Copper Spitfire!

[Cygnus X1]

And a Christmas present to myself.

My first swing at a point to point...it looks a mess, but it came out great sounding, and quiet! It was a Gulbransen APS-4 organ amp.
I ended up gutting it and building an 18 watt Matchless Spitfire into it.

I connected it to the speaker in the cab that hold my 5E3.
Very nice cleans, but I haven't cranked it much yet.
(Mom in law is visiting).

Special thanks to steve25 for his help, and also to Kap'n, chuckocaster, yankeerob, gris and a few others for the brainstorming!
Y'all rule!

[chuckocaster]

congrats on the amp! looks like it's gonna be nice. i wired up a looper pedal for myself yesterday, so that's my xmas present. like you it turned out nice, but i know next time the wiring in both projects will be a little cleaner.

have a good holiday season!

[Cygnus X1]

Thank you, Chuck!
I can tidy up those power supply wires just by tying them off to one side. I figured I was taking a chance with having the power transformer about in the middle, with my PS on one side...but it all worked out ok.
I need to find a creative way to cover those other two large can-cap holes on the other side.

[Jazzguru]

Here is an idea about how to cover those holes - or at least what I might do - I would put in tube sockets - not wired of course - and carry spare tubes right there - besides being somewhat practical it would look like ya got lots more tubes -

[Cygnus X1]

That's an idea.
If there was more room, an extra gain stage and an effects loop!

[Cygnus X1]

Cranked it!

It has more gain than the Tweed Deluxe, and no where near the volume.
The SEL's are louder...even the 7 watt SEL-2 is louder.

Maybe it is those EL84's.
I had the plate voltage way too low to start, bumped it up a bit...I'll take measurements again to see what is going on.
The tone is sweet (like the tweed deluxe), but I want to twiddle with things a bit.

[NTBluesGuitar]

Holy Cool Amp, Batman!

[Cygnus X1]

Thank you, NT.

Someday I'll be able to make a nice clean build like yours!

[NTBluesGuitar]

Well, clean guts are nice, but it's what it sounds like that matters! And I haven't tried true PTP like that yet, so I doubt I could do much better.

[yankeerob]

Dig that copper chassis! Well done! For what it's worth - I've had a go at building FX loops of various designs - the one thing you will get is noise - perhaps to lesser or greater degrees - but it would - IMO - spoil the whole point of this sort of amp... v. cool...

[Cygnus X1]

Thank you, Rob.

If anything gets an effects loop, it would be the high gain SEL build.
It can't take much of anything up front except more gain...which it doesn't need!

[Cygnus X1]

I built a pine cab, ever suffering sweet wife gave a shot at the tolex.

I used a solid looking piece of 3/8" plywood for the baffle and put a nondescript 10" 16 ohm speaker snatched from a Shure PA.
Yoly Shiznitz!
I recall a particular Gibson GA5 I knew one time.
This is like that plus more.

I wouldn't put the clean depth at "Deluxe Reverb" (it doesn't have enough of the Fender chime). But what a fun little gain monster.
I intended to build it strictly for sale-but the wife thinks it sounds too good to let out of the living room.
I suppose I ought to go with that vibe.


(I tend to think since her handiwork was involved in the cosmetics, she's a little attached to it).

[chuckocaster]

cool, can't wait to see some pics. if the wifey says don't sell it you better not.

[refin]

GREAT looking amp-------soundclips are mandatory.

[Gris]

Yes, we want pics of the whole shooting match!

Is it really 16 ohms secondary? If it is 8, I have a nice 10 I'll make you the sweetest deal ever on. If it is 16, I'll give you a mojotone 10 - unless the one you already have is better.

I am a big believer that speaker choice is CRITICAL in low power amps. Tell what it sounds like and what sounds you want to hear more or less of and I'll tell you what speaker will do that... :-)

Also, did you solve the voltage thing? What rectifier are you using anyway?

[Cygnus X1]

Thanks, all.
Gris-I went with the stock tube rectifier and put a pair of 5W power resistors on it. So far it's good.
The EL84's generate some heat but no worse than the 6V6's in the Deluxe.