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Topic: 5F6-A clone |
Dave Zielinski
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 5 Feb 2007 10:45 am |
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well, its finally done! Pictured is my original 1960 5F6-A bassman with its new buddy, the home built I have been working on.
Trannies are a full set of Mercury magnetics, and the PT is the lower B+ model- this makes a huge difference in the amp.
the Speakers are Weber VST ALNICO SIG 10. These are 15watt 7oz. alnicos and have a great tone out of the box!
I did not buy a cabinet- rather I used my original as a guide and built one. I copied the 5/16" thick baffle plywood by laminating a douglass fir veneer over a select piece of douglass fir marine 1/4" plywood. I covered the cabinet and added two coats of AMBER tinted bulls eye shellac, with two more coats of Deft lacquer. This will age and "beat up" nicely.
I used cloth covered wire, CTS pots, Switchcraft jacks, NOS phenolic sockets and old tube shields. The RCA jacks are NOS just like the originals.
I spent a grand total of 786.73 for this amp. I have an itemized excel spreadsheet complete with sources if anyone is interested.
The amp is way quieter running- I made sure all grounds were good, and ran a ground to the cap pan- I did not rely on the cap pan as the ground for the main filters. Thats pretty much the only change. The layout was copied from my original- I sat them side by side as I ran the yellow wires. It is unreal that this amp makes no hiss.
Tubes are a set of NOS Tung Sol 5881, RCA 12AX7s and a Mulard 12AY7. Rectifier is a Sovtek 5AR4, but will soon be a Mullard 5AR4.
I was persuaded to put a bassman logo on it. I may take it off, and put my own on soon. Sorry if this offends anyone.
The tone test- I A/B'd the amps and played with a guitar I know very well. I played them in a room that I know very well. The new amp is unreal-the response and dynamics are very good. it is a very easy playing amp if you know what I mean. The original i can never get above 3 on a gig situation at your average bar- it breaks up, but I always wanted a little more. The plate voltage on this thing is high- and the amp has alot of headroom. The new amp has a lower Plate voltage- and with the 12AY7 front end tube, I find I can turn the new amp up to 6 to get the same volume like the old amp, but more compressed and "opened up" I don't find the weber speakers harsh or brittle. All in all, I love this thing and can't wait till the weekend for my next gig!
I was a long believer in vintage amps- I've owned no less than 50 of them. But being able to spend a fraction of what I paid for the original-I have a reliable, hand wired, hand made amp that sounds awfully close to the old number 1.
The project was relatively easy- but of course, I am by trade an electrical engineer, so not the best person to say it was easy!!! However, if you are careful, organized and know a very minimal amount about amplified electronics, you could probably do the same...
Next one is a steel amp- I'm going for a tweed pro.
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 5 Feb 2007 10:55 am
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Most excellent! Leave the logo, it looks so right.
I just finished a 5E3 Deluxe myself and I am thrilled. The only change I made was to not ground the heater voltage. I keep it about ground, both legs balanced to ground via 100 ohm resistors and then used twisted wire for the heaters. I also used a 5V4 rectifier for a bit more headroom.
Congrats again on a job well done. |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 5 Feb 2007 1:28 pm
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Congrats, Dave. Simply, that is way beyond me--I know my limitations. I do believe that I need to have a Bassman or someone's rendition of one. It's on the list. The ever growing damned list.
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I was persuaded to put a bassman logo on it. I may take it off, and put my own on soon. Sorry if this offends anyone.
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Screw'm. There's a culture of people out there that have been encouraged to believe that somehow they are justified in copping attitudes about how other people--perfect strangers on the internet--deal with their personal gear. Whether it's 'hacking' a vintage piece or doing your logo thing.....why on earth these people think that anyone other than their sycophantic sidekicks care in the least what they think....there's a few amp related bulletin boards where these guys live and I'm always amused that they get away with intimidating other people. Boring people. And probably impotent.
***end rant***
Again, congrats on the build. |
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Bill Terry
From:
Bastrop, TX
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Posted 5 Feb 2007 1:59 pm Which Weber 10?
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Hi Dave, great job, it looks like it turned out super... Which of the Weber Sig10 speakers did you use? the ribbed one or the smooth one? Seems that the SIG10 (non-ribbed cone) is supposed to be 'warmer' version... ???
I've got a '59 5F6-A that I'm going to start gigging, but I want to take the original Jensen's P10s out and save them. I've sorta decided against the Jensen P10R reissues since they've gotten some negative rap, here and in other places. Plus the Webers are priced right. |
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Dave Zielinski
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 6 Feb 2007 5:56 am
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Aw thanks guys! it sounds great, not only looks pretty.
I used the "Smooth" alnico Sig10. $40 each! I figured at that price, I'd try them! And let me tell you about Weber's service- I bought them through his website and it said it takes up to 10 days to build and deliver them... I ordered them on a friday... Monday they were on my porch!
I still gig with the one on the right- an original 1960 5F6-A...however, I built the new one to put the old dogg into retirement. I had some problems with the old one- The power tranny ran HOT.. really hot. I always take a meter to a gig and monitored wall voltage. If it was wrong or too high or too low, I wouldn't use the amp. Well, the original PT ended up shorting to the core finally. Nothing I could have done. I sent the tranny to Mercury and they rewound it (at 400 bucks!), and it is good as new. I didn't return it to the amp though- I bought a new PT for the old amp as well, and it runs alot cooler, and safer. After that all happened, I decided to actively work to retire the old amp as much as possible. I'll still use it on select gigs, but mostly I'll record and keep it in the house. The new one sounds scary close to the original to my ears. I also took my old P10Rs out, and replaced them with Jensen p10Rs that are 13 years old. they are well broken in and sound great. The webers are nice right out of the box..... the newer versions of the jensens are harsh.
Thanks guys! |
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Matthew Prouty
From:
Warsaw, Poland
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Posted 6 Feb 2007 9:02 am
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Dave
That looks great and I am sure it sounds just as sweet. I built a 5E5 Pro with 2x10 speakers and everyone that hears it wants to buy it! I have people always asking me to build them one but its more work than its worth as far as time to money value.
Really sweet! You must be proud of yourself.
M. |
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Roman Sonnleitner
From:
Vienna, Austria
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Posted 6 Feb 2007 12:36 pm
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Sweet! You built thism one from scratch, not from a kit?
I'm currently thinking about building either a Tweed Bassman or JTM45, but I don't think I'll get around to it before the summer... |
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