Anyone built a Weber Heather or SLO clone?

[Lindz]

I'm thinking about taking a crack at one of these - Weber is economical with their Heather but as usual its their take on an SLO style amp with some changes, relay switching vs LDR etc. and I am curious if anyone here has built one and what your thoughts are

There are also turret boards for an SLO layout out there as well as PCB's that may make for a somewhat quieter, cleaner switching amp that is more true to the original Soldano

I'm not married to the idea of making an exact SLO but more interested in a challenging high gain build with switching etc so I can learn - I'm curious if someone here has made a Heather or SLO clone (or both) and what your thoughts are about them.

I did see a post from a week or 2 ago here about an SLO inspired PCB build as well as a good writeup here http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/squawk- ... clone.html but nothing along those lines with a turret board or Weber build so its hard for me to get a feel of the viability and difficulties of a project like this with a non PCB layout -

I'm thinking I would probably prefer a turret layout (or Heather) vs PCB simply because I expect that most future amps I am interested in trying to build will be turret and point to point style, so the more experience the better - of course that's assuming I can make a Heather or SLO turret board build at least reasonably quiet and hum free which might be a challenge

any comments would be appreciated

thanks!

[soma_hero]

i build high gain stuff like slo designs, using tag boards and point to point standoffs. Know what you're doing and it's as quiet as any pcb. Easier to tweak too.

From the top view looking in my layouts have had the preamp tubes in a row parallel to the pots, then the board, then the Power tubes nearest the other face of the chassis. OT on the input side, PT/Choke on the side farthest from input jack. With these guys it's all about ground wiring. Read up on Merlin's article talking about current flows, there is also a diagram of how the SLO grounds flow out there somewhere.

Use AC or regulated DC heaters. Unregulated (even with a huge filter cap) dc heaters proved noisier than AC heaters. Now I just use AC heaters. Omron relays for channel switching.

[coolidge]

PCB/Turret hybrid ala Randall Aiken the best of both worlds. I designed my own boards so that I could use my choice of components some of which would not fit on available kits and boards and also to allow for a few changes and options I made to the circuit and Mercury Magnetics PT. This took a LOT longer vs buying a kit.

This preamp board is 10.5 inches long, that's one thing to watch when doing your layout the longer the board the longer the wire leads between the board, preamp tubes, and pots. Shorter is better.

Switching your choices are LDR's like the SLO, relays (eliminates the LDR channel bleed) or if you really want to get fancy the X88r IC switching. I built a board with the X88R switching, its pretty cool. Ultimately though I bagged the IC's switching and just used relays. Relays are MUCH easier with PCB, you can't really get the turrets close enough for the relay pin spacing.

[img994]http://www.coolidgeamps.com/pics/pa2.jpg[/img]

[img:926:643]http://www.coolidgeamps.com/pics/ps1.jpg[/img]

[img:760:710]http://www.coolidgeamps.com/pics/ps2.jpg[/img]

[img:853:558]http://www.coolidgeamps.com/pics/ps3.jpg[/img]

[Tone Lover]

Coolidge those boards look sweeeet, how much did they run you to have them made.
They look like you really went top of the line with them.
Bill

[coolidge]

Coolidge those boards look sweeeet, how much did they run you to have them made.
They look like you really went top of the line with them.
Bill

Yep those boards are not the econo thin one sided green 1/2oz copper variety. When you spec out custom boards I found nobody will build you just 1 set of boards, the minimum from the place I use is 10. Since I'm building 5 of these amps I was okay with that. Boards are .125 thick, plated through holes, 2oz copper, black solder mask, and white silk screen. With shipping to my door boards were $60 a set or $600 total for 10 sets.

[kdmay]

I am assuming you have seen the SLOclone forum? I not, here's a link. Many builds over there.

http://www.slocloneforums.com/index.php

I have built 2. First was stock (link below), second was a modding platform (currently running 6v6s and a heavily modded crunch channel).

http://www.slocloneforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3696

[Lindz]

KDmay - I checked out that link .. very clean work! Makes my lead dress look pretty weak, ha ha

I am a slocloneforums member but I have found a lot of the content there is old, with dead links etc. That said there is good info there if you spend enough time sorting through it. I can't seem to find live links to the latest schems and layouts especially for the turret layouts.

Coolidge - I saw your post here from a few weeks back, those boards are sick..

you said you ordered 10 but are building 5.. do you want to sell a set?

[amplifiednation]

KDmay - I checked out that link .. very clean work! Makes my lead dress look pretty weak, ha ha

I am a slocloneforums member but I have found a lot of the content there is old, with dead links etc. That said there is good info there if you spend enough time sorting through it. I can't seem to find live links to the latest schems and layouts especially for the turret layouts.

Coolidge - I saw your post here from a few weeks back, those boards are sick..

you said you ordered 10 but are building 5.. do you want to sell a set?

I would be interested in a set of those boards too, they are very nice.

Anyone try a low powered SLO yet?

[coolidge]

KDmay - I checked out that link .. very clean work! Makes my lead dress look pretty weak, ha ha

I am a slocloneforums member but I have found a lot of the content there is old, with dead links etc. That said there is good info there if you spend enough time sorting through it. I can't seem to find live links to the latest schems and layouts especially for the turret layouts.

Coolidge - I saw your post here from a few weeks back, those boards are sick..

you said you ordered 10 but are building 5.. do you want to sell a set?

Unfortunately no I have no interest in selling boards, with my day job I barely have time to build amps. Besides my board is not 100% SLO.

But I have had probably 6 or 8 people ask so what you guys could do is organize a group buy amongst yourselves. You could collaborate on the board design using DesignSpark PCB software, that's what I used, its a free download. That would probably bring your cost down to under $100.

[amplifiednation]

what is the draw to the SLO? Ultra heavy gain? I'm reading and it sounds like a lot of metal players like it. But I also know Warren Haynes uses one. He's got some great tones. It looks like it would be a fun amp to build, especially with the bus bar heaters.

It would be cool to put together a 5 or 10 watt version of this amp, despite the internet rumblings that you just can't get the tones right with a low powered version; if i could blast 100w of blistering gain at my house to get "that tone" i wouldn't need a low powered amp anyway.

[Lindz]

Still no one here that has actually built a Heather??

Coolidge - that's cool about the boards. You probably don't need a noob like me bastardizing your work anyway - ha ha. Designing the boards is still over my head so if I proceed I would likely get a Turret board from Watts, PCB from Ampclones or a Heather.

Amplifiednation - My thought about a Heather or SLO build is simply that it will likely be a challenge for me as I only have 3 builds and a few mods on existing amps under my belt, and I would learn a lot about lead dress, switching etc in a super high gain build. My personal taste ranges from super clean Voxy, to Classic Marshall to EVH Marshall - metal not so much, so its not about the SLO in particular. That said a badass Metal amp would be cool to add to the quiver..

Its more about learning than anything. That and the severe addiction I have after my first build where I appear to be on a quest to build every amp I have ever wanted, and then some - ha ha

[amplifiednation]

Still no one here that has actually built a Heather??

Coolidge - that's cool about the boards. You probably don't need a noob like me bastardizing your work anyway - ha ha. Designing the boards is still over my head so if I proceed I would likely get a Turret board from Watts, PCB from Ampclones or a Heather.

Amplifiednation - My thought about a Heather or SLO build is simply that it will likely be a challenge for me as I only have 3 builds and a few mods on existing amps under my belt, and I would learn a lot about lead dress, switching etc in a super high gain build. My personal taste ranges from super clean Voxy, to Classic Marshall to EVH Marshall - metal not so much, so its not about the SLO in particular. That said a badass Metal amp would be cool to add to the quiver..

Its more about learning than anything. That and the severe addiction I have after my first build where I appear to be on a quest to build every amp I have ever wanted, and then some - ha ha

I'm on that quest too. If your bored, try a Dumble build, that will keep you busy for awhile.

[ChrisM]

KDmay - I checked out that link .. very clean work! Makes my lead dress look pretty weak, ha ha

I am a slocloneforums member but I have found a lot of the content there is old, with dead links etc. That said there is good info there if you spend enough time sorting through it. I can't seem to find live links to the latest schems and layouts especially for the turret layouts.

Coolidge - I saw your post here from a few weeks back, those boards are sick..

you said you ordered 10 but are building 5.. do you want to sell a set?

Unfortunately no I have no interest in selling boards, with my day job I barely have time to build amps. Besides my board is not 100% SLO.

But I have had probably 6 or 8 people ask so what you guys could do is organize a group buy amongst yourselves. You could collaborate on the board design using DesignSpark PCB software, that's what I used, its a free download. That would probably bring your cost down to under $100.

How did you learn how to use DesignSpark PCB?

[coolidge]

KDmay - I checked out that link .. very clean work! Makes my lead dress look pretty weak, ha ha

I am a slocloneforums member but I have found a lot of the content there is old, with dead links etc. That said there is good info there if you spend enough time sorting through it. I can't seem to find live links to the latest schems and layouts especially for the turret layouts.

Coolidge - I saw your post here from a few weeks back, those boards are sick..

you said you ordered 10 but are building 5.. do you want to sell a set?

Unfortunately no I have no interest in selling boards, with my day job I barely have time to build amps. Besides my board is not 100% SLO.

But I have had probably 6 or 8 people ask so what you guys could do is organize a group buy amongst yourselves. You could collaborate on the board design using DesignSpark PCB software, that's what I used, its a free download. That would probably bring your cost down to under $100.

How did you learn how to use DesignSpark PCB?

I just downloaded the software and jumped in head first. The software isn't difficult to use. I could probably show someone the 4 or 5 things they really need to know in 15 minutes.

[ChrisM]

Unfortunately no I have no interest in selling boards, with my day job I barely have time to build amps. Besides my board is not 100% SLO.

But I have had probably 6 or 8 people ask so what you guys could do is organize a group buy amongst yourselves. You could collaborate on the board design using DesignSpark PCB software, that's what I used, its a free download. That would probably bring your cost down to under $100.

How did you learn how to use DesignSpark PCB?

I just downloaded the software and jumped in head first. The software isn't difficult to use. I could probably show someone the 4 or 5 things they really need to know in 15 minutes.

Hmm ok
This is my first PCB software so I'm not too familiar.