Tweed Bassman 5b6 50w head started

[M Fowler]

Chris, thanks.

I don't think I've ordered from JustRadios. I have looked at their products before.

Angela
Mojotone
CEDistribution
Surplus sites

On this amp I used old stock I had for coupling caps which worked well in my cage amp 5b6 build.

[M Fowler]

Changed over to 6SL7GT preamp tubes no 6SC7. Running 6550's and changed to 5U4 rectifier to lower voltage. Changed dropping string to get around 184v on V1.

Changed to long tailed pair PI. Circuit is like Ampeg BN15 so input into V1a then tone stack followed by V1b and then the effects loop onto the PI.

Louder amp, will test for headroom/clarity tomorrow. Trying to clean up my mess from all the changes too.

Mark

[Blackburn]

Sounds cool, Mark. Can't wait to see the finished job and get a tone report.

[M Fowler]

Need to reconnect the direct out jack and go over my joints then get the amp down to three pedal steel guitarist in Minneapolis for testing against my original 5b6, a Little Walter 50w, and Milkman 85w. Not worried about the Little Walter.

Mark

[M Fowler]

This 50w 5b6 was changed to Ampeg B15N circuit using two 6SL7's and 6550 power tubes with SS recto plug. Mikey head cab.

Thought I would post what she looks like with amp in cab.

[EtherealWidow]

Still, I can't imaging what steel players get form it, especially the Little Walter straight-up clones. Those octal tweeds had no head room, not that the later ones had much either. Steel and no headroom???

Don't know about steel, but they are AMAZING with tele's. Couldn't get a good humbucker sound though. Might have just been the guitar or the room though. I dunno.

[M Fowler]

I used .1 uf coupling caps but others used a lower value so the amp isn't so dark.

The amp as Tino built is only 30w at most but if you use a high quality 15" speaker the pedal steel really come through nicely. There is almost a reverb quality with this circuit, very smooth tones. The guy that bought my 5b6 cage amp (Tino build) uses a Furlong solid state power amp into 15" to get the volume needed. Or he will run the 5b6 toaster preamp I built into the same Furlong power amp.

Another player is using 85w Milkman for high power and a 50W Little Walter head. So guys are using lower powered amps many different brands of amps actually. Steel players are as divided on what to use as us regular guitar players are.

But after all that chatter, what I'm saying is that the Tino 5b6 project makes a sweet at home amp with only two knobs, not so confusing that way. I wouldn't be afraid to use the 5b6 on a gig with a pedal board with linear booster to get more clean and perceived headroom.

I want to get a 12" and 15" Telonics speaker for my 5b6.

[RWood]

Hey Mark
I played bass through my Tino 5B6 tonight using the line out to the sound board at 96db using the 15" cab as a monitor. Wow!!!!! The octal pre has so much more complexity than 12AX7s in my Fender. I turned it up to the point that it was still clean but slightly overdriven with strong attack. Super dynamic that way.
On a whim we shot the korg keys on the B3 patch through it too. It was absolutely crazy good! I understand why the steel players like it so much.

Thanks for the inspiration. Your cager was the reason I decided to try this circuit.

[M Fowler]

Rwood glad your amp turned out so well that is great.

The 5b6 is not for everyone or every playing situation but sure is a great sounding amp to have when you want that pure octal preamp tube tone.

I should try my cheap keyboard through the amp too. For B3 a guy wants some distortion anyway, right.

[RWood]

Post how your keyboard sounds through it. We may start a new market!

[Milkmansound]

The Telonics speakers are great. Not my first choice for 6 string but they do have some JBL like qualities without the weight.

I'm a dealer if you ever want to go down that road. For a 30W amp, seems like overkill to use a 500W speaker

[M Fowler]

The Telonics speakers are great. Not my first choice for 6 string but they do have some JBL like qualities without the weight.

I'm a dealer if you ever want to go down that road. For a 30W amp, seems like overkill to use a 500W speaker

yeah tell me about it but why do the steel players insist.

[M Fowler]

Little Walter 50w/22w head photos below:

[Matt D]

Interesting that he seems to be using Deluxe Reverb Power Transformer replacements for the "50." I saw one on the Steel Guitar Forum with a Hammond 291BEX. When I take another crack at this one that is what I'm going to try.

[M Fowler]

The 22w amp is using the small Deluxe the 50w is using a Bassman size OT.