Music Lessons, Little Rock
DIY Amp Build - Just a few more days before I plug in!
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Be sure to read the first post - "Summer Project - DIY Tube Amp"
I received the Gilmore Jr. amp kit 06/17/11, unpacked it, and spent the next few days reading the instructions, taking notes, trying to decide what I want to do with the cabinet, etc.
I would say I am about 60% through the project right now. I have video of everything for editing once the build is complete (there are a ton of gaps where I'm scratching my head, maybe desoldering, scratching my head some more). I'll edit those out for interests sake.
Check out some of the build pics on Flickr...
Finally, here are a few things I've learned over the last week....
- Amps and electricity are serious business - When I read the one hand rule ... "When testing a live circuit, put one hand in your pocket so if you get shocked it won't go across your heart and kill you". Justin even told me, "check with your right hand, it is further away from your heart". YIKES!
- Too much caffeine and soldering is not a good thing. You don't notice jittery hands until you're holding a soldering iron and can't seem to get the solder on the right spot.
- Soldering irons are hot.
- I am more blind than I thought. That or the components are super tiny.
- Deciding on a head or a combo is more difficult than I thought. Right now, I'm leaning combo with a 10" speaker.
- Keep your iron tip clean.
- Make notes - check your notes - triple check everything. I've taken my time and in doing so, have caught a few things that would have caused problems later on.
- It's amazing how tube amps work. Up to this point, my amp knowledge has been "power switch, plug guitar in, turn volume up". Gain stages, phase inverters, loads, oh my!
I'll post again in a couple of days when I have finished and plugged in.
Posted by Jason at 30 Jun 2011 
Categories: DIY Tube Amp
Tags: amp building little rock guitar lessons music lessons piano and voice lessons bass lessons drum lessons DIY Tube Amp
Categories: DIY Tube Amp
Tags: amp building little rock guitar lessons music lessons piano and voice lessons bass lessons drum lessons DIY Tube Amp
This is great. I'm looking forward to the video.
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They whole dying thing has so far kept my interest in amp tinkering at bay. I got started with a few Build Your Own Clone pedal kits last year. Sounds like you're having a great time with this. I'm eager to hear the finished product.
Joe
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i´ve got the gilmore jr. kit myself. really like it. I´m really looking forward to hear about your results. so will bookmark this page.
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I guess soldering irons are really hot. Sorry about this but you got a funny side of you on there.
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Look forward to the edited video. And I agree Too much caffeine is bad
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Soldering irons are so stressful to use! I used one when I replaced my pickups and had the worst experience. Although the guitar sounds great now.
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Soldering takes some practice - try soldering stained glass after drinking coffee!
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This looks pretty interesting. But I think a lot of the smaller parts would be pretty hard to manage to put together. I look forward to the video to see what you got.
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I'm looking forward to see your video.. At least you were able to learn something last week..
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I can see the small components well enough, but the problem I have is that I am a little color blind, so reading the codes on resistors from the color stripes is basically impossible for me. Still, I can test them with a meter and get an actual resistance reading.
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