Top Hat Club Royale gut shots posted

[KellyBass]

That's right, Cbass. I can't find a single silver mica or otherwise, anywhere in this amp...which might account for lack of any "icepick" highs. Smoooth. Maybe a little too smooth. I gotta mostly agree with Reeltarded. The amp is lacking in excitement, for lack of a better term. I think it could really benefit from some better coupling caps.



Uh oh. I probably shouldn't be tweaking around with this amp. But, it's gonna be hard not to just try a few things. The two things that I really miss with this amp are 2 more el84's.

[vibratoking]

I've only heard one live. That amp sound muddy and lost in a band setting.

[Reeltarded]

I have more experience with them, all exactly the same as your's.

I like the Emplex but not without other junk making it go.

[chief mushroom cloud]

Guess they aren't concerned with current crowding...

I do hope you're kidding.....

[Structo]

I agree, that the right angle thing looks pretty nice and would be easier to trace a wire or a circuit than in a bundle of wires.

I see the insulation smashed on both sides of the bent wire, not good.

I would use round nose needle pliers and get a nice tight radius.

[Phil_S]

What's up with the clear goop? I'm surprised no one has raised this. I can't see the need for it.

As for the right angle bends, probably not something well done, but given the intended application, probably decades away from true failure. FWIW, even this amateur wouldn't do that, but I'm not sure how much it matters. I'd be way more concerned if this was, for example, in an airplane.

[jaysg]

It's not a high gain amp, is it? I don't understand the use of RTV in this amp. Aged Fenders and Hiwatts don't have that and they seem to hold up fine, whether they live in closets or on the road.

[pgambon]

Just my two cents: vibration and heat are the killers in tube amps. Probably less of a issue in heads with the tubes pointed upwards. Military spec wiring stipulates some flex in component wiring to avoid heat stress. I've seen resistors that have broken in old Fenders, presumably due to heat.
Top Hat looks top notch to me!

[ToneMerc]

I've seen resistors that have broken in old Fenders, presumably due to heat.

I've always attributed it to mechanical stress of the resistor or capacitor leads. Almost every vintage Fender broken film cap or resistor I've seen seems to break right at the eyelet solder bubble where the bend radius transitions into it. To me it seems to happen more so in the general PI area closet to the control panel.
Those once flat fiber boards and will become wavy, while expanding and contracting, so over a period of time the lead gets a stress fracture and eventually separates or worse the continuity is intermittent.

TM

[pgambon]

Agreed, that ole expansion and contracting thing.