Building old school guitar amps!

[premiumplus]

Hey fellas,
I've been quiet for a while here, enjoying my awesome WOPL 1000's and playing a lot of guitar. Lately I've been bored so I bought a kit from an amp builder and kit maker, Allen Amplification.
I dig rock and roll, and this amp is pretty much a dead to nuts copy of a 1963 Fender Brownface Deluxe. Old school Tube Design.
It uses three 12AX7A preamp tubes, two 6V6GT output tubes, and a 5AR4 rectifier tube.
It was a combo amp, speaker and amplifier all in one, and ZZ Top's great Billy Gibbons recorded the first couple of ZZ Top albums in the early '70's using this amp design. The kit was similar to the WOPL board kits, but without the great instructions that come with the WOPL ones. This only had a picture diagram of the component placement and wiring diagram. But I just finished building it today and it worked first time. And I gotta say I'm smiling, this amp kicks serious ass! I'll be getting the cabinet with a 12" speaker in a week or so, but the chassis is done and running. Here's some pictures of the build:

 

[Bradrock]

Very nice! I've been eyeballing these various amp kits on the market for awhile. But I still can't play a lick, so holding off for now.
Have you chosen a speaker?

 

[premiumplus]

Very nice! I've been eyeballing these various amp kits on the market for awhile. But I still can't play a lick, so holding off for now.
Have you chosen a speaker?

I'm playing a Celestion Greenback right now but the cab is ordered with an Eminence Red White and Blues.
Here's a pic of the back showing the transformers and tubes. Sharp eyed brothers will notice a Dahlquist DQ-10 peeking out behind the amp.

 

[Bradrock]

I was guessing Green or Creme.
I'll have to buy a kit eventually, as I already have the purple Tolex in my Stew Mac Cart.

 

[laatsch55]

I'm playing a Celestion Greenback right now but the cab is ordered with an Eminence Red White and Blues.
Here's a pic of the back showing the transformers and tubes. Sharp eyed brothers will notice a Dahlquist DQ-10 peeking out behind the amp. View attachment 47665

Where's the DLP-1?

 

[laatsch55]

....

 

[mlucitt]

Some serious guitar kit building going on there...

 

[premiumplus]

Where's the DLP-1?

Staying warm atop the great WOPLs!

 

[Bradrock]

My buddy went to GMI in the early seventies & I remember going to some decent concerts up there. Leon Russell in particular.

Do you have fans on your WOPL's ? I really dig the wood but worry about heat.

 

[laatsch55]

Staying warm atop the great WOPLs! View attachment 47689

Ahhh....

 

[mlucitt]

I looked at Allen Amplification, sort of expensive for my tastes. I like to guy used at Guitar Center or a Mom and Pop musical instrument store, it's all in the timing; which I suck at.

 

[Bradrock]

I looked at Allen Amplification, sort of expensive for my tastes. I like to guy used at Guitar Center or a Mom and Pop musical instrument store, it's all in the timing; which I suck at.

That minty American made Strat is still hanging at our auto parts/pawn shop store for $495.00
I'll groan when it's gone, but I could have bought it several times by now. Won't be able to blame it on timing.
Just haven't got the Strat bug yet.

 

[premiumplus]

An American Strat for $499?!? That's cheap. Back in 2009 or so I built a copy of a Fender Deluxe Tweed amp, the 5E3 circuit that's so famous. I bought the empty chassis and the wood cabinet for it, but everything else was from scratch. I cut, drilled, and mounted the turrets on the fiberglass turret board, sourced all the switches, pots, resistors, capacitors, etc. from Mouser, got an output transformer from a parts house and used a power transformer from an old organ. It still cost me nearly $850 for all the parts and speaker, so when you add it up and see what you get, Allen amps does a good job. And anyone who's done it knows that sourcing all the parts can be a major pain. My amp kit cost $1149, which I think is reasonable, considering the price of hand made tube guitar amps nowadays. They're $4-$500 cheaper than the completed amps, so I thought it was a pretty good deal.
I enjoyed building it, and the amp kicks major ass. Kind of reminded me of the fun I had building my WOPLs...now there's a great bargain and they STILL kick major ass!

 

[premiumplus]

My buddy went to GMI in the early seventies & I remember going to some decent concerts up there. Leon Russell in particular.

Do you have fans on your WOPL's ? I really dig the wood but worry about heat.

Yes I do!

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

that WOPL wont last in a wooden box and due to heat, don't stack shit on your WOPL (or under it)

 

[premiumplus]

Thanks, but they've been running great for six years now. Well placed fans do wonders.

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

sure

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

Thanks, but they've been running great for six years now. Well placed fans do wonders.

you built those WOPL's 6 years ago?????

 

[premiumplus]

Yeah, actually I built them in 2013 so it's going on 8 years.

 

[laatsch55]

Yeah, we've been at it that long..