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.
Comments
Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
(1) soldering;
(2) reading a circuit diagram; and
(3) fault-finding!
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)
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
Oh, and
(4) you get a couple more pedals!
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!
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.
This, unless you are comfortable around potentially very high voltages that could kill you.
I think I will try out a few pedals and smaller things before tackling the amp.
Thanks again,
Paul
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.
Thanks again to everyone.