Express Combo No.2

[Bob S]

Sounds kinda like Tardis meets Dumble. A path I'm venturing down.

Smart guitarists with money ???
I need to move over there. The last one left around here we had stuffed & mounted.
The wannabes hang out at Guitar Center - bless them. They get what they deserve at a great price.
As long as they stay off my lawn.

[M Fowler]

Bob it has taken about 4 to 5 years but I've been getting a lot of interest and selling a bunch of my previous builds. Before that it was all lookers and online shoppers.

Many of these guys had expensive amps but won't buy anything that doesn't have a popular brand name attached. Probably all TGP forum members too.

Amp repairs mostly junk PCB crap that they have been sending off 250 miles away to get repaired only for the amps to die again. So then they heard about me, they are tired of crap amps, and interested in mine. Not making any money but selling my inventory and that helps.

Did a bunch of charity repairs, re-tubes, and a few low cost builds which I think is where I received most of the attention from.

[M Fowler]

Got some more done on the combo, most days I don't feel like working on amps so this is going slow.

[M Fowler]

Amp is wired up and fired up. Oh boy this one has issues All preamp tubes go microphonic and I'm getting some oscillation, time to start measuring

[Markusv]

Mark

Just curious- I have bent many chassis myself with the open sides as yours has.
In an xpress- will that not add to oscillations etc?- I'm asking as the original chassis is completely closed on all sides and a base plate added?

I have also done base plates that incorporate a "lip" to close the sides and it seems to tame noise

Markus

[Markusv]

Mark

Just curious- I have bent many chassis myself with the open sides as yours has.
In an xpress- will that not add to oscillations etc?- I'm asking as the original chassis is completely closed on all sides and a base plate added?

I have also done base plates that incorporate a "lip" to close the sides and it seems to tame noise

Markus

[M Fowler]

No more noise then a usual stock Express. I do have to oring the power tubes due to combo enclosures speaker pressure rattling the power tubes.

I played this amp for awhile Wednesday to get components settled in, kicks ass as most Express amps do. Got some kind of note buzz not sure if speaker or poor solder joint.

[Richie]

I was reading your post on your combo build. I thought I might throw this out there. I don't know what preamp tubes you use, but I have had a couple really strange amp problems come in for repair.

Both were older fender amps, and both used JJ preamp tubes. I wish I had made a video of the problem, cause its one I have not see happen,then I got another one with the same thing.

If I can jog my memory, I think the tube was in V2 or second channel. When the tube was in, the WHOLE amp was microphonic, it made every tube microphonic,and the chassis too, everything.. it seemed it was more like a microphone! And I noticed the blue glow in the 6L6s..

Remove the tube.. amp worked great and all microphonic was gone,and blue glow in 6l6s, put JJ tube back in, amp goes back to being microphonic. So anyway, just thought i'd mention this,if you use the JJ or run across something like this.
It was a very weird thing. The only thing that connects V2 and V1 in those fender amps is they share the cathode on those 2 tubes. its the only thing I could think of, something in that tube was causing the weird problem. I know tracking down buzzing vibration problems in a combo can be a pain. Sometimes if its just when its in the combo, you have to get help. Get someone to play the note that causes the buzz, then use a wood stick to hold different caps, sometimes its more than one and have to use 2 hands.. nice looking build.

[M Fowler]

Thanks Richie I've tried JJ and many other brands used organ pulls etc. same with all of them.

Yesterday I moved some preamp wires around and that helped. Thinking about changing it back to presence pot too. Tinkering a bit.

[joeboo88]

Hi Mark: I thank you for showing all your builds, I learn a great deal from those.
I Especially like you work area, with all those bins loaded with stuff and the "Fowler Valve amp" logo.
Maybe you can record a sound byte from the amp, once you get it the way you like, keep going....

[M Fowler]

Hi Mark: I thank you for showing all your builds, I learn a great deal from those.
I Especially like you work area, with all those bins loaded with stuff and the "Fowler Valve amp" logo.
Maybe you can record a sound byte from the amp, once you get it the way you like, keep going....

Thank you Joeboo88. I post in case others want to build something similar. I don't post to show off, because my work isn't that impressive. It's a teaching tool I hope.

I receive many emails and PM's so I know people are taking building tips and applying them to their builds. That my friend is called sharing.

I enjoy members build photos, I borrow from them and have learned a lot from the generous TAG members.

Mark