brand new (mostly)

[Jamesbarner]

Hi All,

I've been dreaming of this for a long time, and want to take the plunge into building my own amp.  I'm handy with wood, and will build my own cab, and have done a fair amount of guitar wiring, and some prepackaged pedal mods.  I wonder if it is better to charge ahead and "stand on the shoulders of giants" by following some of the fantastic sounding amps here (and pick up knowledge along the way), or if I would be better suited to go off and read books and learn the ohm charts ( akin to paint-a-fence, and wax on, wax off, grasshopper) first and then know how to make changes to what I find here....

I also wonder about cost.  Obviously there is a range that can occur with any manufacturing, depending on if you go for top of the line components or scrimp here or there. 

I'm not looking to have a ultra realistic copy of any amp that exists, I want it to have it's own personality, and I want that personality to be badass.  I'm thinking texas blues, with a hint of ac/dc rhythm sound, that can clean up nicely for a touch of chorused solo now and again. 

I'm looking forward not just to your wisdom, but also to the day that I might help some newbie with my hard won knowledge.

James

[Cups]

There are certainly lots of good kits and paint by number stuff out there. Really good quality stuff that has been well thought out and put together. However that stuff rarely satisfies the "I want to build MY AMP" feeling. It's like anything else, the more you do it the better you get.

Reading and gathering knoweledge of what works goes a long way towards  your goal. If you have the means, repairing old amps is a really great way to learn and to listen to great tones.

[firemedic]

If you want just one amp, like I did at first, then get a big enough chassis & transformers, speakers & cab, to make the output section roughly what you think you'll want. That represents -by far- the most expensive parts of the amp.
i.e., do you want 6V6s, EL84s, 6L6s or EL34s, or 6550s, & how many? That decision will drive your transformer & chassis choices. 

Changing out preamp components (even the entire preamp) to taste will then be a relatively simple & cheap proposition.

If I were you I'd get a blackface fender style chassis because there are six preamp tube slots- you can experiment a lot with that.

FYI the webervst website has a bunch of chassis for dirt cheap in their bargain bin. I got a Twin reverb chassis for $15, it looks fine. (Sorry Doug! I get everything else from you I swear!)   

[Colas LeGrippa]

ok texas blues.......rock'n'roll, early break up,  dirty distortion, à la SRV, free, ac/dc,  brown tone, taj mahal, van halen.............I see exactly what you mean. Disregard building your own amp. Buy one of mine !

[John]

If I could offer one piece of advice, from one newbie to another, it would be to build the HoSo56, probably without the pseudo channel switching just to keep it simpler for your first time. (it's what gave me the most trouble) It is a GREAT sounding amp for blues, does the "brown" thing pretty well, and with a TS-7 in front of it does any rock sound you want.

There is a thread in the archives with the latest schematic and also the Hoffman layout for the board. Have fun!

[TIMBO]

Trust me, when you have built one,ONE ain't going to be enough.I think some of the single enders are a great place to start and are fairly cheep to build and are able to be modded easily.These amps are small but can really have some volume,which is good if you are a bedroom jammer. This is something you need to think of although the larger amps can have volume controls that will reduce the volume to bedroom level but are an involved mod to do if you are new to the world of amp building.

I bought this Epiphone Valve Jr. because it was a cheep (couldn't buy the parts for the money) and modded it to a HOTROD and i was very impressed with the outcome and was able to dial in some of the sounds you discribed. Good luck and enjoy the journey that is amp building.