Ceriatone

sherpa_man

Anybody made one of these kits?

I have having problems with occupying my time at home and find myself playing xbox for hours. I really fancy giving one of these kits ago.

Adam_MD

I'm interested in this too I've been wanting to build an amp for ages.  

SteveRobinson

I built one, a Matchless Lightning clone. It was a pretty straightforward job and only took a couple of hours to assemble. Martin Whelan made me a lovely cab for it.

If you need to occupy more time, make scratch build based on one of the AX84 projects. Sourcing the parts is the most time consuming job but lots of fun. I've made a P1 and an SEL and both sound excellent. 

You could make and convert your own cab too of course.

ToneControl

pick one to match your skills,

e.g. a 5E3 before a Trainwreck or Dumble clone

Chalky

Ampmaker has great kits for starters and has full instructions. Perfectly possible to start with a more complex amp, but your main problem is going to be support when you hit problems. @Modulus_Amps on here also sells kits at very reasonable prices.

Modulus_Amps

Thanks @Chalky ;

@sherpa_man Have you ever built a kit pedal or anything similar before, if you are confident building off a layout then you could probably go with just about any kit supplier until you run into issues, I only supply layouts with my kits and I would say 8/10 amateurs get them right first time, I normally help the 2/10 get them up and running properly.

Saying that if you did not consider one of my products I would always suggest Ampmakers kits, for first time builders his documentation is very good. Otherwise there are other kit suppliers in the UK and they could certainly use your business too

I have also dealt with Nik @ Ceriatone a few times, he is generally very attentive, just make sure to work out the full price of the kit before hand incl shipping, VAT and customs charges, It does not always work out that much cheaper.

John_A

Ceriatone kits are great if you know what you are doing, however the prices, largely due to the plummeting pound have increased lately, so shipping an VAT/Duty add about 50% to the price.  There are now some great alternatives in the UK, @Modulus_Amps is certainly one of them.  The quality of his stuff is A1 and I've dealt with Michael in the past and he's been great.

webrthomson

I've built a few of the ampmaker kits (WF-55 and the P1800) and they were great fun and pretty easy to follow! They turn into great little amps too - the P1800 is particularly good!

I'm currenlty in the middle of a 2204 clone from Triode in the US (I shipped it back when I moved back to the UK) and after that I plan to do a 5E3 from @Modulus_Amps they look great too.

TBH I'd go with a UK kit the value of the £ makes importing a pain at the moment!

hywelg

I started with the Ampmaker Se-5a then straight to a Ceriatone OTS,  followed by a 1987 and Dz-30.  It's addictive and I wished I had the time to build some more.