My first was back in 1983. A friend has the sweetest sounding blonde Bassman you can imagine. I knew almost nothing about electronics at the time but had already been making my own dependable guitar cables for a few years so I thought I could handle soldering an amp together.
I borrowed his Bassman and carefully drew every wire I saw, how it was hooked up, the components, I was able to lift the board to verify the connections. I somehow got Fender Bassman iron, but what ever was current from Fender back in 1983, and gutted my early 1960's Montgomery Airline 1x12" combo to build the Bassman clone into (I know, sacrilege). After a lot of work and double, then triple checking that what I build was like my careful drawings, I fired it up. I had no idea it would actually work, that would have been to good to be true, but it did! The Normal channel worked perfectly, the Bass Instrument channel didn't work at all. I only cared about the Normal channel's tone anyway so I never got around to sussing out what was wrong with the Bass Instrument channel. It sounded great in the Airline combo cab with the 12" speaker.
That started a passion that continues today. Back when I built that amp I was an auto mechanic, but I hated my job, building amps taught me enough about electronics I got a job as a PCB designer. Today I design all the layouts for Apogee Electronics, and it all goes back to that first clone of a blonde Bassman.
What was your very first build?
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Plexibreath
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Re: What was your very first build?
My first tube amp that I owned was a SF Fender Twin Reverb (no MV) that I bought from a friend of mine. He had gotten injured in a car accident and while he was recovering, he got interested in reparing amps. He had converted my twin from CBS to the Blackface circuit. Over time I had to take it back to him with some problem or another and watched while he worked on it. This is where I first got interested in amp building/repairing. After that I started buying a few books (including the Hunter Amp Handbook, mentioned earlier)
My first build was a Champ kit that I bought from Marsh amps. It was a great experience and the Marsh's were really nice people that helped me along the way. Highly reccommend them for kits.
Having that under my belt, I found the forums here and last year completed my first "from scratch" build of a TW Express to great result
I'm still a newbie, but I'm learning a little more each time.
Next up is an ODS type I think. I have a defunct Fender Evil Twin that I can use and also a Traynor YBA1. I think either one would be a starting point from which I can work on the D style amp, but I haven't even begun to look into it yet... Looking forward to it though. Addictive hobby this is...
My first build was a Champ kit that I bought from Marsh amps. It was a great experience and the Marsh's were really nice people that helped me along the way. Highly reccommend them for kits.
Having that under my belt, I found the forums here and last year completed my first "from scratch" build of a TW Express to great result
I'm still a newbie, but I'm learning a little more each time.
Next up is an ODS type I think. I have a defunct Fender Evil Twin that I can use and also a Traynor YBA1. I think either one would be a starting point from which I can work on the D style amp, but I haven't even begun to look into it yet... Looking forward to it though. Addictive hobby this is...
Re: What was your very first build?
+1 for Dave Hunter's Guitar Amp Handbook
First amp I built was a scratchbuilt Two Stroke amp that he outlines at the back. It's basically a Tweed Princeton with overspecced PT and OT so that can it take bigger output tubes. I learnt a lot on this one. It's now a THD Univalve thing (sort of similar but more rock) so if you don't like what you build you can always convert it to something else and you'll most likely learn something different building that one.
Happy building Maxfac
First amp I built was a scratchbuilt Two Stroke amp that he outlines at the back. It's basically a Tweed Princeton with overspecced PT and OT so that can it take bigger output tubes. I learnt a lot on this one. It's now a THD Univalve thing (sort of similar but more rock) so if you don't like what you build you can always convert it to something else and you'll most likely learn something different building that one.
Happy building Maxfac