Ok, sorry its been a while. I been busy and with stuff (my band just had an EP release party and other positive personal things were going on) and also trying out this amp in different situations with different tube combos. Here are some pictures
I ended up getting some Sozo 1n caps, cause I bought some more fuses and lamps just in case, and figured why not make the shipping worth it. I also was a bit confused on the bias resistors because the 620k was a 1 watter in the kit, but the 180k was just a 1/2 watt. So I bought one which wound up being a 2 watt one, figured that's cool. I also bought a purple Jewel, cause why not.
Loving 6L6s (JJs) in there. Right now I've got 3 Svetlana 12AX7SV in V1, 2, 3 and then a NOS Mullard 12AT7 in V4. Sounds great. I tried JJ KT66s and wasn't so hot on them. Maybe needs some burn in time? I also tried with an 12AX7 in the phase inverter position with the KT66, and it did sound better, but still I like the 6L6s better. The KTs are just missing something. Could be speaker choice. I actually brought the amp to band practice with the 6L6s and the band was blown away with how much it cut through and its tone. But then when I brought it to my jam band they thought it was a bit dark with the KT66s. Could be the guitar, I also think I biased it a bit cold... which I actually have no idea how much that impacts the sound. And I gotta say, its still new so I have to dial it in some. Also I am wondering in the KT66s need a little burn in time. It did change everything when I clicked on the overdrive and pushed it a bit. So probably just need to learn it some more.
Still, what a bad ass amp. I really like it and I'm really happy it worked out. I'd like to find the perfect cab and speaker combo for it. I've tried a few things, I have a Legacy 2x12 cab with a Vintage 30 and Eminence Wizard in it. It works with my Legacy, but not super hot on the tone with the Triwatt. I have another 2x12 cab with an Eminence Man o War and Cannabis Rex... eh.. I never liked that combo with anything and I don't like it with this amp at all. I tried a Jensen Electric Lightning in a cheap VHT cab (the one in the picture) and that sounds pretty good. I might pair that with my Vintage 30 in the 2x12. My favorite so far is my Avatar 2x10 cab with WGS G10C/S speaker and that cab just sounds good with everything. It's the cab I use with my Mesa Lone Star head. Another one that I thought sounded rad, but also kinda soft was I hooked it up to my Genz Black Pearl that has Eminence Alnico Red Fangs.
I'm totally open to any suggestions here and any experiences people have. I was thinking Fane F70 or A60 from Avatar with a cab to go along with it. What do you think?
Couple comments on the build doc:
- At the end it states to place the 68K resistor as close as possible to the V1 tube, but it didn't say that at the beginning, and it didn't say to do it for both 68K resistors. Why? Noise I assume?
- As a newbie I really was scared and confused when testing the power transformer so I basically bypassed that. The main reason was I felt like the instructions assumed a level of knowledge I did not have. I think it should talk about the wire colors to test as the actual terms for the wires on PT don't mean all that much to me. Also, it doesn't talk about bleeding off the high voltage, it just said be careful and then solder it. But it does later in the doc in final testing, I would have liked a bit more details here. Perhaps a video? It worked out and I triple checked continuity between connections and traced the layout multiple times. So everything was hooked up correctly.
- I also felt that I got a bit confused as to which wires to use to hook up to the rectifiers. I just figured, heck, bigger the better and everything that touched those came from the power transformer or the 18 gauge stranded wire that came with the kit.
Regarding the layout:
- Maybe more colors? I did get confused for a bit with a couple of the wires that crossed each other when they were the same color. Nothing major and really it was because I used the PDF on my phone. The contrast was easier to see but the long connections were harder.
- I think there should be a second layout with the OD foot switch connections. I had to do a lot of jumping back and forth between the manual and the diagram to really figure out how to hook it up, and as everyone here saw in my previous posts I was totally confused how that gets hooked up.
Honestly, though, great manual and build doc. Challenging but fun build given this is the second amp ever. Great sounding amp! I totally want to build... like all of the others. But I'm already getting complaints from the better half that there are too many amps in the house. So I gotta give it a few months
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