mybud
Well-known member
- Build Rating
Started chatting to my friend @comradehoser about this in early January (backstory here). So, it's now five months later (waiting for the missing board to reach here, ordering slightly obscure parts, what have you). Upshot: I finally completed the beast this morning.
It took ten stages of building according to my notes. I'll spare you all the details but I took it real slow.
Here's the somewhat risible drill template for a 1590D which was originally going to be a stereo amp. I'm glad I chose this more accommodating size (as the actress said to the bishop) because there was room left over for some LEDs on flying leads and so on.
So far so good. The test fit worked, largely because I chose switches with long pins (PCB, not solder lugs). Getting things level was bit of a bear but eventually pots and switches were lying more or less level. Hooray! This is true progress.
Ok, on to the offboard wiring.
I felt an odd mixture of curiosity, excitement (though I'm well aware that expectation reduces joy), and achievement when the bits I could get to test appeared to work. One slight hassle about these complex builds of Kevin's is they are difficult to test in advance. Somehow I figured out how to confirm all was well with croc clips and due caution.
Nearly there...
Et finalement! The extra space allowed for a jewel light (it's an amp after all) and as before some room to move with the limit indicator at bottom right.
If you've managed to get through this verbiage so far, you deserve a VC.
How does it sound, you ask?
I recall one of our most beloved jazz guitarists demo'ing the original amp in a music store in Cape Town in the late 70s and was frankly blown away by his playing and the sound of the amp. This doesn't disappoint.
Designed by Moog as part of the former Norlin company, each channel has a wide range of available toans from a dark-ish Fender vibe (1) to a more modern-sounding (for the time) active EQ (2) with the multi filter giving access to sweepable mids, with optional limiting on each channel. I used two 3080s which were lying idle and an OPA134 for the first IC as per Kevin's suggestion, so it's close to the original specs.
It ranges from clean jazzy to down and dirty with a huge range of available toans in between. It's also very loud if needed.
In Kevin's notes he claims it's regarded as one of the best designed solid state amps available and I fully agree.
I haven't begun exploring all its possibilities but I love it and am so grateful to @comradehoser for sending me the board as a gift. Wanted to do right by his generosity and hope I've achieved this in some small measure.
Thanks for reading as always and roque on, y'all.
It took ten stages of building according to my notes. I'll spare you all the details but I took it real slow.
Here's the somewhat risible drill template for a 1590D which was originally going to be a stereo amp. I'm glad I chose this more accommodating size (as the actress said to the bishop) because there was room left over for some LEDs on flying leads and so on.
So far so good. The test fit worked, largely because I chose switches with long pins (PCB, not solder lugs). Getting things level was bit of a bear but eventually pots and switches were lying more or less level. Hooray! This is true progress.
Ok, on to the offboard wiring.
I felt an odd mixture of curiosity, excitement (though I'm well aware that expectation reduces joy), and achievement when the bits I could get to test appeared to work. One slight hassle about these complex builds of Kevin's is they are difficult to test in advance. Somehow I figured out how to confirm all was well with croc clips and due caution.
Nearly there...
Et finalement! The extra space allowed for a jewel light (it's an amp after all) and as before some room to move with the limit indicator at bottom right.
If you've managed to get through this verbiage so far, you deserve a VC.
How does it sound, you ask?
I recall one of our most beloved jazz guitarists demo'ing the original amp in a music store in Cape Town in the late 70s and was frankly blown away by his playing and the sound of the amp. This doesn't disappoint.
Designed by Moog as part of the former Norlin company, each channel has a wide range of available toans from a dark-ish Fender vibe (1) to a more modern-sounding (for the time) active EQ (2) with the multi filter giving access to sweepable mids, with optional limiting on each channel. I used two 3080s which were lying idle and an OPA134 for the first IC as per Kevin's suggestion, so it's close to the original specs.
It ranges from clean jazzy to down and dirty with a huge range of available toans in between. It's also very loud if needed.
In Kevin's notes he claims it's regarded as one of the best designed solid state amps available and I fully agree.
I haven't begun exploring all its possibilities but I love it and am so grateful to @comradehoser for sending me the board as a gift. Wanted to do right by his generosity and hope I've achieved this in some small measure.
Thanks for reading as always and roque on, y'all.
