100W Bluesmaster is Born

[UltraHookedOnPhonix]

Finally, after a year of working on this thing, I was ready to fire it up. Big shout-out goes to Billy Yates of Venice Amplifier Co. who took on the job. Now there’s a guy who knows his way around an amplifier as well as the fretboard! Top-notch service! I also want to thank: Brandon (best chassis, bar-none), Scott L, Gary “glasman”, tubedogsmith, groovtubin, Gil Ayan, heisthl, Chris Sanford, Andy Fuchs, jelle, mdroberts1243, ic-racer, ’67_Plexi, pamaz67 and a host of others here at the Ampgarage community who’s helped me in one way or the other with this project.

This is my first scratch built amplifier so I wanted to take my time and do it right. It fired right up at Billy’s shop where he proceeded to play the $%#* out of it through an EVM12L. Sounded great and oh-so PHAT! We cranked the OD trigger trim from about 40K (wiper to ground) to around 70K and the thing just took off! The tubes in the amp are Chinese 12AX7s and Winged C 6L6s. We also messed around with the HRM settings and ended up with the treble around noon, the mids almost cranked and the bass, turned “on” (acts more like a on-off switch really). I’ve since dialed back the mids to 2K because I dug the silky sounds Billy were able to get with it dialed back.

The amp has 150K/121K/221K/150K plates with appropriate cathode resistors and bypass caps. V1B/CL2 coupler is .01uF, V2A/OD1 coupler is .001uF and I don’t have a 47pF cap bypassing the 470K resistor in the OD entrance. Master bright cap is 47pF, Preamp Vol bright cap is 120pF and there’s a 500pF cap bypassing the 220K Grid resistor on V1B/CL2. The PAB version is of the, “Mega Boost” variety, which lifts the clean TS 22M from ground. Also, the OT is a Mercury Plexi version for 6L6s.

Here is a list of voltages in the amp. Line voltage was 121.3V and the PT is a TF-130 Twin PT.

Unloaded B+: 460V
B+1 (Plates): 441V
B+2 (Screens): 440V

V1 Triode (Clean)
V1A Plate, Pin 6: 187.3V
V1A Cathode, Pin 8: 1.54V
V1B Plate, Pin 1: 192.3V
V1B Cathode, Pin 3: 1.5V

V2 Triode (OD)
V2A Plate, Pin 6: 206.2V
V2A Cathode, Pin 8: 1.84V
V2B Plate, Pin 1: 204V
V2B Cathode, Pin 3: 1.84V

V3 Triode (PI)
Input-side Plate, Pin 6: 270V
Feeback-side Plate, Pin 1: 242V
Cathodes, Pin3&8: 41.5V
Input-side Grid, Pin 7: 26.4V
Feedback-side Grid, Pin 2: 27.5V
Feedback “junction”: 13.3V

Heaters
Heater 1: 3.35V
Heater 2: 3.34V

Bias Voltage: -47.1V

FET’s Drain Voltage: 11.18V

I didn’t catch B+3, B+4 and B+5 but given the other voltages I can guess them to be in the ballpark of: 415V, 355V and 325V respectively.

Below, you’ll find a bunch of pictures of the amp. Enjoy!




[IMG508]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... on/BM1.jpg[/img]

[IMG768]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... on/BM2.jpg[/img]

[IMG768]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... on/BM3.jpg[/img]

[IMG768]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... on/BM4.jpg[/img]

[IMG768]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... on/BM5.jpg[/img]

[IMG768]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... on/BM6.jpg[/img]

[IMG768]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... on/BM7.jpg[/img]

[IMG768]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... on/BM8.jpg[/img]

[IMG768]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... on/BM9.jpg[/img]

[IMG768]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... n/BM10.jpg[/img]

[IMG768]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... n/BM11.jpg[/img]

[IMG768]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... n/BM12.jpg[/img]

[IMG766]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... n/BM13.jpg[/img]

[IMG864]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17 ... n/BM14.jpg[/img]

[Colossal]

Truly, a work of art. Well done and congratulations!! Hope you enjoy it for years to come. Thanks for all of the detailed photos (great light and setup too!).

[Blindog]

Man, what a pristine build! nice work I hope I can do as well on my Blue Monkey 88 build...

Mark

[Blindog]

double

[B]

Not to take anything from the spectacular build, but that is the best photographed amp I've seen. Congrats!

[Structo]

Nice and clean looking, except the goop. Why?

Glad you are digging it.

Nice pictures as well.

Any tweaks up your sleeve or are you going to wait a while?

I have a question for you guys that solder the shield like that to the pots.

How do you keep the cable tight to the pot while soldering that?

[Guitarman18]

UltraHookedOnPhonix,

Stunning looking build! Congratulations. Too clean to be HAD's.

Have set it up for use with your D'lator?

Cheers,

Paul.

[bluesfendermanblues]

Jättesnygg!!

[bigmik]

sweet!!!!!!! if it sounds as good as it looks you done good ,very nice attention to detail ,you should be proud

[Tonegeek]

Easy on the eyes for sure. Got any clips?

[Sonny ReVerb]

Beautiful work!

The eyelets on the PS board look a little close together.

[M Fowler]

Very nice build how do like this amp? Its something I want to get started on but trying to sort out the board layouts.

[ChrisM]

Beautiful work!

The eyelets on the PS board look a little close together.

The eyelets that are close together are internally connected together by the PCB trace underneath.

Great looking build. You nailed the HRM style. Even the cable ties for the HC PT wires are like HAD!

[rvf263]

Great job! That's a beutiful piece of work!

[Sonny ReVerb]

The eyelets that are close together are internally connected together by the PCB trace underneath.

Thanks, I was wondering if that were the case, but the board patterns I found were somewhat different.

Nonetheless, top notch construction.