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Author Topic: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head  (Read 3596 times)

sam

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ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« on: January 03, 2011, 05:58:51 PM »
ok, so I got one of these kits from www.ampmaker.com to build over christmas.  Finished it today and it prob took me 2-3 evenings from start to finish.  My soldering has certainly improved as a result of doing this project!

Thoroughly enjoyed it, and now need to start building an enclosure and modifying a laney cab to make it 'mine'  :D
The sound is great, to my ears its a little toppy with the treble up full but knocking it to around 5-6 makes it very smooth sounding.  Im very impressed with the pre-amp gain with the master on low.  I was expecting most of the 'dirt' in their clips to be from both valves being driven hot.

Ive actually recorded a demo video aswell, but need to figure out how to upload it somewhere that wont take 30mins to buffer for ppl to watch.  Think I need a youtube account  :-\

some pics......


Chassis assembled.......





Turret board wiring......






Chassis wiring.....







wiring finished!........






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sam

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2011, 06:49:14 PM »
heres a demo vid.  Just noodling around in my usual crap manner and didnt mean to cut my head off, but couldnt be arsed to re-record it  :P

« Last Edit: January 22, 2013, 09:27:28 PM by sam »
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wezv

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2011, 09:19:04 PM »
looks good sam - i am very tempted

i may decide to do one when i graduate this summer - PP18 all the way
http://www.ampmaker.com/pp-18-18w-vintage-plexi-amp-1135-0.html

although a double 6 may make more sense
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sam

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2011, 09:45:58 PM »
I think Id go with the SL-18 Wez.  The tone controls are quite useful on mine, and its a minor upgrade from the PP-18 kit.  Although, you can buy the preamp section as an add-on for the PP18 kit after youve built it, so you would have the option of retro fitting it if you thought you needed it.   With a master volume on the 18w amp, I can imagine you would get very loud clean tones.  The double six kit sounds a bit too clean for me.

Im trying to source some tolex, corners, grille cloth etc at the min. 

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wezv

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2011, 10:06:56 PM »
i like the simpleness of the PP-18.

i would rather mod the base tone with the circuit and valve/speaker changes as one of the best amps i ever played was a simple 18w marshall style - get it right and you dont need anything else
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PeteBuchan

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2011, 06:44:09 PM »
I made one of the Ampmaker kits a couple of weeks ago. I went for the PP36 and I’m really pleased with the results. I just wrote out a massive post but I was logged out by the time I submitted it and I lost it so until I can be bothered to write out another description of it, here are some pictures of it!
Front of the completed chassis


Back of the completed chassis


Inside during construction


A brief conclusion:
I bought this as a back up to my Vox AC30. It’s likely that I’ll use this along with or instead of the Vox. This one is foolishly loud! I’m used to the AC30, but I’m also used to having a master volume! I didn’t really appreciate how good a feature this is until I got this amp. You may need a tubescreamer (or similar) to get the valves going at lower volumes, but once it’s cranked, you can get some textboom ballsy Marshall crunch – think ACDC rhythm tones.

Barry from Ampmaker was really helpful throughout the build. I would, and probably will, buy from him again. If I do buy another kit, it will definitely be one of the smaller ones!

Pete
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sam

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #6 on: January 20, 2011, 04:19:37 PM »
Just a quick update on this amp.  Tried it through a huge blackstar 4x12 last weekend and it sounded fantastic.  Halfway between a JTM45 and a JCM800 according to my learned friends and bandmates. 

Our drummer is a bit of a chippy and makes pine furniture.  He had some good 18mm ply offcuts going spare and offered to knock me up a carcas for the head......




not much to look at for the moment, but once I tolex the head and tart up the speaker cab Im hoping you would be fooled into thinking they are a matching set.

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sam

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2011, 11:57:44 PM »
If anyone is interested, my chippy drummer has made up a couple of these amp head enclosures to use up his scraps.  If you have the 5w or 18w kit from ampmaker, they 'should' fit.   

I will check with Barry the height requirements for the amps that use this particular chasis and then list the dims for the head enclosure (cant remember what they were off hand)

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sam

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #8 on: January 22, 2011, 06:45:45 PM »
starting to look more like an amp head now.  Just waiting for the Tolex to arrive and need to get some more materials to make front/back panels.....





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sam

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #9 on: March 29, 2011, 08:05:50 PM »
well.....after waiting for what has felt like years for my tolex, Its finally done!!!!  Im really chuffed with the results and I will take some nice pics tomorrow in natural light.

Applying the tolex was easier than I though it would be, and even tidying up the corners etc. worked out quite well IMO. 

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sam

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #10 on: March 30, 2011, 12:31:05 PM »
a few more progress pics and some finished pics....





amp and cab together.....





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DazHampton

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #11 on: March 30, 2011, 02:04:38 PM »
Very tidy job - good work. I still havent cased my ampmaker unit & i've had it for quite a while, heh.
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synyster_slash

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #12 on: March 30, 2011, 04:58:12 PM »
Nice :). i did the SL18 a few months ago.
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PeteBuchan

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #13 on: April 01, 2011, 01:25:37 PM »
Funnily enough, I've not got round to making a case for my pp-36 yet either!
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ljdellar

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Re: ampmaker kit 5A-se 5w valve head
« Reply #14 on: November 11, 2011, 04:40:07 PM »
I notice you never posted the dimensions/plans for the head enclosure.  I wonder if you still have them and, if so, could you post 'em?   

My SE-5a has been languishing unclad for over a year now,  :-[ waiting for me to decide "head or combo".  Seeing yours pushed me over the edge.
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