My first build.

Looking good so far . Once you build one you're gonna get hooked! What kind of speaker are you going to use?

 

I've always thought about buying a kit and trying to build the amp myself. What kind of skill level do you need to be able to put one of these things together? What about tools needed?

Perhaps I should try to build a 'simple' one first...which one would that be?

Anyway, I've always thought it be fun...plus you would also form a bond with your amp.

 

Champ builds are a good start...especially tweed champ!

I'm looking to do a 5E3 for myself next. I've done probably a half dozen champs for friends and family. Then jumped into a Super Reverb (huge jump - not recommended) and just finished a Trainwreck style kit from Ceriatone.

I'd like to make a 5E3 that would be on the level with a boutique builder 5E3. I'm just not sure who's kit to get.

 

Ken Fisher did in fact design the amp with a less is more mindset. Master volumes and other mods change the sound of the amp so much, that any change makes it a completely different amp.

It sounds good, but is clearly for an advanced amp builder. Building it is one thing, but "tuning" it to sound good (as Ken did with EACH amp) is a whole different animal.

While I can build the amp by following the layout (paint by numbers if you will), I'm way over my head in the "tuning" department. The TW is so sensitive to the slightest changes, that even lead dress can drastically effect the tone. Not to mention how tube selection can make or break this amp. That is assuming you can even get the amp to fire up first try without major occilation issues, as the TW is built to be on the very edge of stable...which is a major factor in how it works the way it does.

I don't recommend the TW build unless you're a skilled builder and understand how the circut works and what does what. Since I'm still very much a beginner, I have a real love hate thing going with my 'wreck. One day it sounds magical, the next it sounds like some pile of parts slapped together by a blind and deaf man.

Though I have to say Nik of Ceriatone has great customer service. The only thing that hurts with Ceriatone, is the shipping cost.

 

Oh, I forgot to add. The TW is loud as hell. A major part of my novice tuning adventure with this amp has been dedicated to toning down the volume with a smaller cabinet, with inefficient speakers, and probably an Air Brake and/or Hot Plate.

It doesn't start to sound like a TW till it's at least half way up, and just putting it on the number 1 on the dial is loud enough to cause neighbors to hate me.