Tube Amp Archive

I initially tried to find film caps for this installation due to the fact that the tantalum bypass caps in Mesas are known to be failure prone. The small footprint of the tantalums made this unwieldy. The MLCCs fit, have a better voltage rating, sound good and the bass reduction was effective, with ...

I recently did a service and recap on a friend's Mesa Boogie Mk.1 Reissue. There had been some questionable work done, prior to his purchase of the amp. The tone stack and phase inverter capacitors had been replaced with Old Black Cat caps, having improper values and voltage ratings. I replaced thos...

SSS 002 Dumble's circuit is very intriguing. I often wonder how the circuits are designed. Trial and error? Mathematics?

I have finally got the videos of the S.S.S. combo prepared. Health issues in my family have delayed many of my personal pursuits, but I was recently able to prepare these videos. Several years ago, my son brought me a Stratocaster in pieces. The neck and body had been separated by force. There were ...

Thanks ! Aiken's text is very well written. After I read it a few times, I think it will sink in. Following schematics is not difficult, however understanding the theory behind the circuits is a little more difficult for me. Here I am trying to understand circuits designed a hundred years ago.

I have a basic understanding of amp circuits. How tubes function, how cathode bypass caps allow different frequencies enter the circuit, how the tone stack allows frequencies to be bled to ground. In a typical Fender AB763 circuit using a 250pf, .047, .1 tone stack, varying amounts of high,mid and l...

I used a Mesa inductor LOL Blasphemy

This amp has been quite a learning experience for me. Although it is easy to get great tones from it, there are so many options to learn. The reverb is maybe the best reverb circuit I have heard. In previous reverb equipped amps I've played adding reverb seems to make the amps footprint smaller in t...

IMG_0816.JPG IMG_0817.JPG IMG_0818.JPG My first attempt at Tolex. I used a Hammond 290 FX power transformer. ClassicTone TW35 Trainwreck style output transformer. Mojotone choke and Reverb transformer. MOD 3 spring medium reverb tank. We know that most early tube amp designs came straight out of tu...

Working On Tolex today. Hoping to get everything together this weekend. I'll try to get a playing vid up soon. I've played it on the bench. Really love the tone. No major problems so far. No oscillation. Haven't played it turned all up though.

In today's venues it is always a struggle to get the tone that inspires you, at the lower volumes required. I have used 6V6 powered amps the last few years to cope with this. The general consensus is , you can not achieve good S.S.S. tone in a lower powered package. As I am one that always seems to ...

Amp chassis 2

Amp chassis 1

I got the amp up and running yesterday! Two issues caused all the instability and low volume. The extension speaker jack being wired improperly allowing signal to go to ground. I also forgot to install the chassis ground, which caused all the other issues. The aluminum chassis is not used for a grou...

Haven't posted in a few days. I've been very busy. I had the extension speaker output jack wired incorrectly. Now I have volume where it should be. I have spaceship noises and motorboating as I turn up the volume. I'm going to swap O.T. leads today. See what happens. Do some more checking. Thanks to...