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My latest build...Deluxe Reverb clone from BBQ.







The wiring is actually tidier than it looks. I went 3D with the lead dress on the tube sockets so it looks a little crazy from this angle. Note that I used the Triwatt/Hiwatt approach for the heater wiring. I never liked the "elevated" heater wiring in old Fenders. Makes it a PITA to do work in there. I do have to get in there with some zip ties. I was working out some kinks when this pic was taken so I hadn't buttoned everything down at that point.

Another thing I don't like is the ground bus soldered to the back of the pots. Again, makes it a pain for servicing. I went with a chassis mounted buss. I deviated from the Fender ground scheme too. The preamp & power sections have separate grounds (much like how the Trinity amps are done). I also isolated the footswitch & reverb jacks from the chassis to help lower the noise floor. The volume pots also have shielded cable (added after this pic was taken), again to lower noise. The normal channel was actually quiet, but the vibrato channel had some buzz. There's a lot going on over there I guess. Shielded cable fixed that right up. The wire from the reverb output jack to V4 is also shielded.

I upgraded a few things. Higher quality pots (alpha standard & CTS), Sprague 716P Orange Drops, and I added bias test points to the back panel with the bias pot mounted in the unused ground switch hole. I also used a better quality pilot light assembly & fuse holder. And you gotta love those Fender "vintage white" knobs!

Currently running EH 12AX7's, NOS Jan-Phillips 12AT7's, JJ 6V6's, and a Chinese 5AR4. I was going use Tung-Sol 6V6's, but I like how the JJ's crunch up in this amp when pushed, and the clean is still very lively. The reverb may be a little too lush, but it is nice. I may throttle it back a bit, at least tweak the dwell (or add a dwell pot on the back. THe Tremolo is nice also. I thought about converting it to bias shifting, but the "roach" has more depth and I dig that.

Stephen and I are discussing cabinet options. The plan is a 1x12 combo with Fender blonde tolex, oxblood cloth, slightly oversized. I have a BBQ 12A150 for it...basically a Jensen P12N/Q clone, but maybe a touch more lively.

Very nice. Looks like a complicated build.

One of the tough ones. Very prone to squeal, noise... Good job.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Yeah - it was a very complicated build. I was expecting hours of troubleshooting & messing with the lead dress, but I was amazed at how quiet it was when I first powered it up. Either I'm getting pretty good at this or I lucked out big time! The buzz in the Vibrato channel was the only real issue I had other than dropping an mistakenly 820 ohm instead of an 82k resistor in the reverb blending circuit...it was dumping most of the signal to the reverb instead of to the dry signal. Basically the reverb was acting like a channel volume.

As for squeal...nary a sign of it. I think changing the grounding scheme might have helped there.

The Normal channel is much crunchier than I expected. I think that might be the character of the JJ 6V6's. It's almost Brit sounding, especially with my roommate's LP.

Thats about 1.5 km of wire... isnt it?

Looks great... pics are larger for me here, than on GC.

That does look a lot more complex than any amp I have put together. Would hate to miss one ground or something and have to chase that down!

AJC

Yeah - for sure Andrew. The Triwatt had nothing on this, but the TW was tricky due to the OD. That had me in fits getting it quiet with no squeal!

For some reason I had the gutshot in there twice. The third pic was supposed to be the back panel. Corrected that.

I don't know why the pics look bigger here. Maybe I used a different source file. I do have large & small versions.