Completed my Weber Halle (a Dumble derivative) - Photos!

[justonwo]

I just completed the amp this afternoon and have had very little time to play through it. Initial impression is that there is plenty of gain on tap! Unfortunately, I forgot to bring a decent guitar to the studio, so I only had an old L6-S at the studio with rusty strings (which won't stay in tune).

The amp is a channel switching clean/overdrive amp with a full tone stack on both channels. The clean channel has Level, Volume, and Preamp controls to tweak the type and degree of overdrive. This channel will get pretty crunchy is you turn up the preamp and volume enough.

The overdrive channel has Level, Drive, and Preamp controls which allow you to really fine tune the gain. A master volume can be engaged using a push-pull pot. And there's a presence knob to control the negative feedback loop.

Here's the chassis with the heater wiring and power transformer installed. The pots in the bottom of the chassis are also installed with a buss bar.

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Weber%20Halle%20003.jpg


Here's a better look at the buss bar.

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Weber%20Halle%20004.jpg

And now both sets of pots installed

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Weber%20Halle%20007%20small.JPG


I didn't use the stock Weber fiber/eyelet board. Instead, I ordered a phenolic turret board from turretboards.com (thanks Ken!). I drilled the turret board for the wire leads and nylon standoffs for the channel switching board (which will float above the turret board).

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Turret%20Board%20003%20small.JPG


Output transformer installed, as well as input jacks. Most of the lead wiring for the pots is complete since the board will limit access to these pots once it's installed.

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Halle%20Construction%20004.jpg


http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Halle%20Construction%20005.jpg


The turret board is loaded with flying leads. Insulated buss wire was used to make the jumpers on the board.

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Halle%20Construction%20008.jpg


Here's the board installed with the flying leads. What a mess!

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Halle%20Construction%20012.jpg


Most of the wire leads are attached to the board at this point.

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Halle%20Construction%20023.jpg



The transformers, choke, and all power wiring is complete at this point.

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Halle%20Construction%20024.jpg


Here's a look at the board from the other side with the impedance switch wired in.

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Halle%20Construction%20026.jpg


Usually, loading the board is a fun experience. This one is so compact and the Orange Drops take up so much space, that I have to be really careful running the leads to make sure everything fits. I don't think I'll be using Sprague in future amps with space constraints.

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Halle%20Construction%20031.jpg


The last step is to install the channel switching board and wire all the shielded leads to the control pots. The channel switching board is powered by the filament wires and can only be activated by the remote switch (at least how I have it now).

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Halle%20Construction%20036.jpg


Here's a better look at the channel switching board.

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Halle%20Construction%20048.jpg


And the final product.

http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Halle%20Construction%20049.jpg


http://www.the-byline.com/guitars/Halle/Halle%20Construction%20050.jpg


I built the amp for a good friend. I hope he likes it.

[hasserl]

That is very cool! Congrats on a nice build. Clips would be great.

[justonwo]

I don't have any yet, but this guy recorded a long clip that ended up convincing me to build a Halle.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=671662

As you can hear, pretty versatile amp.

[justonwo]

Anyone know of a production preamp tube that works well with the high-gain, ODS-style amp?

[Blue Strat]

Tung Sol Reissues come to mind.

[the-tone]

Great work! My tech and I are working on building a super reverb with a few tweaks and after seeing your pictures I can't wait to get started, I'm also using the turret boards from turretboards.com. Thanks for the pictures.

[Roccaforte Amps]

Tung Sol Reissues come to mind.







yuck.

[Blue Strat]

yuck.

ROFL! Well, one guy in 10,000 has to hate 'em. Thanks for weighing in;)

[the-tone]

You don't like the tung-Sol reissue??? I really like them but I use to use the Sovtek LPS and I still dig those too.

Hey Mike- do you know if there's a sound
difference between the gold plated Tung-Sol and the regular one???

[Roccaforte Amps]

ROFL! Well, one guy in 10,000 has to hate 'em. Thanks for weighing in;)





ROFL, that's correct. 10,000 is a small number BTW. Carry on.

[Blue Strat]

You don't like the tung-Sol reissue??? I really like them but I use to use the Sovtek LPS and I still dig those too.

Hey Mike- do you here know if there's a sound
difference between the gold plated Tung-Sol and the regular one???

I assume that they're the same tube with gold plated tubes. If this is true, there can't be a sonic difference (which is why I don't bother with them).

[Munga]

ROFL! Well, one guy in 10,000 has to hate 'em. Thanks for weighing in;)


For what it is worth, I think they are the best production 12AX7 out there. They have stomped every Ruby, GT, JJ, etc etc I have tried.

[the-tone]

Thanks Mike, that's what I thought. I did however seem to think about 4 years back that there was a difference between the regular EI and the gold plated one??? now I'm thinking that maybe I was just hearing things:o. The gold plated just seemed more focused with better highs and more punch, but it could have just been a gain thing???:D

[justonwo]

Though I'm trying to get rid of a pesky crackling problem, I have had a few opportunities to play the amp. Just as I heard from the sound clips above, the amp is extremely versatile. With the preamp and volume controls on the low side of things, the clean channel will do a pretty sparkly clean. The overdrive channel will go from mildly crunchy to heavily distorted.

Given that the recipient of this amp loves to play distorted most of the time, I think he's really going to like all the gain that's on tap. Once the crackling problem is figured out, I think it's going to be one hell of an amp.

[LSchefman]

>>They have stomped every Ruby, GT, JJ, etc etc I have tried.<<

Wow. A tube stomp!

Well, at least they didn't "blow the other tubes out of the water," "blow the doors off the other tubes," "crush the other tubes," or "eat the other tubes for breakfast." ;)

PS - I forgot "kill the other tubes." Sorry.

[Sparky6string]

...tube stomp...

There's a good song title for ya.

BTW good looking work on that Weber. Those clips sound great and that guy is a hell of a player.

[Dave Orban]

That is WAY cool! Congrats on what looks like a really nice build. :dude

[topbrent]

Juston,

That turned out AWESOME! Congrats! :AOK

Brent.

[justonwo]

Thanks guys. I gave it a whirl tonight at my band's rehearsal. I was quite impressed with the versatility and sound quality. The amp certainly ventures into some modern high-gain territory that neither my plexi nor my Rivera can really cover.

Some of the heavy preamp settings can get a little buzzy at times. The amp takes well to scooped mids if you want to play some heavy metal riffs, and it actually has a pretty hefty amount of bottom end so it can really pull it off.

Turn up the mids and turn down the gain and you can get a great classic rock sound or crunchy rhythm sound.

The clean channel, with the preamp turned up pretty far gives that channel enough hair to make it great for rhythm. Lower gain settings are too clean for my tastes, but I'm sure they'd be usable in some applications.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun playing through it. I think it's a pretty fantastic sounding head. Now if I could just get that cab . . . .

[gkoelling]

Nice job! Have you found the source of the crackling noise?

[justonwo]

Yep, fixed it. I used a chop stick from my friendly, neighborhood Chinese takeout place. That was the cheapest amp tool I've encountered yet.

The problem had to do with the presence control and negative feedback loop. The NFB wire coming off the board to the presence pot is wired in parallel with a resistor to ground. The resistor I had to ground was too low a value. I changed it from 420 ohms to 820 ohms and the problem went away.