Figure now would be a good time to start a post about my new build seeing I'm getting over a nasty flu and can't build. It's a stereo rack amp with a 50 watt bluesmaster and knock on wood a soon to be completed 50 watt 183. Both have internal loops. Switching on the bluesmaster is pab,od,and loop on/off. Think I'm gonna go with pab,od,and fet on/off for the 183. So far so good with the bluesmaster side though I need to troubleshoot the OD as its intermittant. The cleans are really nice though and I love the internal loop as I have a bunch of different gain points that I can adjust. Ran a H&K rotosphere in the loop and it sound smoother than out front. I can set the loop up as a boost if I want and hit the foot switch so that's also a cool feature. Thanks again to this forum for all the shared knowledge. I couldn't have gotten this far without it. Will post progress pics of the 183 being completed.
guitardude57 wrote:That is what I call a flexible set up.
Where did you get the chassis?
It took awhile to find someone to do it but a local machine shop was really helpful. I must have emailed or called over twenty companies and they were the only one even willing to give me a quote. I drew up the chassis in solidworks and after countless revisions I sent it off to them. I ordered five chassis and think they turned out alright for the amount of holes. There are plenty of points for improvement though. The main being adding some pem nuts for the rack ears. In this one I drilled the holes on my drill press and am using some bolts and nuts. Makes it difficult to get the chassis in and out of the rack as I have to leave the ears on. My next plan is to use some socket head screws that go into the captive pem nuts and a allen wrench to unscrew them. That way I could remove the ears from the amp while it is still in the rack.
If you can't find anyone local turretboards.com can do custom chassis but their prices were quite a bit more. My guess is that most machine shops need large quantities to make anything and aren't interested in small orders dealing with wacky guitar guys.
Just saw you are in CO. I used D&B precision products here in the Springs.
Well I don't have much of a studio. Just a foster mr8 recorder and an sm57 the amp fits in a 4 space rack so I figured it would be lighter and easier to carry than two heads. Just need a 212 or 410 and I'm set. Cool thing about this build is I only needed one PT for two amps. I used a o'netics 100 watt and should be able to run a pair of kt88s and el34 with its high current ratings.
Well the OD is fixed. I had a bad drive pot. Here is a clip. Once again sorry for the amateur playing. One of these days I'll stop building and learn how to play.
The preamp tubes are all high about 30v and I have 509v on the OT. So maybe not realistic to what a bluesmaster is supposed to sound like. I'll probably mess with the dropping string resistors and roll some tubes with lower gain later after I install the 183 side. The additional load of 4 more preamp tubes should bring down the voltages a little too? I also have 8-pin sockets wired for dual 5u4gb rectifiers which knocks about 10v off. This clip is with a plug in solid state.
Thanks qtone. I still laugh at those movies. That and cheech and chong. Must say something about where my head is.
Anyways, here is how I wired the on off relay for the internal loop on the bluesmaster side. Not sure if it is the best way or if it'll be any use to anyone.
Started work on the 183 board today. Didn't get much done but thought someone might want to see. Using some Jupiter vintage tone caps. First time using these. It looks like they are hand wound. Getting near the end of my 1000' of purple wire. Is it weird to get sentimental about wire?
The little gravel well outside your basement would look great as a raked zen garden with a few well placed sansui to contemplate while staking boards!
Killer job on your rack mount!
Thanks. Could be a little bigger as I bang my knees on it alot but its easy to clean, cheap, and folds up. Good idea about the window well. I'd need to actually do some landscaping though
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the amp fits in a 4 space rack so I figured it would be lighter and easier to carry than two heads. Just need a 212 or 410 and I'm set. Cool thing about this build is I only needed one PT for two amps. I used a o'netics 100 watt and should be able to run a pair of kt88s and el34 with its high current ratings.
