Wiring the power tubes and start the foot switch

I spent the evening wiring the caps onto the power tube sockets and then I started working on the foot switch and the manual mini-switches. These switches allow you to switch to overdrive without the foot switch. They are located next to the input for the foot switch.

Here are the caps added to the power tube sockets




Here is the start of the mini-switches and foot-switch

The next part in my amp build.This may well end up being one of the hardest parts for me because I'm color defecient (so the military says). On those resistors there are reds, greens, browns, violets and all of those other colors that look the same to me.

I had to have my wife help me see the colors.As a result, I have started labeling my storage bin with the various caps/resistors for future builds. Then as I buy some I'll just put them in the appropriate bin.In the pics you can see that I moved my vol/tone pots to the outside of the amp. I did this to make soldering easier. I imagine those who build a lot of amps probably has a jig.

1. I started with the input jacks. Wire all the connects between the two jacks. In this amp the FET input jack has 6 lugs whereas the normal input has only 4.

Some of the resistors are not soldered just wrapped around the connection point. This is done because there are other wires to be connected in the same place - no need to solder twice.

2. Oddly, I then went to the far left pot that gets a resistor. In this case it happens to be a 500k bass control. The 10k connects to the left lug on the pot and to the brass buss bar. The other orange resistor connects between the outside lugs on the same control.The I worked left to righ for the other caps/resistors in the tone stack.

Next, I'll move the controls back inside the chassis and begin making some ground connections and other connections that go to the other side of the chassis into the poweramp in and preamp out (effects loop).

Pics for Steps 2

Twisting the Wire

Solder starting at the ground connection

Then solder the power tube heaters.

End at the pre-amp pins.

Step 1 & 2

The parts arrived and the first step is to mount the hardware. This will make sure I have all of the parts. It also gives you an idea of what it looks like up close. This is an easy step.

Step 2: wire the heaters to the tubes.
1. Twist the black and red wire together using a vice to hold the wire at one end and place the other end in a drill. Slowly run the drill to twist the wires together. Be careful not to over-twist as the wire can break.
2. Cut back a small amount of wire and tin one end with solder. Connect this to the 5 connector ground located just below where the power transformer will be.
3. Run the twisted wire up to the first set of power tubes. Cut & solder on pins 2 and 7. Do not solder them yet. Go ahead and run the wire to the next connection which will be from these pins to the next power tube - again pins 2 & 7. Once you have enough length then solder the first power tube.
4. Trim the wires to the 2nd power tube then make the next run wich will be to the first pre-amp tube - pins 4/5 and 9. Cut enough length of wire to go thru pin 4 and over and back out of pin 5. Once this length is obtained solder the pins in the 2nd power tube. Continue this pattern to the last power tube.

I'll post pictures later as my computer is giving me problems right at the moment.

Parts Arrived

The amp kit arrived this past Tuesday which was real quick. Nik told me that it would take between 2-3 weeks for the build and a few days to ship. It was almost like he had it already waiting to ship out as soon as the $$ arrived!

It was shipped very securely with plenty of foam padding and individual boxes. There was one part that was just in the box and I almost didn't find it because of the packing peanuts - it was the choke.

The first thing I'll do is take measurements of the chassis and all of the circuit boards. Then I'll check the cap/resistor values. My goal is to build one from scratch using this as a basic model but also using other info from other amp builders so I'm not just making a copy of Ceriatone's amps - that would be a copy of a copy of a Dumble amp? Whew!

Here are some initial pics:

Comment: I'm having trouble loading pictures because I had to switch from DSL to Cable internet and when Comcast hooked me up they messed something up in my computer and I'm getting a bunch of error codes.

Parts are on their way

I received an email stating that the amp is on it's way and it is scheduled to arrive Tuesday May 19th.

I really need to clean up my work area!!

New amp build

I just ordered the parts for my next amp build. After completing my first build I discovered that it is a little addicting. The first build was the 2 stroke designed by Dave Hunter. This one is a little more challenging - Ok it's a lot more challenging and in fact I've been told that this is the grand-daddy of builds.

I'm building a Dumble clone. I was trying to source the parts and build it from scratch, but after looking at some layouts and schematics there were some things I was uncertain about. Therefore, I opted for buying a kit. Once this amp is complete I will try and build one very similar to it from scratch. I ordered the Overtone Special from Ceriatone.

I was tossed between this amp and the Brown note amp of which both are modeled after H.A. Dumble's designs. I expect the parts to arrive late next week.