Anyone up for building an amp?

[sting7777]

I have schematics, parts, donor chassis etc. to turn a Pro Jr. into an 18watt Lite type of amp. But I have not been able to find the time to work on it, and probably won't anytime soon.

Anyone here interested in wiring it up for me? I am happy to pay whatever is fair for the work or trade some gear if thats more your thing. Email me at ross@downforce.net if you are interested.

I have a parts list, schematic(s), and all parts including board, turrets, wire, resistors, caps, etc. sitting in a box

I would pay for shipping both ways - and you can even keep the finsihed amp for a few weeks to play with if you like.

[NTBluesGuitar]

You've come to the right place!

Sounds interesting...check your mail.

[NTBluesGuitar]

Just a taste of what we're up to...





Of course, there's no telling if it works yet...I am re-using the components in the LED indicator light circuit from the original. Hopefully I got it right.

[sting7777]

For anyone who has considered using TJ to work on a build - everything he does is top notch, very clean and organized. I basically supplied him with a zip file full of research, partial schematics, photos etc. and within a few days he had the layout done. Great guy who does great work

I can't wait to fire it up and post some clips here.

[ziess]

Tj's the man, and a really nice guy to boot! He did the board for one f my many builds that's going on at the moment.

That amp looks amazing! It's going to be a wolf in wolf pup's clothing!

Tommy.

[sting7777]

That amp looks amazing! It's going to be a wolf in wolf pup's clothing!

Yep - its going to end up in a 1x12 tweed cabinet with an Eminence "The Governor" speaker.

[NTBluesGuitar]

Grabbed a couple more shots.

Power supply rail and standby switch wiring:


Filament wiring, etc.:


That teflon-coated stranded wire was so slippery in my fingertips. It took a bit longer to wire it, but in the end it worked out fine.

Thought those interested would like to see progress.

[hippiebob01]

Looks like top-notch work, like always, TJ.

[javlib]

Plain and Simple... That is ART

oooh mama!

[cherrick]

Wow. Dude builds some great amps and does some cool other work:
http://www.tjadamowicz.com/main.php

[NTBluesGuitar]

Wow...you guys are TOO KIND! Thanks for the kind words! Cherrick, as you can see, my graphic design background makes me OCD about details and good with my hands. It translates well to amp building.

Anyway, just popped in for an update...the amp is all wired up and initial fire-up is promising. Plate voltages and B+ seem in order, just one thing, though...I think we used a wrong value in the PI cathode resistor. Should be 820ohm and we've got an 820Kohm in there.

As a result, the amp is barely audible, but the volume controls do work what little volume there is. And it's not a quiet-distorted sound either...just real quiet.

No worries, though. I have a Mouser order I need to make next week anyway, and will tack on the proper value resistor and get it swapped out.

Here's a quick shot of the finished deal:



Will get some more shots later!

[boobtube21]

DANG! You do some nice work TJ.

So Sting7777, you gonna put a plexiglas cover on the back of the amp so people can see inside it???

[elicross]

Maybe that could be a trademark of TJ's amps! Plexiglas cover and some of that cool neon lighting. Badass.

[madmark]

That is some clean work. You do very nice work....

[yankeerob]

Maybe that could be a trademark of TJ's amps! Plexiglas cover and some of that cool neon lighting. Badass.

Yer - but make 'em LED's - neon's - erm - just a tad noisy...

[elicross]

Hey, sometimes you gotta sacrifice some sound for style.


(actually, I think that "cool neon" stuff, like they use in cars and PC cases, isn't really neon. It's some kind of DC stuff.)

[NeoFauve]

Damn.
The neatness of your wiring is just ridiculous.

(Especially having just resoldered the jack on my Tele, and in the process, seeing my ugly work up close.)

[chuckocaster]

can't wait to hear a clip!

[sabby]

Wow. Dude builds some great amps and does some cool other work:
http://www.tjadamowicz.com/main.php

The kid's got talent!!!

[Kap'n]

Yer - but make 'em LED's - neon's - erm - just a tad noisy...

Neon = Tube
LED = Solid State

Although I guess a rectifier tube would be the original "Light Emitting Diode."

[elicross]

Hey, you're right!

[NTBluesGuitar]

And last, but not least, I finally snagged a couple final shots:

[Cogs]

That's just incredible. Is your inbox overflowing yet?

[NTBluesGuitar]

Why, thanks!



Honestly, I just get a handful of messages here and ther form TFF'ers who are off-board e-mail pals. Every so often I get offered cool projects like this to take part in with others, though.

Never got to do an 18W variant before. It was a blast!

[Kap'n]

Nice work!

Photos aren't bad, either.

[cdw2000]

Hey NTBG,
Nice work. What are you using for the ground bus rod as shown in the pictures? Is that 12 gauge copper from house wiring?

Also I don't see it supported anywhere, is it just supported by the wires attached to it?

I'm looking at this technique for my next amp build :-)

[NTBluesGuitar]

It is, indeed, 12ga. copper wire and I got it at a Hobby/Crafts store of all places.

It's suspended by all the connections as you have noticed. It may seem like it's not too sturdy, but once you get several connections to it, it's pretty solid.

Basically, my approach was to use the copper wire to replace the brass plate the Fender-style amps use. I like it because all the ground voltages from these connections connect at the PT bolt and not around the jacks and pots as a brass plate would. I use it pretty much all the time and it's easier to wrap a lead and solder to the wire than to try and solder to the chassis.

You've got to isolate the input jacks with this approach, though.

[ziess]

Great work as ever! How does it sound?

[sting7777]

Needless to say, I am excited about getting this guy back in hand and posting some clips for everyone. TJ does awesome work.

[NTBluesGuitar]

Great work as ever! How does it sound?

Hard for me to tell since I could only test the amp lying on the floor into another amp cab. It got good Strat sounds.

Also, it's got low noise, the voltages are spot-on and it liked my OD pedal a lot.

Have to wait and see what the owner says.

[ziess]

Cool!

So this 18 watt lite thing, is it as loud as the real thing? Looks to be a cool amp. Bet it sounds totally different to the 5E5.
Got a schem?

[sting7777]

Cool!

So this 18 watt lite thing, is it as loud as the real thing? Looks to be a cool amp. Bet it sounds totally different to the 5E5.
Got a schem?

This idea is a single volume, single tone 1974X with SS rectification.

Should be about as loud as the stock Pro Jr. was I assume - I should know shortly :)

The schematic and parts list was pieced together from a few sources and then polished up by TJ. TJ - its up to you if you want to post your final schematic.

[ragtweed]

I dig dem turret boards for sure. I've got too many amp projects going on all at once and progress has been very SLOW.

[NTBluesGuitar]

This idea is a single volume, single tone 1974X with SS rectification.

Should be about as loud as the stock Pro Jr. was I assume - I should know shortly :)

The schematic and parts list was pieced together from a few sources and then polished up by TJ. TJ - its up to you if you want to post your final schematic.

Unfortunately, I don't have a Pro Jr. handy to test against, so I can't tell how close it is. It's not a tweed...but it really likes my OD pedal (MI Audio Blues Pro OD).

The schematic that this is built on is here:
http://www.dreamtone.org/images/18wattLite.jpg

Should be heading home any day now.

[bigboognish]

what kind of solder/flux do you use?

[refin]

And last, but not least, I finally snagged a couple final shots:

Stupid clean work...........do you redo original tweeds?

[NTBluesGuitar]

what kind of solder/flux do you use?

Kester standard 63/37 solder. It has the best tone.

Stupid clean work...........do you redo original tweeds?

Thanks! I haven't had a chance to get inside a real tweed, but would love to sometime.

I'm afraid the oldest I've gotten to work on was a '77 Twin Reverb.

[Larson]

Wow, I'm just amazed at how clean your work is...

I've got myself a Fender HRDlx and want to learn how to mod this thing soooo badly. I think getting this amp has changed my major to Electrical Engineering...

[sting7777]

Just a quick update - the amp is all put together in the tweed cab and "The Governor" Eminence speaker. Sounds amazing and T.J.'s work is just as impressive in person. Super clean build.

We have a few more little tweaks in terms of resistor values and then I'll record some sound clips.

[NTBluesGuitar]

Kudos to Sting for finding the last erroneous component!!

Turns out that I missed the fact that I installed an 820Kohm resistor on the cathode of V1 as well as the PI in V2! For shame!!! Can't believe I overlooked it.

Here's the final circuit drawing version:


The large version is here

Thanks, Sting for involving me on this really fun project. I only regret that I didn't have it in my hands when it was 'right'.

Can't wait for the full amp pics and sound clips!!!