Amps Amp Kit Build

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
That’s what I thought!

I mounted some of the parts today. Found out the on and standby switches were missing. Also the large filter caps were not there. I called the customer and he said to buy the missing parts.

I gave him my estimate of $200 to assemble the kit. He thought that was cheap? I told him would be fun too.

Here is what I have so far.

47EF0A81-D323-4F6B-8BAF-8485C17892FA by Dennis Kelley, on Flickr

5EACE968-1229-4B08-9E99-7149EB8ECE95 by Dennis Kelley, on Flickr

I also quoted him a price for the cabinet. I told him $150 for the head cab and $200 for the speaker cab. I looked at wood yesterday at a local hardwoods shop.

74BA1733-4444-44B9-8D6B-6A747404709A by Dennis Kelley, on Flickr

I found some nice wide red oak for$5.50 a bd ft. The bubinga is a lot higher. Here is the oak.

02167BCC-110F-4D58-8747-FF50E52983DD by Dennis Kelley, on Flickr
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
I am going to write up a proposal and make sure we both know exactly what I am doing. He seems pretty cool, but I’ve been fooled before.
 

Slofinger

Blues Junior
You seem to be like me. I don’t try to make money doing this stuff. As long as I can fund my hobby, that’s all that counts. Good on you Capn!
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Wow - it's much larger than I expected it would be. Seems like there will be some pretty long wire runs.
Those are some pretty beefy transformers!
Can you post the schematic?
I have not seen this particular kit before.
I'm not personally a fan of red oak any more. The open grain is a PITA IMO, but the availability and price is attractive compared to the more exotic woods. Looks like you have a really wonderful resource for wood there!
Looking forward to watching the progress.
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
The open pores is part of the beauty of red oak. As long as he is OK with the Danish Oil finish it should be OK.

They had white oak, and white oak quartersawn, but not at $5.50 / bd ft.

The amp is 50-60 watts, 2x 6L6 power tubes. I don't have a schematic, but there is a wiring diagram.

http://site.triodestore.com/TWEXPRESSLAYOUT.pdf
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
The open pores is part of the beauty of red oak.
LOL. I used to think so too, but I just don't any more. Simply a personal preference. :)
I saw in the description that this is apparently a high gain design. With this tube complement, the temptation to modify the tone stack to make it more versatile would just be too great for me to resist. Maybe it doesn't need it.;)
I'd like to hear some audio clips of it.
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
Made some progress. I spent a lot of time adjusting where the highvoltage turret board should go. It didn’t fit where the drawing showed it. I finally found aspot, and with a few pieces cut out of the board so it fit betterI finally got it mounted and started wiring. Ialso glued the filter caps down. I have about50% of the hv wiring done. The pilot circuit is done. It is coming along. I also have all the missing parts I had to order.

63E181BE-AFE7-401C-9D3C-66605723414F by Dennis Kelley, on Flickr
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
My customer came and picked up his TW Express clone kit that I built for him. I tried it out, and it was a high gain wild little thing! It reminded me of a Marshall 18w clone I got working for another customer.

He called me yesterday after he had the amp for a few days. He said he really loved the amp. He also gave me the go ahead to start on the custom wood cab for the amp, and for a 2x12 speaker cab.

I’m glad he liked it! I am looking forward to the cabinet work also.
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
I finally got the amp head cab finished. It had a couple things that I had to figure out.

The first was that low angle bevel cut on the front. I ended up having to do that on the back side of the fence because of the right tilting blade. That was a little scary, with 4” of blade sticking out of the table saw! A little puckering going on for sure.

Then the thin panel on the front of the chassis. I ended up buying a 1/8” thick panel of quartersawn white oak. Then i used double sided carpet tape to fasten it to a piece of particle board and used the drum thickness sander to make it 1/16” thick.

4974CCE9-EA4F-439E-B8F5-EECC1F1A1300 by Dennis Kelley, on Flickr

I still need to make a 2x12 speaker cab to match. But that will be straightforward compared to this.
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
That's looking real nice!
Ya, that's a big bevel, but it turned out looking good!
I've had to grit my teeth a few times doing cuts like that in the past - safety first. And use as many guides and feather boards as you can to hold things in place and straight.
Another possible approach to a cut like that is to use a leveling fixture and a router, but there is usually more setup work and more work afterwards to make it nice and smooth. That's where a really good, super sharp hand plane works nice.
Looks like you will have a real happy customer.
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
He should be! I worked pretty hard for him, but it's also been a lot of fun.

My 1st wife (who I inherited the shop from) was an artist with a hand plane. I can really booger something up with one, but that's about it. If I had tried to use a plane to do that, by the time I got it done and even, it would have been about an inch wide! Ooops, a little more off that side, oops....
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Doing good work with a hand plane definitely takes practice, as well as the proper sharpening tools and technique, and setting the blade just right. When it all comes together, it's really fun. I don't use one enough to claim to be expert with one - need more consistency. Kind of like my guitar playing.
 
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