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Hi, I just ordered a Tramp kit from Stephen. I currently have a Sovtek Mig 100U and Fender Super Reverb RI that are just too loud to play in the house. I always thought I would be playing in a band where I needed a big amp, but life seemed to get in the way! I was looking at building either a 5F1 Champ or a 5E3 Deluxe kit, but decided to go with the Tramp as it seems to be right in between. I think the 5E3 would have still been a bit loud and I wanted something a bit more versatile than a 5F1. This will be my first amp build, so I'm looking for any tips or tricks anyone might have. I definitely need to practice up on my soldering skills! My buddy has quite the wood working shop so I've decided to build my own 5E3 cabinet for the Tramp in as it sounds like it's the same size. Picked up all the wood on the weekend and got everything cut on the table saw. We just need to set up the dado blade so we can cut all the box joints. I think I am going to go for the natural pine look with a darker walnut stain along with a wheat colored grill cloth. Looking forward to the build! I'll try to post some pics of my progress.

Thanks,

Barry

Also looking for any recommendations on a 12" speaker? I'm leaning towards an Alnico BBQ 12A125A as I want that vintage American tweed sound, but interested in hearing more opinions on Warehouse or Eminence speakers. The shipping will be cheaper on those ones as I can get them from Canadian sites and don't have to deal with duty/brokerage fees from BBQ.

Thanks

Barry

Hi Barry,

Welcome to the forum, the Tramp is a fun amp to build and a great amp to play

I use a Warehouse ET-65, ordered from www.diffusion-audio.com (I'm also from Canada, so I was trying to save 30% US exchange + import fees). The ET-65 is from the british line, and got the creamy overdrive I was looking for. I first worried that it may be too loud with it's high sensitivity, but with the VRM and the master volume, it's easy to dial any sound from clean to overdriven, at any final volume.

On suggestion : if your line voltage in over 120V, you may end up with a high heater voltage, that will shorten the life of your tubes. For me, I got over 125V, resulting in a heater voltage of about 7.0V. In this case, you can plan in advance to do the diode trick described by Stephen here : viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3598 as this is easier to implement when you are wiring the heaters, instead of when everything is done, like me (see the end of my thread viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4879&start=20)

I just measured my plug and I'm getting 120.7V so should be good I think

Has anyone tried the Tone Tubby Humboldt low wattage alnico?

I currently have an Eminence Alessandro (GA-SC64 I think) in mine and I really like it! I also tried the eminence Private jack which was also nice. I have an old Jensen from the 60s, a P12Q that was too bright sounding to my ears.

Good luck with your build!

Walter

Thanks for your input guys. Oh boy so many choices!

Does anyone have any sound clips they'd be willing to share?

I got the cabinet cut and glued last night. Sure helps having the right tools and two sets of hands!

Oh boy! What's a flux capacitor do again?

Got a start on the jumpers this weekend. Just a newb question here, I'm assuming you don't start soldering until all the jumpers, components and fly leads are in place? Do you solder from the top or the bottom of the board?

The cabinet and board look good. You are off to a great start! Yes, having a well-equipped wood shop is a real advantage when you are making cabinets for amplifiers. They aren't overly big, but having power tools to make the cuts and joints accurately and easily goes a long way to achieving pro-quality results. It speeds things up, too!

Yes, you don't solder an eyelet until all the wires and components that go to that eyelet are in place. You can attach the flying leads now. The manual should say how long they should be. With eyelets it doesn't really matter whether you solder from the top or bottom. Just pick whichever side you find the easiest. If there are wires with insulation at the eyelet, soldering from the side opposite the insulation is probably easier.

Yeah that was what I was thinking as well. The insulation does seem to get in the way a bit of the eyelet. I think I'll wire the fly leads underneath as well so all the insulation is on one side and then I'll solder from the top once all the components are in. Thanks for your help!

Got most of the board soldered up today. Not quite as pretty as some of them on here, but not bad for my first try I hope!

Got the heaters and main power wired

Looking' good, love the cab work so far too. Just looking at your board, did you install the 2W 220k bleed down resistors? (can't see in the pics but maybe they're installed under the board).

About the speaker: I originally had the Warehouse ET-65 in mine and it is truly great. So great that I decided to try the Warehouse BlackHawk Initially, I was a little disappointed, especially at that price. It broke in after a while and it is the best speaker I've heard. If you can afford it, I recommend it!

Yes the bleed resistors are wired underneath. I ended up just wiring the fly leads on top as it didn’t seem too bad once I started soldering. Just waiting for a few missing parts to show up and I can finish. A new baby boy arrived last night (our second) so I’m not sure when I’ll have time to work on this “baby” again! I’m still torn on the speaker whether to go lower wattage/efficiency alnico or a little higher ceramic. Thanks guys!

Congrats on the new "arrival".

With regards to speaker choice I find the best guide is to consider how you envisage using the amp? in what situations will you use the amp as the speaker choice can have a big impact on the final quality of tones. I always opted for high efficiency, high wattage speakers in all situations, but that was until I actually tried a low efficiency speaker at home and found it had much more clarity and "woke up" at the lower volumes, it also allowed me to turn the amp quite a bit more so the amp was happier too (Tube amps tend to like that). The higher efficiency speakers I have sound great at higher volumes but in a direct comparison sound much "duller" at lower volumes and don't really seem to come into their own until hit with the higher volumes which they were designed to handle, which gets the cones moving and sounding their best (The beauty of a Head version is it makes this type of comparison really easy). Of course it's all down to taste and the Tramp is so versatile you'll be able to dial in great tones whatever speaker you pick, but for me now if I want to be specific it really comes down to what type of tones and what type of volumes are most likely to be the target. Hope that helps.

I think that makes my choice easy then. I am definitely building this amp for “quieter” use at home and that was the draw to something that has both MV and VRM capability. I think I will go the low wattage/efficiency route. Thanks a lot for your expertise!