Express wired and ready to fire up

[drhulsey]

Everything came together well. It has been a very enjoyable experience putting it together, mostly because of all the good info on this forum I can't thank Allyn and Dana enough for their help I realized only yesterday that I didn't have any EL34's Oh well, I can read the power-up protocol while I'm waiting. Patience is a virtue

[brownnote]

lookin' good

[drhulsey]

More Critique welcome Be gentle. I'm a virgin

[UR12]

Tim

That looks Great!!! If ya got a pair of 6V6s you could throw them in there temporarily and see what she sounds like. Just a thought


Congrats!!!

[geetarpicker]

I check your output jack wiring. If I'm looking at it correctly you have both the jacks wired to short the output when nothing is connected. This would mean that if you only plugged in one cab the other jack is still shorting out your mains. Check it, I might not be looking at it right but it looks suspect to me. I'd just remove the ground to switch contact jumpers on BOTH jacks. My original amp has none of this on either jack, though I'll admit blackface Fenders have this on the speaker jack, but NOT on the extension jack. The way you have yours wired you would NEED to plug in two cabs to get it to play.

Also, on a non critical note Ken used the Lorin rotary switch in my original '89 Express amp like you are using as far as I can see. However in my amp the switch is 2 pole 3 way, not just a single pole 3 way. The second poles are wired in parallel with 3 wires kind of criss crossed the assembly to the other poles, so that the two poles are wired in parallel. Then you get double the current capacity when using the somewhat lightweight switch. If your switch can be configured as a 2 pole 3 way, you could rewire it like Ken did.

I'll check more when I return later this evening. Looks nice!

GK

[hot_tube_tone]

Looks like it came together really well. I can't wait to hear it.

[bnwitt]

I'm used to a little more solder on the turrets. Looks a little lite on some of them

[drhulsey]

Brownnote, UR12, hot_tube_tone,
Thanks for the good words The test will be when I apply some vitamin AC to it I like the way she looks, but will she put out

...check your output jack wiring.

Glen,
Thanks for lookin' her over. I'll remove the jumpers on the output jacks. I couldn't decide why opposite contacts were wired on the impedance switch, but current handling sure makes sense. Since it has 3 output lugs, I guess I would have to wire 2 together to get the other 3 input lugs in the circuit. The Lorin switch is REALLY light. I think I'll replace it with the current version of the Stackpole, which Ken double-wired, as well. I haven't held one in my hand, but it sure looks more substantial.

I'm used to a little more solder on the turrets.

This was my first go at soldering turrets. Everything on the boards had a substantial mechanical hold on the turrets prior to soldering. Even though I used heat sinks on all components, I guess I was trying to get in and out too quickly Let me know if you see any other problems. Thanks for looking

[joe6v6]

I agree with GTpicker about the out put selector switch, hoffman sells a heavy duty one thats very cheap for the quality. I would recomend adding 1 ohm resistors from the power tube cathodes to ground instead of grounding them directly. it makes checking & adjusting the bias very easy without going near high voltage. very easy to do with the ground lugs you already have in place.

JOE

[Allynmey]

Looks good Tim! Definitely remove the shorters on the outputs! I don't personally like the Lorlins but, if you double them up it may be fine.
+1 on the Hoffman selectors. If he doesn't have them, Mouser sells them.

Allyn

[drhulsey]

Joe,
I like the looks of the switch Hoffman has Output jumpers are out Thanks for looking. Let me know if you see anything else that needs changing.

Allyn,
Thanks for all your help. Without your explanations and some key components, the project wouldn't have been as much fun

[Rick]

Nice job! Looks a helluva lot better than my first build! How's she sound??
I never use an impedance switch anymore, just a couple three jacks labelled for the different ohm taps, it's cheaper and you don't have to worry about switch problems, just keep a speaker plugged in...
Let her rip and let us know!

I've read some guys would put a heavy power 200 ohm or so resistor across the output so there is some load there if you ever forgot to plug in a speaker, don't know what that would do to the tone, but I'd have to suspect it does suck tone somewhat...

[JammyDodger]

Hey!

Really a nice, clean build.... Where did you find those 100k 2W carbon comp resistors?

Cheers, Mike

[drhulsey]

How's she sound??

I'm waiting on my EL34. Just some EH's to fire her up initially.

Where did you find those 100k 2W carbon comp resistors?

Mike,
I got them at GrandOldBooks ebay store. You can find a lot of CC's on ebay. The leads work kinda like REBAR

[drhulsey]

+1 on the Hoffman selectors.

Or maybe 2+ These switches are built like a tank (NKKHS13) You have to have a knob on it to switch contacts. It takes up a little more space, and I had to ream out the chassis hole a bit to get it to fit. I can't imagine a more heavy duty switch