If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
Registered Member #75
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 09:30AM
Location: Montana, USA
Posts: 711
I think there are quite a few guitar players here, and probably a bunch of you have build your own amps, effects, whatever over the years (I am sure Steve has). So lets start a little discussion about our homebrew tube-gear, shall we?
I'll make a start with this:
It is a little practice amp featuring one ECC83 and one ECC81 - I play it through a 1x8" cab. It is made from the guts of a Hughes&Kettner Cream Machine, because I figured it would be cheaper than buying all the parts individually. It's too harsh-sounding for my taste though, I'd rather have some creamy, singing leads. Still working on that...
Registered Member #30
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706
I've messed around with tube guitar amps a lot, mostly when I was a student and had loads of time and no money. The first one I tried was the "Toaster" made from parts of an old 50 watt tube PA (that I was given for free) rehoused into a 19" rack chassis. I was into metal at the time and really wanted a Mesa Dual Rectifier but couldn't afford one, so I tried to make mine sound like that with mixed results. :-/ Pics here
The next one was the "Nifty Fifty" which was a conversion of an old Selmer Treble'N'Bass 50, that I was able to buy cheap because it was incredibly ugly looking and faulty. (The fault turned out to be one loose wire.) I rewired it to have clean and dirty channels, and changed the reverb send/return to be compatible with the newer digital reverb units. I also gave it a bit of a new look with exposed tubes, a brass front panel, and a magic eye tube driven off the speaker output signal. The pics show before and after.
I built these about 5 years ago but they're still in working order and pretty loud. I mostly use the Toaster for practice because it has a master volume control, so you can get as distorted a sound as you like without deafening volume. I think a mini tube amp like joe's is a better solution for practicing guitar at home, not to mention looking very cute. Although I have had complaints from my neighbours when playing through a 3 watt tube amp with a single 8" speaker.
Joe, how does it sound if you turn the tone control on your guitar down? Whenever anyone says "Thick lead" i think of Eric Clapton and his "Woman Tone"
Registered Member #135
Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735
guess ill show it off again.
Here it is. ~100W Farshall Mender through 2V30 Celestians. I'm slowly working on getting a better natraul distortion going, but I have other projects that need more attention right now.
I did have an acoustic feature on this amp for a while. It was a cap bypass to take off mid's and highs, which was pretty cool actually. So now that I've spilled that secret, you can do the same.
Registered Member #75
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 09:30AM
Location: Montana, USA
Posts: 711
You guys are playing in a different league designing and building your own designs, where I am just copying / modding stuff. Steve, your "Nifty Fifty" looks really cool in that last picture, I like it how you left the wood unfinished. Maybe that's the reason it doesn't sound like a mean recto? Well, actually I am slighly shocked that you, the Steve, the uber-geek did not manage to get the Mesa sound from your amp (which was actually your third one, I read your homepage!). I've got a strong habit of thinking that things are easier than they actually are, but tube amps are really stone-age, there cant be any secrets Maybe I should rethink this whole approach of sticking a few tubes together to get my dream tone, and just go with digital modelling, lacking the 2000€ for a real amp Ah, regarding the tone-pot: My guitars have it disconnected, since I never used it anyway, maybe I should change that
Matt, your "Farshall Mender" inspires me to build a "Reldano Soctifier". Just the high gain channels and a 50W power section, who needs more than that. But I seriously doubt I would get it to work. Did you use the original channels from Fender / Marshall in your amp, or did you come up with your own?
Registered Member #30
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706
Hi Joe, all,
The Nifty Fifty was never meant to sound like a recto, I had got fed up with metal by the time I built it. As for the Toaster, it does have a pretty mean distortion sound on account of having 4 gain stages and an EQ that lets you scoop out the midrange. I'm sure being made out of metal and held together with big socket head screws makes it sound heavier too.
But I can't claim that it sounds like a dual rectifier, since I never had access to a real one to compare it with. (and still don't)
I actually built two amps before these, one solid-state and one hybrid tube/SS, but they both sucked so bad I keep quiet about them. >.<
Registered Member #140
Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 11:43AM
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 14
Here is a picture of one of my tube amps.
I've copied some things of a marshall jcm 2000. The other part I designed myself. The amp is nearly finished I`m just waiting for new tube sockets and 2 new ecc83's. And then I still have to finish some last parts of the chassis
Registered Member #75
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 09:30AM
Location: Montana, USA
Posts: 711
Jorrit, for some reason I think of a coffin when I see your amp What are you going to call it? Any chance to see your other amps?
I'm planning to start work on a SLO-Clone with a smaller power section, e.g. push-pull 6V6 for 15W, soon. Well usually I don't complete my projects, but bragging about it here will hopefully give me some incentive. It's going to be a combo, and I am considering making it an avant-garde actylic design. I wonder if anybody has tried acrylic speaker enclosures, of if there is a really obvious reason not to do it...
As I appreciate real technology, I am considering to replace the power transfomer by a switching supply, surely that would save a few kilos of weight, and I could easily regulate B+. Just kidding.
Registered Member #135
Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735
Well....I had plans for blues tones, but I was toying with the preamp front end to see what I could do with it. Basically its a Twin without the reverb and the front ends from Marshall and Fender. The biggest difference is the preamp post volume control which I added to level both channels. I needed to make sure that when switching, one wasn't much louder then the other.
Tip 1. Bias is KEY! make sure your bias is from 28-35mA per tube. Otherwise it sounds like crap. Tip 2. Do NOT use a 12AT7 for the phase splitter. Man does that KILL the tone! Tip 3. Be really careful if you use 2 250V caps in series insted of 1 500V cap. The cans are LIVE! Ouch that really hurt one time >.< Tip 4. Keep leads as short as possible Tip 5. DC for filaments is silly. Okay so you don't have 60 Hz hum on the filaments, but now you have 120Hz hum! which is even more audible! Just use a Hum balance pot. Tip 6. Filter your bias voltage and keep the ripple really low. This will reduce hum.
Here's another job I did. A friend wanted me to re-crate his Crate because he wanted a 4x12 stack insted of his crummy combo. So I did the woodwork and staining. Enjoy.
Registered Member #75
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 09:30AM
Location: Montana, USA
Posts: 711
Wow, that wood-job looks fantastic! Probably wouldn't fit my tentative acrylic design too well, otherwise I would sure copy it.
Btw, that could easily be my gear, the Ibanez RG and the pick with the hole punched through. Are you my evil twin by any chance?
My µAmp from the first post is really giving me pain now: I made some _small_ changes, and now it oscillates like crazy at 15kHz and hums even more like crazy when I plug in a guitar
Registered Member #135
Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735
No. Like I said, this isn't my rig. This is Mike's rig. He liked my 2x12 Celestian 1/2 slant back cabinet so much that he wanted a box for his Crate.
The only thing left to do was to get some small Brass plaques made for my trademark logo. We were going to do that, but never got around to it.
Since my mom thought I would be a doctor, my initials were M.D.K., and that was going to carry over into my amps. "M.D. Overkill " is my trademak, but I've only done the 2 projects so far, excluding the unfinished foot-controller.
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.