Wampeg 18 - new frankenstein build

[xtian]

Finished my latest build and thought I'd share. This project began with the desire to house a vintage 1950s 15" 35-watt Utah gold AlNiCo speaker. I played this speaker in an old Sano Excelsior cabinet, and thought it sounded exceptionally full and well balanced, and great when pushed hard.

I found an unloaded Ampeg B115 combo on eBay that fit the bill. The Utah fit without trouble, and I installed eight Tee nuts and used stainless bolts to attach the speaker firmly, but without warping its frame.

The final piece of the puzzle was a Weber 6M18 chassis, which I bought from a TAG member. Aside from a little lead dress cleanup, and adding an additional power cathode resistor to bring the amp to spec, it sounded good without modification.

In order to install the chassis into the cabinet, I had to cut half an inch off one side of the chassis, cut openings for the transformers, and drill clearance for the tubes. Finally, I completed the back of the chassis with some clear acrylic.

I've dubbed it the Wampeg 18. Enjoy!

[img682]http://www.monkeymatic.com/pub/ebay/Wampeg_18watt-1.jpg[/img]
[img682]http://www.monkeymatic.com/pub/ebay/Wampeg_18watt-2.jpg[/img]
[img682]http://www.monkeymatic.com/pub/ebay/Wampeg_18watt-3.jpg[/img]
[img682]http://www.monkeymatic.com/pub/ebay/Wampeg_18watt-4.jpg[/img]
[img765]http://www.monkeymatic.com/pub/ebay/Wampeg_18watt-5.jpg[/img]
[img765]http://www.monkeymatic.com/pub/ebay/Wampeg_18watt-6.jpg[/img]

[dcribbs1412]

Really nice xtian, congrats
And nice use of materials

Darin

[Bob S]

Really cool build. Well Done !
Bet she sounds good.

[cbass]

cool way to improvise

[Phil_S]

Impressive re-purposing job. Really. Nice.

[marcoloco961]

Way cool, is that the B15n circuit?

[Reeltarded]

I love it. Something is hiding in there..

Cool!

[Bob S]

The creativity makes it unique!
Interesting that you put damping material behind the speaker.
Used a lot in hi-fi audio - not so much in guitar amps.
Any noticeable difference in sound?

[xtian]

Thanks, all'y'all.

@marcoloco961: No, I bought the cab empty--no speaker or amp. The circuit is Weber's 6M18.

@Bob S: The cab came with that cotton wool installed, so I left it. It's really well balanced, not too bassy, so I didn't bother removing it.

[tubeswell]

Cool use of resources! Soundbytes?

[M Fowler]

Great job on the amp!

[xtian]

Sound clip attached. Put an SM57 up, off center, as usual, but this speaker has too much bass--had to move the mic dead center on the dust cap, and I'd still roll off the bass EQ if I was meaning to mix this into rock music. Would be awesome for jazz, though.

No EQ, no compression, no effects.

Agile AL-3000 into Wampeg 18, with SM57 on-center, into MOTU 828mk3, exported as 256kbps MP3.

Oh, and a mixed bunch of cheap ass tubes for good measure. Cheap, mean and sloppy.

[tubeswell]

The tone in first part of that clip was very Steely Dan sounding (as in Larry Carlton's sound in Kid Charlemagne)!

[Big Jim]

I like it! I've been wanting to do something like that for a while. Great job of cooking up a toneful amp by using your imagination. Sounds great. Good playing too.