5F6-A builders

[M Fowler]

Yeah I reach in my 12AX7 tube drawer and pull out whatever gets in my fingers first and that is usally what that amp will wear until I need to steal the tube for another project.

I am open to anyone sending me more tubes so I can rid myself of these terrible GTs.

[Mars Hall]

My amp was delivered yesterday. I'm quite surprised how good it sounds as is. From what the seller described the amp had only been played a few hours.

Looks like it has all the original tubes, all labeled Fender. The power tubes are labeled GT6L6GE and were biased on the cold side of course. The power tubes aren't matched as close as I expected. After re-biasing, I'm getting 39.9ma and 32.8ma with a plate voltage of 468.

Looking forward to just enjoying it for awhile before I start the conversion. It will give me time to choose my parts carefully.

[Jana]

Just a wild and crazy thought: you are talking about replacing transformers and trying to get this amp to vintage specs. I suspect, given the anal nature that amp tweakers are, that you will probably change the caps too. Probably even a handwired board. It will go on and on until the only thing left original is the pilot light and the chassis.

So, why not skip all the intermediate steps and just start fresh. Get a new chassis and build from the ground up. Take the complete chassis out of the amp and either box it up and save it to put pack in the amp if you decide to sell it as completely stock or sell it.

Just a thought.

[M Fowler]

Oh hey I just reread your original post this a Reissue amp.
I had heard the re-issue bassmans were good amps is that true?

[Cliff Schecht]

I had one before it got stolen from a friends house along with a Japanese Ibanez . After a retube it was a fantastic amp, too bad I lost some 7025's, a good set of Mullard 6L6's and whatever else I had in there. I retubed it to have headroom up to about 9 or 10 on the volume and used it for every style of music you could name. It could compete well with my friends 100W stacks and sounded damn fine at the same time. Don't expect it to sound like a real '59 Bassman though, just understand that it can get you in a similar territory. Great cleans and took pedals like a champ, my pedalboard at that time was a good 15-17 pedals at any given time.

[M Fowler]

Sounds like the amp just needs to be played and enjoyed.

Hey now you can plan your next build, wow your fast. How about a baby tweed amp to go with the Bassman. Can't have enough tweed amps sitting around.

[Mars Hall]

So, why not skip all the intermediate steps and just start fresh. Get a new chassis and build from the ground up. Take the complete chassis out of the amp and either box it up and save it to put pack in the amp if you decide to sell it as completely stock or sell it.

Just a thought.

This is a real good idea! I just may do this. The only other parts to source would be the tube sockets, switches and the chassis. This would be very doable and I could enjoy the amp all the way up until the other chassis is done.

Oh hey I just reread your original post this a Reissue amp.
I had heard the re-issue bassmans were good amps is that true?

Here's a video a guy over at the Plexi Palace made of a RI, an original and a Victoria Bassman compared to each other. To tell the truth the RI hung right in there! Maybe not as 3D as the others, but sound much closer than I thought it would.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Yln8SfHlo

[Mars Hall]

M Fowler, What size and configuration did you use for the filter caps on your build? Will 20uf/500v be enough for the the power section as far as voltage goes, with the stock setup? As opposed to putting them in series like the latter Blackface models.

[M Fowler]

I can look tonight when I get home but I am sure I used 47u main filter cap and the rest 20uf.

I'll get back to you.

Ok its been awhile since I was in that amp chassis. I used all 22uf/500v
so you could use 20-22uf/500v. The voltage was 468vdc

[Mitch Roberts]

Hey Mark, that looks like a very nice build. Do you mind if I ask what kind of signal path caps those are and where you got them? They look too big to be Mallory 150s.

Thanks,

Mitch

[M Fowler]

Crap now I have to lift that heavy bitch onto my bench and take the four screws off

I'll get back to you on the caps, not sure what I used. I do not believe they were Mallory 150's I usually only use those in Marshall builds.

Mark

[Mitch Roberts]

Mark,

Can't you look at the photo you posted earlier in this thread?

They are yellow and look like "fat" versions of 150's.

Thanks,

Mitch

[M Fowler]

Yeah I tried that and I also went through my order slips and the nearest I can figure there M150's based on the date of purchase. But they look like the generic caps tubesandmore.com sells.

EDIT: Metalized Polyester Tubular Capacitors
Tolerance +- 10%. Non-inductive, self healing windings, axial leads.
Nice long leads. from http://turretboards.com/

[Mitch Roberts]

OK, thanks.

Mitch

[Mars Hall]

I'm gonna try these.

http://www.sozoamplification.com/images ... header.jpg

Has any one tried those Jupiter caps? How are they? They got good reviews on HC.