No problems this time- it's done!

[firemedic]

Thanks to everybody for helping me out, answering bonehead questions & rolling yer eyes quietly when I grounded input signals etc.... My first build is FINALLY finished, 4 months later.
It's called the Dan-O-Lux.
Started from a 40W "5E3 on Steroids" kit bought from Torres. Since I had the chassis room I built a 5E9 Tremolux instead. With a filter choke and 32 mFd filters (the first 2 filter stages consist of 64s in series) at A, B & C. It sounded dull though so I put in a AB763 preamp, "normal" circuit only w/ a 2nd gain stage after the tone stack. Also has a separate filament tranny for the rectifier, since I'm maxing out my other heater circuit with 2-6L6s and 4 preamp tubes. Also added the 1-tube reverb brought to us by tubenit. Increased the gain a little on that, plenty of reverb. There is a footswitch for tremolo & reverb, and a simple effects loop, also a multi-impedance switch for the speakers. And a pentode/triode switch. I built this in a Laney 50W AOR head chassis, she was a good amp w/ minor problems but I don't play heavy metal.
I fired it up today w/ a couple of T/S fake KT66s (really big bottle 6L6s) and man is it all there. It breaks up a little bit early, if I mess with it any more it will just be to raise the preamp B+ just a little for the headroom.

God it took forever. Made a lot of mistakes, took a lot of wrong turns & learned a LOT. Will post schematic in a few months when I figure out the program.

[tubenit]

Congrats!  Glad you're please with the amp and view it all a good experience.

IF you would like help with the schematic,  ...... I'd be willing to draw one up for you in ExpressSCH for you. I'd need you to get a handdrawn or cut and paste one to me thru email.   Just leave me a PM if you'd like help with it.

With respect, Tubenit

[stingray_65]

CRIPES!

All that in a first build?

I did a straight forward 5E3 my first build and all the issues I had about drove me nuts!

Glad to see you had the guts  to try it in the first place and enough sense to ask and be patient. All good qualities in a man's personality.

Even more happy it sounds good.

So what's your next project? a Hiwatt or a Soldano? LOL leave that Champ and Princeton fluff for the unchallenged? 

The REAL trick about learning all this stuff is remembering it on your next build.

I run into the same issues and this is like my 10th amp.

I trimmed my OT leads before I fired up and got howl.
I also grounded my leads to and from my FX loop. Talk about a weak signal!

KUDOS to you my man Great Job!

Ray

[firemedic]

Thanks. I finished final tweaks tonight, I think. Raised B+ to the preamp 10V and it sounds clean & smooth. also added a series 100kR just before the reverb divider. I still can't believe this thing actually works, much less sounds good. 3 months ago I knew nothing at all about this stuff.
This project was chassis driven, i.e., I had 4 preamp tube holes so I HAD to fill them with something.
I think I will take you up on your offer, tubenit. I downloaded the schem program but it will still be easier for me to hand-draw & scan the schematic.
As far as next projects go, I'd like to do a little single ended job. I was looking at Princeton/Champ layouts & thinking about it for a little practice amp. Then perhaps a Marshall style head. The more old-school the better. But that goes without saying.
 

[simonallaway]

I highly recommend the AX84 project's P1 eXtreme project, well .....any of their single-ended designs. Or at least look at their documentation which is well written:

http://ax84.com/p1x/AX84_P1x_100616.pdf

[firemedic]

This time, really, for real, I am done tweaking this amp. I'm serious now.
I wish I could describe the sounds my guitar makes now. It's better than I imagined it could be when I started this thing. No more tube rolling, no more soldering fatigue. It's time to play some guitar....

BTW tubenit I will get that schem up ASAP & thanx a million.