Another Express project

[jelle]

What RJ said...

Nice build!!

[M Fowler]

My builds suck, my buddy colossal builds some sweet stuff and he hasn't even posted some of his awesome work.

Old dogs like me can't learn new tricks, so my amps are going to just have to have the slightly rough look or well used appearance.

[M Fowler]

error

[RJ Guitars]

I can only agree that you might be old... in some societies that means you deserve great honor.

[M Fowler]

Got some more done today.

Got a Mouser order on the way:

Bud bottom plate
Correct power switch I ran out of TW style
Ordered more Davie's knobs just incase I have to build some more TW's

I need some more Mode amber lights I'm out.

[Blindog]

Lookin' very nice Mark! You gotta be the most prolific builder I know!

Mark

[M Fowler]

Lookin' very nice Mark! You gotta be the most prolific builder I know!

Mark

Yes I do build quite a few amps, thanks a lot Mark.

[M Fowler]

Finished it up and fired up. All is well but going to increase the bias range resistor from 47k to 56k.

Right now with pin 5 bias voltage at -33 I'm at 50mA but I could subtract the 2.06 screen voltage an still in safe range but at end of bias pot adjustment.

[Colossal]

Very cool as always Mark. I like the cap board. Any opinions on the iron yet?

[KellyBass]

My builds suck

I'm gonna have to get my eyes checked. What I'm seeing in your pictures looks fantastic...as always.

[M Fowler]

Thanks guys. Dave you set the build quality bar quite high buddy.

I don't like a cap stack and since I've built traditional before I decided to go Songwriter/Constellation style over/under cap board. Below is 80uf and 47uf. Top is 3 x 22uf caps.

This is a good sounding amp I like the tone which is not bright like my other Pacific (Allynmey) build. But I will go through that amp one more time and change out some caps to see if I can loose the brightness.

This Express seems to sound good so far through a pair of EVM 12L's and a pair of 25w mojotone. I'll try this amp with my 412 loaded with Ipswich Vintage 30's.

[M Fowler]

Oh yeah and on the bright switch this time I used 47pf and 330pf instead of the 100pf & 500pf.

For C8 I used .0033 OD
C12 47pf
820R pin 2 from volume pot wiper
33k grid on pin 7 from input jack
100K/100K on plate of PI
22uf/25v bypass caps V1 & V2

[M Fowler]

Amp has a nice darker flavor to it compared to other Express amps I've built, I like it.

Ran it at straight up noon on the volume pot through a 412 loaded with Ipswich Celestion Vintage 30's and The Paul guitar.

[RockinRocket]

Mark did I once read you thought the Pacific's added to the darkness to this amp? Do you still feel this way? I like bright amps and now I'm on the fence with getting these transformers.

[RJ Guitars]

Mark did I once read you thought the Pacific's added to the darkness to this amp? Do you still feel this way? I like bright amps and now I'm on the fence with getting these transformers.

I don't know if you're following my Thread on the TW output trannies but I just began to test the Pacific 11415 OT in my test platform and it's the brightest one I've tested so far. I am beginning to believe that each one has it's own unique voice... lots of testing still to go but I was really surprised by this last result because I had just tested a different Pacific tranny that was really warm and sweet.

Mark, do you have any ability to get sound clips?

I am also interested in what other components you're using that might contribute to the darker character you're talking about?