[Milkman]

I appreciate the reply Keith.

That all makes sense.

The reason I asked was because based on the neat soldering job on the top, I knew the bottom would be well done.

Dave does raise an interesting question re top or bottom for flying leads. Could it be a matter of how the wires are routed maybe to try and control noise?

 

[greco]

......................

 

[greco]

Dave does raise an interesting question re top or bottom for flying leads. Could it be a matter of how the wires are routed maybe to try and control noise?

I should have mentioned in my post that I have seen it (in many amp pics) both ways and have also read (independently...never in the same article/book) where both ways have been advised.

The author of one of the books/articles indicated that wiring form the top was easier to deal with if component changes were needed in future. However, I can't remember ever reading anything that stated "why" wiring from the bottom was advised. Maybe Milkman's suggestion re: controlling noise is the actual reason.

Sorry to distract/derail.

Cheers

Dave

 

[keithb7]

I am not an expert as I too am learning a little more every time I build another amp. But I will share what I have learned and discovered by my own experience.
Ohers here with more experience are welcome to add to my comments. This 5E3 I built here had eyelet holes in the circuit board. Some other kits have different mounting. I built a 5F1 with hollow pegs, not sure what they are called. Turrets? And yes I did solder up some wires by placing the wire into the top of the turret, and soldering instead of going under the board. I don't believe it really makes much difference to how the amp sounds or functions. When I look back the photos I posted earlier in this thread, I see that when I placed the board in the chassis, I liked how the board forced the wires to make a nice even 90 degree bend. This is good and helped create nice clean lead dress. The wires are bent nicely and sort of told where to sit. If I had soldered on top of the board, the wires would freely bend all over the place, and not be held down nicely by the board. This may make a situation where lead dress is sloppy. And this would most
likely introduce circuit noise.

To my knowledge the wires under the board do not effect noise control. What does effect noise control is wires that run parallel to each other. This is generally frowned upon. Wires that cross each other should cross at 90 degree angles if possible. Also the heater wires, the wires from the indicator lamp to the tube heaters, should be twisted and neatly tucked into the corner of the chassis. Keep the other tube wires away from the heater wires. Not doing so will create circuit noise.

No worries in de-railing this thread. It is here to help others. The more info here the better. - Keith