It works! (Liverpool content)

[loverocker]

Big thanks to Mark Abbott for the very clear Liverpool drawing. My 18W version is now complete and it worked first time. Which was nice! No oscillations and no undue noise (FWIW, I kept the WEM's original heater wiring loom, OT, PT and valve layout 100% as-is). I used a simple ground bus.

I'm still using the .0022uF/68K combination (with NO Bright switch at all) and it seems just fine with a Tele. Sounds terrific - no mud and still perfectly tolerable with Treble and Presence dimed. Caveat: I'm using a MASS to get it down to perhaps 2W output until the neighbours go out

Going to keep it this way for a week and try to get a proper feel for the amp's inherent tone before changing anything. Will also try it with an LP, too. I will definitely do something on the tone stack, because I've either misunderstood the values I've seen in the various Wreck preamps or SNAFUed the wiring of the Middle and Bass (which act rather odd).

Here's a quick low-res pic. I had to made the layout up as I went along, back-tracking a bit when I saw I wasn't going to get everything on. But it does fit on a 2-row ready-made turret board (ex-military NOS).


Thanks all - you've created a great forum. And thanks and best wishes to KF, too

[Chris G]

Loverocker,The amp looks great!!! nice job on the wireing!!!
If the tone stack seems wierd,it's probably the 50 pf cap going to the treble control, It sounded strange in my amp aswell and takes some getting use to but this is the mojo of the ac-30 tone stack.........keep us posted....again nice work!!!
Chris

[loverocker]

Thanks for the kind words, Chris. I was expecting to have to trouble shoot some oscillation, but lucked out.

This weekend I'll recheck my tone stack wiring. It was a head-scratcher for a while and I might have misread something. But I will take your advice and stick to these values for a while.

[tubedogsmith]

You can fatten these up with a .002uf tone cap and a 470pf treble cap. Sounds better with humbuckers.

[loverocker]

Interesting - which one do you call the "tone cap"? So far I've been sticking to the Tele - to see where I am on the "too bright" thing mentioned in other threads. Will get an ES-335 and a LP Jr out tomorrow.

I've now tried the amp through a 4x12 (G12H) and the combo's own 1x12 (G12M) open-back cab - both with '70s speakers. I far prefer the 4x12 for smoother-sounding dimed tones, though the 1x12 is perfectly OK with cleaner tones. Will try an open-back 2x12 G12H cab tomorrow...

The more I play this amp, the more I like it It's got me scheming about a Traynor chassis and iron I have in 'The Junk Room'... could make a great Express...

[tubedogsmith]

Should have said mid cap.

[loverocker]

OIC. I'll bear these tone stack changes bear that in mind when tweaking.

After more playing through the two cabs, I think the amp sounds *far* better through the 4x12. The G12M25 in the open-back combo cab has a bit of sizzle riding on top of the 50-100% cranked tone - there's none with the 4x12.

Another thing - this amp overdrives really quickly: by about 9oclock on the Volume dial, it's already crunching, albeit fairly mild. By 1oclock it's crunching more than say a non-MV JMP. Is this typical of Wrecks?