Guidance on which amp kit to buy

[BobCat]

Hey guys, great forum you have here.
First off I am a total noob at amp building, and really appreciate the knowledge that you share.
I have been looking at buying a kit to get my feet wet. I was thinking a 5e3 but open to your suggestions.
I see that there are a lot of places selling kits, so I was wondering where you guys would recommend to buy from.
My experience so far consists of some easy mods to a Epi valve jr.
Thanks

[Drew.12345]

I started with a ceriatone OTS- boy was that a mistake- and yet a blessing in disguise. I got to know my local amp tech quite well over this one.
I did a 5E3 build next and that was much more enjoyable and rewarding.
I reccomend reading some books such as Dale Hunter's The Guitar Amp Handbook. Just so that that you can read up on how things work and understand that Tube Amp's can kill you if you don't know what your doing.
That being said, I have been a big ceriatone fan: www.ceriatone.com and have built several of Nik's kits. He is a great guy and offers some of the best customer service. That being said, he is in Malaysia so purchasing is not without anxiety... but completely legit and not to worry about.
I always order my transformers from the US such as Antique Electronic Supply to save a buck or two on shipping.
I believe weber sells kits- I have never ordered from here but love their speakers: www.tedweber.com

Best of Luck
Drew

[martin manning]

Decide what you want to own and play. As for a supplier it might make some difference where you are located, and it helps to put that info in your posts so people know where to send you when you are looking for supplies. Gathering parts yourself is time consuming but an education in itself that you will miss if you buy a kit. If you go that way, you will probably end up with a bunch of extra parts. Not a bad thing if you are going to build more amps. If a 5E3 is it, and you wat a kit, Mission Amps makes some very nice ones and Bruce goes out of his way to make them beginner friendly. I've not built one, though, just going on reports of others. http://www.missionamps.com/5E3kit.shtml This is a good project, has more to it than a simple single-ended Champ for learning purposes, and is not much more expensive relatively speaking.

[M Fowler]

http://triodestore.com/5e3tubeampkit.html

http://www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/amp-kits-tweed-style

Just a few of the many kits out there.

Mark

[Milkmansound]

keep in mind the Mojotone kits do not come with any instructions. They only ship with a layout and schematic - often with mistakes in it. That said, the kits are fantastic!

I think if you buy Mojo kits from Marsh you get instructions.

[Phil_S]

I have no personal experience with them. These kits are maybe a little pricey: http://tubedepot.com/kitsguitar.html
I know the 5e3 comes with a PC card. This eliminates some of the wiring and makes it a bit easier for a noob. They also have instructions and a video. I believe the kit includes everything you'll need, too, so maybe it isn't really that pricey. YMMV.

[rogb]

How about an Eagle from our fine TAG member RJ?

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

You get some cool Edcor iron too. A great amp for tweaking and learning.

[M Fowler]

Yes rj's kits are great and I enjoyed building one for my grand-son and have two more to build for my grand-daughters.

They come in various circuit types from mild to more horse power.

Mark

[trane34]

Allen amps. Great amps, instructions, and support.

[Zippy]

RJ Guitars

http://www.rjguitars.net/DIY_Amp_Packages.html

Mission Amps

http://www.missionamps.com/5E3kit.shtml

[bal704]

My first amp kit was from Trinity Amps:

http://trinityamps.com/

Easy to build, great instructions, and great support.

[milkyBK370]

I haven't seen Ampmaker.co.uk mentioned here yet. Fantastic quality kits and they come with a comprehensive building guide. I had never held a soldering iron before starting with the WF-55 kit last February. I have since built 2 Ampmaker 18 Watters and a DC-30 clone. Just placed an order for the Ceriatone Prinzetone chassis. Time to source some parts.... let the fun begin!

[DFMoore]

Eagle 100 from RJ. I just finished one as my first tube amp kit. I had no experience before this build. It came out great.

[BobCat]

Thanks for all of the help and good info guys, I will check out all of the links. and decide which one to build.

[Phil_S]

Two great kits here, too: http://guytronix.com/home.html and options for head or cab. Rich is an all-around nice guy, too.