Done in 4 evenings, plus one evening checking over BOM and putting all resistors into envelopes with labels. I can read code, but every resistor was checked on a VOM, just to be sure:
.
My wiring is not as neat and geometric as some of the samples here, but I kept all signal wires apart, crossing only at right angles, everything close to chassis for shielding. If I did have to cross AC (mostly heaters), I bridged with a small gap and crossed at right angles. Result is a very quiet amp, no hissing, very little hum and only wide open.
I made a few minor mistakes, but I double-check as I go along and corrected everything before getting into trouble. On startup, I got a bit of smoking, it was a little melted insulation on a heater wire (oops!) leaving bare AC very close to chassis. Found and fixed it within a minute.
Start up (after that) was stress-free, all voltages checked out pretty close, noises coming through speaker hooked up as load. Nice.
I meant to build one of these about 8 years ago, but got talked out of it by people telling me there is absolutely no clean headroom. I don't know about a real 18-watter, but this one has beautiful cleans, at what I would call small club volume.
Normal channel is sparkly, chimey and delicious. Like a Vox or Matchless but much less harshness. Once volume goes to 6 and above it roars just like a SuperLead. Trust me, I had one and I recognize that sound. Of course at usable volume.
TMB channel is very versatile, tone controls pretty wide sweep for a Marshall. Syrupy thick and spanky, it's very, very nice. Very, very usable. I like the Gain/Volume interaction, seems to not kill tone like most MV schemes.
I bought the VRM option, but I thought I'd get a working amp before mucking about. I'm not sure if I need it, but we'll see in a few weeks.
Nice kit, I've very happy.
P.
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