Tube Amp Completed!
Well, I technically finished it during spring break, but let’s not nitpick. I must admit, part of me didn’t really expect this thing to turn out at all, let alone as well as it did. This was my first time working with vacuum tubes and line level voltage, so I was constantly flinching, imagining massive arcs of blue electricity leaping across the turret board and thick smoke pouring from the transformers. Fortunately, nothing of the sort occurred, and my only real setback was a complete lack of sound when I first turned it on (turns out, you shouldn’t route signal to ground :) ). Overall I spent about 6 months drilling, painting, soldering, desoldering, resoldering, sawing, gluing, desoldering, resoldering, and screwing together an amp that has turned out to be AWESOME! I’ve got to give a shout out to the guys at AX84.com, who graciously answered all of my annoying newbie questions – the boards there are full of some of the most brilliant, friendly, and helpful amp builders on the net. My Mbox doesn’t like Leopard at the moment, but as soon as I get it working I’ll record some samples of this monster.
components in place for a dry fit test
The guts all wired up
The big wires are RG-58 coax, the only shielded cable I had on hand. Unfortunately, it caused some hum, so I ordered some smaller and more flexible shielded wire.
The guts after some minor revisions
Baltic birch ply with butt joints
Almost finished, burlap covering drying
My homebuilt tube amp head, based on the AX84 P1 circuit
AX84 P1 tube amp and Peavey Classic 115 cab
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Posted Jul 24, 12:50 PM.
Taken Aug 8, 12:35 PM.