First gig, ... Nice!

[philmanatee]

It was pretty hectic sourcing a filter cap on a Saturday. Morris at Aviator Guitars set me up with a 47uf to replace the mallory I snapped the lead off of. Rick at Aviator set me up with some fast recovery diodes which he said where far more effective than the 1N4007's for the flyback's. I put that all that together and biased the amp hotter, as per one of the posts moose answered earlier yesterday and then drilled my cabinet. The screws weren't long enough and all I had was a ship auger to counter sink the holes with. The auger ripped it up a little, but after what I had gone through I didn't really care. The gig was at a brew pub and we supplied the PA, so the guitars weren't miked. I played it safe the first set and only ran it at about 9 o'clock because the dinner crowd was still there. After talking to the guy I work for, who is also a guitarist, I cranked it up the second set about 12 o'clock. Then I really started to feel the magic. The trainwreck compresses a lot more than any amp I've played, but once I got used to the envelope I was really able to put it to work. I used all the brightness selections and found that normal and the up position worked best for me, although we have a few songs that the really bright selection were good on. I wanted to record the gig on my nomad, but the bass player in my other band had it so hopefully I can post a live clip after my next gig. All in all I think the wreck is very versatile for harder rocking guitar. I probably slam chords 80 percent of the time with a few leads here and there. I just have to get used to turning my guitar volume down a few notches more than I usually do for clean sounds. Good night, Phil

[MooreCowbelle]

Excellent! Man, I can't wait to get all the parts together. Where was your gig?

Question about the diodes - why did you switch to the fast recovery diodes? On page 35 of the "Trainwreck Pages", Ken states that the fast recovery diodes have a distinct disadvantage in that the affect the tone - making the amp sound muddy and bleeding off high frequencies from the OT. Just curious.

[philmanatee]

The gig was in Mukilteo at the Diamond Knot. I better read my trainwreck pages! Maybe I'll try switching them the next time I open the amp and see what I like the best. I wasn't even going to change them but the tech told me they would give me better protection. It still ripped pretty good though. We're going to be playing at Hot Rod-a-Rama this year which is in your neck of the woods. Phil

[jaysg]

Phil, is your Express true to the Kelly schematic (with correct bias) or did it take tweaking?

[philmanatee]

I'm kind of blown away that it didn't take any tweaking, especially since it's my first complete build. I think I biased it a little over 40 ma at pin 3 with 396v on the plates. I was in a rush to get ready for a gig so I didn't have any time to fine tune it. I've had several seasoned players tell me it's the best rock guitar amp they have ever heard. I'm using amperex el34's and all mullard 12ax7's, but the thing sounded awesome with GE 6v6's in it. I didn't really refer to the Kelly schematic much, I just printed all the francesca pictures and the layout drawing posted by Nik and kept refering back to them. Phil

[jaysg]

Thanks - that's very encouraging. From another thread, I caught that the OT is probably responsible for taming the high end. With the right iron, the outlook is good.

[philmanatee]

I used the toneslut tranny set. Phil

[Normster]

I'm kind of blown away that it didn't take any tweaking, especially since it's my first complete build. I think I biased it a little over 40 ma at pin 3 with 396v on the plates. I was in a rush to get ready for a gig so I didn't have any time to fine tune it. I've had several seasoned players tell me it's the best rock guitar amp they have ever heard. I'm using amperex el34's and all mullard 12ax7's, but the thing sounded awesome with GE 6v6's in it. I didn't really refer to the Kelly schematic much, I just printed all the francesca pictures and the layout drawing posted by Nik and kept refering back to them. Phil

I did exactly the same thing...Nik's drawing + Francesca pics = awesome amp. I did put a 100k trimmer in place of the 3rd stage plate resistor, but I have it cranked for a full 100k to the cap anyway. I'm using Hammond iron and have no complaints with the amp being overly bright.

[philmanatee]

I actually used both bright switch positions at my gig. I prefer the up position although I used the down position for effect on a couple songs. Phil

[v00d00blues79]

Normster,

What Hammond trannies did you use?

Thanks,

Andy

[Normster]

Normster,

What Hammond trannies did you use?

Thanks,

Andy

272JX PT / 1650G OPT. The 272JX is only rated at 250mA but I think that must be conservative. I've played the amp dimed for an hour (with 16 dB of attenuation, I might add) and the tranny never got more than slightly warm.

[Legin]

Good combination of trannies, I'm using the same and it sounds phenominal. You are right every Hammond trannie I have used is very conservativly rated.

[tubedogsmith]

Normster, have you measured your filament voltages?

[Normster]

Normster, have you measured your filament voltages?

Sadly, no. I always measure and correct DC voltages, but I neglected the AC side of things.