Express build completely finished!!

[RockNRollDr]

I completed my Express build yesterday, although I have been playing through it for about a month I just finished the cabinet yesterday. The cabinet is made completely from aluminum and powder coated silver metallic, this really worked great at killing any extra buzz that I had, now it is silent. This is by far my favorite amp I've ever owned, the tone is amazing. I used 3 Tung-Sol 12AX7s and 2 Svetlana EL34s, I highly recommend this tube combination for anybody who doesn't want to spend 100s of dollars on vintage tubes. For capacitors I used all Sozo caps which only adds to the tone of this monster, yes it's a monster and very loud, but I'm sure that everyone here already knows that. I've posted some pictures of the finished product and hope to post some sound clips soon. I also plan to put some sort of logo on the front of it so it doesn't look so industrial even though I sort of like the look of it. A wooden cabinet would've looked beautiful, but I prefer working with metal as opposed to wood. Thank you to everybody for your help on this, it is well appreciated.

[leaveitalone84]

Wow, that looks pretty cool.

What kinda knob do you have on the impedence selector?

My Ceriatone came with tung-sol 12AX7's and they did sound great! But I just recently got some 1950's RCA black plates and they completely changed the amp. Gave it more of an old-school vibe.

[RockNRollDr]

The knob on the impendence selector is a wiper switch knob. I work for a company that makes electric cars for airports and I needed a rotary switch for the impendence selector and we had one here that was used for a windshield wiper switch, and it worked so I thought it looked kind of cool because the picture of the wiper on the knob actually points to all 3 positions. I will probably change it out with a different knob, because I got a bunch of knobs just like Ken used and I am going to put one of those on it.

Hopefully one day I will get some black plates for this thing but not just yet, first I plan on building a Liverpool in the next week or two, then I will look at different tubes.

[Lonely Raven]

I love how you did the back panel. You should do that to the front panel to spruce it up a bit!

Do you have a faceplate on that, or is it labeled right on the chassis?

Fantastic looking cabinet!

[Richie]

i like the concept.. very nice

[v846]

That's cool looking, kinda reminds me of 50's test equipment

[RockNRollDr]

I love how you did the back panel. You should do that to the front panel to spruce it up a bit!

Do you have a faceplate on that, or is it labeled right on the chassis?

Fantastic looking cabinet!

Thank you, on the front I was actually going to laser out the outline of a 57 Tunderbird Logo and put a thin piece of smoke colored plexi behind it with some lights to light up the cutout when the amp is powered on, but I'm impatient and I really wanted this finished, so I think I'm going to get the Thunderbird logo made from a vinyl decal and place it on the front and then on my next build I will do the cutout with the light behind it. Also the labels on the front are directly on the chassis spaced evenly to be right over top of the different knobs, I really like the look of those Dymo labels.

Thank you to everybody for your compliments.

[drhulsey]

I completed my Express build yesterday...

VERY NICE That eccentric handle distributes the weight a little more evenly, doesn't it

[v846]

get to see her naked?

[Structo]

The offset handle certainly makes sense to balance the transformer weight. Looks a little strange but definitely functional.

[El_Martin]

Hey RnR Dr.!

Definately not the average looking Express, but I like it.
Before adding a wooden front plate to my TeleWreck it did look like testequipment.
In fact it's an old housing of...you've guessed it...test equipment

Prrretty!

Ciao
Martin

[drhulsey]

... I prefer working with metal as opposed to wood...

Did you make the enclosure

[RockNRollDr]

That eccentric handle distributes the weight a little more evenly, doesn't it

Yes it works quite well too, it takes alot of the strain off of your arm trying to balance it.

Did you make the enclosure

I drew it up and had the parts welded by one of my suppliers at work, we don't have an aluminum welder but if we did I would've done the whole thing. The aluminum is probably a little more costly than wood but it's alot more road worthy, even though it will never leave my house, unless someone else uses it, haha.

get to see her naked?

Next time I have her apart I will snap some pictures, by then I may have 2 finished and you might get some girl on girl action.

[v846]

Next time I have her apart I will snap some pictures, by then I may have 2 finished and you might get some girl on girl action.

now yer talkin

[Noel Grassy]

Great idea! I am fixated on that "golden age" construction method. Steel whenever in doubt, dripping with chrome, and analogue guages. Oh yeah, fruit sized Bakelite knobbage! Here's Bogen's versh, looks like it came with a matching Thermos too!

[IMG:800:600]http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r222 ... 12AT71.jpg[/img]