Express is done.

[midnightlaundry]

Finished. Now I need a cab. It's way to late to play it, but it seems to be working fine. V1 is real sensitive to long plate tubes, so I put a SINO era chinese tube in there, and that stopped the microphonics. I can tell this amp will be LOUD.

I bought a pack of bolts that were just a bit to long, so I put nuts on them so they wouldn't bottom out in my standoffs'. They look like crown nuts from a far. I'll grab the right set tomorrow.

I went with a 10mm LED for the pilot light. I ran a 220R off one leg of the heater for about 13 mv's of current. It's plenty bright without being annoying.

 

[MCK]

Congrats!!! Looking great! I'm sure it will sound amazing.

 

[eddy999]

Beautiful work

 

[stekks]

Nice work! Curious as to it sounds and how 'touch sensitive' it is...

 

[Mattbedrock]

Beautiful work. Do tell us more about this project.

 

[Hwoltage]

Well done man. Nice solder work!!

 

[Koop]

Nice! Very clean looking build.

 

[midnightlaundry]

Thanks fellas!

I basically used the posted layout that can be found at The Amp Garage. I did add the multi star grounding; where each side of the 12Ax7 get grounded to the filter cap that feeds it. Then I daisy chained them together.

I fused the PT, HT and added MOV's to the OT secondary.

 

[zzmoore]

Nice build.
Funny how guys always copy Mr Fischer's giant, 25 Watt reistor......
BTW (sorry if I missed it) what tranny set did you use.?
thanks

 

[midnightlaundry]

Nice build.
Funny how guys always copy Mr Fischer's giant, 25 Watt reistor......
BTW (sorry if I missed it) what tranny set did you use.?
thanks

It should displace the heat well.

Classic Tone's for the trannys'.

 

[Geetarpicker]

Nice build.
Funny how guys always copy Mr Fischer's giant, 25 Watt reistor......
BTW (sorry if I missed it) what tranny set did you use.?
thanks

You would be suprised at how hot that resistor can get in a cranked Express after a couple hours! I think it's a good idea to have the big size to spread out the heat.

 

[Geetarpicker]

Great looking build!

Speaker wise I'm just a fan of the old pulsonic cone G12M 25s. A vintage 4x12 with a set of these would be my first choice.

For modern speakers a set of Scumback M75s would be quite nice, and their new PVC (paper voice coil) version of these speakers look very promising in a 4x12 but I haven't tried them.

Most 1x12s don't sound very good with an Express, at least compared to a 4x12 as the amp seems to be EQed for the big box cabs. Still there is one single 12 cab I have found that I can stand with my Express and that is the Bogner cube. You could get a Scumback M75 in the higher power rating and that one speaker should be able to handle the power. Miced up the Cube sounds very impressive!

Some also like the H75 Scumbacks and/or the original pulsonic cone G12H 30 watt Celestions. It depends on the wreck, as this speaker has more uppper end bite to it and if the amp is bright already it can add to the problem. That said, some wrecks can sound nice with these too and the Scumback variation H75 is worth a look, or even an M75 with H75 combination of the two in a 2x12 or 4x12.

 

[pdf64]

Nice work, well done!
Which specific transformer models did you use? That PT looks a beast.
Pete.

 

[midnightlaundry]

Great looking build!

Speaker wise I'm just a fan of the old pulsonic cone G12M 25s. A vintage 4x12 with a set of these would be my first choice.

For modern speakers a set of Scumback M75s would be quite nice, and their new PVC (paper voice coil) version of these speakers look very promising in a 4x12 but I haven't tried them.

Most 1x12s don't sound very good with an Express, at least compared to a 4x12 as the amp seems to be EQed for the big box cabs. Still there is one single 12 cab I have found that I can stand with my Express and that is the Bogner cube. You could get a Scumback M75 in the higher power rating and that one speaker should be able to handle the power. Miced up the Cube sounds very impressive!

Some also like the H75 Scumbacks and/or the original pulsonic cone G12H 30 watt Celestions. It depends on the wreck, as this speaker has more uppper end bite to it and if the amp is bright already it can add to the problem. That said, some wrecks can sound nice with these too and the Scumback variation H75 is worth a look, or even an M75 with H75 combination of the two in a 2x12 or 4x12.

Thanks for the speaker advice. Right now it will have to be ET65's. But I can always change that.

 

[midnightlaundry]

Nice work, well done!
Which specific transformer models did you use? That PT looks a beast.
Pete.

http://www.classictone.net/TW-Style-Transformers.html

 

[Scumback Speakers]

LFD: I dunno. That wiring/soldering looks a little too clean. Could you go back and tweak a couple wires/leads out of their currently perfect looking positiond so I feel better about my amp builds...please?



Very nice work on your Express build. Be sure to invest in some nice preamp tubes and speakers to get it sounding it's best when you can. If you need help with that, I'm sure geetarpicker and I can help you with tube choices since Express amps can be picky about those.

 

[midnightlaundry]

LFD: I dunno. That wiring/soldering looks a little too clean. Could you go back and tweak a couple wires/leads out of their currently perfect looking positiond so I feel better about my amp builds...please?



Very nice work on your Express build. Be sure to invest in some nice preamp tubes and speakers to get it sounding it's best when you can. If you need help with that, I'm sure geetarpicker and I can help you with tube choices since Express amps can be picky about those.

Thanks for the compliments!

I have some Baldwin labeled Sylvania's in V2-3. I haven't tried my whole stash to find one that doesn't ring in V1 tho. I stuck a Mesa labeled JJ-ECC83S in V1, and it's rock solid.

I have some Baldwin labeled Raytheon's , EI's, and JJ-ECC803's to round out the rest of my long plates. The V1 spot in that amp is the ultimate judge of a tubes stability for sure.

 

[twangbanger]

Nice work ! Bet it will sound as good as it looks. Hope you will do future clips.

 

[john l]

That is a beautiful build LFD. Clips man, ASAP!.

 

[midnightlaundry]

Thanks. I want to do them, but I rock a 1-bedroom, and would blow my ass out on the street if I were to play this amp into power distortion.

Lets do it at your place!