Judge my latest build

[Dyerseve726]

I just finished my sixth build and starting to get serious about lead dress. Really did my best in this one to route wires thoughtfully, but I'm always looking for ways to improve at this. I know a lot of you on here have a ton of experience so I would value your input. Is there anything in here that I could do better? Did I do anything stupid? Sometimes I twist wires and I don't even know if they should be twisted together, for example, lol. I just do it to keep things tidy, but I've wondered if maybe some wires shouldn't be together like that. It hasn't seemed to cause any problems thus far  Thanks in advance.

[tubenit]

Looks great to me.


With respect, Tubenit

[uki]

Looks really good !!

[bmccowan]

Looks really good to me too. Better than mine - not that that is a good benchmark
One question. Is that the heavy cloth jacketed wire that AES sells? Looks like it. If so, how are you making out with it? I tried that wire and found that it fatigue breaks really easily - need to bend it right the first time. Or maybe they improved it - my experience with it goes back maybe 10 years.

[Dyerseve726]

Looks really good to me too. Better than mine - not that that is a good benchmark
One question. Is that the heavy cloth jacketed wire that AES sells? Looks like it. If so, how are you making out with it? I tried that wire and found that it fatigue breaks really easily - need to bend it right the first time. Or maybe they improved it - my experience with it goes back maybe 10 years.

Thank you. I got the wire from Amplified Parts and I love it. It will break if you overwork it, but I haven't had much trouble. I couldn't stand working with the usual push back insulated wire. The cotton always frayed and got all ugly on me. This is 20g, modern insulation. Just strip like normal wire. It's awesome to work with and looks great.

https://www.amplifiedparts.com/products/wire-20-awg-solid-core-lacquered-cloth-cover-600v

[bmccowan]

Amplified Parts is the same vendor as Antique Electronics Supply (AES.) Overworking it is the issue. I tend to experiment with my builds a lot and would end up breaking that stuff - I also found it bulky. But glad you like it. I have a few full spools if you are interested. I do not sell stuff, but trades are welcome. I like motorcycles
I have been able to find the 22 gauge cloth covered pushback wire with a waxy coating that does not fray.

[valvetones]

Looks really good to me too. Better than mine - not that that is a good benchmark
One question. Is that the heavy cloth jacketed wire that AES sells? Looks like it. If so, how are you making out with it? I tried that wire and found that it fatigue breaks really easily - need to bend it right the first time. Or maybe they improved it - my experience with it goes back maybe 10 years.

I experienced the same thing, that wire is no good at all.

I wish there was a place we could all buy wire that looks, smells, and tastes exactly the same as the old fender hookup wire! 

[valvetones]

Oh and the amp looks great!

How do you like those Jupiter caps?

And , what circuit is that?

[bmccowan]

I wish there was a place we could all buy wire that looks, smells, and tastes exactly the same as the old fender hookup wire

Really - if only
I was on ebay a while back and someone was trying to sell a piece of cloth covered wire about 6" long that allegedly came from a '57 strat. His price was $130. I sent him a note that said, "now that's funny." He banned me from all his future auctions. Broke my heart.

[glass54]

Dyerseve,
Wiring looks pretty good but (you're gonna hate me) 
I'm a little concerned about some gremlins undoing you, as you have put heaps of effort into this build.
See item 1 in attached pix, BEWARE of those short wire offcuts! They can get nasty.
Item 2: Do I see the "Ground Wire" soldered to a nut on support bolt. These can fracture if you don't have a superb bond, so you are better off with a lug, as you have on the 1R resistors and main AC earth wire. Did you do this with the ground wire in multiple points? May or may not cause some earthing integrity problems.
Kind regards
Mirek

[valvetones]

I wish there was a place we could all buy wire that looks, smells, and tastes exactly the same as the old fender hookup wire

Really - if only
I was on ebay a while back and someone was trying to sell a piece of cloth covered wire about 6" long that allegedly came from a '57 strat. His price was $130. I sent him a note that said, "now that's funny." He banned me from all his future auctions. Broke my heart.

Yeah people are silly. And I was really kidding , you can buy wire that looks smells and tastes like old fender wire, right here on this site. It’s great stuff.
Gitcha some.

[bmccowan]

I know - I am familiar with Doug's push back wire. I buy most of what I can right here, but I like to buy that waxy cloth wire in fairly large spools.

[Dyerseve726]

Dyerseve,
Wiring looks pretty good but (you're gonna hate me) 
I'm a little concerned about some gremlins undoing you, as you have put heaps of effort into this build.
See item 1 in attached pix, BEWARE of those short wire offcuts! They can get nasty.
Item 2: Do I see the "Ground Wire" soldered to a nut on support bolt. These can fracture if you don't have a superb bond, so you are better off with a lug, as you have on the 1R resistors and main AC earth wire. Did you do this with the ground wire in multiple points? May or may not cause some earthing integrity problems.
Kind regards
Mirek

Thanks. And I figured someone would comment on that. Those bolts aren't connected to anything. They just go through the board and nowhere else. I only used them for some structural support of my ground bus/to make things look more neat. I was just gonna squish them down with another nut, but my bolts weren't long enough and I figured solder would be enough to hold them in place. They don't actually connect to ground until that line reaches input ground. The ground bus behind the pots is also isolated from the chassis until it reaches the input ground.

As for the little wire pieces, I use a high power air blower after each step to clear out any debris that might have fallen into the chassis while working. These pics were before I had done that.

Thanks for your comments. I feel good. both of your concerns aren't actually concerns so I guess I did alright! lol

[Dyerseve726]

I experienced the same thing, that wire is no good at all.

I wish there was a place we could all buy wire that looks, smells, and tastes exactly the same as the old fender hookup wire! 

Weird that everybody hates this wire. I preferred it so much that I bought a 50 foot spool of each color after I tried it. Everybody send your wire to me! Haha

[Dyerseve726]

Oh and the amp looks great!

How do you like those Jupiter caps?

And , what circuit is that?

I love the Jupiter's, but to be honest, I've used them in every build so far, so I can't say how they actually effect the sound. I can tell you that every amp I've built has sounded great, so I'm nervous to NOT use them, haha. Regardless, I like Chris at Jupiter and it's nice to buy American Made, so I keep opting for them.

This is an AA1164 with a few mods. I keep building the same circuit because people keep wanting them. The build before this one, I randomly stumbled onto a crazy synergistic collection of parts that blew all my others out of the water by a mile, and this one was the more tidy recreation of that, with some other small upgrades. The person I was originally building that one for wanted the loudest, cleanest 6l6 Princeton I could make. So I went with a monster PT (200ma), GZ34, and I matched the 6l6 pair with a 4k Bandmaster OT. I still can't think of why, but I made the complete opposite by accident. I made a growly beast with weirdly early and generous breakup. Plugged into a 2x12, it sounds absolutely huge. I have never in my life heard an amp handle bass like that. It is a tremendously joyful experience to play on it and it gave me goosebumps when my friend Joe (awesome guitar player) spent some time on it. It just has magic in all the right places. Since it was a mystery to me why it sounded the way it did, I figured I should probably try and recreate it to make sure it wasn't an incorrect resistor value somewhere or some out of spec part. Nope...it just sounds like that. New one sounds almost identical 

Previous one was also the first time I had added a mid pot and I put it on the back. I kinda figured it'd go mostly untouched, but I found it really has a lot to offer regarding tone shaping. This time, I slapped it on the front with a toggle switch to either go back to the stock 6.8k resistor or to bypass the tone stack entirely. The latter ended up being not very useful, but I was curious.

Anyway, sorry, that's way more information than you asked for, haha. I've just been super geeked about these last two amps. Now I gotta find someone to buy this thing so I have the funds for another project *sigh*

[valvetones]

I think that sounds like an amp I’d like to hear!!
Where does one go to listen to sound clips?

[Dyerseve726]

I think that sounds like an amp I’d like to hear!!
Where does one go to listen to sound clips?

I don't have any quality recordings yet, but I did share a couple videos here https://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=28677.msg315691#msg315691

Hoping to hook up with him again soon with some good mics setup. The bass doesn't come through well in the phone recordings.

[bmccowan]

Weird that everybody hates this wire. I preferred it so much that I bought a 50 foot spool of each color after I tried it. Everybody send your wire to me! Haha

Hey Dyerseve - sure, I'll send you mine. I have 3 full spools red/black/yellow. I'll just send them to you and if you want you could send me a few of those Jupiter caps to try. Shoot me a PM if interested.
Also - the bolts you mention using for support for your ground bus - have you tried using single insulated turrets like these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/362043934117? You can get them in many different configurations and they work slick for that purpose and other spots where you want to secure components.

[Lectroid]

Dyerseve,

An awesome sounding amp!  Any other changes from stock AA11654 except the two transformers?  What's your secret sauce?

[Dyerseve726]

Dyerseve,

An awesome sounding amp!  Any other changes from stock AA11654 except the two transformers?  What's your secret sauce?

Thank you. I'm beyond pleased with it. PT is the Hammond P-T290CX and OT is a Heyboer APD-8006H if you're interested. Of course, that OT only makes sense if you're using 6l6. I added that midrange knob which was cranked up in the straight to the amp video. Just put a 25k-50k pot in place of the 6.8k mid resistor. I used a 25k pot with a 5k resistor between it and ground so that it's lowest setting was 5k. Those are the only big differences between these last two and the previous ones. I do all the recommended mods on the Robinette site. Grid stoppers n such. You can see all the other parts on the board. Let me know if you need anything identified.

[72Blazer]

Nice job.  What chassis did you use/where did you get it?

[Dyerseve726]

Nice job.  What chassis did you use/where did you get it?

Thank you. That is a Weber 6a14 chassis ordered straight from Weber. They have a larger power transformer cut out. I actually don't think that Hammond PT would fit in a standard Princeton chassis. They're a little pricey, but they're nice and come with front and back plates. My only complaint is that I think the angle of the front is slightly sharper than normal and I always have trouble with the pilot lamp assembly. The hot part of the assembly gets dangerously close to the chassis. I usually coat that area of the chassis with silicone or stack large heat shrink tubes under it for peace of mind.

[bmccowan]

That pilot light thing in those chasses is a pain. I have had the same thing with two from Marsh. And I worked on an original blackface Bandmaster that had the same problem. Fender had done the same thing I did, a couple layers of electrical tape on the chassis. Kind of hack, eh? Some really poorly designed things have persisted for decades - the pilot light assemblies are one of them - the strain reliefs are another IMO. 

[Dyerseve726]

That pilot light thing in those chasses is a pain. I have had the same thing with two from Marsh. And I worked on an original blackface Bandmaster that had the same problem. Fender had done the same thing I did, a couple layers of electrical tape on the chassis. Kind of hack, eh? Some really poorly designed things have persisted for decades - the pilot light assemblies are one of them - the strain reliefs are another IMO.

Good to know it's not just me. It's the only part of these builds that makes me nervous because I actually smoked a transformer once trying to see if I could squeeze it in facing up. Some part of that assembly was shorted to the chassis and I melted the filament wires I was so dejected that I didn't finish that build for like a year, lol. It ended up being the one I am so thrilled with, so I'm glad I finished it.

[valvetones]

Amplified Parts is the same vendor as Antique Electronics Supply (AES.) Overworking it is the issue. I tend to experiment with my builds a lot and would end up breaking that stuff - I also found it bulky. But glad you like it. I have a few full spools if you are interested. I do not sell stuff, but trades are welcome. I like motorcycles
I have been able to find the 22 gauge cloth covered pushback wire with a waxy coating that does not fray.

Where can we find the waxy pushback wire?

[valvetones]

I think that sounds like an amp I’d like to hear!!
Where does one go to listen to sound clips?

I don't have any quality recordings yet, but I did share a couple videos here https://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=28677.msg315691#msg315691

Hoping to hook up with him again soon with some good mics setup. The bass doesn't come through well in the phone recordings.

1.21 Jigawatts!!!   Noice!!!

[PharmRock]

Also - the bolts you mention using for support for your ground bus - have you tried using single insulated turrets like these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/362043934117? You can get them in many different configurations and they work slick for that purpose and other spots where you want to secure components.

Another option are these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/144275654218
They take a #6 screw, and the thread depth is a little deeper.  Overall just a little "beefier".  I've use them in my previous two builds for mounting grid stoppers and as "tie points" for mixing resistors by the volume pots. In my current build I am using them also to anchor one end of a ground buss as Mac mentioned.  Highly recommend. 

[Dyerseve726]

Very cool. I'll be sure to pick some of those up for the next go round. I had been looking at terminal strips, but they're weirdly expensive.

[bmccowan]

Where can we find the waxy pushback wire?

I just received an AES email about new products and it seems they have it now. I have bought full spools on the bay.
Maybe what Doug offers now has the wax coating?

[PRR]

> waxy pushback wire?

Save your birthday candles (or pocket candles from a restaurant). Melt in a double boiler (pot in pot). Dip your wire, hang to cool.

[Dyerseve726]

I took this amp to my friends practice today for their guitar player to demo. He's a metal head, lead player, Megadeth in particular. He was determined not to like it. Normally plays Orange. He heard the word Fender and basically ran for the hills. Regardless, it sounded absolutely insane with distortion pedals up front. The low end authority was just disgusting. The kind of palm muting that rattles your insides, lol. Three of us just sat and watched him play for like an hour, blown away. I always suspected it could do metal and now I'm beyond convinced that this is a super special build. The guitar player basically crapped his pants. He made me promise not to sell its twin to anyone else because he's gotta have it.

[Joel]

Great looking build!  I do have some feedback.

Many years ago I worked in a workshop where, amongst other things, I fixed F111 valve based HF radio transmitters.  As a consequence, I tend to look at these things from a maintenance point of view.  How easy will this thing be to repair/mod/etc?  You've twisted the leads of resistors to the leads of capacitors, if you want to change one of those (for a mod or a repair) it won't be easy.

[Dyerseve726]

Great looking build!  I do have some feedback.

Many years ago I worked in a workshop where, amongst other things, I fixed F111 valve based HF radio transmitters.  As a consequence, I tend to look at these things from a maintenance point of view.  How easy will this thing be to repair/mod/etc?  You've twisted the leads of resistors to the leads of capacitors, if you want to change one of those (for a mod or a repair) it won't be easy.

The leads of those particular resistors are too short to bridge the gap on the board, so twisting them was the easiest solution. Besides, the resistors are all of like 30 cents. If one needs to be replaced along with a cap, that seems inconsequential to me.

[traynor]

You need to have your mains power ground wire (green) longer (some slack) than the hot and neutral.

[Dyerseve726]

I know it's been a long time, but I finally got a solid recording of this build. Still totally in love with this specific combination of parts. This song is played on my DIY tele with a CuNiFe Wide range neck humbucker. BYOC green pony OD (808 type). No other effects besides delay added in the recording and amp reverb. So proud that I built the whole chain and it sounds so bad ass. I will continue to recommend this particular Frankinceton.
https://www.bandlab.com/post/76b30a47-4198-ed11-994c-000d3a3f87df