Tweed BluezMeister with active FX loop.

[tubenit]

Now, the TBM is in a 18.5" X 6.5" X 2.5"  18 watt style open end chassis. I actually cut the 20" length down to 18.5"

This amp combo is about the size of a 5E3 combo amp.  

However, it has clean/OD, PAB, & midboost.  The clean/OD and midboost are relay switched using a foot switch box.

It also has on board an active FX loop.  I left out the LNFB around the 2nd triode and I changed some of the component values.

What I am trying to do is convey that I have ALOT going on in a very small chassis ............ AND the relay boards are super quiet.
They were very very easy to wire up and I actually built a relay power supply board that I mounted on L brackets on the open side of the amp.

The combo amp is so quiet at idle that I can almost not hear it & yet when I hit a chord, it's VERY LOUD with 6L6's in it.
I think it would be easy to walk into a room with the amp on and perhaps not hear it at all with it on either clean or OD? This is maybe the most quiet combo amp I've owned.  It is actually quieter than the D'Mars ODS which has surprised me.  

This amp has incredible blooming!  It is bluesier sounding than the D'Mars OD Special.  The D'Mars ODS has a sweeter more musically harmonic tone.  The TBM  actually sounds sort of Dumblish meets Fendery tone.  It has excellent sustain and blooming.  

The quietness of the TBM at idle (when dialed in to be LOUD) and the sustain and blooming feature make this a really really nice small combo "grab & go" amp.

I will try to take some pictures later this week and post them.  The wiring is NOT very neat, but I think a chassis shot  would be impressive in knowing that so much can be crammed into such a small space and be so super quiet at idle. This is waaaayyyyy quieter than the Princeton Reverb amp I owned.

After playing it an hour,  I can not think of any tweaks yet that I want to try?   However, keep in mind this is basically the same TBM that I tweaked over a yr of playing it .......... but with a D'lator type active FX loop now on board. So, I don't expect any major tweaks on this.

I am using an Emminence Texas Heat speaker with this amp.

With respect, Tubenit

[SILVERGUN]

Do you do all of your own woodwork as well...your cabinets are beautiful!!

[tubenit]

Do you do all of your own woodwork as well

Yes, I do. I build my own guitars also but haven't done one in quite some time.

With respect, Tubenit

[Geezer]

Do you do all of your own woodwork as well...your cabinets are beautiful!!

Yes he does! They really are quite incredible.

[kagliostro]

Fantastic Guitars

K

[SILVERGUN]

This amp has incredible blooming!  It is bluesier sounding than the D'Mars OD Special.  The D'Mars ODS has a sweeter more musically harmonic tone.  The TBM  actually sounds sort of Dumblish meets Fendery tone.  It has excellent sustain and blooming.  

Your descriptions just make me want to build amps ....you should be a motivational speaker

Thanks for being here and being a great role model.....all of your work is VERY interesting and VERY well done, and your descriptions of what you hear are invaluable to those of us who can only build a couple amps and have to weed through all of this information, and narrow our choices down through other's experience............please don't stop typing.....we are listening

[kagliostro]

you should be a motivational speaker

Tubenit is that and a sort of Anchorman

K

[tubenit]

Given how "busy" and crowded the interior of this amp is .............................

I've concluded that "visual" neatness is not as important as a logical and reasonable layout (regarding a quiet amp).

This amp is SUPER quiet at idle even when the controls are dialed to be quite loud.  

This makes a very nice "grab & go" amp with foot switchable  clean/OD, PAB and midboost ........... AND an active on board FX loop that allows the FX level pot to be used as a master volume for the amp.  This is a really neat way to do a master volume, IMO.

The relay power board is mounted on L-brackets on the side of the amp. One of the bolts to mount it is actually a PT bolt.

After hrs of playing, the only mod I made was to change the .002/390p  treble/midboost  to  .00122/540p.  The 540p is a paralleled 390p +150p.   This effectively changes the treble from 361p to 374p (since the caps are in series).  I changed this because the .00122 is more versatile and useable for me as a midboost than the .002.  You can still hear a dramatic change, but it doesn't have quite the volume jump that the .002 cap brought.

There is ALOT going on inside that amp given that the cab is about the size of a 5E3 tweed Deluxe.  Yet the clean on this has far more headroom than a Deluxe and the OD has waaayyy more overdrive also.

5E3 = 20" x 8.5" x 16.5"
TBM = 20.25" x 9.5" x 17"

With respect, Tubenit

[guitardude57]

Hey Tubenit,

Another fabulous build.  Every time I set out to gear up for a build, you throw a wrench in my plans with
another amp to consider.  Doug should make a regular board set for this!

Glad to see the loop incorporated in this.

I have a Windsor 100, (a trade from a Matchless Spitfire I built from a AO35 chassis) that gives me tons of
real estate for something better than the existing amp.  This thing had the Doug Hammond mods done, and still sounds terrible.  But with the OK iron, and the Hammond Choke, (one of the mods) the Tweed BM could be a hundred watter here.  There is enough room to add some more novel holes, and a couple of preamp boards...lol.

I could do the HAD power tube trick, to switch out 2 tubes for reduced output if needed.  Could do 6L6,6V6 or EL34's X 4.

Whatcha think?

Thanks, Mike

[tubenit]

Whatcha think

I think the TBM with active FX could be a really nice 100w amp.  Most of the overdrive is in the OD section of the preamp & not as much in the power section.

And you certainly don't have to make it 100w.  You could go cathode biased with two power tubes instead of 4 and have closer to 30 or 40watts which is still super loud (this is presuming your iron is geared towards 100w based on your comment).  

With respect, Tubenit

EDIT:  quick demo of the amp. Using a 5751 in V2 (OD) and changing the settings can give it ALOT of overdrive and sustain.  With this clip, I have a 12AY7 in V2 and the OD settings are for a very subtle OD.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11968741
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11970143

[CraigB]

WOW!  That is some tasty playing there Jeff!  That amp sounds so great.  Curious what guitar you're using there, sounds like humbuckers, but lots of clarity going on.  Again, you've knocked it out of the park 

[tubenit]

The guitar is my Tele with strat style DiMarzio humbuckers. Pretty low ouput buckers that sound alot like regular strat single coils. Sides are hollow and the body is Prima Vera which is sort of a white mahoganey that's light weight with similar tone to swamp ash. Top is flamed maple of course. Fretboard is Pau Ferro.

I was hesitant to share that soundclip thinking the playing was pretty mediocre at best, but someone had asked to hear a soundclip of the amp.

With respect, Tubenit

[CraigB]

Not mediocre!  Nice note choices, and touch.  Highlihgts the tone of the amp.

That is a sweet looking guitar.  How does the Prima Vera machine?  And where do you get it?

[tubenit]

The Prima Vera is an absolute dream to work with. Think of a (white) mahoganey that is less dense and cuts & sands just great.   I got it at a wood store in St.Louis on a visit up there & built two guitars out of it. Gave one to my son-in-law. It seems to be somewhat difficult to find.

With respect, Tubenit

[lowatter]

Very tasty projects all around there Tubenit. It's great to see soo much talent focused on these endevours and that your a great player too. Carry-on!

[Tone Junkie]

This was the one  meant to bump.
Thanks Bill

[tubenit]

I've played this amp for about a month without making any tweaks and listening carefully/critically.

I decided I wanted to mod a couple of things:

1)  I lowered the 180k resistor into the OD trim pot down to 100k. This was after trying numerous different values. This seemed to "open
     up" the tone a little more letting the OD be a little more touch sensitive.

2)  I added a 33k resistor from the OD drive pot to ground. This was really more of a mental thing than anything else. I wanted to have
     the dial on more like "4" instead of "3".   No difference in tone.

3)  I added an 82p  smoothing cap from the V3-6 plate to V3-8 cathode on the active FX loop. I tried a handful of values and found
     a "sweet spot" between 82p - 120p.  Over 120p seemed to kill some higher tones that I like. 

     However, the 82p really gave the amp more of a vowel tone and smoothed the tone at the same time.  I can't hear any loss of
     highs with the 82p and only a very very slight loss of highs with 120p.

*** 
       I know that some guys have portrayed the smoothing caps as "band aids" to some problem.  I really do NOT view it that way at all.
       For example: the "enhance cap" across the LTPI entrance plate resistor seems to actually add harmonics as well as smoothing. This
       smoothing cap on the active FX loop (plate to cathode) also added some sweetness and vowel tone. Notes seem to sustain a little
       longer and have a sweetness that it doesn't have without this cap.

If a smoothing cap actually adds sweetness, harmonics, sustain, blooming, touch sensitivity ............... etc..... and doesn't just eliminate something negative, then I sure don't view it a band aid at all.

I am starting to believe that slowly tweaking an amp over time (like weeks or months) can really help dial in the tone that you want. Making small changes and then playing those long enough to get past any "placebo" effect seems to be very useful to me. To be honest, I probably only use 1 out of every 3-5 tweaks I try out.

Just thought I'd pass this observation on with the hope it might be useful to someone.

With respect, Tubenit

[TIMBO]

Tubenit, I thankyou very much  for your hard work in giving us your time to TWEAK these amps and passing your info at no COST. I say this as i do NOT even at this stage of my amp building have the first CLUE of making an amp sound BETTER or to my taste. So  to you Mr. T.

I used both the overdrive and active loop circuits in the TB OVERDRIVE i am building (slowly) and to have some YUMMY tweaks to try is fantastic. Thanks again