This New Tube Amp... Bob Vila not invited

[Ryan]

I've been itching to make a tube amp kit for awhile now and this weekend one was borned... a 5W lil guy called a MOD102, check him out here (http://www.modkitsdiy.com/kit/mod_102_guitar_amp_kit )the kit's about 200 bucks and comes with every single thing you need except the hand tools and solder. It's got a 12AX7 pre-amp tuber and an EL84 powertuber. It's got controls for bass and treble and volume.

The build took a few hours, a fun Saturday project, and it was really well instructioned and documented, very clear what to do and when.

Here's what it looks like inside, only has maybe a dozen resistors and caps to the whole circuit:

Here's the finished amp:

And here's it sitting on a 2x12 cabinet:

It's a great sounding little amp! It stays nice and clean to a modest volume, loud enough to bother people for sure, and then beyond maybe 4 on the volume knob it goes into a really great overdrive and then into a pretty mean distortion. I'd highly recommend the project and I think you'll dig the result bigtime.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

looks awesome man! is that some kind of golden pastry in the middle? lol


also bob is pouting in the corner. he's being a real child.

[Ryan]

it is.. it's a breakfast sammich from Tim Horton's... don't eyeball it Doc!

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

too late! nom nom nom. it reminds me of some of those pastries u see at asian bakeries.

[sonidero]

So with a few mods and a built in Frazz/RRR we can expect to see Dr. Sci Amps soon???

[hollowhero]

The world needs Dr. Sci Amps!!!

[space6oy]

So with a few mods and a built in Frazz/RRR we can expect to see Dr. Sci Amps soon???

that would be awesome.

[ryan summit]

So with a few mods and a built in Frazz/RRR we can expect to see Dr. Sci Amps soon???

that would be SO FUCKING RIDICULOUSLY awesome.

[skullservant]

Awesome Ry! Nice clean build, I expect no less from the Doc

[oldangelmidnight]

Glad to hear something good about the MOD kit. Did you look around at other kit options? Why this one?

[goroth]

Congrats Ryan!

[ChetMagongalo]

Hey man, you did a great job!

[Ryan]

Thanks dudes! Anybody who thinks this looks like a fun project, go for it! It's simple and fun and you'll dig your 5W amp I betcha.

too late! nom nom nom. it reminds me of some of those pastries u see at asian bakeries.

Thanks dudes!

I figured you were onto something so I had a bite...... you were right, it's delicious! I ate most of it but left enough for the amp to still work. (It's the output transformer, the big tube connects to one side of it and then the other side of it connects to the speaker jack)

So with a few mods and a built in Frazz/RRR we can expect to see Dr. Sci Amps soon???

I really pondered putting a reverberator pcb into this! Reverb would make this lil guy a perfect amp... I think what I'd like to do is make a couple/few more kits and get more familiar with the hardware and tube circuits and then try my own turret build without a kit... like over the next year kinda thing, just for fun... this totally different amp build style is a lot of fun!

Glad to hear something good about the MOD kit. Did you look around at other kit options? Why this one?

It was a purchase of convenience really, I didn't check out other kits but now that I've caught the bug I'm gonna for sure. When I over-hauled my Super Reverb I ordered all the parts from a shop called CE Distribution (it's for businesses only and has wholesale pricing) and I noticed they had 2 MOD kits, the 5W and a 60W, so I went for it. Do you have a favourite kit? That was my first kit but I think it went well and I'd recommend it, I think the amp is very cool. I'd love to try a home audio amp kit too.

Congrats Ryan!

New amp buddies! Congrats on yours, Matt, it looks fantastic!

[oldangelmidnight]

Do you have a favourite kit?

I haven't tried any kits yet. In my idle browsing around, I vaguely remember reading a number of complaints about missing parts or poor instructions from some of the companies.
I see on the MOD website, the 60w kit has lots of different optional modifications. If they can provide clear instructions, that seems pretty cool.

[Ryan]

Totally, if any part was missing it would have soured the experience bigtime, but it was all there. You can check out the instructions on the MOD site, that's exactly what you're sent in paper form as well. There was a couple times I thought things would be easier if done one or two steps out of order, like soldering wires to lower turrets before attaching components to upper ones and then blocking them.. but I followed them closely and they were clear and easy and there wasn't a single time when I thought 'wtf am I supposed to do now'.. which happened to me all the time when I was a kid trying to build model cars etc.

I'm really curious about the 60W kit now... it's got a lot of features and a lot of optional mods they make available to you... seems pretty flippin fun...