AO35 With Chieftan Mid Mod

[benoit]

I assume people know what I'm talking about. I've decided to build one of these, and I have some questions. If you need a schem for reference, PM me.

1. PT. The AO35 was 290-0-290 also w/ 5 and 6v taps. The schem I have for the... er.. modded amp, says 298-0-298 with 5 and 6.3v taps. I also have pm'd with a guy who used the hammond 270FX which is 275-0-275. So my question is, will it matter to use the 270FX with the lower voltage secondary? Or should I got with one that's wound 300-0-300? I can't seem to find anything 290-0-290. I do have a photo of the amp I am cloning that shows the part numbers from cin-tran. Has anyone tried ordering from them?

2. OT. 20W Tweed deluxe iron work? If so where to get it from? Triode electronics has one really cheap, 25 I think but I'm a little leery of that one. Hammond 1750H also looks like a possibility. I want to keep cost down but I don't want to use crappy iron. The guy I talked to bought weber iron and has had it go bad twice, so I'm not doing that.

[rhinson]

i've built that very amp (and a z-28 style amp) using those exact 2 pieces of iron you speak of and they work and sound fine. i MUCH prefer the z-28 style circuit to the "modified" hammond ao-35--the tone control in that thing (and the other couple of amps it's used in) strips all the life out of the amp imo--i didn't like it very much . the triode deluxe reverb trannie sounds very nice, no problems and a good value---it even has ul taps to experiment with if you want as well as 4/8ohm sec taps rh

[jaydawg]

I used the tweed deluxe OT from Triod Electronics for my "ao-35" clone. It sounds great. It was also only $26 bucks. Triod is a good place for parts. Good prices and nice parts. Good prices on tubes too.
http://www.triodeelectronics.com/tf65wscta48o.html

[benoit]

Thanks for the info. I will probably use that, then. 1 step closer to convincing my wife I can afford to build right now

[dartanion]

The Hammond line of PTs are designed around a nominal wall voltage of 117V. With the standard in the US being 120V and usually higher in actuality, your HT voltage will be higher and close enough to work fine.

If you want a 290-0-290 PT, get yourself any 18watt Marshall PT as this was the spec.

[benoit]

Dartanion, any you'd recommend that beat the 62$ price of the hammond AND would work as well or better? Or anyone else, for that matter?

[RJ Guitars]

i've built that very amp (and a z-28 style amp) ... i MUCH prefer the z-28 style circuit to the "modified" hammond ao-35--the tone control in that thing (and the other couple of amps it's used in) strips all the life out of the amp imo--i didn't like it very much ... rh

rh - I assume you just used the Z-28 tone stack but not the EF86 preamp tube... am I correct in that assumption? Thanks,

rj

[rhinson]

i've built that very amp (and a z-28 style amp) ... i MUCH prefer the z-28 style circuit to the "modified" hammond ao-35--the tone control in that thing (and the other couple of amps it's used in) strips all the life out of the amp imo--i didn't like it very much ... rh

rh - I assume you just used the Z-28 tone stack but not the EF86 preamp tube... am I correct in that assumption? Thanks,

rj

no i used the ef86 and the tone stack-----i use ef86's in a LOT of the stuff i build---they are great tubes imo. the best amp you'll ever build is just a simple single ch. ac30/4 with an ef86 as the pre and just a simple 3-way bright switch (on-off-on) 220pf for the chime 4700pf for a massive mid boost.

rh

[RJ Guitars]

Yes I love the sound of those AC-30's. I've got plans to build a Trainwreck Rocket, do you think that I'll be able to get a similar sound?

I especially like your thoughts on single channel simple builds... would you have a schematic for such a thing, especially using an EF86 in that first stage?

I've never built with an EF86 but I find your comments have me tempted...

rj

[benoit]

I'm actually starting to change my mind in favor of building a rocket myself. I can't remember who, but someone posted a link to a myspace with some great punk rock sounds. I love the recorded AC30 sounds I've heard but hate the custom classics, otherwise I probably would have bought one a while ago.