Just finished my express clone (Lucinda)

[robtone]

I am fairly new to the forum and have done much more reading than posting, but I just finished my express clone (Lucinda) and I have to say thank you for having a forum like this to make is possible for someone like myself to build a wonderful amp like this. Lucinda sounds great. She goes from clean to mean and is definitely one of the best amps I have played through and I have played through many in my 30 years of noodling on the guitar. I have a little hiss, but I believe is is no more than what I hear on youtube from people who have based on comments great builds.

A special thanks go out to Ron Worley for putting together the build guide that was very easy to follow.

And thank you RJ for supplying the parts and answering my many questions on e-mail.

And thanks Richie for the great cabinet.

I'm not exactly a "paint by numbers" builder, but I would classify myself as a beginner. Hell, the older I get the more I realize how
much I don't know about anything.

Anyway, Thought I would jot down my experience for others that might be newbies. Sorry for the length.

There is a good site that explains the different parts of the amplifier in terms that a beginner can understand named "tubenewbie.com" they actually use an express I believe as the example schematic. I studied this site and some of the recommended books on this forum. I got the first 2 volumes of the TUT series and read 3 of Gerald Weber's books which included the Trainwreck pages. I also read Dave Hunter's guitar amp handbook.

Here are my suggestions based on what happened during my build:

One thing I would suggest is spending a week going through the trainwreck discussion on this site and just reading articles before your build. I didn't do this enough and really wish I would have. Pay special attention to topics on tubes, guitar cable, speakers, and hiss.

Make sure you have a great physical connection on every connection before you solder.

Use Ron's layout from the build guide with the corresponding pictures from Francesca and make the lead dress as close as possible to the real deal. Mine was not exact in some respects, but why not try to be as close as possible.

I used different color wiring for the heaters to make sure I was not out of phase. This made it easy on my old eyes.

Instead of making a pot jig, I used the sturdy faceplate that RJ supplied. This saved time and was a guarantee that the pots would be positioned right.

I made the pot wiring stand up to much above the terminals. they should actually lie pretty low. Be careful to check for this when you are wiring the pots.

I used regular 18 AWG copper wire and stripped it for my grounding bus on the pots.

You may want to put silicone between the 2 bright caps. These can be the source of problems. I had to go back in and reposition mine to make the amp more stable.

I used silicone to stack my filter caps and to attach them to the chassis and it worked great. I did squeeze too much and it could have looked neater. I used GE premium water proof silicone from home depot.

On the power tubes it was much easier having the 2 hole per pin variety. Make sure you plan the soldering here and start with the components or wire that are on the bottom first. I soldered in R20 and R21 before I soldered the grid resistors and it made it a pain to get these in.

Make sure you have the transformer diagrams from the build guide and check you colors over and over before you cut or attach any wires. Remember for pacific transformers the purple wire goes to the tube closest to the power supply.

When mounting the chassis to the cabinet, drill the wholes larger than the screws to give yourself wiggle room. For the chassis that RJ supplied I got #10 screws from loews hardware and got washers that would definitely cover my larger holes.

I brought the amp up on half power with a light bulb limiter to make sure everything was ok. I tubed the amp with cheap tubes at first to see what was going to happen. I biased the tube by making sure I had 400V on the plates and then measured for -30V on pin 5 like Ken did.

It would be great if you could find a mom and pop store like I did that have lots of vintage tubes that you can try before you buy in this thing. The tubes do sound way different from tube to tube. Right now I have nos sylvania 12ax7's in V1, V2, and V3. I have nos siemens RTF El34's in V4 and V5. They sound the best so far. I'm still waiting to get a great speaker cab. Right now I'm running it through and single Celestion 30 in my Mesa Boogie combo. I know it will be even better when I find the right cab.

I think all of this stuff is in the build guide and all over this forum, but I thought it might help for someone to see what items were challenging or more pertinent in a beginners attempt to build one of these monsters.

[RJ Guitars]

Rob,

Very cool build, looks like you really put this together nicely. Sounds like you really tamed the beast with minimal pain... I know this is not always the case with an Express build.

Thanks for the pictures and the building info. Can't wait to hear some clips of Lucindas voice!

rj

[ampmike]

Rob,That was a valuble post,You sound a lot like me as far as experience in building and that was perfect advice for guys like us who built only a few amps.I wish I could have read that before I started mine,Mine still has some tweeking to be done and Im going to try to get some photos made bigger to take downstairs when I tweek.Im going to try a rocket now from rj,I kinda wish I had done that first.They sound like they are not so finiky and very practical for using.My express changes from day to day,yesterday I had a high pitcthed squeel!!I really couldnt take it out and play it.Its like it has good days and bad days.Anyway ,Great post,Everyone should read this before they take on the express for sure,Mikey

[Big Jim]

Congrats Rob!
Nice looking build. Also, its good that you posted tips and suggestions for future Express builders. It brought back memories of my build. It should get better and better as she settles in. I would love to hear a clip or two as well. Great Job!
Jim

[M Fowler]

Rob nice job glad you got the amps built.

Mikey check the presence circuit and see if that is the root cause.

[ampmike]

Mark,I finaly drilled out the head cab and with the amp well shielded,guess what,It sounds great!!!It really quieted the noise and I can turn the vol. more than half way and no issues.It is now a usable amp.I was a bit down thinking the whole effort of building an express was a failer.My kids are all home from college next week and Im going to get some help doing some good utubers or sound clips.I appreciate your help Bro.I ordered a rocket kit from rj yesterday,Great Guy!!I really cant keep all these amps.I think Im going to sell the twin if I can and maybe one other.Also I finished a nice 2x12 cab with a really cool tolex,leather handle and corners.My voxy brown head matches it.That amp Ill do some clips on also.Sorry getting off topic here.
It makes a difference after it is in the head cab with the shielding,Big! Difference in mine.Mikey

[M Fowler]

Glad you got it done Mikey nice looking amps.

[Big Jim]

Good looking stuff there Mikey! I'm glad your Express is behaving better. I would love to hear some clips!!!! Our amps are from the same litter
Jim

[Gibsonman63]

What tubes are you running, Mikey? I initially fired mine up with new productin tubes. Once I knew I wasn't going to destroy my pricey NOS tubes, I put them in and it was night and day in my amp and it completely fixed all the squeals... at least the ones coming from the amp.

[ampmike]

Well,Right now 2 6v6"s,westinghouse,the others are some mullurds from ebay,I had a 5751 in for a bit in v1.Its good now.Expresses are very finicky,I almost gave up on it.I am getting rocket parts from rj.How different is the rocket from the express as far as sound?I hope I can get that harmonic burn like the express but maybe at a bit lower vol.Man,the express is LOUD!!!Mikey