I don't know if anyone is interested in yet another amp-build, but here one is! I built this just before the Vox.
This is a 5E3 inspired by a wonderful Clark Beaufort that a friend brought around a few months ago. I was really impressed with that amp - it was easily the best sounding commercially available 5E3 I have heard. And it was built along very traditional lines - dead-on the original circuit and yes too bassy, but not so much that it was unusable. So I thought I have to see if I can replicate this! Normally my thing is to use a bigger PT and up the filtering slightly to get a more solid, less flubby low-end. Yet here was an amp with standard-sized transformers, no choke and yet it sounded quite tight.
I know one of Clark's selling points is that he uses a PT with a lower B+ to simulate 1950s wall voltage. When these amps were first built apparently US wall voltage was more like 110VAC but now it's more like 120VAC. When you multiply that by 3-4 as the PT does it makes for a significantly higher B+, which will make the amp sound slightly harder perhaps and increase headroom (in theory) unless it's exceeds the power tubes' operating limits.
So I bought a self-leaded '59 5E3 OT and a '59-style PT with a slightly lower B+ from Mercury Magnetics, shunned the choke I normally used and put a 5K 5W resistor there instead, and built a dead-stock 5E3. After testing I found it bassier sounding than the Clark, so I went through it and reduced coupling cap values and cathode bypass caps too until I arrived at an amp which is still plenty full sounding but doesn't have so much low-end that it interferes with the break-up or booms. There is still a lot of low end!
I also spent the time to get the bias to just under 100%. It really makes a huge difference. Most 5E3s are biased way high as the stock 250-270R cathode resistor is way too small. Usually I have to use a 470 or 560. But with this one because I used a lower B+ transformer the 270R is spot on.
This has to be the best sounding 5E3 I have yet built, if you are using the amp with few pedals. The entire range of the volume pot is usable. With a 335 or Les Paul it's breaking up in an incredibly musical way with volume at around 4-5, and sounds completely early Billy Gibbons at 6-7. I was going to sell it but after hearing a friend who is a much better player than me put it through its paces I can't let it go!
This is a 5E3 inspired by a wonderful Clark Beaufort that a friend brought around a few months ago. I was really impressed with that amp - it was easily the best sounding commercially available 5E3 I have heard. And it was built along very traditional lines - dead-on the original circuit and yes too bassy, but not so much that it was unusable. So I thought I have to see if I can replicate this! Normally my thing is to use a bigger PT and up the filtering slightly to get a more solid, less flubby low-end. Yet here was an amp with standard-sized transformers, no choke and yet it sounded quite tight.
I know one of Clark's selling points is that he uses a PT with a lower B+ to simulate 1950s wall voltage. When these amps were first built apparently US wall voltage was more like 110VAC but now it's more like 120VAC. When you multiply that by 3-4 as the PT does it makes for a significantly higher B+, which will make the amp sound slightly harder perhaps and increase headroom (in theory) unless it's exceeds the power tubes' operating limits.
So I bought a self-leaded '59 5E3 OT and a '59-style PT with a slightly lower B+ from Mercury Magnetics, shunned the choke I normally used and put a 5K 5W resistor there instead, and built a dead-stock 5E3. After testing I found it bassier sounding than the Clark, so I went through it and reduced coupling cap values and cathode bypass caps too until I arrived at an amp which is still plenty full sounding but doesn't have so much low-end that it interferes with the break-up or booms. There is still a lot of low end!
I also spent the time to get the bias to just under 100%. It really makes a huge difference. Most 5E3s are biased way high as the stock 250-270R cathode resistor is way too small. Usually I have to use a 470 or 560. But with this one because I used a lower B+ transformer the 270R is spot on.
This has to be the best sounding 5E3 I have yet built, if you are using the amp with few pedals. The entire range of the volume pot is usable. With a 335 or Les Paul it's breaking up in an incredibly musical way with volume at around 4-5, and sounds completely early Billy Gibbons at 6-7. I was going to sell it but after hearing a friend who is a much better player than me put it through its paces I can't let it go!
