I finally finished my express build today. It took about about 6 weeks from the day I ordered the parts to completion. I am a COMPLETE electronics noob. I am only 19, and I play guitar for a living, and I go to university. I have a Vox AC30(1992 Korg Reissue), 17 Watt Fulton-Webb Amp(2x EL84), and a Twin Reverb Reissue. I figured I needed an EL34 amp.... so I built one
Before this project, I had never even picked up a soldering iron. However, I was able to build this amp completely off of Ron Worley's BOM and Build Guide. I cant thank him enough for all of his hard work. I would have never been able to do this without his help. I did, however, borrow my EE father, who checked over the whole amp with the schematic and pointed out a few errors. DOH
The amp sounds INCREDIBLE!!! My 1969 335 sounds amazing with this amp. And, the faceplate lonely raven made for me looks so sweet!
Don't feel intimidated if you dont know jack squat about this stuff. With Ron's BoM and Build Guide, as well as the people from this board, you can easily do it!
Lessons Learned:
1. Soldering to a buss bar is a pain the @$$
2. Burning PVC insulation with your soldering iron smells terrible.
3. Burning your skin with your soldering iron smells even worse.
4. Check your pots before you install them. My 1 meg pot for my treble control has a big skip that goes from 1 meg resistance, to about 6 meg, up to 10 meg
5. Heatsrink is your best friend.
6. Radioshack soldering irons are garbage(went through 2 with this build alone... both exploded on me)
7. Don't read the plate voltage across a 1-ohm resistor(learned the hard way).
A couple technical questions for you guys...
For preamp tubes,
V1 is a Mullard, blackburn plant, brass posts, etc
V2 is a Brimar
V3 is a Sovtek 12AX7LPS, balanced triodes from KCA
V4-V5 are GT EL34M #4 Rating
Is it worth spending big bucks on a nice nos tube for the PI?
The plates on my EL34M's are at 400 and 404. I am biased at 43mA. Is this a safe bias setting? I dont see any redplating, and the amp sound super thick and full.