Liverpool builds

[M Fowler]

From discussion with others there seems to be an increased interest in building Liverpools again, which are very good amps.

Lets hear what you people are up to in your builds here!

I am rebuilding mine built in 2008 I believe. Borrowed the PT for another build and now will be changing out the PT and OT. OT will be changed to 6k6 to see what that sounds like compared to the original 5k2. In my photo you can see I need to follow lead dress but this was my first TW. LOL

Also, I used the BOM NTE wire on my Liverpool build but really don't like that wire, does anyone else have an opinion regarding the NTE solid wire specified in the BOM?

Mark

[Gibsonman63]

I am close to finishing a Liverpool. Looking for something a bit more rock-ish than my Express. RJ said that there seems to be a lot of interest in Liverpools when I ordered my parts.

I used Pacific iron (6.6K) and upgraded the pots.

I did a few tweaks:

Can caps
VVR
Paralleled 1rst gain stage.
I floated my ground bus bar on ceramic stand-offs to shorten my ground connectons. The end closest to the input jack is grounded and the bus bar is centered between the preamp board and pots at about the height of the pre-amp board.

It's working, but I am still sorting out voltages and back tracing a few things. My B+5 jumper fell out of the turret when I changed out one of the resistors to the first stage. A real PITA to fix because it was underneath the pre-amp board.

Personally, I like the solid core wire. I find it much easier to shape.

Pics and clips coming soon.

[surfsup]

My B+5 jumper fell out of the turret when I changed out one of the resistors to the first stage. A real PITA to fix because it was underneath the pre-amp board.

I run these up and out the top, and bend it a bit then clip it so that won't happen.

[Gibsonman63]

I'll definitely modify my approach next time. It's a little late for this one without a major rework to get to the bottom of the board.

Live and learn.

[Markusv]

From discussion with others there seems to be an increased interest in building Liverpools again, which are very good amps.

Lets hear what you people are up to in your builds here!

I am rebuilding mine built in 2008 I believe. Borrowed the PT for another build and now will be changing out the PT and OT. OT will be changed to 6k6 to see what that sounds like compared to the original 5k2. In my photo you can see I need to follow lead dress but this was my first TW. LOL

Also, I used the BOM NTE wire on my Liverpool build but really don't like that wire, does anyone else have an opinion regarding the NTE solid wire specified in the BOM?

Mark

Mark

At the time when I built my Liverpool with toneslut trannies 4 years ago I used Solid core Teflon wire. Not the same as in BOM but still solid core.
I had endless lead dress issues. The amp was very unstable and noisy.
Rewired it a few times but no joy until I used cheaper, 600v rated stranded wire I got from a surplus store
Noise gone and way more stable

Also, I did the following
V1 paralleled with reduced Ra and Rk
Slow/fast switch ala Komet
Switchable 5k2 / 6k6 primaries

Can't be happier. Everytime I fire the amp up it thrills me all over again.
BTW I obtained a RonSound Hairpie (muff clone) in a trade and found it a bit dark in some amps . It shines with the Liverpool!

Markus V

[Colossal]

Hey Markus,

Glad you found success with your rewire! Out of curiosity, what kind of music do you typically play through your Liverpool?

Thanks,
Dave

[Markusv]

Hey Dave

First the Guitars:
Humbuckers are great and very aggressive with this amp but my P90's and single coils just take it to another level. Just incredible cleans with the guitar vol rolled back but still gets aggressive with the guitar volume flat-out

Music wise- let's see. I play songs like:
Shook me all night long/ other AC/DC stuff
Young lust
Shine on you Crazy diamond
Electric Dylan stuff
Aqualung
ZZTop stuff
Lotsa Hendrix and SRV stuff
Poor attempts at some later Mark Knopfler stuff. (a finger picked LP type guitar and this amp just sounds incredible) You hear your attack and it makes a great difference)
I actually do little folk strumming songs with a strat too.

Disclaimer- I suck as a guitarist and I am way better at building stuff. In no sense do I say this amp helps me sound like the originals but tonally I find it extremely versatile. And you hear the character of the guitar you are using very clearly

Markus V

[passfan]

Does yours have an unusual amount of hiss when you turn it on Markus ? Mine seems excessive, at least a bit more than a Rocket and to be expected but I'm just curious. Of course when I play it the hiss is all but forgotten. It's not enough to drown out the guitar. I too paralleled V1 and I find I now have to beware microphonics in V2.

[Colossal]

Hey Markus,

Thanks for the rundown. I like all of the songs/styles you mention and I can see how the Liverpool would be a great fit for the tone. I really like the aggressiveness. This lends itself to a lot of attitude on tap as well as the harmonic richness, really cool.

I hear you about Knopfler. That dude is incredible, certainly one of the greats of all time. His finger style adds a nice roundness to the notes which I think are a huge part of his sound. One of my favorites is Calling Elvis when he is using SLO 100s (stereo) with EV12MLs. He's got tons of gain on tap but keeps it all in check and the result is nothing short of amazing.

Sounds like I need to add a Liverpool to the 'to build' list.

Regards,
Dave

[Markusv]

Does yours have an unusual amount of hiss when you turn it on Markus ? Mine seems excessive, at least a bit more than a Rocket and to be expected but I'm just curious. Of course when I play it the hiss is all but forgotten. It's not enough to drown out the guitar. I too paralleled V1 and I find I now have to beware microphonics in V2.

Passfan

No noise issues at all. But it took me a year to find a 5171 V1 tube for the amp. Before that it was more noisy
Frankly the re-wire with stranded and the parallel V1 made the biggest difference
Oh yes and I had one shitty preamp socket that caused a lot of noise. (friggin' ceramics! )

Markus v

[Markusv]

Hey Markus,

Thanks for the rundown. I like all of the songs/styles you mention and I can see how the Liverpool would be a great fit for the tone. I really like the aggressiveness. This lends itself to a lot of attitude on tap as well as the harmonic richness, really cool.

I hear you about Knopfler. That dude is incredible, certainly one of the greats of all time. His finger style adds a nice roundness to the notes which I think are a huge part of his sound. One of my favorites is Calling Elvis when he is using SLO 100s (stereo) with EV12MLs. He's got tons of gain on tap but keeps it all in check and the result is nothing short of amazing.

Sounds like I need to add a Liverpool to the 'to build' list.

Regards,
Dave

You know what I like is the palm muting and that percussiveness that one gets with fingerstyle
I play the liverpool side by side with other really good amps and it just has that extra responsiveness and it lets everything through!

If you suck, you will suck loudly!

Markus V

[Gibsonman63]

Got mine fired up last night. I agree with MarcusV on the percussiveness. It puts a Marshall to shame for palm muting. I am currently chasing down some ghost noting on the higher notes., but other than that it sounds great. Very agressive and responsive.


MaurcusV, was the slow/fast switch a worthwhile option?

[Colossal]

Got mine fired up last night. I agree with MarcusV on the percussiveness. It puts a Marshall to shame for palm muting.

No sh!t?!? I love Marshalls and am firmly stuck in that camp. Sounds like I need to build a Liverpool to find out LOL.

MaurcusV, was the slow/fast switch a worthwhile option?

Fast/gradual on a Liverpool, eh?? Hadn't heard of that but sounds intriguing!

[Markusv]

Hi Gibsonmman

Well As I recall I installed the Slow/fast as a means to reduce hiss initially. Worked incredibly well for that but as I re-wired later the noise reduction functionality fell away almost completely
Actually should clarify a bit. The "switch" in my case is really a 2watt PEC pot on the back panel. Wiper to the next stage and the pot basically replacing part of the RP on stage 2, I think. (the amp is not out of its cab so I have to work from memory)
So that means there is a plate resistor in series with the pot.
The plate resistor is about 20 K and the pot is 100 K
So you can dial in where the wiper taps into the overall value
It makes a bit of noise if you adjust it but not a biggie.
I find it pretty useful to dial in dirt or cleanness.

Strats use the full RP value and humbuckers sometimes get dialed down

I would not say it is a great priority though. And if you are a purist then it is a no-no

Markus V

[M Fowler]

I like the idea of switchable 5k2/6k6 that might come in handy.

Are you guys using 500pf treble cap or 50pf? Dave pointed that out to me tonight. But looking over the my collection of schematics and layouts TAG has posted it both ways before.

Mark