Francesca Build - Lead Dress Pictures Question

[Krinkle]

I'm about to build an Express exactly as in the Francesca pictures (or at least that's what I'm going to attempt). I've built other amps and I know what I'd like to do to certain connections but I'm wondering what was done in Francesca. I think that I might learn a trick or two by building as KF did.

It looks to me like the AC in ground wire, the HV center tap, and the 10uF cap at the cathode end of the diode are grounded at the same ground lug near the AC in. Where is the 6.3 filament center tap grounded? I've seen files of the chassis that show a second ground lug hole drilled next to the one I mention above. Does anybody use this?

When the B+ wires connect to the preamp board/card, they travel underneath to get to the proper points. Has anybody had trouble after they routed these a certain way? Did anybody get a good enough picture to see through the holes in the card to tell exactly how they are routed.

How are the wires routed underneath the power supply card? I see that a lot of the unused transformer wires are cut short and have heat shrink onthem. are there any particularly troublesome wires underneath, from an electrical or mechanical point of view?

I've looked through all of the pictures on this site (I think), Rockstah's build and some of Mark Huss' from posts. If there are any others please let me know.

Thanks,

Darrin

[drhulsey]

Where is the 6.3 filament center tap grounded?

Darrin, Fran's PT did not have a center tap for the 6.3V supply. The 2 x 100R resistors coming off pins 2 and 7 of the EL34 (adjacent to the PS board) are a virtual center tap.

When the B+ wires connect to the preamp board/card, they travel underneath to get to the proper points. Has anybody had trouble after they routed these a certain way?

They are run directly to the appropriate turret underneath the board. Some people don't like wiring under the board for reasons of difficulty with troubleshooting or repair. Make sure there is a good mechanical connection with those wires before soldering (as you should with all the wiring).
Here are the pics of my Express:
https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... ght=#30746
I hope this helps

[Krinkle]

Thanks Tim, it helps a lot. Your build looks great, it looks to me that you ran your wires the same way as KF. I may ask some more questions once I do a little more homework.

Darrin

[drhulsey]

... it looks to me that you ran your wires the same way as KF...

Lead dress was stressed so much as I read about the Express that I tried to follow KF's wiring layout as closely as possible. I wanted a functioning amp more than I wanted "express" my creativity

[Krinkle]

Exactly what I'm thinking. Get it right, then feel free to mess around as I like.

Are you happy with the sound of yours, no oscillations, etc?

Darrin