Weber Kit, anyone have a problem with what was supplied?

[67polara]

I was just wondering if anyone had built a Weber kit and have any problems with the parts that were supplied.  I ordered the Revibe kit and waited for it to arrive.  It took 3 weeks like they said on the site.  I knew it would not come with directions because I got an email "after" I ordered the kit.  It stated to use the layout and schematic on their site to build it, Ok I can do that.  Now is when the problems start.  I look at the supplied board and granted it maybe a small thing but I flip the board over to what I think is the top but it is the bottom the eyelets are installed backwards as far as I can see.  So I flip it over and normally I install the stand offs so I can work easier but no stand offs were provided with the kit?  Humm ok I will get some,  Now I start to line them up with the chassis holes and 5 inches of the board where the filter caps go is unsupported with no hole in the chassis to attach one.  Ok so I make a couple holes in the chassis and I can deal with it.  So I pull the board back out satisfied that it will fit and work ok and decide to install the trannies and choke.  Guess what holes for mounting the trannies are not the right size.  Now everything will be fine if you don't look at the build pictures on the site it is not the same set up!!!  If they had made the board a 1/2 in narrower it would have made things a lot easier, everything is so crammed in there.

Tony

[Danskman]

I'm currently building a Revibe, using a G10 board, bought from Hoffmann. Inserted some turrets in some eyelets, to avoid components crossing too near.
I choosed to get the filter caps in a dog house. Had to drill about 10 holes. Used 6 aluminium standoffs from Hoffman, too.
I had to drill one hole for the OT and get the input/output jacks holes bigger, as I want to isolate the jacks grounds. Got some chrome bits in my fingers doing that, so be careful if you wanna do this 
In fact, it will be a mix between the original ReVibe, the version 1.4 from Hoffman and some mods from ToreT. I hope it will run quiet 

I will post some pics asap.
Good luck and stay cool during the build; it's not an easy one...
BR,
Danskman

[Shrapnel]

Tony,

If you feel that you may have been shorted on parts or given the wrong ones, you may wish to contact TA or someone else over at Weber and ask them about what was included and wasn't as well as whether that turret board was filled correctly.

They should be able to supply a list of what should have came with the kit (with the known exceptions in layout and schematic) and fix you up properly if they messed up. IF they refuse to help, (and I doubt they will,)  or if it didn't include parts by design, I know Doug should have what you need to make it right. Plus, any of us here should be able to advise as needed. (Also, no need to upset Weber by not giving them the chance to make it right.)    

[tubeswell]

I built a Weber 6A14 last year.

I started by building it stock with the typical BFPR layout (i.e. with the board, cap can and PT supplied etc), but I had a few unresolvable hum issues, and ended up eventually changing out the board that came supplied with the kit for one of my own home-made boards (which has a better layout from the point of view of grounding).  I also ended up putting in separate filters (instead of the can) and also ended up putting in a locally wound PT which had about 11% more iron (by volume) and can handle the inductance better (under local 50Hz mains conditions).  It runs quite a bit cooler than the PT supplied with the kit (I did try it with both PTs). Now the noise floor is very quiet and its hum free.

The other thing I wasn't too fussed on was the cheap plastic lamp holder, but I couldn't get a classic fender bayonet lamp holder to fit with the rake angle of the front of the chassis (but that shouldn't be a problem with the re-vibe.) Also the Ruby tubes that came with the kit barely saw the light of day, but that wasn't unexpected. So much for the gripes.

What I did like was the chassis, faceplates, cab, the 3-spring pan and of course the Weber speaker (but you don't get a speaker with a re-vibe kit - usually). My order took about 4 weeks to arrive from the time I paid (not bad considering a few days of that was spent in (international) transit.

I found the people at Weber to be very helpful.

[bluesbear]

I bought what was advertised as a board for a 5C3 from Weber. When I got it and looked it over, it was all wrong. I called them and they said it was the same as a 5E3 board; they just called it a 5C3 board. After much arguing, they took it back and I made my own. They never would admit that there was difference between and 5C3 and 5E3. They obviously don't have the slightest knowledge of the stuff they sell.
Definitely a "Let the buyer beware" company!
Too bad Ted's not around to keep them honest.
Dave

[John]

Speaking of kits; does anyone have opinions about Guytronix? This winter I want to build a lower watt amp than what I have. I'm still torn between buying the parts here for a simple Fender type and winging it, or doing  a kit for my first build with instructions. (a kit would be easier for you guys!  ) I think the Ardmore than he sells is an 8 watter.

I never should have worked on my own amp, I think I caught the same illness as the rest of you!

[67polara]

Tubeswell

I agree, the grounding system on mine is really wonky.  I would not have built that board the way they did.  Having 10 ground wires running across the chassis is not my idea of a good ground system.  It works good and I love it, but it is designed poorly.  I love the chassis really nice job on that.  Cab is great too.  It works so well I probably will leave it as is for a while but I may in the future start over on the board.

Tony

[EL34]

Who builds kits?

Real men and women build their own boards. 

[67polara]

Believe me had I know the board was gonna be made of Card Board I would have.   Just thought it would save me time buying stuff from one location instead of several places.  Guess I was wrong and I won't repeat that mistake again.  Live and Learn!

Tony

[Tone Junkie]

John the sad thing about that bug you caught from working on your own amp is, it never gets better you just get sicker and sicker untill you build more amp cradles to hold all the projects you have sitting in differant states of completion, and they make you move your chair to the back corner in the TV room because you have amplifier parts and equipment sitting around you, and your soldering iron has a perminant place on the table next to the chair, and cleaning up for company is only having one amp cradle out in front of you. Its a sickness I tell you. Oh well of to the wood shop I need another amp cradle Im one short today. . Bill

[John]

Who builds kits?

Real men and women build their own boards. 

Okay then, Mr. Hula.

Tone Junkie: I think my next project (after we get the living room done) will be to convert the old milkhouse to a little shop. If I bring more stuff into the house I may lose my happy domicile. 

[tubeswell]

Who builds kits?

Real men and women build their own boards. 

Well all my other amps are from-scratch builds, but (maybe out a misplaced sense of sympathy for the Weber family after Ted's death last year - or was it the year before? - my how time flies!) I resolved to support the Weber corporation for at least this once. What I am sure about is that I will definitely be buying more of their speakers in the future.

[bigdaddy]

There kits are what they are. since Ted passed away there is nobody there who knows a thing about this stuff as far as I know. Notice they have not come out with any new items. That is becuase TEd was the driving force behind anything new. Their customer service has improved a great deal but don't expect any help. The Weber forum turned to crap because of trolls so no help there anymore. Unless they cleaned it up and the knowledgeable people came back, which I doubt.

It's a good start to supply a chassis and some useable parts. But it's best to use another board and upgrade a lot of parts. Cost wise some times getting a Weber kit and upgrading it costs less then building one from sratch, some times not. With this item ground scheme is SO important other wise it is useless because of noise. I did discuss this with Ted once.

There is a way to lift the ground completley with a pair of diodes and resistors and this from what I understand will eliminate all the noise issues as long as your grounding scheme is OK. I would use star grounding system I have seen on these units and lift the ground. There is some instructions and pictures from Jeff Gehring.

Hoffman libary stuff for revibe: http://www.el34world.com/Hoffman/revibe.htm

[EL34]

You guys know allot more about Weber than I do.

I do remember that Ted was pissed when I came out with a Re-Vibe/Hoffman style board.

All I knew at the time was that the Re-Vibe was being discussed on my forum and it sounded like a great idea for a Hoffman style board.

I don't really go to other forums or follow what's going on until it's discussed here.

The original Weber Re-Vibe design (or who ever) designed it, sucked bad until Tore-T upgraded the circuit to a hum free design.

[tubeswell]

The original Weber Re-Vibe design (or who ever) designed it, sucked bad until Tore-T upgraded the circuit to a hum free design.

You got a link to the hum-free Tore-T schematic?

[Fresh_Start]

The original Weber Re-Vibe design (or who ever) designed it, sucked bad until Tore-T upgraded the circuit to a hum free design.

You got a link to the hum-free Tore-T schematic?

Just look on the Weber website:
https://taweber.powweb.com/store/kits_weber.htm#5H15T

BTW tubeswell, you've got a heck of a lot of posts about these beasties over on the AMPAGE site.

Chip

[stingray_65]

I can't say I've built any of Weber's kits,  I've always scratch built my boards with the recent exception of buying a Hoffman board. I have order many parts from Weber and have come to this personal conclusion, some things from Weber's is awesome, the rest sub-par. I have come to expect some screw up on any order from them if the list has more than half a dozen parts. I will say this, They always try to make it right, but damn I hate waiting!
Doug on the other hand has this transporter thingy like on star trek and my stuff get here quicker than I can ever expect and right every time. the parts are always 1st rate, no bad surprises.
The only thing I order from Weber's any more are speakers and this cute little x-former for making a bal/unbal/DI out. Other than that, I'll order else where even at twice the cost.
Good News! you got all the stuff you need to build a great piece of equipment!
Better News! your gonna get a good lesson on thinking on your feet! (great practice for scratch building)
Best  News! you have all the resources right her when you get stuck. these guys will walk you thru if you ask.

Ray

[bigdaddy]

Basically Doug does have a special star trek like transporter. I have ordered hundreds of dollars of stuff from Doug, maybe a few grand by now, come to think of it easily a few grand... . Never a mistake, never a wait, it magically appears in my mail box no longer than 2 days later.

No other vendor has that kind of customer service, not even close. Some are pretty good and some are horrendous and even though they might have had some cool stuff I will NEVER order from them again. I can make a list of the bad ones that's much longer then the good ones unfortunately.

[bnwitt]

I've built one Weber kit and it was back when Ted was still alive.  Everything was accurate but I tossed half of the parts due to my anal retentive desire for the best possible parts in my amps.  The bottom line is any kit from any vendor will likely have some inexpensive parts in it and the difference between sourcing your own parts and buying a kit is the level of labor and quality control you wish to have.  It's kind of like the difference between a settling for a TV dinner or rolling up your sleeves and making a home cooked meal with the best fresh from the garden ingredients.  


When Ted was running the company things were accurate (as I said) but he was selling kits to a particular market and needed to source inexpensive parts to meet a price point.  TA is always very helpful but I can't imagine he has half the knowledge that Ted had after so many years doing the tube thing.  I doubt I will ever buy another kit from anyone as I just have to have the best I can get for my amps.  

That being said, I have never purchased any thing from Doug Hoffman that wasn't top notch.  The stuff he sells is very high quality, but he doesn't sell everything one needs to build an amp.  So, you have to use other vendors too.  I am not building alot of amps now and still have chassis and other component stock left from big buys a few years back.  If I didn't and needed stock now I would probably buy everything from Doug except the cabinet, chassis and speaker.  I'd get those items from Weber and maybe the speaker from Antique Electronic Supply too.  Weber has great cabinets, speakers and chassis and AEC has great speakers.  I also like Weber's tech equipment.  

But, as Doug says, I just have to build my own boards.  I just love doing it and customizing them.  If you try to use too many vendors shipping will be a very large percentage of the cost of your amp.

[Tiny_Daddy]

I usually ended up with a Weber kit after someone had made an attempt and failed. Can't say any of the parts were bad but sometimes things didn't fit. Maybe there have been improvements in recent years? Anyway I don't see the kits coming in as often these days.

[rafe]

Who builds kits?

Real men and women build their own boards. 

    :3some: <<< is that what I think it is?

Any way I have been building this amp for a while now (GA5t early one) actually I need to forge on.
 I've got the board done that was a lot of fun and the best part is I started before I ordered any thing.
 I had to draw it up and figure out what i needed. I like working on my own stuff ,amps, truck, MC, guitars  I even reload ammo....I really feel I do a better job and it leaves no one to blame lol....
I thought about getting a kit but by the time you sort it all out I don't know it's just not that same kinda like buying a little steam engine kit, I'm a lot more impressed with the people that make them from scratch not that assembling a kit is a cakewalk it's just different

[Shrapnel]

If you try to use too many vendors shipping will be a very large percentage of the cost of your amp.

THAT is why I try to get an idea of shipping costs when I build and fill a BOM before I place orders. I try to get the best all-around deal without skimping too much (or at all.)

With that said, I do agree Doug has a great turn around time on orders, so IF speed is a factor you use for ordering, You won't go wrong ordering from him.

[bluesbear]

The first amp I ever built was a kit... an Allen Old Flame. Everything has been a scratch build since then. Now, THAT was a kit. Great way to learn and a great amp.
My last straw with Weber was when I ordered a few hundred resistors, from 20 to 50 of each. They just dumped them all in a bag together. No seperation! It took a full day to sort it all out. When I called to complain, they acted like I was crazy to expect "that level of service". I'll buy a speaker, relay, and, in a pinch, the odd transformer, but that's all.
Dave

[jojokeo]

Most people need to buy a kit just to get involved as they need to have some kind of a starting point. Then threre's others of which I sense there are many or most types here that definately do not and are quite good DIYer's.
I myself have never bought a kit. Before coming here, I have built my own stringed instruments, amps & speaker cabs, business desk, numerous other wood working items & furniture, solid state effects pedals and amps down to etching & drilling my own circuit boards, radio controlled airplanes - motorized and gliders, reeftanks w/ sumps, refugiums, other misc tanks, replenishing and filtration equipment, lighting and electrical systems, irrigation and plumbing systems, and motorcycle, car, and boat engines and restorations. I even re-grip my own golf clubs, lol.
My point in all of this is NOT to toot my own horn rather that I know that when the job is done, it's done right and will last a long time if not outlast me. It has all of the features and works how I want it to, not how someone else wanted it or designed it. You don't get this with buying a kit. You have no control over parts or design quality. There's a lot of satisfaction and peace of mind achieved as a result of DIY and if something breaks, needs improvement, or just to change to be improved or upgraded for sake of seeing if something can be improved or upgraded (as geezer and tubenit knows,  ) it's right there easy to do and w/ the know-how to do it. BTW, you guys ROCK!

[67polara]

Let me tell you about a Weber Kit, it is not a kit it is a box of parts.  No instructions if you want them you need to download the schematic from their site.  The schematic may or may not be correct, the parts lay out may work or not.  The pictures of the completed board if shown may or may not be of the parts lay out they have posted.  You are on your own and it is just a source for all the parts at once if you are lucky.

I am not impressed the only thing that is nice is the cab and the chassis and the chassis is drilled wrong so so much for that.

Tony

[jojokeo]

Hopefully you at least get a slight price break on all of the parts and items since you're buying it like this? Has anyone added it all up to see? What happens when the novice puts the wrong part in somewhere and the leads or wires are then too short to change or fix when the wrong design or simple screw up is realized? There's no room for error I guess and no extras for dialing in, tweaking, and/or other changes? It starts pointing to "what's the point?" The word "kit" doesn't describe it like subbing a few letters (sh) in there does.

[67polara]

I could see from the first moment that this thing could not be worked on once done.  I built it on a piece of wood and made sure it worked before installing it in the chassis.  You have to remove all the wires, pots, jacks and plugs to get to the board.  They actually call for an 18 ohm resister to ground that they don't supply but show on lay out.  Why would you do that anyways from ground to ground you put a resistor???  Then on the capacitors sometimes they will say it is .01uf and in other places it says 0.01uf, well they are the same but you can't see the . so it looks like 001uf and they use .001uf caps in it also.  Not nice, if you don't pay really close attention you gonna mess up.

This is a standard reverb stand alone chassis with Reverb and Tremelo so the parts count is twice as many but no extra room because the board is to wide and to long.

Tony

[rafe]

The thing is , I guess, no matter how you approach it, it's all a learning experience and it's all good.Sometimes you learn from your mistakes, And what I was trying to say in my earlier post is this! I really don't enjoy frustration, but when it is caused by let's say a(so called) professional repairing something of mine and it is still broken or breaks again ....it is maddening. It has happened all too often and as a Carpenter myself I really try to do great work and have a great track record......I just can't understand how people and companies can be so shoddy......My experience here with Doug has been 100% and by investing a few hours of your own time and with the help of this board, if needed, you can get just about everything you need right here and it's of good quality. Anything Doug doesn't have a member probably knows where and what to get. 

[bluesbear]

Well, I still say a kit is a good first build to learn and to build confidence. It should NOT be a kit that you have to really know what you're doing even before you begin. All of the problems with the Weber kits can be avoided. Dave Allen's kits are identical to the amps he actually builds and sells so the mistakes are not included. The instructions are easy to follow (mine worked perfectly on the first fire-up). Help is a phone call away... and he answers his own phone! The finished product is great. They're more expensive than Weber kits but I used my Old Flame (the first amp I built) for a couple of years, used it as a test bed for quite a few mods and experiments, then I sold it for more than I paid for it to an Atlantic City jazzman who said it was the best amp he had ever used. That'll build your confidence!!
Dave

[67polara]

I'm not saying I had a problem building the head, it all worked out fine.  What I am saying is there are kits and then there is Weber, not the same thing.  I am a Master Certified RV Tech I work with my hands and head all day.  Fabrication is a necessary evil.  I have a Masters in Computer Engineering, I not stupid.  I am just saying Weber is not a place to start and that scratch building is probably a much better course than their kits.  Enough said let's let this thread die, I should have never brought this up.  Sorry for the tension.

Tony

[bluesbear]

No tension, just interesting conversation. I'd bet some people found it useful, too. A topic where you have actual opinions is always interesting!
Thanks,
Dave

[jojokeo]

No tension, just interesting conversation. I'd bet some people found it useful, too. A topic where you have actual opinions is always interesting!
Thanks,
Dave

I think the underlying theme here through example and testimony is how Doug runs a great business w/ great parts, great service and has a great forum w/ great people.

[John]

I've certainly enjoyed reading all the comments. I'm no longer torn, I'm definitely going to do a simple SE scratch build when I'm ready. I wouldn't dream of attempting it if not for this forum. I was going to do a point to point along the lines of my Harmony, but smaller. But now I'm leaning towards the Hoffman board. It'll give me experience on something simple(r) before I jump into the Carolina Overdrive Special!