And the project continues…

Building the wooden box for the head was slow going without a jig. No drawn plans, either. I just knew how to keep the idea simple enough.

The long boards needed to be 2.5″ longer than the chassis, which is 17.4 inches or thereabouts– so I made it 20″x7.25″ and called it good. The sides are 7.5″ tall.

In the middle of building the box, I took a break to work on the turret-board. I needed a few connections in the center of the board in order to make my layout a little clearer, so I used my rivet gun– the rivets probably won’t hold solder very well– but as long as the electrical connections between components is real solid, there shouldn’t be any worries.


Here’ the first cap that i mounted on the board– just to see how it looked.

After looking at this– I decided that I wanted a bigger 4th filter capacitor– see the little blue one next to the big ones? I went and got another one.
As I began attaching leads it looked like this:

From here I need to do some work on the chassis front before I can mount my control pots.

On to new projects!

I decided to build a Fender Bassman clone– and as I’ve liked my Peavey Valveking which has one, and Brian Patchett’s Eve amplifiers– I decided on an early Bassman circuit, the 5E6A (as opposed to the more popular ’59 Bassman circuit, the 5F6A).

This one will be just a head– I’ll have to build a cab later. So I began by noticing an ethernet switchbox at D.I. (The local goodwill store). I picked it up for a couple bucks. I have no idea whether it worked– but it doesn’t now! I gutted it.


In this second picture you can see the top that I’ve taken off is laying underneath the rest of the box. I later cut most of that top off, so that I’d be able to more easily work inside the chassis.

At this point, I had no components– so I ordered some and in the meantime, I began working on a wooden box for the head.

It took me a little while, measuring the width of the chassis, and the height of a typical 6L6 tube, finally I decide that I needed 7.25″ or more in height in order for everything to fit right. I borrowed a table saw from a friend of a friend–Thank you Greg and Greg’s friend!
After the cut:

For those of you that will never hear White Noise in real life.

A clip of my Champ: Champ!

So I finished the front panel for White Noise

I wish I had remembered to bring my camera to the woodshop. I had to use some less common tools for a part of this process. I enlisted the aid of a reputable luthier (violin builder) in west Provo, by the name of Hokansen.

I had 1/4 inch wood that I cut out 12 & 5/16″ by 13 & 3/8 to cover the entire front panel. This involved a saber saw and a drum sander. Measuring it was the hard part.

Then I came home and began the process of covering the wood in the last of my white vinyl.
First, here’s the wood on top of the vinyl.

I started by cutting the sides of the vinyl off until I had about 3/4 of an inch left, then I cut the corners off.

Then I cut a hole out in the center of the vinyl and began pulling portions of the vinyl back around the edge of the hole.

I continued til I had all of those little tabs pulled back.

I noticed then that the vinyl wasn’t stretching tight around the edge of the circle, so I went back and made each of those tabs half the width.

And this is what it looks like now:

Just another picture…

What should I name it?

I added some mounts inside the chassis for my power resistors

The power resistors, for those of you unfamiliar with electronicalish stuffage, are the white blocks on the right. Formerly, they had been lying in the amp just loose.

Also– I am planning a front panel covered in white vinyl. More updates later.

The amp is white!

So– I began applying the vinyl in different ways to see what I liked best. There was some stitching from when in was on the car that I kinda liked and I put that right up top… you’ll see in a moment.

I followed the general idea from this site: http://jam4jmessageboard.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=2378719

Of course– my vinyl is a little thicker than black tolex– but not too big a problem. To attach the vinyl I used some spray-on adhesive that I got at the hardware store. 3M Super 77 Multipurpose adhesive. Good stuff– and it’s acetone based, just like the stuff they usually use at the factory.

Here’s a picture of the amp in the middle of the process:

And here’s a picture of it mostly finished (I put the speaker board in and held it– just so you can get a better idea):

Sorry for the blurry pictures– I was using my webcam on my laptop– I’ll be sure to get some better ones as I add things like the handle, and some straps I intend to create that’ll run up the back of the amp.

So I found some vinyl for the amp

I asked around for how much it might cost to get half a yard of automotive or marine vinyl– I find that it’s REALLY PRICEY. $10 for HALF a yard? Wow. That seems a bit much. So I went to a junkyard and asked what they’d charge me for cutting the top off an old vinyl-topped car. 2 dollars and a square yard of vinyl later you get this picture:

After I cleaned it (dish soap, hot water, a general purpose scrub brush and a rag):

It came off a car kinda like this one (I think it was a few years older, I don’t really know):

Stay tuned!

Added a light– and stripped off the tolex…

Instead of a pilot light, I decided to put an LED in. It’s blue!

I took my extra 6 volt leads and put them to use. The LED although it’s huge doesn’t handle AC current very well, so I put another diode running across the leads to handle the other end of the AC, attached a 100 ohm resistor to the negative lead, and then connected my 6 volt leads. Voila! Blue light!

Also– shortly afterward– I stripped off all the ugly black tolex. Lots of the wood is painted black, and it certainly looks ugly right now.
I decided I wanted to make the amp more vintage looking– so I’m on a hunt for some white marine vinyl or automotive vinyl– looks like I can get some used stuff for free at the local upholstery place. We’ll see about that later, though…

So as I built the amp

I bought a power transformer and an output transformer from matt at www.musicalpowersupplies.com
and I got a free 6v6 from my friend Brian.

I took some pictures and asked some online forums about it– turns out it looks to be about half a century old– sometime after 1955, likely during the 1960′s.

After much homework and schoolwork interrupted my project I finally returned to it a few weeks ago…
Here’s a gut shot: