This Old Tube Amp... with Bob Vila (tons of pics!)

[sylnau]

Very cool.
I want to hear the EGC into Elements into this.

Me too!

[zRobertez]

Freakin kewl!

[Ryan]

Thanks for checking it out, guys!

Very awesome indeed.

I love the insides of old Fenders. The cloth covered wire inside my Showman had this insane funk growing on it... but the smell was vintage goodness.

Haha so true, the smell inside is like a mechanics shop.. it smells like oil and metal, it's awesome!

Awesome stuff, Ryan! That amp looks great, and I'm sure you couldn't be happier with it! That said, am I going to be the only one that suggests that instead of that stupid Accutronics verb, you should've just hardwired a RRR into the amp? ;)

What an idea! I do love hall reverb the most... this long spring tank sounds pretty cool though, wish the RRR could do that!

Nice man! You went really thorough with it.

I'm gonna have to derail this thread a bit to thank you so much for making that video of Hitler trying to sell the Klon.. Tanya and I watched it yesterday for the first time and we both had tears rolling out of our eyes and sore stomachs from laughing.. every single line is perfect and hilarious! You're a comedic genius, sir! Guys, if you haven't seen it, do yourself a favour and watch it!

Very cool. My Elements has me wanting something with pretty shimmery Fender cleans too :animal:

It's a magical formula, Trey, clean amp plus high gain pedal, you can't beat it! *smile*

Now to take the best of those old speakers and tubes and make a new low wattage amp!

No? Just me...

Lovely refurb though!

This is awesome, Pete, I love the way you think! Those speakers and tubes have good life left in them... maybe I should just make a second super reverb!

nice!

always respect a man that respects his amp!

Thanks Kev! Amps are like old muscle cars hey... if you put some work into them and make sure they've got the fixings they need, they'll run great pretty much forever.

aren't supers just the coolest amps ever!?? I have a '68 myself. It's the greatest a,mp I have played. I lucked out. The 4x10's are just so sweet.

Very nice, Tyler! I'm a big 4x10 fan, this amp is really bassy and beefy sounding and I love it.

Very cool.
I want to hear the EGC into Elements into this.

I should've had a demo video in here too for completion.. just such a pain to make demo videos! I will though, you guys need to hear EGC into Elements into super reverb, it's pretty darn good.

[Scruffie]

Thanks for checking it out, guys!

Now to take the best of those old speakers and tubes and make a new low wattage amp!

No? Just me...

Lovely refurb though!

This is awesome, Pete, I love the way you think! Those speakers and tubes have good life left in them... maybe I should just make a second super reverb!
.

What tubes have you got to play with? I love the little SMPS amps you can make, great for cranked tones at night and quite a saving on the power transformers!

I bet you could make a great little amp with that stuff if you're in to those sorta projects.

[Ryan]

There's 6 preamp tubes, 12AX7A and 12AT7 and 2 power tubes, 6L6GC.. and you bet your butt I'm into these sorta projects!

[AxAxSxS]

[Scruffie]

There's 6 preamp tubes, 12AX7A and 12AT7 and 2 power tubes, 6L6GC.. and you bet your butt I'm into these sorta projects!

2 x Parallel 12AT7 in push pull and 2 x 12AX7 Preamp tubes, bet you'd get a nice little 5wish amp outta that.

I think a MAX1771 based SMPS might just be able to handle the plate current.

[Ryan]

I had to search engine those letters and numbers, Pete, and heck yeah I want to make one of those! That's awesome! My search engining took me to a thread of you working on just such an amp.. so how'd it turn out and do you have pics and should I build the same one? I wasn't familiar with this project before and it's very cool, thank you!

[Scruffie]

I had to search engine those letters and numbers, Pete, and heck yeah I want to make one of those! That's awesome! My search engining took me to a thread of you working on just such an amp.. so how'd it turn out and do you have pics and should I build the same one? I wasn't familiar with this project before and it's very cool, thank you!

It was a really great old school sounding amp! Perfect for late night practice and really warm, sadly I had to sell it to eat though. I don't think I did take any pictures no! *looks down and kicks rock* Shoulda done.

You sure could build the same one, i'm not sure how an AT7 would be in the power amp as it's quite a bit higher gain than the AU7... also I think the transformer would need changing as (I think, not checked the datasheet) it has a different output impedance. Might be better off making it a single ended amp? Or it could be great with it as standard! The only thing i'd have changed about that amp would be to use a passive baxandall tone stack instead of the big muff one and not mess up the PCB layout so the tubes were backwards

Amazing getting nearly 300V (I got 500 at one point!) out of a 12V power supply too and it sure beats worrying about mains safety I did get a shock off it (I got it knowing it could happen, wasn't being reckless) and yeah it hurt and stunned me a little but I knew i'd be alive at the end of it.

If you wanna work on a little amp together i'd love to! I love tiny low cost tube amps, I think I have a 12AU7 spare I can send you actually and know just the output transformer for you.

[9520575]

Oh, man... Nice amp

[Ryan]

Thanks Charles!

Heck yeah I do, Pete, that sounds cool! You still need a tube for experimentos? I can send you one...

[Scruffie]

Thanks Charles!

Heck yeah I do, Pete, that sounds cool! You still need a tube for experimentos? I can send you one...

Thanks for the offer buddy! Goroth hooked me up with an AX7 and I have a AU7 for the output, just waiting until I can afford a suitable output transformer (found a real nice English made one designed for these projects for only £13 shipped which is so cheap for the U.K!).

Trying to learn about using Line Transformers instead of output transformers too for even lower cost but those tube guys sure make things convoluted sometimes!

I noticed those little Fender Greta amps use an AT7 in the output like you've got.

[Ryan]

Right on, what a guy! So where do you get the SMPS and output tranny? Are you working off a project I can read or just winging it? How exciting!

[Scruffie]

Right on, what a guy! So where do you get the SMPS and output tranny? Are you working off a project I can read or just winging it? How exciting!

The SMPS can be made with a few cheap parts! A MAX1771 or 555 timer, inductor, high voltage MOSFET and a few components, i'll dig you up the schematics/articles a bit later.

I'm using this http://www.ampmaker.com/store/4W-push-p ... ormer.html

I think the Hammond 125A transformer is suitable.

I'm making a new project been reading up lots and lots and think I know just what to do.

[Ryan]

Cool, you make your own SMPS! I figured it was an off the shelf kinda thing.

Thanks for making this a project, I can't wait to get stuck in! Howsabout you do the heavy lifting and I'll cover parts...