Let's play amp builder!

MonkeyZero

MonkeyZero

Mexican Mayonnaise Weiner Sandwich
I snagged this pile at a garage sale for $20 (still over paid) and it barely works so I dismantled it and got the brilliant idea to build something better. A chance to learn about amps and electronics.
Does anyone make a DIY kit that I can finagle into this cabinet?
What options are there?
Easy or complex doesn't really matter, it gives me something to do besides drink.
I'd like it to be valves but this being a closed back cabinet I don't know.
Obviously I can cut out the back if needed.

Oh and, Hi!
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Hi. No idea what's out there for DIY. I did rehouse a Crate V16 into a cab I made. The speaker cab part of it is closed or open but, I made space above the amp part for heat from the tubes. I don't think you could put a tube amp in that without more space or, open back and have the tubes hang down.

crate front.jpg


crate back.jpg
 
Mark Wein said:
That looks suspiciously like a Crate that I owned in the 80’s.

Not sure what would drop in but this would e my first place to look: https://www.tedweber.com/amps/kits

@Wyatt @telecaster911 and @Modern Saint would know more.
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That's a cool site, I just wish I knew what I was looking at ergo what each model is a clone of.
I'm thinking I could build a head kit and just use the cabinet I have as a 12" cab. That might be cool.

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this reminds me that I have a half-completed ax84 firefly in a box somewhere... I need to dig that out
 
Pine Apple Slim said:
Seems like most folks start with a simple Champ circuit around 5 Watts. Are you gonna gig with it?
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No gigging here. 5 watts is about perfect for my living room concerts. My nephew's Bugera 5 watt gets plenty loud for what we play together. Half the time we switch it down to 1 watt.
My AV30 has an attenuation knob and I keep that thing way low too. Just sold it recently bc I don't need/use all that power.

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I forget the name of the Champ circuit but it’s very simple I’ve been told. My friend built one and it’s heavenly cranked, very tweedish.
 
A Champ build would be perfect for what you want @MonkeyZero. You can get the kit from Weber as @Mark Wein has noted as well as from www.mojotone.com. I have used both companies and both are great. Currently I tend to buy more from Mojotone because I farm other parts like Transformers from other vendors.
 
I did some research and now know what Weber is offering. Very cool and exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
Will 5 watts run a 12 inch speaker?

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MonkeyZero said:
That's a cool site, I just wish I knew what I was looking at ergo what each model is a clone of.
I'm thinking I could build a head kit and just use the cabinet I have as a 12" cab. That might be cool.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

There you go.
 
MonkeyZero said:
I did some research and now know what Weber is offering. Very cool and exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
Will 5 watts run a 12 inch speaker?

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Click to expand...

Just make sure that you 12" speaker is not rated for a high output i.e.: 50 Watts. A Champ's output isn't enough to make the speaker sound that great. Look at a speaker rated around 15-25 Watts and you should be fine.
 
Modern Saint said:
Just make sure that you 12" speaker is not rated for a high output i.e.: 50 Watts. A Champ's output isn't enough to make the speaker sound that great. Look at a speaker rated around 15-25 Watts and you should be fine.
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I was just reading about that. Seems a Green back would fit the bill especially since this is a closed back cabinet.
I like the description of the Cannabis Rex but it's a 50 watt.
Again, I could cut out the back but then we get into Thiele something or other that I know nothing about.
Last thing I want to do is spend money and have it sound terrible.
As always, I'll research for a while and make sure I know what I'm doing before spending anything.

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MonkeyZero said:
I was just reading about that. Seems a Green back would fit the bill especially since this is a closed back cabinet.
I like the description of the Cannabis Rex but it's a 50 watt.
Again, I could cut out the back but then we get into Thiele something or other that I know nothing about.
Last thing I want to do is spend money and have it sound terrible.
As always, I'll research for a while and make sure I know what I'm doing before spending anything.

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Click to expand...

A green back would be nice. You can also checkout the Hellatone speakers - not as expensive

https://avatarspeakers.com/shop/speakers/hellatone-25/
 
MonkeyZero said:
I was just reading about that. Seems a Green back would fit the bill especially since this is a closed back cabinet.
I like the description of the Cannabis Rex but it's a 50 watt.
Again, I could cut out the back but then we get into Thiele something or other that I know nothing about.
Last thing I want to do is spend money and have it sound terrible.
As always, I'll research for a while and make sure I know what I'm doing before spending anything.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

You got it backwards. Cab dimensions and Thiele numbers and ports and all that biz is for closed back cabs.
Open back it doesn’t matter, though I would build it a bit bigger than absolutely necessary just to make sure it didn’t sound “boxy”. I just put this in a salvaged old SS Deluxe open back amp carcass. American voiced sounds great with my Micro Terror and would pair great with a Champ.
https://www.tedweber.com/12f125-s
I got the 20w, 8 ohm, light dope.
 
Pine Apple Slim said:
You got it backwards. Cab dimensions and Thiele numbers and ports and all that biz is for closed back cabs.
Open back it doesn’t matter, though I would build it a bit bigger than absolutely necessary just to make sure it didn’t sound “boxy”. I just put this in a salvaged old SS Deluxe open back amp carcass. American voiced sounds great with my Micro Terror and would pair great with a Champ.
https://www.tedweber.com/12f125-s
I got the 20w, 8 ohm, light dope.
Click to expand...
Ah. Well the deal is I have the cabinet and am trying to figure out what to do with it. See pic in first post.

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MonkeyZero said:
Ah. Well the deal is I have the cabinet and am trying to figure out what to do with it. See pic in first post.

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Click to expand...

What I ment was if you were to cut the back out all that Thiel stuff goes out the window. Plus all that design calculation stuff also depends on the speaker specs as well as the dimensions. Plus it makes most difference on bass or pa full freq type cabs. Guitar speaker cabs not really necc. I doubt radio shack worried about that stuff a whole bunch. But it does look to be a pa type amp so they could’ve bothered I guess.
If you could fit the build back in the hole with tubes hanging down into the cab and open up the back that would be a good idea imo. For a Fender tone.
You could build an early Marshall circuit and go with the greenback closed back just as well probably.
 
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Need to see more pics of the chassis and how it fits into cabinet.

You may be able to drill tube socket holes in the chassis with a uni-bit, and by “stand-up” transformers to fit without needing to make the power transformer knockout for the common “laydown” transformer.

A small, 5w, single-ended amp, similar to a Tweed Champ (5F1) or Tweed Princeton (5F2) would be easiest, and I’m not sure I would trust the chassis to hold large transformers anyway. You could get by with as few as two tubes since a tube rectifier adds nothing to single-ended circuits.
 
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