Anyone done an Express PCB?

[M Fowler]

I am interested in building an Express using PCB construction has anyone done that?

Anyone put the Express schematic into Express SCH software to import to Express PCB?

Mark

[MCK]

Dana's Lil Devil

[Richie]

Maybe Dana will respond, as he has some info him and Allyn were working on.

[UR12]

Yes, I have a PCB express prototype built and we are in the testing phase. The amp is Allyn's hands as we speak being tested against some real Wrecks. I am not sure at this time if we will be offering board kits or just amps. I would guess that the design will be finalized by sometime early spring or late winter. The boards will work in a standard Express chassis using the original layout of the tubes, controls, jacks, switches and trannys The preliminary tests are very encouraging in that the amp is quite and sounds very good to me. Richie has played/tested the amp and we just need to get a few more trained ears on it and finalize the PCB design before having the boards made. Stay tuned.

[M Fowler]

Well if you happen to have a board later on that you can spare I would be interested.

There has been some interest by other people to build a PCB Express, so I thought I would give a shout and see if others were onto this already.

Makes sense to tame the beast going PCB construction.

Thanks guys.

[Dr-Joned]

I've slowly (read very slowly) been working on one as well using turrets for some of the tweakable areas. It makes a lot of sense to use pcb since the circuitry is so demanding in the layout aspect.

[Bruciep07]

Yes, I have a PCB express prototype built and we are in the testing phase.

Dana,
Did you alter the component layout much? I made up a board in pcb express and basically just followed to standard layout, just replaced all the bus wire with solder traces. I haven't had any made though, figured someday I'd order a few just for kicks...

[UR12]

Yes, I have a PCB express prototype built and we are in the testing phase.

Dana,
Did you alter the component layout much? I made up a board in pcb express and basically just followed to standard layout, just replaced all the bus wire with solder traces. I haven't had any made though, figured someday I'd order a few just for kicks...

We kept the layput close but not exact. It uses 3 boards. One for the preamp with pots and power supply caps mounted to the board, One for the power tubes and associated components and one for the power supply. All tube sockets are mounted to the chassis and there is no heater wiring on the preamp boards.

[Bruciep07]

We kept the layput close but not exact. It uses 3 boards. One for the preamp with pots and power supply caps mounted to the board, One for the power tubes and associated components and one for the power supply. All tube sockets are mounted to the chassis and there is no heater wiring on the preamp boards.

Very cool, can't wait to see the finishes product!

[RJ Guitars]

I've got a prototype PCB board for a Liverpool going and the drawings done for the Express and Rocket. If Allyn and Dana, Dr. Joned, or anybody else want to offer their boards to the forum I wouldn't arrange to put the Express boards into production any time soon... plenty of things for me to do as it is and no doubt they would do a great job. I think it may be less trouble to untangle all the potential problems in the Liverpool and the Rocket before I tackle the Express.

I did the submini tube Rocket on a turret board first then moved it onto a PCB board. My full sized prototypes are basically just scaled up versions of the submini work I did. https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.php?t=9816. This is probably different from most of the other proposed ideas in that it's everything on one board. Time will tell if this will work or not.

I ran another thread that never caught on but is related to the PCB board for a Liverpool effort. https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.php?t=11528. This is an intermediate sized board that I wanted to use for smaller sized chassis and maybe make little combo amps. This amp is within a few hours of being done and I'm hoping to finish it up over the Holidays.

If anybody wants to partner and or serve as the test builders on the first iterations, I am all for it being a TAG project. I have a great PCB vendor here in the US that I'd like to use again. You can get boards cheaper overseas but I really wanted to keep the work at home as far as possible.

Could be fun...

rj

[M Fowler]

To stablize the Express circuit going PCB would be a good platform and one that is being discussed by many different builders. Very pleasing to know others are already on top of production.

Running the chassis mounted preamp tube sockets with long leads directly soldered to the PC board would be beneficial I would think in this case.

Something I want to put on my things to do future builds.

Also want to go with either Edcor or Mercury iron on this built.

Mark