What are the No Compromise (obtainable) parts for Express

[declan]

Sorry if this has already been asked

I am planning to get chassis, board and most components from Nik at Ceriatone to make it as much a one stop shop as possible, however, the following are the components I will be sourcing elsewhere as they appear to be ones not to be compromised on if you want to get as close as possible to authentic Wreck tones and feel

1. Toneslut OT
2. NOS Tubes
3. Scumback speakers
4. Mallory caps ??? or sprague??? (seems to be debate)
5. A little luck and a lot of patience


Glen Kuykendalls youtube video has a lot to answer for

[geetarpicker]

Thanks!
GK

www.myspace.com/glenkuykendall

[declan]

speak of the devil..... looks like you just cost me the best part of $600 and probably more..... and who knows how long to build it with your fancy Les Paul and your Trainwreck

seriously inspirational video, that touch responsiveness is exactly what ive been looking for in an amp, the sustain and controllable feedback are jaw dropping.

so as not to divert from my question too far

I am adding Cornell Dublier PVC caps to that list

am i already drifting too far from a ceriatone?

[Ron Worley]

It's all Glenn's fault to be sure....

"$600".... my estimates with a good cabinet are at about $1000.

I will post my BOM again for you and others.. it has parts lists for the Airbrake, a light bulb limiter and speaker load box too....

Ron

[declan]

Thanks Ron,

You are of course right with the cabinet and especially speakers if you dont have suitable ones, although the more i read the more i want to do myself... dont care if it takes 6 months, and while im no expert, the cabinet work will be done by me

Im interested to hear one of these through a couple of detuned cabs i built last year.

[leaveitalone84]

It is all Glens fault!

It it wasn't for him I wouldn't have even known what a Trainwreck was!

$1000 is a good low ball estimate for buying all the stuff.

[declan]

someone should start a "why i build a trainwreck clone" thread and see how many times Glens name comes up...

hes the devil i tell ya .... or at least the Pied Piper

[drhulsey]

Thanks!

Remember, Glen No good deed ever goes unpunished

[geetarpicker]

She made me do it!

[img:500:138]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-10/ ... nnie89.jpg[/img]

[Lonely Raven]

I was wondering what the name on yours was!

[CaseyJones]

Sorry if this has already been asked

I am planning to get chassis, board and most components from Nik at Ceriatone to make it as much a one stop shop as possible, however, the following are the components I will be sourcing elsewhere as they appear to be ones not to be compromised on if you want to get as close as possible to authentic Wreck tones and feel

1. Toneslut OT
2. NOS Tubes
3. Scumback speakers
4. Mallory caps ??? or sprague??? (seems to be debate)
5. A little luck and a lot of patience

Do you think Ken worked from a list of parts? Was the parts list the same every time? Were the parts all available from one source?

Having scrounged parts in the late '70s and early '80s I'll say no, no, no and no again just for good measure.

Many of Ken's parts choices were a compromise due to a number of factors. All of his amps can be considered prototypes, little effort was expended to make building the amps manufacture-able or repeatable.

Don't believe the hype, there's a lot of bullshit out there that it's gotta be what it's gotta be and it can't be anything else.

Ask Doug H. what you're supposed to do when you think you've found the Buddha.

[Richie]

Do you think Ken worked from a list of parts? Was the parts list the same every time? Were the parts all available from one source?

Having scrounged parts in the late '70s and early '80s I'll say no, no, no and no again just for good measure.

Many of Ken's parts choices were a compromise due to a number of factors. All of his amps can be considered prototypes, little effort was expended to make building the amps manufacture-able or repeatable.

Don't believe the hype, there's a lot of bullshit out there that it's gotta be what it's gotta be and it can't be anything else.

Ask Doug H. what you're supposed to do when you think you've found the Buddha.

Not all wreck amps used the same parts or transformers. Trudy used the brown caps. Others used different transformers. Some things may be BS,but not all of it.
Its not just the parts,its the type part it is,where its used,and its value. You might be able to just grab a bunch of parts and get lucky,and it turn out great. But there are things a person needs to do besides that,if they want the amp to turn out like it should.
In am amp that is on the verge, a few parts, that the values are off,can make the amp react or sound different.
Ever sit and measure 1M pots.. they can be anything from low 800k to over 1M. Same with bypass caps, and resistors. I'm pretty sure Ken knew what parts he wanted to use,and how they would sound or effect the amp.

[declan]

. I'm pretty sure Ken knew what parts he wanted to use,and how they would sound or effect the amp.

and there in lies the reason for the question, us mere mortals ... well me anyway, may not have the skill and knowledge to know what to do when you have to make do, .... although i agree there is a lot of BS, i certiantly wouldnt want to chase exact parts down to the colour of the caps but copying the nominal values and charachteristics of the parts he used in at least one of his amps is probably the closest i will manage to get.

Sure anything is tweakable, but unless someone lets us take apart the real thing (not going to happen) it will always prove a challenge to compensate for differences in component tolerance.

Casey, i found the Buddha years ago, been killing myself ever since :)

[Dai H.]

Sorry if this has already been asked

I am planning to get chassis, board and most components from Nik at Ceriatone to make it as much a one stop shop as possible, however, the following are the components I will be sourcing elsewhere as they appear to be ones not to be compromised on if you want to get as close as possible to authentic Wreck tones and feel

1. Toneslut OT
2. NOS Tubes
3. Scumback speakers
4. Mallory caps ??? or sprague??? (seems to be debate)
5. A little luck and a lot of patience

Do you think Ken worked from a list of parts? Was the parts list the same every time? Were the parts all available from one source?

Having scrounged parts in the late '70s and early '80s I'll say no, no, no and no again just for good measure.

Many of Ken's parts choices were a compromise due to a number of factors. All of his amps can be considered prototypes, little effort was expended to make building the amps manufacture-able or repeatable.

Don't believe the hype, there's a lot of bullshit out there that it's gotta be what it's gotta be and it can't be anything else.

Ask Doug H. what you're supposed to do when you think you've found the Buddha.

I think basically Ken F. was a "good cook" as *umble and anyone else who is good with tweaking/building amps. That is to say in the sense that if a really good cook was let loose in somone's kitchen, even if there didn't seem to be a particular luxury of ingredients they (probably) could still come up with something good or great tasting. So to me the "know-how" is the really desirable thing, although there are plenty of "set recipes" (Fender, Marshalls, etc.) that are more or less easy to achieve success with (popular, lots of parts, lots of info, etc.).

[CaseyJones]

Wouldn't it be nice if all the "good parts" were in one place?

Well they are... but that place is my workbench! And I've had to gather that crap by traversing hundreds of miles to go to antique radio shows, hamfests and out of the way corners of the globe to find this junk. So the answer is the way to get the good stuff is to gather it up from various sources then stockpile it, that way it's all in one place.

1. Toneslut OT

You'd laugh at some of my transformer choices but the Toneslut OT would be a good choice, that way you're not chasing after an elusive tone with no hope of getting it due to some oddball OT.

2. NOS Tubes

O.k., but we already discussed the $600 to $1000 total cost. Throw that out the window if you want NOS tubes, the going rate for NOS Mullard EL34s is around $325 per pair. Add in another $125 for a pristine Telefunken for V1. V2 and V3 should be good but not precious. Anyway $500 just for tubes is a big chunk of your budget. I like High Test or Cold Springs for NOS tubes, they're not cheap but you get what you pay for. Other vendors aren't cheap either but you might not get what you pay for.

Plan "B" would be to check out the Classifieds right here, see if you can pry a nice 12AX7 loose from Blaren. If you only buy one killer tube make it V1. If you use 6V6s rather than EL34s RCA black plates look affordable by comparison. I think Cold Springs will sell you Sylvania chrome tops for around $75.00 a pair, again compared to $300.00+ EL34s that's not such a bad deal.

I paid a lot less for mine back in the '80s. Gas was a lot cheaper back then, too.

3. Scumback speakers

You have choices here. I like real British Greenbacks but the relatively inexpensive new ones aren't all bad, just crank up your new toy when you get it done and beat the new ones until they're "broken in".

Weber Silver Bells are very good. Remember, Ted's specialty is speakers and he knows more about speakers than nearly anyone.

Eminence makes what, 100 different speakers now? They're pretty good, too.

4. Mallory caps ??? or sprague??? (seems to be debate)

Here's where you get into trouble. If you use Mallory you're going to wonder what the Spragues sound like, if you use Sprague you'll wonder about the Mallorys. Then there's that little ceramic disc in there that's where the tone lives and that can be anything!

Just to mess with people I use CDE "dog turds", they're like orange drops only brown.

Germ likes STKs, he'll sell you a big bag full of them for reasonable money. Then you'll be all set on .022s for your next ten builds or so.

5. A little luck and a lot of patience

"If it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all!"

Next wreck type build I'll use cloth covered wire and carbon comp resistors!