Official Luthiers Forum!

I bet some of you are wondering what in the world the title means :)
About an hour ago I finished soldering up (minus one capacitor) the
circuit board for my Matchless Lightning clone!

I don't know anything about reading schematics or designing circuits, but
a month of research helped me significantly in ordering the components,
and a layout diagram makes it so I simply connect the dots. Like many of
the great amps (so I discovered), this uses carbon composition resistors
and mallory 150 caps in the tone circuit.    

John Mayes was my inspiration in this.

<img src="http://www.languagepool.net/amp/images/
completed_board.jpg">

Next comes wiring up the tubes sockets, transformers, then putting it all
in the cabinet. So far I have about four hours into the build, from sorting
out the parts once they arrived, to soldering them all in. James Orr38861.9366898148

Shot 2

<img src="http://www.languagepool.net/amp/images/
completed_board3.jpg">James Orr38861.9519444444

Shot 3

<img src="http://www.languagepool.net/amp/images/
completed_board2.jpg">

For some reason I can't seem to post images correctly on the board. I'm
figuring html isn't supported, but doing the [img stuff doesn't seem to
work for me either? I know it's me because everyone else seems to do it
just fine. haha

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Very Nice.

Suggestion to folks running Windows XP.

www.microsoft.com search for Image Resizer. Download it. It becomes part of windows and resizes images as above with just a click or two, without going into a picture program. Select Small, Medium, Large, or PC Handheld. Do one pic or ten at once, publish websize pics for fast loading. Lance showed me how. Been using it a couple years now.

Some of us are still dialing up to win. Bruce Dickey38861.9711226852

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Nice stuff James, betcha can't wait to fire it up and crank it up. Homebrew Tubes Rock!!
Here are a couple of my homebrew amps.


John How38861.9993171296

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Very cool stuff guys!

[QUOTE=Bruce Dickey] Very Nice.

Suggestion to folks running Windows XP.

www.microsoft.com search for Image Resizer. Download it. It becomes part of windows and resizes images as above with just a click or two, without going into a picture program. Select Small, Medium, Large, or PC Handheld. Do one pic or ten at once, publish websize pics for fast loading. Lance showed me how. Been using it a couple years now.

Some of us are still dialing up to win. [/QUOTE]

Ok. I just downloaded this from Microsoft. That just rocks Bruce. That will come in so handy in my work.

By the way, it turned a 3.5 meg file into a 33kb file. Way cool.

Thanks Bruce

Oh, Here's the image resizer right from microsoft's website if anyone else is interested.

CheersRod True38862.1379861111

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

John How, those look VERY cool! I bet a nice Les Paul Junior would sound sweet through one of those...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Thanks for the Resizer Rod and Bruce! Just plain brilliant!

Nice clean solder joints James, Looks Good!
And nice lookin' amp John H. I bet it ROCKS!
My Dad and I built a Heathkit amp.way back in the 70's,It actually worked-It was a twin 12" jensens with pan reverb and tremelo.We also built a cheapo Harmony electric from Heathkit. My 1st guitar. I wonder if this company is still around?My Dad was a Ham radio operator and he built a lot of his own recievers and such and taught me how to solder at a young age.
Nice Work James DaveAndy38862.3718287037

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

[QUOTE=James Orr] I finished soldering up (minus one capacitor) the
circuit board for my Matchless Lightning clone!
[/QUOTE]
Oooooo, good choice, James! Low watts, big tone! That's some really neat work, too, and I'm glad to see you used soldering posts rather than eyelets. I, too, did some internet research on amp building a while back. The actual process isn't that hard to grasp, but the deeper knowledge needed to troubleshoot inevitable problems is what discouraged me. Good luck!

Hey, John! Nice amp! And, of course, a luthier would have to go the extra mile and build special cabinets--beautiful!

Thanks guys, especially for compliments on the clean work. I have to say
I'm surprised!

John, taking point to point to a new level huh? :)

Wow that's clean work James! Amazing given where you started from!

Mr. How you never cease to amaze me! I love the looks of that amp complete with your logo.

Hey! That's not a guitar! All I'm getting is, like, pictures of Alien Space technology stuff!

    Good Work! I always wanted to build an amp, but I keep learning the hard way, that "electricity is your friend, but he doesn't like to be touched!"

    Also, The Radio Shack keeps selling me those smoke emitting diodes!!! Those things never work!

When do we get a MP3 of this bad boy?Billy T38863.2474421296

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

I'd love to put up an mp3 when it's all said and done.

here is one I built:

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

[QUOTE=John Mayes] here is one I built:[/QUOTE]
I remember that. Very cool. Did you end up keeping it?

nope ended up selling it, but man did it ROCK!

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

[QUOTE=Billy T]     Also, The Radio Shack keeps selling me those smoke emitting diodes!!! Those things never work!

[/QUOTE]

No No No... All elctronic stuff works on smoke. Once you let the smoke out of the parts they don't work anymore.

John, yours is the only reason I found out people can even do this :)

John, That's some good looking stuff there, but is that back open like that, because....[QUOTE]"electricity is your friend, but he doesn't like to be touched!"[/QUOTE]

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

[QUOTE=Billy T] John, That's some good looking stuff there, but is that
back open like that, because....[QUOTE]"electricity is your friend, but he
doesn't like to be touched!"[/QUOTE] [/QUOTE]

Because we are showing off boards, not whole amps per se. It, of course,
has a back that is normally one it. The voltages inside a tube amp can kill
you very easily. I'm not so stupid as to not put a back cover on it...in fact
if you look at the picture you can see two of the 4 screw holes for the top
back cover....John Mayes38864.8354166667

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Actually, I think leaving the back cover off can lend to all sorts of cool
effects. Lets say you don't want to pay for expensive tubes? Just touch
your finger to that section of big blue capacitors. You'll never know the
difference after that.    

:D

That's a joke. Do NOT do that. You'll probably die.

I read through The Tube Amp Book last night at borders, and it was pretty
cool. It shed some light one what's what in these boards.