Noob here question about donor amps

[Pan51]

First of all what a great site this is!! I have a couple of donor amps available..would a deluxe reverb silver face be any good for a practice build with this circuit...or i have a silver face bassman, would that be better...both are not complete but have all the trannys etc thx Pan51

[Darkbluemurder]

You may be in a dilemma on those two.

The SF Deluxe would be closer as far as power tube compliment goes but by now SF Deluxes bring quite a lot of money on the used market unmodified. Additionally they have a nice reverb which you will not find so useful in an Express circuit.

From that standpoint the SF Bassman is the better candidate IMHO. In fact I have thought of converting my Blackface AB165 Bassman to an Express but I fear that this will be a very very loud amp!

Considering that both amps are incomplete I would restore the SF Deluxe Reverb to BF specs and convert the SF Bassman to an Express.

Good luck with those projects
Stephan

[jaysg]

Do some searching here before proceeding. I haven't built one yet, however, I believe that unless you use the correct output transformer, you will have an overly bright amp.

[sliberty]

I would recommend not gutting a Deluxe Reverb since they have some value. The Bassman is a less costly donor, but still too expensive in my book. I would recommend scouring eBay for an under $200 head. Then, you can buy the proper trannies from Moose (or Paul Ruby), and do it up right. I built mine in a Univox U-1086 head, which I paid $160 for. I call it the UniWreck. In addition to the chassis and cabinet, I ended up with some Mullard 12A?7's (X's, and T's). I reused tube sockets as well, but the rest was basically gutted and thrown into my parts bins.

Any large size head chassis/cab combination should do you well. But don't kill a piece you can see for good money.

[Pan51]

both of these amps were given to me so im not out any money...but you both make a good point maybe ill just restore the deluxe and maybe the bassman too..i have a few other odd amps laying around, ill have to look and see whats all in my basement..i used to do guitar repair years ago mostly just as a hobby and helped some local guys out and they used to give me tube related stuff cause they know i was into it at the time and its been awhile so im not sure of what i all have down there thanks for the input