Couple questions for the amp builders out there

[Locrian99]

I’ve been getting more and more interested in building an amp. Im assuming like pedals buying the kits you end up paying way more than if you were to “roll your own”.

Been poking around rob robinettes page a lot and Loki g at different sources for eyelet boards etc.

Curious on thoughts of should I be looking at a kit for my first build, the cost of amp building makes it a bit more challenging for the first build mentality. As I’ve been doing some gear flipping etc to scrap up the cash lol. Is there somewhere I should be looking with great how tos on the wire dressing etc. beyond what’s at Rob’s site. Just wondering if there’s a site out there i am missing with some more step by step info.

 

[jesuscrisp]

Not an amp builder, just pedals, but I also recently toyed with the idea. In the end I decided against it because there really isn't much money you'll save compared to just buying one of the available affordable tube amps out there. You might even end up paying more for DIY-ing in many cases. But of course you have a bit more flexibility on your build.

In your place I'd definitely start with a well documented kit that also supplies the chassis and ideally a headcase. Invest the couple extra bucks, save yourself some headache and potential fire hazard.

 

[owlexifry]

- what do you want to build?

- kits are great for a first build. (but it sounds like you’ve been building pedals for a while so i would assume you’d be pretty good at sourcing parts..)

- i had a great first amp build experience with a 2204 / JCM800 kit from stewmac.

back then i had no idea what i was doing, and had never even built a pedal. wouldn’t have had a clue where to source anything. i was only confident with pickup swaps, guitar mods etc.

stewmac doesn’t do these kits anymore but i’m pretty sure it was a relabelled mojotone kit (had all those mojotone yellow film caps)
- so yeah i guess i can vouch for mojotone kits. mine was great.

(the other handy thing about that stewmac kit was that it was great for a clueless twit like me as it had a step by step assembly manual, but you probably wouldn’t need this)

- it sounds like you’re on the right track as it is -> i also found and continue to find robrob’s website to be a very handy and valuable resource for amp building & modding.
my second amp build was the 2x6L6 SLO (lead channel only) amp layout that i got from his website. boy howdy that was fun.
turned out to be an amazing amp.

i’d almost even suggest picking one of the amp layouts off robrob’s website and start collecting parts (with the BOMs that are also provided with the layouts)

 

[Nic]

I've just been through Rob's Bassman Micro build. I can say that for a first one, that was a lot of learning and sourcing everything, messing up my chassis, ordering from multiple sources and paying shipping fees on many of those orders. This was not a cheap build... but I'm also glad I did it. Depends on what your are looking for, a kit involves less planning because someone already made that part for you.

 

[Harry Klippton]

I've done two amp builds. One was a gut and rebuild reusing the chassis and transformers, the second was a kit. I'm glad I built the kit. For my next amp build, I'm sourcing everything myself

 

[Locrian99]

I've just been through Rob's Bassman Micro build. I can say that for a first one, that was a lot of learning and sourcing everything, messing up my chassis, ordering from multiple sources and paying shipping fees on many of those orders. This was not a cheap build... but I'm also glad I did it. Depends on what your are looking for, a kit involves less planning because someone already made that part for you.

This is one I’ve looked at quite a bit.

 

[Fizz]

Back in 2015 I bought this JCM1H clone for $325 shipped. It is one of the best sounding amps I've ever heard and takes pedals well. I got it from a guy on eBay who said he copied it from a friend's Marshall JCM1H and it was an exact copy but he designed his own PCB and used his own parts. I'd love to see @Robert sell some PCB kits like this so we could build a little 1 watt amp. I don't have the skills yet to trace this circuit but looks like it would be easy to put together like a PCB pedal if someone was making and selling these kits.

 

[Alan W]

A few years back I decided to build a kit, and Allen Amps and Trinity were my two finalists. I ended up with Allen, and the hardest part was deciding on a specific model. Some of his kits were heavily documented, others were just all the parts, a schematic and a wiring layout. The model I chose, his Encore, came with the full docs.

Great experience. I have rebuilt audio tube amps before, so did have some experience. Yes, I could’ve bought a new tube amp for what the kit cost, but that’s not a realistic appraisal of what the finished kit amp is. (David Allen’s prices on his assembled amps were only a few hundred more; his pricing was a good bit less than most of the other well known boutique builders.) What I got was easily the best amp I’ve played through; very quiet, with a great sound, good master volume, bias trem, reverb with tone control, Raw control (takes the tone stack out, so you can go from black face to brown), etc.

David Allen retired last year and sold his business, and I’m not familiar with the new owners, although I know their intent was to continue offering the kits.

The kit build v. sourcing parts yourself is similar to what happens with pedals, except there will probably be more places to get the various parts from, so there will be more shipping costs. You could also decide on top tier parts, upgrading what would come with a kit.

I think either way you go, you win! Do it!

 

[Nic]

This is one I’ve looked at quite a bit.

I've made a build report of it, if you did not knew already.

Micro Bassman Build

I have been less active since a few months, part of it is because I'm more selective on my builds, part of it is because of life happening and the third part of it is because I've been planning on building an amp for some time and the process is very slow. I'm not finished, but I figured I'll...

forum.pedalpcb.com

I'm really impressed with the result, and tried a few pedals with it and it's really nice.

 

[peccary]

I'm not an amp builder by any means, but I'm in the process of building my first, which is a kit from Trinity (their B-15).

I had a lot of the same thoughts you are having right now and initially I wanted to source everything myself. After some time, though, I think that was more ego for me than anything.

I am really happy that I went with a kit from Trinity. With a kit I knew I was getting something that was tested, well documented, and supported. I can read a schematic in terms of components and connections, but the how and why of it is still very much obscured to me. The order of operations is another big one and, having never built an amp before, I'm not sure I'd know exactly where to start and how to progress. Not to mention finding trustworthy information. Trinity solved that problem for me. Plus, their shit is high quality and I don't think I could source anything better, particularly the transformers and chassis.

It obviously costs a good amount more for a kit than to source everything yourself, but if you don't already have a very good idea of what you're doing and how to build an amp I would recommend a kit all day long. I've hardly scratched the surface on my build yet and have already learned quite a lot.

 

[Locrian99]

I've made a build report of it, if you did not knew already.

Micro Bassman Build

I have been less active since a few months, part of it is because I'm more selective on my builds, part of it is because of life happening and the third part of it is because I've been planning on building an amp for some time and the process is very slow. I'm not finished, but I figured I'll...

forum.pedalpcb.com

I'm really impressed with the result, and tried a few pedals with it and it's really nice.

I didn’t thanks I will check that out

 

[Locrian99]

So the ones I’ve been eying mainly is the micro Bassman awesome that @Nic has a build
Report for it. Also interested in the 6g15 reverb unit, end goal of eventually building a Princeton reverb clone.

 

[Phil hodson]

I agree with a lot of what’s been said above. I had built a lot of pedals but had absolutely no idea about amps!

I decided to give it a go though. I did a lot of research and decided a kit would be the best way to go to start with. Much like with pedals it’s nice to have your hand held. Especially with those voltages!

I went with a Trinity kit to begin and loved it. It was a challenging build but with the documentation and being able to email them and it went together so well! Worked first time and sounds fantastic.

I was bitten by the bug and went for a different style. A PCB based one. I sourced all the components. Even down to the chassis and head box etc.

Was a lot harder and I’m still working on it but what a difference it’s been so far. I have certainly learned a lot. Which is one of the things I love about both pedal and amp building.

There are plenty of good kits around depending on where you live.

My personal favorites at the moment are

Trinity, Rossamp, C3amsp and Certiatone.

There are also plenty of forums out there to dive into as well.

Firstly I would decide on what style of amp you’re looking for. Trinity and Ceriatone do a wide range of styles.

It would also be worth looking at some of the Trinity documentation as it would give you an idea as to what’s involved.

 

[Alan W]

It would also be worth looking at some of the Trinity documentation as it would give you an idea as to what’s involved.

This is an excellent suggestion for anyone wondering about their first foray into amp building. Many of the kit sites have downloadable instructions, and getting a feel for the general steps is very useful.

 

[derevaun]

I built the AX84 Firefly on this PCB from Ronsound. The build guide has a Mouser BOM that makes part-sourcing idiot proof. I wound up with an amp but remain an idiot, at least more than I'd be after a more-hands-on project.

In any case, the hardest part was getting the chassis drilled/screwed/mounted correctly. I still cringe a little when I look at it, but it's a fun amp to play--if you like the range from gritty chime to chimey grit. I like it, but I agree with the folks who say to build an amp you want to play, instead of a starter amp you might rarely touch afterward.

 

[Harry Klippton]

build an amp you want to play, instead of a starter amp you might rarely touch afterward.

This all day

 

[Fizz]

I think I will build the Mojotone Studio 1 for my first build. 2 channels, 1 watt JCM with clean 5e3 channel.

Mojotone Studio One 1 Watt, 2 Channel Amplifier Kit

Amp Kit Difficulty LevelEasy HardIf this kit shows as out of stock please check here for more information.Please read our article 'Mojotone Amp Kit Building Primer' along with our amp kit disclaimer located in the Specs tab before buying this kit. Tired of playing through those kiddie practice...

www.mojotone.com

 

[ThePanda]

Depends on what you want. I like Ceriatone. Once you dive into his schematics you see he has some lifestyle improvements. For exact chassis fender replicas like a Princeton I was looking at stewmac and monotone.

I decided on a Ceriatone 5F6a because I like the chassis.

 

[HamishR]

For a first build I would recommend buying a kit. I don't think a kit would necessarily be more expensive than sourcing the parts yourself - in fact when it comes to shipping you'll probably save a bit because you're only paying one shipping fee.

IMO you don't build an amp to save money (but in a way you kinda can...) you build an amp to get exactly what you want. And if you compare your newly self-built Deluxe Reverb (for example) to a new Fender DRRI I'd rather have the hand-wired version. As long as it's well-built of course, and that is entirely up to you.

I love building tweed style amps, Marshall plexi style amps and the occasional Vox, and tweaking them to my taste. The tweeds for example I like to use a bigger PT to allow for using EL34s instead of 6L6s, and to get better low end response with less mushiness. I make my own cabs and it all ends up costing way less than the equivalent custom built amp. Once you have learnt good lead dress, grounding and how to bias properly you will find that your home-built amp can be substantially quieter, perform better and sound much more like how you want than most mainstream shop-bought amps.

Trinity kits are good, Mojo kits are good (except I would usually use different coupling caps from orange drops) and all the info is out there. You can often buy Mojo kits a bit cheaper from resellers like Marsh amps too. I'm about to build a JTM45 as a 1x12 combo. I'm using MM transformers and plan to buy the rest of the electronics as a kit from Valve Storm because their parts are excellent and mostly what I would have chosen myself. You can even download the excellent Metroamp "how to build it" instructions from there as well, so that's my preferred way to build anything plexi.

 

[vigilante398]

The more I build amps, the more I realize I don't really like building amps. Nowadays I mostly leave it for the patient people of the world.

I've built a few kits (Ceriatone, Mojotone, and Weber), and Ceriatone was hands-down the best experience for me. If someone asks me about getting started building pedals I point them to PedalPCB, and if they ask about building amps I point them to Ceriatone. Excellent layouts, good quality components, easy builds.

I also recommend starting with kit builds, then eventually you'll learn to source your own parts, then eventually learn to do your own layouts. But kits are a great way to get your feet wet and get enough experience to figure out how to do things with a high likelihood of success.