of that kind of pen to drill the chassis? What kind of wire do you use for connections? Thanks for the reply .
you really enjoy to work electronics.. cool!
Hmm. My bad - I honestly thought the 5E3 was a tidbit more complex than the 5F1. But in that case, I'll have to have a go at the 5E3, it's so cool. Thanks for your insight.
Wow, great video Rob.
I love how he starts the video with "great project to put together in an evening and an awesome little amp" followed immediately by "remember, the voltages inside the amp will kill you! :)"
also, "PCB board" would be "printed circuit board board"
@TubeDepotTV what did you study to be able to do this and were should I start?
I forgot to ask where you got that cool t-shirt. I love it.
Notice at 9.42, speaker magically changed to a jensen Neo 12-100, (98.4db vs 94.6db for the Jensen Mod 12-50) that should bump up output..
Wow nice build. That PT looks huge.. With the supplied GZ34 rectifier what voltages are you running the jj 6v6 at ?. I understand that the jj's can take huge plate voltages and run more current than any other 6v6.. ..I see in the manual that feedback is mentioned. Are you running the amp with a NFB from output back into PI ??
Very nice video in assembling guitar amps. Please show us also a video while assembling hifi amplifier. Thanks.
All I have to say is WOW !!!
Along the line of tubes and tube amps do guys at tube depot buy old or new tubes at all?
@TubeDepotTV Man thanks..good luck with that 35w iron.I bought one from radio shack.P O SHIT.I can solder it s just not for me..i just built my start with custom shop pick ups and us pots wuth a blender today..Just not my thing..GREAT JOB on these amps by the way..NO JUst build me an ampeg SVT for 300 and I'm ALL In!!!
I wish there were "shop" classes for adults where we could go for like 2 hours once a week to learn and actually build an amp like this.
There are. Look up mojo tone.
Hi Rob Hull, is it just my computer or are the links to the pdf files no longer working?
I see the link for the new power transformer that is included in the kit is the deluxe reverb transformer from classictone. Good move.. This one is rated at 330VAC/120mA compared to the previous one that had around 355VAC/120mA rating. The 330VAC is perfect for a 5y3 to get a cooler bias and more vintage correct PI/preamp voltages. Also include a 12ay7 instead of a 12ax7 in V1. I did calculate the idle dissipation of the 355VAC//250ohm combination and it was ~18.9 watt pr tube.. yeicksss
Love the video, Rob. At what temperature do you set your soldering iron ?
You're doing a really good job.
@TubeDepotTV I'm afraid we're out of thermonuclear proximity fuses, but we still have hallf tin of play- doh, hot glue, a nail clipper, about six feet of bootlace and a bottle of tabasco... ;)
Hi,
How much is this kit, and do you ship to Australia? Thanks!
Taken from Wiktionary:
Capitalize
1. In writing or editing, to write in capital letters, in upper case, either the entire word or text, or just the initial letter(s) thereof.
the dude playin' the amp at the end has a sweet "Secret Service" shirt from the shop in Cincinnati.
The lacquring og tweed has many variations. Some like to like to use Shellack 50/50 with alcahole. Others like to use Nitrocellousa lacquer (old scool). When you lacqure the cab (spray) What kind of lacquring do you use? - best from Iceland
hi !
why you use gromets on tubes sockets screws inside metal box ? the screws are in contact to metal box and ground on outside box , have some isolation beetwen primary ground and secundary ground?
tnx you
i'd throw out the rubber tube sockets and use some ceramic ones.
some of the old amps i've rebuilt you can cut those rubber sockets and find carbon tracing burnt through them.. cost a couple bucks more but no more smoking tubes... (well unless your bias is way out....)
even for a first project? or would u recommend going on somethin else b4? cheers ;)
Nice video, cool to see the hands on makings of a tube amp. Thanks
Que bueno , es como bricomania para la guitarra!
Hi, I'm from colombia and I believe that your channel is awesome, ¡ congratulations ! I would like know where can I find this kind of kit.
@TubeDepotTV Thank you
Hot rodded Champ amps were how Mesa Boogie got started. I like the SE touch responsiveness a lot. I have a Magnatone stereo amp to fix. The echo circuit is motor boating the whole amp. It is a relaxation oscillator. I am hoping if I get rid of the idiot mods it stops. Next step is freeze spray as it only starts when the internal cab temp is over 105 degrees F. I shall be boostin' some preamp gain stages on it. After fixing a Gizmotron last night? A $2K POS! I found 5 NOS NIB & they are trash.
I was just joking this video is super helpful but I don't understand how the color of the light effects the sound?
this is so interesting. Id love to build my own tube bass amp.
Really great job man
What kind of solder should I use to connect the speakers? lead?
Many thanks for a great video.
Only my rectifier tune and one pre amp tube glow... one of the capacitors also starts to glow when I turn it on... what did I do wrong?
On a scale of 1 - 10 how hard is this to wire?
Great video, great tips
How many RMS Watts does this one have? and how much does it cost?
What are you using to solder with?
nice work!!
How much and where can I find this kit?
do you have another project that has 30W, 40w or something like that?
Can this kit be modded to run 6L6's ? if so how difficult would it be? thanks in advance.
Great video, thank you!
Excellent !!!
Where can I learn to build my own amp? I want to build a vibroverb clone, and I guess I could use this build as an example and compare schematics?
oh yeah, and great build!
Bravo! Master Jedi
Great video!!! Thanks man!!!
What's the cost of a kit like that?
GREAT VIDEO!
+Egar Felowpet thank you!!!
If I order a kit, is the kit modified to the european standards? Being 230V and 50 Hz
This kit comes with a power transformer that can be wired to operate at either 117 or 230V mains
I've always wanted to build a small amp. (I've built loudspeakers, furniture, and assembled computers.)
However, I remember ordering and trying two solderers, and neither worked well enough. I then tried a third solderer and it also seemed to work poorly.
Finally, I had an epiphany--I SUCK at soldering.
Oh, well. XP
Great. Nice video.
oh man how cool
When I solder wire onto a speaker, I place a piece of paper under the terminals to protect the speaker should something drop off of the terminal. Better safe than sorry. Yes, it happened to me ONCE!
I want to build this kit is it hard to make it?
is this handwired? how much is the kit?
i live in the uk, do you have them on sale here?
We can ship these to UK
Dear sir : Would you be kind enough to show how to build a supro thounderbolt 50 amplifier , if possible , Thanks a lot
What is the role of the resistor at 5:38?
The intro is like something from a public access show.
Sorry, I meant what type of iron?
Woah - how long is the thumb nail of the dude playing the Les Paul at the end!?!
sir can i get this amplifier circuit board and all parts in mumbai
Love it
where can I get this kit?
Build a Tweed in 10 minutes lets go! ;)
How much did this cost?
how do i go about getting on of these to build ?
where do you get the cab and all the parts?
The cab comes from MOJO, all the parts are from various other suppliers.
Can you build an AC30? That'd be awesome
Worth every penny. This amp is a pistol.
Will I sound like Muddy Waters if I build one of these? We are thinking of making a Muddy Waters tribute band.
don rutter just get a tele and a simple fender amp and crank that fucker up as high as it goes. That's how the blues has always been played. This is for a hobby.