Tweed Deluxe kits

Pabcrane

I'm thinking about making a kit Deluxe amp over Christmas. I've never done this before, my soldering skills are rudimentary only having put in or fixed pickup wiring and changed speakers, and I'm not sure what to look for.

I was wondering what experience you ladies and gents had with the kits available here in the UK?

I was looking at the Modulus one (including cab without speaker or valves) which was around £600 and seems reasonable and the kind of ball-ground in which I'm considering (however it doesn't come with detailed instructions which I'm certain I would require!)

I've got a speaker which I think would go brilliantly in something like this and I'd also like to give it bash.

soma1975

I have not made one but having nearly pulled the trigger several times I feel Modulus all the way if you are in the UK. 

Keefy

I built a Modulus Deluxe kit and it’s great, I’ve done loads of gigs with it (mainly rock’n’roll). You do need to be on top of your soldering game though. I’d suggest building a couple of pedal kits first, starting with a simple one like a Fuzz Face clone. It will be give you the chance to practice 3 key skills:
(1) soldering;
(2) reading a circuit diagram; and
(3) fault-finding!

spev11

I bought a Modulus Princetown kit without valves, built my own head shell for it. I would say I wish I'd bought the valves from modulus as the valves I had (gifted to me) were variable, some were fine others less so, i ended up buying valves to replace the duff ones. As for instructions, I used a variety from Mojotone, TAD and the stewmac set. I also used the layout/diagrams on https://robrobinette.com/Amp_Stuff.htm ; , I'd suggest a read of that regardless of which kit you go for.
 Having built the amp (and gone through some troubleshooting) following all the instructions available I wish I'd gone straight to the robrobinette diagram and used just that and the schematics. There are contradictions amongst the three other ones that caused some confusion. the TAD diagrams are quite good if a bit sparse on info. 
 Theres a build thread in making and modding. If you want any help ( limited though it may be) or encouragement message me and i'll send you whatsapp details if that helps.
 I'd say do it, there is nothing better than playing through the amp that you built (but you will want to build another)

nero1701

I built the deep fried marshbar, I purchased without valves but with the headshell. 

The circuit diagram on the Web page was really good, easy to follow and worked well. 

Amp worked first time

Your soldering skills will need to me fairy good. Practice makes perfect. As suggested, work up to it, build a couple of pedal kits first (jeds peds) 

We're all here also, you can ask us for help

TTony

Keefy said:

You do need to be on top of your soldering game though. I’d suggest building a couple of pedal kits first, starting with a simple one like a Fuzz Face clone. It will be give you the chance to practice 3 key skills:
(1) soldering;
(2) reading a circuit diagram; and
(3) fault-finding!

This.  100 times, this!

Oh, and
(4) you get a couple more pedals!

gpw5150

Pabcrane said:

I'm thinking about making a kit Deluxe amp over Christmas. I've never done this before, my soldering skills are rudimentary only having put in or fixed pickup wiring and changed speakers, and I'm not sure what to look for.

I was wondering what experience you ladies and gents had with the kits available here in the UK?

I was looking at the Modulus one (including cab without speaker or valves) which was around £600 and seems reasonable and the kind of ball-ground in which I'm considering (however it doesn't come with detailed instructions which I'm certain I would require!)

I've got a speaker which I think would go brilliantly in something like this and I'd also like to give it bash.

The modulus kit and support are excellent.  The layout drawing is more than enough to work with and you can track how things work with Rob Robinettes great website if you want to get into the math and detail.  

Top tips; 

plan and layout without soldering first, check and triple check.

know where your grounds are and if any component is polarized and the right way around in your layout.

plan your ‘in chassis’ build so that you leave space to solder in components and that any hardware is the right way around and easy to access - things can get a little full!

watch your wire lengths and runs - again, plan, check, check your plan and then cut!

and enjoy it!  It is a simple kit and a great design.  I re-wires mine with high quality cable, reduced many of the cable run lengths and modded the pre-amp and PI.  Sounds completely awesome!

p90fool

To be honest I wouldn't start my building journey with anything mains powered. 

I've built a couple of amps with no problems, but I spent years building instruments and data loggers in the meteorological industry and have built countless FX pedals for myself and commercially, so am very confident in my soldering skills and attention to detail. 

I say this of course without knowing you, but if you feel you are an extremely methodical, practical person then it could be a great project. 

If that's the case all I would add to the previous advice is don't give yourself any deadlines, take as long as you need and triple check at every stage. 

Dodge

p90fool said:

To be honest I wouldn't start my building journey with anything mains powered. 

This, unless you are comfortable around potentially very high voltages that could kill you.

Pabcrane

Thank you for all the advice and offers for help.

I think I will try out a few pedals and smaller things before tackling the amp.

Thanks again,

Paul

Modulus_Amps

No reason you could not prepare yourself to build an amp kit by Christmas, here is what I would do.

The most important thing I would say is make sure you have decent soldering equipment and solder.  The reason this is the most important is the quality of the joints can make or break the amp and lead free solders can be very fickle to work with.

For reference I recommend a 40w soldering iron minimum or proper solder station and I recommend AIM SN100C Flux Glow core Solder. If you need a small qty of this to try I am happy to send you some.

Doing some pedal kits is a great idea to practice on, but beware a 40w iron will kill some PCB's.

You need a multimeter and need to know the difference between AC an DC voltages, If you run into trouble then I or anyone trying to help you online will ask you to take voltage measurements.

I recommend reading up on the basic building blocks of guitar amps so that you can recognise parts of the circuit while you are working on them. It also helps when communicating with other about mods and fault finding. for example identify the following:
Power Transformer and what it does
Output Transformer and what it does
Heater circuit 
Filter capacitors
Coupling capacitors
etc

First switch on is always a scary thing for new builders, but if you do it in stages it is not as scary as one might think. Having people to ask along the way is always helpful too.

At the end of the day no one knows you better than yourself, if you can follow the diagrams and get the soldering decent there is no reason you can not build yourself a great sounding amp.

Pabcrane

Modulus_Amps said:

No reason you could not prepare yourself to build an amp kit by Christmas, here is what I would do...

...At the end of the day no one knows you better than yourself, if you can follow the diagrams and get the soldering decent there is no reason you can not build yourself a great sounding amp.

Great, thanks for the reply. I think a new soldering work station with variable heat control is on the cards, (with a 40 watt rating), and some pedal kits before undertaking the amp.

Thanks again to everyone.

hollywoodrox

I’d be scared to death I have no self confidence