SLO Clone update: pics and clips

[Bob-I]

She's working, not perfect but working. I had 2 setbacks, 1) a dead PT from ebay, not unexpected as I bought it for next to nothing with the OT untested and 2) Silly me mis-wired a screen cap and let the smoke out... along with a big BANG and lots of sizzle and oil. Scared me to death... so much that I was afraid to power it up even after I replaced the parts and re-wired.

The clean channel is too bright and brittle, and the SLO channel is a bit buzzy but I'll get it running better over time. I'm amazed at how much gain this thing has, this poorly recorded clip is recorded with the gain at 10:00 or about #3 on the knob. The hum is from the flourcent light I should've turned off.

This is the first 100 watter I've owned in about 40 years, damn it's loud. I used a noise canceling headset to crank it up to #3 on the master.

I only have to complete the head cab and make some adjustments to the overall tone and she's done. Killer project.

[IMG:640:293]http://www.patmedia.net/bob-ingram/SLOc ... ont_sm.jpg[/img]
[IMG:640:293]http://www.patmedia.net/bob-ingram/SLOc ... ot1_sm.jpg[/img]
[IMG:640:308]http://www.patmedia.net/bob-ingram/SLOc ... iew_sm.jpg[/img]

http://www.patmedia.net/bob-ingram/SLOclone/SLO1.mp3

And another clip after spending a few hours with the amp. A little tweaking of the knobs goes a long way. The crunch setting sounds great but the 2 tone stacks are an necessity since the settings are dramatically different.

On the first part of this one I have the clean channel set to crunch with the gain at about 3:00, T=10:00 M=11:00 B=1:00. The second half is the SLO channel with gain at 10:00, T= 11:00 M=1:00 B=12:00. Depth is of course global on the NFB and is set to about 2:00, Presence is off.

http://www.patmedia.net/bob-ingram/SLOclone/SLO2.mp3

[David Root]

Looks and sounds excellent to me, Bob!

I have something similar in the works myself, not an SLO clone but a combination of SLO, Marshall and Hiwatt influences. I have the two channels, 4-stage and 2-stage, but the clean channel's role is only minor, unlike yours, so I only have one tonestack.

I see a choke, and another small tranny, this is for 12.6VDC for the preamp heaters? I see the OT is a Hammond 1650N, it sounds great. I had always been told Hammond iron is not suitable for guitar amps, in fact one of the Mercury Magnetics folks said that to me one time, that they're designed for audio. I guess how it sounds depends on how you design it into your circuit!

What are the tube and PT details? That PT looks familiar, is it a 166 EIA manufacturer code? Those are good PTs.

[Bob-I]

Looks and sounds excellent to me, Bob!

I have something similar in the works myself, not an SLO clone but a combination of SLO, Marshall and Hiwatt influences. I have the two channels, 4-stage and 2-stage, but the clean channel's role is only minor, unlike yours, so I only have one tonestack.

Cool. I'll be looking for updates on that one.

I see a choke, and another small tranny, this is for 12.6VDC for the preamp heaters? I see the OT is a Hammond 1650N, it sounds great. I had always been told Hammond iron is not suitable for guitar amps, in fact one of the Mercury Magnetics folks said that to me one time, that they're designed for audio. I guess how it sounds depends on how you design it into your circuit!

The small xformer is for the switching. I decided to keep the LDR's on a seperate xformer instead of tapping the heaters.

I'm not a believer in the "Hi-Fi" crap. I've used several Hammonds in builds and they all sound great. Typically if you look at the specs you'll lose frequency response as you increase the power you're getting from the OT.

The guys at the SLO Clone forum use the 1650R often. I used the N because I got a pair cheep off ebay including a PT that turned out to be shorted. I made out fine on the deal because the 2 OT's are fine and I only paid $100 for the 3. Shipping was almost as much .

What are the tube and PT details? That PT looks familiar, is it a 166 EIA manufacturer code? Those are good PTs.

The PT is a Fender Twin replacement from AES. I believe it's a 166 but it doesn't really say. I was just looking at the current and voltages when I selected it.

The tubes are just stuff I had laying around. Some are Tungsram ECC83's and some are Peavey labeled Russian tubes. The output tubes are all Peavey labeled 6L6 "Super 6" Russian tubes.

[dehughes]

Hey man, that looks nice and sounds great. Congrats! Great job!

[David Root]

The 166 and 606 are both good, I think one of them is Schumacher, who made iron for Fender in the '60s. 996 is Heyboer, I think your choke looks like a Heyboer Fender choke.

[sportster4eva]

That's a beautiful piece you've made there.
Excellent work!!