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tweed princeton lives!!!

exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
edited October 2008 in Musicians and Gearheads
http://picasaweb.google.ca/exhausted1975/MarshAmpsFenderTweedPrinceton5F2AClone#

the only thing left is to lacquer the cabinet.

snarly little amp. can crank it to 12 and not rattle the windows. seems very nice but i've only played it through my epi cab thus far.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    Cool, I bet it sounds great. Looks awesome.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    hopefully some clips tomorrow. i got the house to myself today to build it and work the bugs out and tomorrow i can do clips.

    the lacquering turned into a bit of a disaster movie but i recovered. just waiting for it to dry now before assembling everything.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    I know I had a lot of fun the other day with a Victoria of almost the same setup.

    Brilliant clean you could probably get any sound you wanted with the right pedal. But it almost dosen't need reverb. The room just sounds awesome.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • keeponrockinkeeponrockin Posts: 7,446
    Man I wish I could build shit!
    Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
  • who's_pearljam?who's_pearljam? Posts: 2,104
    Nice work once again, exhausted!

    I looked at the caps and the tubes, then the schematic and a "Whack my forehead with my palm" moment came.
    I have an old Gibson Skylark GA-5 from probably 1960 or earlier and it's never had a good overdriven sound. It just wimps out over 7 and I always thought about doing some something with it.
    I saw that schematic and it's the same tube arraignment and probably close to the same wiring.
    I think I'll mod that! :D
    I'm a home inspector for people who buy homes. HAHAHAHAHAHA!,,, not a lot of that going on these days so I have some time!
    Be kind, man
    Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
    __________________________________
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    she's done. and it's actually even quieter hum-wise now that it's in its cabinet.

    i had a near disaster with the lacquering and basically had to soak it in alcohol to remove a bunch (it had gone too dark and splotchy) but i recovered completely.

    it's a growly amp. it sounds a little small but that's just its character i think. it's a small amp. i need to live with it for a while. i like it on initial impressions. we'll see how it records. it doesn't have all the rattles that the 5E3 did initially but it doesn't have the power to rattle teeth either. it's got relatively lots of headroom surprisingly.

    the gallery's complete now.

    the glamour shot: i managed to match the 5E3 pretty well colour-wise. the 5E3 looks darker in the pic because of the angle but they're really close.

    http://picasaweb.google.ca/exhausted1975/MarshAmpsFenderTweedPrinceton5F2AClone#5254153054904877090
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    keeponrockin wrote:
    Man I wish I could build shit!


    this is more assembling than building really. now, if i was making the chassis and the cabinet, that would be something.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    so the wife just lets this accumulation happen? Awesome.

    You're pretty close to an amp igloo Greg. :D
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    i'm planning on building a wall around myself with sub-20 watt combos and never coming out.

    ---

    so here's a bit of a depressing tip for you. sovtek 5Y3 rectifiers suck. i already knew this since they rattle right out of the box but i also learned something else yesterday.

    sovtek 5Y3s don't have proper voltage drop so you run a higher B+ voltage and can maybe bake your tubes.

    if you're amp is designed for a 5Y3 and you use a sovtek 5Y3... if you're amp doesn't blow up, just use a decent 5AR4 since the voltage drop is the same roughly. i'm not really concerned about shortening tube life since it only has one power tube.

    i was getting almost 400VDC of B+ voltage (still safe for a 6V6) anyway so i dropped in a 5AR4. the whole thing sounds tighter now. much nicer. so i'm just going to leave the 5AR4 in.

    i have a mesa-branded 5Y3 in my tweed deluxe (because it's sovtek rattled too) and it drops voltage properly and is built like a tank.

    so, in closing, avoid sovtek 5Y3 tubes unless you like to waste money and maybe power tubes too.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    i took it to the music store today to ask some of the guys there to give it a run (better players etc.) and see if it needed any further tweaks.

    it was pretty much universally loved and i had a couple guys interested in maybe having me build them something. i actually probably could have sold this one on the spot but i kind of want it for myself.

    it sounded great in the hands of skilled players. one guy was playing old stones licks on a les paul and it sounded brilliant. and this was with the mesa 5Y3 in it (the 5AR4 developed a rattle too).

    so it's pretty much done.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    You think you could use a retainer or one of those funky rings to kill the rattle?

    It could be the speaker proxmity to the tube that caused the rattle.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    no, the tube rattles when you shake it by hand too. the retainers won't help.

    the mesa 5Y3s are bulletproof. now i need to find good 5AR4s too.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    it's the same as a GZ34 right? (5AR4)

    I've been using JJ for the last year or so and it's been fine. Thing is it's a crap shoot because there aren't many companies that make them really.

    One thing to try for giggles might be the solid state plugs that Weber and at least one other company make to see if it's ok.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    really nice work again exhausted. i'm in awe of what you do.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    http://kcanostubes.com/categories/28/1/5AR4-GZ34.htm

    Mike at KCA or Lord Valve would be a good resource. LV is the guy who warned me about the EI issues.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    yeah, it's a GZ34. might give the JJ a run. i've not really impressed with their quality lately though. you should see the 6V6 with this kit. the glas is at about a 10degree angle to the base. sure, it doesn't impact tone but it doesn't inspire confidence either.

    the PRRI and the DRRI take the 5AR4s. i could try 5U4s in the tweeds too.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    exhausted wrote:
    yeah, it's a GZ34. might give the JJ a run. i've not really impressed with their quality lately though. you should see the 6V6 with this kit. the glas is at about a 10degree angle to the base. sure, it doesn't impact tone but it doesn't inspire confidence either.

    the PRRI and the DRRI take the 5AR4s. i could try 5U4s in the tweeds too.


    That's a little depressing to hear, I wonder how the new Mullards and Tung Sol new sensors are.

    I read somewhere the rebranded JJ Rubys were checked pretty well.

    I've had good luck with the Tung Sols from New Sensor lately but those were 12AX7's.

    Also somewhat depressing is the rising price of NOS rectifiers. Holy Crap, that's probably almost half of what you paid for your parts.

    Again, I apologise, I had some good black plate RCA 6v6's and I just gave them away. Dang it.

    http://www.tubeampdoctor.com/index.php?cPath=21_60_62

    there's TAD, though you might be able to get them from http://www.thetubestore.com and I think they are in canada.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    some clips.

    the amps on 10 (out of twelve) with the tone at 6.

    everything's guitar volume and dynamics.

    a few with a strat and a couple with the sheraton.

    http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/tweed/5F2A_1.mp3
    http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/tweed/5F2A_2.mp3
    http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/tweed/5F2A_3.mp3
    http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/tweed/5F2A_4.mp3
    http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/tweed/5F2A_5.mp3

    my fingers are lead.

    i'm thinking of putting a lower gain preamp tube in it. it loses a bit too much definition when the guitar's up full.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    I like it greg. It sounds very fender tweedy.

    The speaker sounds nice too is it alnico?. Very boxy with lots of sag... cool.

    I dig it. It probably would benifit from 5751's especially if you dig in hard.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
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