Pictures at the bottom if you don't want to read the long post.
I finished the amp a week and a half ago. I was waiting to upload until I could get some good audio samples, but I still haven't recorded it yet.
It took me about 56 hours within 13 days to finish it.
Converting the free-hand layout in DIYLC into actual measurements and then marking the chassis took a few hours.
Drilling and filing the square hole for the PT required a lot of patience. The hole for the IEC and rotary switch required some filing too, but it didn't take long.
I didn't care for the heater wire I bought for this build. It was really slippery and stripped weird. It led to somewhat loose winds. I was going to redo it if the amp was noisy, but it's not.
Just like my first amp with turrets, it took me a 5-10 connections to the T-strips to get comfortable soldering to them. The whole soldering process was uneventful. There was nothing to test my patience like, in the past, a solder joint with only one crappy angle to get at it from. I splurged a little more on parts, which was just Sozo caps, Toyko Cosmos pots, and NOS tubes. The rest is what I normally buy.
Sound-wise, it sounds amazing!!! It's very warm and articulate. I only play it where I can play at any volume, so NOT my apartment haha
I liked this circuit on paper because of how little is in the circuit path, the single tone knob, and no NFB. I wanted something that had a very pure tone that wouldn't lose or cancel out anything that it didn't absolutely need to (ya, I know about the LNF). I wanted something where I would hear every detail and also where the differences between pickups, guitars and picks was very clear. So I knew I wanted something that did "no NFB" well.
I could say a lot about my experience with the NOS tubes I'm using, but I'll try to keep it brief (edit; I failed haha)
I'm still experimenting with the combination of 12AX7s, a ribbed Telefunken, short-plate Mullard and Bugle Boy, and a short plate GE JAN.
I really loved the Telefunken in a BF style amp, but it's too smooth for this circuit. For now, I've been using it in V2 and swapping out the other tubes in V1.
The RCA blackplate 6V6s are AMAZING!!! I had first played the amp with the newest EHs and JJs to play it safe. As soon as I tried the RCAs, it was game over. They won by a longshot. The depth, warmth, and balance they have is amazing. That, combined with these specific NOS preamp tubes, is why this is my favorite amp that I've played through.
I experimented with the same NOS 12AX7s in my last build a bit (BF Bandmaster with an OD channel, cathode/fixed bias switch, NFB switch, presence and resonance controls. It was the first amp I sold!). The difference these NOS tubes make isn't subtle for me.
In short, they're more versatile and better balanced. Like they always sound good no matter what guitar, pickup selection, pick, volume settings, and tone settings. I don't even have to touch the tone knob when I play because these NOS tubes always sound good.
With the new tubes I've played, they sound harder and shallower, feel louder at lower volumes, and they aren't as versatile. I have to adjust tone settings a lot to make different pickups sound their best, and even still, I notice weaknesses. The NOS tubes I've tried just seem to keep everything tame and balanced no matter what I try, and they sound really good really loud. No pain or fatigue.
Topic: P2P Tweedle Dee Completed Build (Read 4144 times)