I have a few question regarding the BOM. Ive read the comments in the BOM and am courious if every part like jacks and resistors ect are verified to be those exact parts number/manufacture in Ken's amps. Its probably a silly question being its the BOM and everyone here uses it. I would just like some assurance.
The bias/cathode caps are Mallory ska however Ive only seen inside three expresses, Ingrid, Francesca and the undocumented one all have Rubycons.
What amps use the mallory ska?
The resistors. How do you know the manufacture? Some have names on them but for the others is it as simple as nothing else looks the part?
Im guessing the carling switch part numbers are exact ones Ken used? Mouser sells tons of carling. Whats the story behind these become the ones?
Im starting to gather parts. It might take me a few months before I start building. So if I can get legit Express parts I don't mind waiting and search to find them. Thanks everyone
The more and more I did around Im leaning towards lots of the BOM is just an educated guess. For example the wire (except heaters) only a select few know and they arnt spilling the beans!
The BOM is a combination of actual parts used in authentic Trainwrecks which are still available and the best available substitute at the time the BOM was written, where an original part has become unobtanium. The photos of Francesca will get you very, very close to identifying all the parts if you want to try to acquire all true NOS. Diligence in the search feature can help ferret out additional history.
Ill tell you for the life of me I wouldn't be able to get any search to work properly. Ill type Bud Chassis in and Ill get a hundred results with the word chassis in the thread somewhere
Like Colassal said, some of those parts are very, very rare at best. But, it's well worth taking a close look at the particular materials that make up the specific types of components that Ken chose for his amps. Resistors, caps...especially caps. A lot of valuable knowledge in his selections. The guy was never wrong.
This message has been printed using 100% recycled electrons.
I guess the carling switches and jackes are probably the least important in a wreck build. For piece of mind though the Carling BOM parts list is just a unmentioned substitute ?
Ken had trends and favorite parts but I've seen gut shots of probably a dozen different amps and it seems like he did something a little different on each one. I have miles of that darn wire yet but I had to take a vow of secrecy before I could get the info... maybe that part number will leak out one of these days although the old stuff is not so easy to find anymore. I can certainly sell you all you want. That BOM in the TW files was made up for the convenience of the TAG forum but does not list the parts that were unavailable at the time... since then there is even less available unless one of the old timers allows some of their personal reserve to get out.
Apparently Ken had stacks of transformers that he characterized individually and loads of NOS tubes that he would roll in and out of an amp to tweak it. This is a bit of the opposite of production electronics where you tweak various small electronics components in the circuit to get the tubes and transformers to tailor the sound you want to some "average best sound". Ken's way is very difficult to repeat even with similar components and values...
I know one guy that made it his life goal to create an exact replica of an original Wreck and it seems the more he studied and discovered the more confused he seemed to be... There have been some epic battles behind the scenes based on what makes up the official Wreck BOM... There is also a lot of misinformation that has been added to the Trainwreck mystique. YMMV
I am also trying to get one set of all the authentic parts for an Express build so I can have one for a reference amp... I'm not necessarily expecting it to be my best sounding Wreck but I can't know for sure unless I give it a sincere effort. I have one of the old BUD boxes - they are hideously thin and made from soft low grade aluminum. Still, I am having that chassis cloned right now and will have a bunch of them made up if it comes out OK.
Good luck and hopefully we can share enough to help you get to where your happy with your part list.
Vibrato thanks that advice did help some in the search.
RJ thats good news on the chassis. The community really needs a good clone. For some reason I feel the chassis plays a bigger part in capturing a Wreck. Im hoping your chassis wont have the power cord receptacle
I know it will be near impossible to use nos parts that Ken used. The good thing is he used a lot of things and probably a lot of things that we are not even aware of. He would probably be doing the same today buying lots of different stuff easy to obtain.
These are the parts Im most concerned and think are must. PVC, transfomers, potentiometers, TC75/78, Rubycons, preamp resistors and the chassis.
Any one know anything regarding preamp resistors? Even a tip that might lead you to believe the brand he used? Ive searched and that seems to be a mystery.
Thanks a bunch Mark. Looks like we can still buy new production resistors that Ken used for these amps.
Do you find that information to be legit? I keep reading that lots of info got passed around as legit in order to keep Ken's wreck's a secret.
As far as pots Ive read a few things on those also. Lots of folks are using PEC. Glen said Ken used those in later Wrecks but Ive also heard ken dosn't like PECS. So confused, as those would be easy to source if the ones tubesandmore are selling the right conductive plastic ones.
