Tube practice amp - revisited

Karlis Abolins · Post by **Karlis Abolins** » 24 Jul 2003 8:06 am

A while back, I got a wild hair to go back to the tube sound I started with in the 70's. I had a Princeton reverb that I fondly remember. I looked high and low for a small tube amp and ended up finding mostly guitar distortion amps, not very good for steel. There are a few out there but they are in the boutique class with boutique prices.
I ended up designing and building my own tube amp head and a cab with 15" Weber. The design of the head is 12AX7EH preamp, 12AX7EH concertina splitter, and 2 Svetlana 6L6GC power tubes. I left out the reverb but put in an effects loop designed by Kevin O'Connor of London Power. I have no EQ. It is essentially a free-running Class A push-pull. The design has a lot of elements from the Princeton Reverb with 6L6 instead of 6V6.
I paid a lot of attention to the preamp and splitter bias to guarantee the best clean signal I can get.
It has cost me 6 months and about $600. The sound is clean and "transparent". Both the Bass and the Treble come through loud and clear. I use a MPX110 to add a touch of reverb through the effects loop. What more could I ask for?
Now to get back to playing.

Karlis<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Karlis Abolins on 24 July 2003 at 09:07 AM.]</p></FONT>

Gino Iorfida · Post by **Gino Iorfida** » 24 Jul 2003 8:42 am

Karlis,
If you want MORE headroom, go to the long-tail style phase inverter (Fender Bassman, almost ALL blackface Fenders, Silverface fender etc). actually to get even more clean headroom, the silverface component values are the best bet, since they give it a LOT of swing. (a 12at7 is slightly better than a 12ax7 here for the slightly lower gain etc.
I commend you though in 'rolling your own'. This in itself cna get to be an expensive, and addicting hobby as well (do you REALLY save any money over a pre-built amp, in most cases, NO, however, you can get EXACTLY what you want, and you ahve the pride and satisfaction of doing it yourself!)

Karlis Abolins · Post by **Karlis Abolins** » 24 Jul 2003 10:31 am

Gino, Thanks for the advice. It has been a real learning experience for me. Your advice on this thread and other threads in this forum has always been helpful and to the point.
Thank you.

Karlis

Sam Marshall · Post by **Sam Marshall** » 25 Jul 2003 7:55 pm

Which Weber 15" did you use? They advertise one that is suppose to be close copy of a JBL D-130.

Sam in AZ

Karlis Abolins · Post by **Karlis Abolins** » 26 Jul 2003 5:24 am

Sam, I used the Weber California with the ceramic magnet. I like it a lot.

Karlis