I have the great fortune of building an amp for Shane Neifer. This isn't something I plan to do on the side, but when Shane expressed interest, I was eager to get it going because of how well he's treated me. The amp will be done this week and we thought it would be fun to do an in progress thread.
Shane wants an amp for blues and plays an ES-335. I decided to design the amp around a Dumble ODS because of the clarity and expressiveness. Dumbles tend to lend themselves towards smooth sounds (Robben Ford, Larry Carlton), so I made some adjustments to give it more grit and to focus it up for a 335. I changed the cathode bypass caps to 4.7uf, with Fender values on all cathode and plate resistors (1.5k, 100k). The mid cap is .01uf rather than .05uf. I almost used 1uf on V1a's bypass but stuck with the 4.7. I expect this to sound like a refined Fender Super.
And now the pics
The wiring goes into what's called a chassis. These come un-drilled so you can lay things out to your liking and 'punch' them, as they call it.
Same thing goes for the board material. I printed the layout so I could just tape it on rather than spend half an hour drawing grids. Old guitar molds make good backers for this and support the argument for a drill press.
Electrical components solder to these little eyelets. You press the eyelet in and flare the back side with the screwdriver.
Believe it or not, an afternoon's work; and I work moderately fast. Layout takes forever.
Then it's time to populate the boards with all of the above. I did that last night but can't take pics in low light. Today's goal is to punch the face and rear of the chassis, install the hardware, and wire up the board and tube heaters. Wednesday should see it completed.
