building an 18watt

[exhausted]

some pictures as i progress through building a weber 6M18 TMB.

http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/cab_front.JPG
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/cab_back.JPG

http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/packed_components.JPG
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/unpacked_components.JPG

http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/board_start.JPG
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/board_1.JPG
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/board_2.JPG
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/board_3.JPG

[Stratin2traynor]

Looking good. I really want to get an 18 Watter but just can't justify it yet. Hopefully you'll post some sound clips when you're done. Good luck!

[exhausted]

underboard wiring, groundbus done.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/board_4.JPG

board done. the rest of the leads i'll take from the top of the board.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/board_done.JPG

[Jeff Flowerday]

Looking good. I really want to get an 18 Watter but just can't justify it yet. Hopefully you'll post some sound clips when you're done. Good luck!

Once you are ready, I'm certain Scott can change your call sign to Stratin 2 18Watt

:smile::smile:

[Stratin2traynor]

LOL!! Yeah that would be great! Right now it should be 1/2 time Stratin2DRRI and 1/2 time Stratin2PeaveyDeltaBlues. Hey, maybe someday I'll get another Traynor...:banana:

[Jeff Flowerday]

LOL!! Yeah that would be great! Right now it should be 1/2 time Stratin2DRRI and 1/2 time Stratin2PeaveyDeltaBlues. Hey, maybe someday I'll get another Traynor...:banana:

To simplify it, I think you'll be much happier as stratin2marshall, 18 watts rule!!!!

[exhausted]

mounted tube sockets, transformers etc.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_1.JPG

doing some pot and jack wiring.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/panel_1.JPG
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/panel_2.JPG
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/panel_3.JPG

faceplate, pots and jacks in place. cracked two of the plastic nuts on the jacks accidentally. oops.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_2.JPG

[I_cant_play]

Hey that doesn't look as hard to build as I'd expected. I'd never seen a really good progress report with pics before. It seems you really only need to know how to solder to put one of these puppies together. I had done some soldering a long long time ago but it seems one could put this together after taking a basic electronics class or something no?

[exhausted]

i suppose so. we'll see if it works. :smile:

this is my second amp. the first was a tweed deluxe. if you can read the drawings and take your time, i guess it's not too hard.

i'm no expert so i'm sure there are things that i'm doing that aren't best practice.

[I_cant_play]

well I read some very very basic circuits in a first year physics class but once I took a look at a schematic for an amp and it looked way more complicated. However, I'm thinking if I actually printed it out and tried to make sense of it, I'd probably be able to figure it out. Now I'm tempted to try building one of these puppies when I get the time (and the dough).

Anyway man, sorry to highjack your thread. The amp looks great and I certainly hope it works well the first time your fire it up.

Cheers

[exhausted]

not hijacking at all. its the point of the thread to show and discuss building these things.

[SCREEM]

are there more powerfull kits, like the jtm 45?

[Paul]

well I read some very very basic circuits in a first year physics class but once I took a look at a schematic for an amp and it looked way more complicated. However, I'm thinking if I actually printed it out and tried to make sense of it, I'd probably be able to figure it out. Now I'm tempted to try building one of these puppies when I get the time (and the dough).

Anyway man, sorry to highjack your thread. The amp looks great and I certainly hope it works well the first time your fire it up.

Cheers


Schematics are one thing, layouts are another. The Trinity Kits, (www.trinityamps.com) come with an excellent build manual with a clear layout. It's almost as easy as building a plastic model car.

[exhausted]

are there more powerfull kits, like the jtm 45?

all the way up to 100W marshalls and oranges.

[exhausted]

starting to wire up the power transformer.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_3.JPG

power and output transformers completed wired, save for the AC cord which I will do last. the kit didn't make provisions for a speaker jack (neither did the original) so i've added that.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_4.JPG

filament wiring completed. i know i violated colour convention here but the green wire provided had insulation that made it hard to work with so i used the red with pushback insulation after i used up what was left of my green from my last amp. much nicer to use. edit: at this point i'd forgotten the filaments to the rectifier. i've since added them.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_5.JPG

board mounted in the chassis. no turning back now. i triple checked everything because once i start wiring this in, it'll be impossible to go back.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_6.JPG

all wiring to the tube sockets is now completed.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_7.JPG

all i have left is the pot wiring and the AC cord.

[exhausted]

wiring to the pots completed.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_8.JPG

AC cord wired in and secured.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_9.JPG

final chassis overview.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_10.JPG

mounted to the back panel.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_complete.JPG

now for some refresher reading on first power up....

and a torturous wait as my tubes don't arrive until wednesday.

[exhausted]

it passed initial power on tests (i.e. it didn't explode) so it's buttoned back up while it waits for tubes and more testing. i bought finishing washers for all the screws to tidy things up. i put velcro loops on each side to keep the power and speaker cables away from the tubes.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/cab_back2.JPG

mechanically complete.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/done.JPG

[Stratin2traynor]

Wow. I'm drooling here. You'll have to let us know how it sounds!

[dsazz]

I will be building a 15 watt dual channel by Trinity Amps soon...looking forward to the build and the complettion.

[exhausted]

revised the grounding as suggested by the good folks at the weber forums.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_11.JPG

the filaments to the rectifier that i forgot. it's not on the layout since they assume you're using the weber copper cap instead of a rectifier tube but i'm using a tube.
http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/chassis_12.JPG

[exhausted]

the tubes arrived!!!!!!!

i had huge self-oscillation issues with the TMB channel due to my wire routing. the guys on the weber forum predicted it.

http://www3.telus.net/exhausted/18watt/redressed.JPG

redressing the leads solved that problem.

now the only issues i have is a crackly volume pot on the TMB channel and a really subtle bass control that may be inherent to the design.

amp sounds super sweet though. i'm running it fairly tame gainwise and it's really nice. still lots of gain on tap on the TMB channel and lots of good headroom on the normal channel.

very quiet humwise. no complaints there at all.

edit: replaced the volume pot and solved the bass control issue (missed joint). now playing with the tone stack values.

maybe a little bassy overall but we'll see as i get used to it.