Liverpool w/ VVR Complete - Cab Photos added - Clips Added

[sst4270]

JB,

I was going to suggest building the Express first because it's simpler; however, in hindsight I think they're both about the same degreee of difficulty.

While the Express has the bias circuitry to contend with...
The Liverpool has the four output tubes that need to be wired up...

So it's kind of a wash.

Having built both I would still recommend the Express first as a gigging amp simply because it has more power allowing you to play cleans a little louder. For just home and garage/basement playing I would recommend the Liverpool first. At the end of the day you'll still want to have both in your arsenal.

On another note: Again. Dana's VVR boards are SO worth the investment. I can't recommend them enough for implementing into your build. And for the most part the circuit does not color the amp's tone at all. It's definitely must cleaner and simpler than Power Scaling. IMHO.

BTW: If you guys are interested I can post some more clips from the show last night. Just let me know.

Sincerely,

Steve

[JBurnett]

Ive purchased a two hole chassis from Allyn and the VVR from Dana. Both are superb quality. Im more after a bedroom amp and was heavily leaning towards a two hole LP. Skybolt has offered some tips as well as others. Im capable of the mechanical skills required to do this but being so new new I kind of need a clear cut approach to do the two tube LP otherwise Ill be hammering the forum for guidance. Maybe Ill just punch the extra holes I need and do a full lp.

Clips are great and probably the biggest help for new guys like me in deciding which way to steer.

Please post more, its a great help.

Jeff

[Zippy]

Steve,

Any concerns regarding heating the cathode bypass capacitors in the power stage? They look like they are in contact with the cathode resistors - those things can throw some heat.

Nice build. And "Yes, please" to adding more clips. I just like listening to it.

Any chance that you'll be building a Rocket for the same guy? I'd love to hear an A/B of the pair from him.

[Pongo316]

Just fired up my liverpool build. I'm posting some photos and maybe Dana or Alan can help me with a problem I'm having...
I implemented Dana's VVR circuitry into this amp. At full power the amp is dead quiet. No hum. Only the obligatory hi-gain hiss... IT SOUNDS BEAUTIFUL.

Steve

Amp sound and looks great whats Dana's VVR Circuitry ?

[Tubetwang]

Great looking cab Steve!

I like the dogbone and the way you've finished the AC cable...

Nice touch!!

Clean build and a super VVR recommendation!!!

[sst4270]

Here's another clip...
BTW: I only have one more clip besides this one and it's not worth posting. After that Michael switched to a different amp for the rest of the night (100W Fender 4X10 combo for louder cleans) The crowd got too thick and loud and the Liverpool just can't play the cleans at the required volume level in that kind of atmosphere.

Pongo, Regarding VVR, perform a search in this forum using "VVR".
This may give you a start: https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... hlight=vvr

Zippy, regarding the bypass caps. They're rated for 85°C service. Even after hard playing those 25Watt resistors are pretty over rated for this amp and never got so hot I couldn't touch them. So no worries, but time will tell.

Enjoy,

Steve

[Lousyatit]

Wow, the amp looks and sounds great!

[drhulsey]

... I found that a great reduction in hum came about when I screwed down a double copper faced pc board to the cabinet under the aluminum chassis...

Steve, I wonder if copper tape or paint wound do as well?
BTW, great craftsmanship

Great, I had finally settled on building an Express, now I have to start all over again...

Don't give up on the Express She'll do you proud
Too many amps Too little time

[sst4270]

DrHulsey,

Regarding copper tape. I've had great success with that in the past; however, I recently came across a very large supply of double sided copper clad blank pcb's for FREE. Huge score. Something like 50~100 boards of various thicknesses all 12" x 12". So what's a builder to do? Anyways, it was easy enough to cut up a piece and drill 4 holes and screw the boards down to the inside of the cabinet. It worked very well and I don't have to worry about the effects of the amp's heat on the copper tape's adhesive.
I cut the pcb material's width to fit snuggly between the two folded over sides of the chassis (so it wouldn't raise the chassis up) Then soldered a little pig tail of silver wire from the board to one of the mounting screws to complete the ground plane connection.

The several amps I have built have all gone to others and so I can't compare the effects of using different types of shields. I'm beginning to gather up parts to build a Rocket. I was extremely inspired by the recent flurry of Rocket activity and the great detailed shots that Allyn took.

Allyn,

I'm curious what kind of shield(ing) you used on your Rocket clone since you only showed us gut shots??

Regards,


Steve

[Pongo316]

I
found a JJ that works well.
Steve

What JJ caps are you using 20+20+20+40 500v for one of them I can see whats the other value ?

Is it 50=50 uf 500v ? for the other look nice and neet lots more room in the chassis and no glue

[Pongo316]

any body try these yet ?

http://www.banzaieffects.com/CE-Mfg.-40 ... 23249.html

http://www.banzaieffects.com/CE-Mfg.-30 ... 23245.html

[sst4270]

Pongo:

Yes... I used a 20+20+20+40 / 500V and 50+50 / 500V

JJ Electronic from: www.tubesandmore.com

And you're right helps clean up the chassis quite a bit.
There's a little noise involved with using mulitcaps due to circulating ground currents, but it's so neglible that I thought it was worth the tradeoff.

Steve

[Pongo316]

So how you finding the VVR ?

[sst4270]

Simply: The VVR is superior to Power Scaling. My one and only experience with power scaling was that the more it was engaged the more transistor sounding the amp became. With Dana's VVR as the power is dialed back the tone remains VERY constant. At some point with as you dial any amp back you'll lose that umph as the amp is no longer pushing the air.
Also note that even though you can use the VVR for bedroom level playing its real purpose is for gigging and adjusting output for different room sizes.
The Express is particularly guilty of being a very loud amplifier. I plan to implement VVR in my next Express build. (After my Rocket build)

Steve

[Pongo316]

Simply: The VVR is superior to Power Scaling. My one and only experience with power scaling was that the more it was engaged the more transistor sounding the amp became. With Dana's VVR as the power is dialed back the tone remains VERY constant. At some point with as you dial any amp back you'll lose that umph as the amp is no longer pushing the air.
Also note that even though you can use the VVR for bedroom level playing its real purpose is for gigging and adjusting output for different room sizes.
The Express is particularly guilty of being a very loud amplifier. I plan to implement VVR in my next Express build. (After my Rocket build)

Steve

Cool , just what I wanted to hear Not to concerened about bedroom levels , but it does come in handy for practice , but just being able to adapt it to different room sizes and power requiements would be cool .

Cann't wait till I get mine its going into a express.