Silver Blues
Well-known member
- Build Rating
Following closely on the heels of the Particle Accelerator build I recently posted, I also sent the Diplomat enclosure I shared the paint process for (almost a year ago, again, Jesus) away for UV printing in the same package, so naturally that was destined to be my next build a few days later. I finished this last weekend but didn't have a chance to post it until now:
This one is equally incredibly satisfying to see come together as the PA was. I knew this was going to be a cool look, but it came out way better than I was expecting. The paint process is described in the link above (hardware store bullshit, yada yada, it's purple). The graphic on the right-hand side is an edited piece of free-to-use-with-attribution vector art by Vecteezy that's sort of an Indian traditional rangoli design; I was going for something that evoked the feel of a national banner or seal, and this fit nicely. As for the PA, Spencer's print job is superb here, all the fine details are preserved and the ink sticks perfectly well to my homemade finish. The text is rendered in a very lovely font called Cormorant which I would definitely be inclined to write a whole actual document with. The knobs are simple Tayda A-6490s which are surprisingly pretty-looking and match the ink colour well, the switch is the requisite LMS Pro 3PDT, and the tube backlight is an unusual "warm white" 5mm from The Electronic Goldmine.
As always, the build was smooth and mostly painless (thanks @vigilante398), so gets five big stars from me. I used a bit of a fat 220nF cap near the 6v regulator and inductor, so all the parts around that are a little cramped, which is the only issue I had (and is my own fault). I discovered as I was boxing that was out of Lumberg jacks, so I grabbed a couple of these low-profile closed-frame jacks from AES instead, which I was pleased fit well in the enclosure alongside everything else (although there isn't a lot of space for fingers above the tube this way, so I can see it being a bit of a challenge should I want to roll the tube later).
So how does it sound? In a word, great! I found a very interesting Japanese-made NOS GE 6267 for a grand total of $18 which seems to be happy in its new home. It has a very distinct feel compared to the PA or Space Heater, which are both hefty-sounding with a lot of bass content. This one is a little bit more neutral in comparison and has a "snap" (??) that neither of the others has. Obviously the maximum-bass position on the tone selector is going to be best for bass use, but I actually found that I liked positions 5 and 6 (going clockwise) for the bit of bass cut sometimes - this was nice to mimic the Wal tone of RHCPs "Apache Rose Peacock" (one of my favourite tracks to play along to). Since it's a clean preamp, there's not much more to say except that there is a TON of volume on tap (I have to keep it below 9:00 at all times to avoid clipping my everything downstream). But you know what's great? Driving this thing with a Clandestine!! Doing so allows you to unlock some sweet low-gain drive tones great for rock bass and super crisp bluesy leads on guitar. One of these days my Echo Foxtrot (remember that one) will get built, and I am very interested to use that to drive this (or vice versa).
This one is equally incredibly satisfying to see come together as the PA was. I knew this was going to be a cool look, but it came out way better than I was expecting. The paint process is described in the link above (hardware store bullshit, yada yada, it's purple). The graphic on the right-hand side is an edited piece of free-to-use-with-attribution vector art by Vecteezy that's sort of an Indian traditional rangoli design; I was going for something that evoked the feel of a national banner or seal, and this fit nicely. As for the PA, Spencer's print job is superb here, all the fine details are preserved and the ink sticks perfectly well to my homemade finish. The text is rendered in a very lovely font called Cormorant which I would definitely be inclined to write a whole actual document with. The knobs are simple Tayda A-6490s which are surprisingly pretty-looking and match the ink colour well, the switch is the requisite LMS Pro 3PDT, and the tube backlight is an unusual "warm white" 5mm from The Electronic Goldmine.
As always, the build was smooth and mostly painless (thanks @vigilante398), so gets five big stars from me. I used a bit of a fat 220nF cap near the 6v regulator and inductor, so all the parts around that are a little cramped, which is the only issue I had (and is my own fault). I discovered as I was boxing that was out of Lumberg jacks, so I grabbed a couple of these low-profile closed-frame jacks from AES instead, which I was pleased fit well in the enclosure alongside everything else (although there isn't a lot of space for fingers above the tube this way, so I can see it being a bit of a challenge should I want to roll the tube later).
So how does it sound? In a word, great! I found a very interesting Japanese-made NOS GE 6267 for a grand total of $18 which seems to be happy in its new home. It has a very distinct feel compared to the PA or Space Heater, which are both hefty-sounding with a lot of bass content. This one is a little bit more neutral in comparison and has a "snap" (??) that neither of the others has. Obviously the maximum-bass position on the tone selector is going to be best for bass use, but I actually found that I liked positions 5 and 6 (going clockwise) for the bit of bass cut sometimes - this was nice to mimic the Wal tone of RHCPs "Apache Rose Peacock" (one of my favourite tracks to play along to). Since it's a clean preamp, there's not much more to say except that there is a TON of volume on tap (I have to keep it below 9:00 at all times to avoid clipping my everything downstream). But you know what's great? Driving this thing with a Clandestine!! Doing so allows you to unlock some sweet low-gain drive tones great for rock bass and super crisp bluesy leads on guitar. One of these days my Echo Foxtrot (remember that one) will get built, and I am very interested to use that to drive this (or vice versa).
I have a wealth of great builders here to be inspired by and keep up with!
