Thanks Jon! Really appreciate it, cheers

Thank You Steven!

Thank you! Much appreciated!

Really appreciate it, thanks Coffee!!

Thanks so much, best of luck with your own amp build, Cheers

We are alike, then! :)

Thanks Gil. I hear you, and I too was in the exact same position. I knew how to make stuff, including welding a soldering iron, however had no clue how tube amps worked. For me it was just brute force perseverance until something clicked one day. I was planning on a set of theory videos to go along with these step by step build videos however, they seemed like they caused more confusion rather than the opposite. I decided to let the build videos run and then I would post a set of theory vids to try and unravel the mysteries of the tube amp. I quickly found that it is a very hard subject indeed and it will be a challenge simplifying things down into a coherent series but it needs be done as I think the information, delivered in understandable terms, is missing. Thanks for your comment and hope we can get to a level of understanding in the end. Have a great day and thank you!

Keep at it. It just takes time. And a few burnt fingers

Glad the videos were helpful. I'm just filming another build series of the same amp with a 3 band tone stack. It should be a bit more informative with regard to design aspects of the build. It's a long haul wrapping your head around tube amp design but if I can get there, I'm sure you can too. Many thanks again, cheers

Thanks Flux! Nice channel BTW, Old Blue is a very interesting piece indeed, I enjoyed checking it out. Cheers!!

Thanks tl! Glad you liked the vids, have a great day!

Thank you, really appreciate the kind words!

Thanks Greg! Hope the move is going smooth and you have had a bit of time for the guitar. Glad you are liking the series, thank you!

Thank you! Indeed solid core yields when bent too many times. For that reason I also use stranded wire for my shielded cable. Where there is little chance of movement, I use solid core as it keeps its shape. Wiring components straight on the tube lugs is certainly problematic in terms of replacement, however the potential reduction in noise overides this for me, a trade off for sure. Great points, thanks for commenting, much appreciated.

Thanks for kind words. Definitely wrapping the eyelets of the tubes with component leads is the best technique indeed. I just lay them in the lugs as I often change their position and once it's wrapped it's very hard to remove or change. I find that if the leads are tinned well and the solder joint is a nice meniscus then I have few problems. Very good observation though and quite correct. Thanks again and all the best for your builds!

USAF and NASA actually reccomend that method You use in those videos for soldering aircarft and rocket parts in their old instruction films.

"Surgical." That's exactly the word that came to mind as I watched this. A couple of years ago I built my first amp, a Princeton Champ, from scratch using hand picked components, NOS tubes and 16ga aluminum for the chassis. It looks and sounds fantastic if I do say so myself, but only from the outside. The inside looks like it was assembled with a blow torch and pliers as it shows my poor soldering skills. It is not something that I am proud of. On a positive note I do have the chassis mounted inside a home build cab where only the chassis is visible. I am the only one that knows what lies underneath the cherry red chassis, and yes it still bothers me.

Thanks JN!! Really appreciate it!

Sounds like a cool little amp you made!. For some reason I get a kick out of having things looking solid on the inside, even though very few may ever see it. The more and more amps I build, the more it feels like creating a sculpture or something. I find it very satisfying to try and improve the design by creating a rock solid layout with everything easily accessible and as neat as possible. Its an interesting thing, thanks for the input and comment. Have a great day!

It was fun but a little frustrating - similar to the range of emotions someone playing golf might experience. A couple of solid drives and you're king of the hill, but 2 balls in the water on the next hole and you feel like the lowest rookie on the course. A major point of my frustration is that after planning for a couple of weeks I expected better results. I wanted to challenge myself by going DIY all the way instead of buying a kit so I started with a flat sheet of scrap aluminum from a metal shop. I planned to form the chassis myself but they offered to bend it for me and I didn't say no. t's roughly the same size as yours and turned out perfect. With a perfect box for my chassis I then began the layout for the transformers, tubes, jacks, etc. After several hours of research, planning and cutting I stated assembling the amp and discovered very quickly that soldering would be my "fly in the ointment." Oh I got it right technically. The amp sounds great and is free from the the hum that Champ circuits are known for. I attribute that to shielding. grounding and placement of the tubes, but certainly not my workmanship. I do not consider myself a perfectionist but I believe I am capable of doing better The outside really turned out well though. I used etching primer and then sprayed it a deep red with 3 coats of clear. And at some point in the painting process I decided to continue on and make a mini-stack. I fabricated a head cab,and included a black wire mesh grille from a storm door,, and then a cab for a 12" speaker all covered with black Tolex, Fender handles and chrome cab corners. For the grille I used the silver blackface Fender cloth. The red chassis with chicken head knobs looked somewhat odd mixed with all that black and silver so I framed the inside of the head and speaker cab with 1/4" oak stained with red cherry and secured with brass screws. What I ended up with: GE NOS tubes F&T filter caps Jupiter tone stack Hammond transformers Bourn pots + one extra for the NF loop. Metal film resistors WGS 12" Jensen clone - don't remember the exact model. 1 lb. of solder (well maybe not a pound) :-) What I have described may seem unique and maybe even attractive to some but to me the inside of the amp is not. It was my first so perhaps my expectations were a little high. It looks good and I enjoy it even with the flaws. I wish that I had your skill. I've seen many amp builds and I am sure a factory built amp wouldn't look this good.

Thank you, glad it was of help, cheers

Thanks JT! Sorry for late reply, not sure how I missed it, have a great day!!!

Thanks so much for that, super sorry about late reply, really appreciate it!

Thank you!!

Good point, thanks for that.

Thanks pre war, glad you got through to the end, much appreciated

Thank you, much appreciated.

Thank you!

Thank you!

No worries, thanks Ed!

Thanks General!

Thank you! Cheers!

Artístico translates more accurately to 'Work of art'. Just FYI ;)

You are most welcome, have a great day!

Ha true true, thanks for kind words. Any recommendations on which diodes to upgrade to? Cheers

@@elams1894 Fairchild Stealth, SiC Schottky. Parrallelling the SiC tames the bite and smooths switching. Do you have a scope?

@@Xsheaffer Thanks, yes I have a scope.

@@elams1894 Excellent. The reason I ask is that any of the diode implementations also benefit greatly in full wave from a tuned snubber at the xformer hv secondary. This needs a scope. If you try, hear, and like the different diodes, you'll pick up more fluidity and beauty with a snubber. You have to exert care to tune it fairly exactly with an analog scope for each particular combination of PT, B+, diodes, filter, load. I am at gmail if you want to discuss over email.

@@Xsheaffer thanks for that. Tuned snubber? Elams1894@gmail.com

Thanks Rick! I love Kiwame, very nice resistors. I also have some Takman carbon films I've yet to try out. The Japanese stuff is very nice indeed. Cheers!

Thanks! It shouldnt be too hard to replace the components when necessary as the layout is all open plan and fairly easy to get to. I hate it when amps are just a big birds nest, makes it impossible to get to things, especially when wires and such are laid under the turret board. Cheers.

elams1894 My concern wasn’t that they couldn’t get it- it was that their work would be immediately detectable as below standard. Ha ha ha! Cheers.

Thanks elektronik!

Thanks Matt!

Ha ha, yeah I like to live life on the egde indeed. I took a massive hit from the plate of a tube recently. For some as yet unknown reason I left the power on, yes, crazy, and then proceeded to fiddle with the plate. The one hand in the pocket saved my bacon. The hardest lessons in life are the ones most remembered. Always stay safe in those chassis man, have a good one!!

@@elams1894 When I modified CRTs for a crude oscilloscope art installation I used to work on them with the "hand grabing the unpluged cord" technique, probably overly cautious but I'm a scared y cat with high voltages, great video man!

Thanks!

How would the blue wire hum cancel itself?

I'm glad there are others out there with OCD 😂, cheers!

Thanks for kind words. Yes it's preferable to seperate the power and signal grounds. I grounded them close to each other in the same region of this amp. Grounding is ultra important indeed. A single ground region is preferable in low hertz applications as in audio amps, certainly a single star ground configuration is the ultimate for the signal circuit. All the best for your build!

I also wonder about your preference for tube sockets that attach from below. Why is this preferable from the ones that attach on top of the chassis?

@@andrew_nayes great spotting. It's way easier to bolt from the other direction as you suggest. However because I use tube shields, the nut will not fit if bolted from the other side. The only option I have is to bolt from top of chassis down. What I do now to overcome this problem, as it's a real PITA, is that I glue the nut in position on the underside of the chassis. This makes life much easier. Well spotted though, good eyes.

Actually never mind. I just watched it again. Was to hold it in place while you did the nut up.

Hi again Durox. Yes it is very important to keep grid resistor leads as short as possible as the grid, along with input,, is the most sensitive part of the amp. It is best to preserve the AC guitar signal as much as possible. Shielded cable is also recommended, thanks again D, have a good one!!