Another Mission 5E3 Build

[xFallen]

Here's what I did this evening.

Here's the populated turret board. I chose double turrets. It came from turretboards.com.



Here's some wires attached to various places. I may change the resistors and wiring on the input jacks, but this is servicable. I know most people run the wires out the bottom of the board. Unless there is some compelling reason to do so, I think this is how it will stay. Seems to make sense to me. The board will be mounted using standoffs.





Barry

[xFallen]

I will get some more pictures up, but I just couldn't wait. I fired up the amp tonight.

Even though I needed a couple of grid stop resistors to finish off, I buttoned down everything else on the amp (minus final grounding and the grid stop resistors for the brite channel). I brought the amp up and smoke tested. All looked good although the pilot lamp blew within a minute or so. There's about 6.5 VAC at the lamp socket so I am not sure what to think of that. Voltage seemed stable. I pulled the bulb and moved on after convincing myself nothing else was wrong. So far chalking it up to a poor bulb unless there's another concept I am missing (inrush maybe? dunno...).

I finally brought up the under full power and plugged in a guitar to the normal channel. Damn. This thing sounds great! I could not run it through its paces because it was getting a bit late for lots of noise and the wife was trying to nap. It was quiet with the P90s from my TA Cobra. Minus the fact that it'll be too loud for the neighbors, I think this might eb a keeper.

On the down side, my '64 VC fizzled away this afternoon. I had been playing it right around the break up point and then cranked it up to about 8 and was wailing away when it popped and fizzled and just stopped making music. I smelled strench and detected lots of heat. New electrolytics just weeks ago. Another project, I guess.



Barry

[xFallen]

There's a bit of lead re-routing I think I will do, but it sounds amazing the way it is now. The only reason to change anything would be for aesthetics. I would do a few things differently for a cleaner more professional looking build, but I am extremely pleased with the end result. The amp sounds absolutely amazing, and the speaker isn't even properly broken in yet so it should only get better.







The chassis and cabinet is top notch quality as is pretty much everything in the kit. I am not much for audiophile components in an amp like this since I was after the grind and on the verge of controlability anyway, not pristine clean.

Thanks Bruce!


Barry

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

Wow! What's the story with that big collection of home-brew stompies behind the 5E3 cabinet?
Looks really good... now tuck those blue wires from the 100nF coupling caps over to the volume pots, down into the fold of the chassis and under the bright channel input jacks if possible... come up from under the pots to feed them... and I still think that reissue C12Q is a real good starting speaker for a "do it yourselfer" building a 5e3.

[sportster4eva]

Lookin good! +1 on what Bruce said. It gets crowded in there for sure. Play that bad boy!

[xFallen]

Wow! What's the story with that big collection of home-brew stompies behind the 5E3 cabinet?

Those are a bunch of home-brews, experiments and kits I have built for fun and education. The only ones I use with any frequency are the delay, vibe a cleanish boost, and sometimes fuzz. I have a swell and octave/fuzz in there that makes fun noises too. I guess there's the wah...that pedal behind the amp is actiually a volume pedal. Yeah...too many stompies. None are plugged into the 5E3. Just doesn't seem right somehow.

Looks really good... now tuck those blue wires from the 100nF coupling caps over to the volume pots, down into the fold of the chassis and under the bright channel input jacks if possible... come up from under the pots to feed them... and I still think that reissue C12Q is a real good starting speaker for a "do it yourselfer" building a 5e3.

Yeah, I figured that's what should be done. I actuallly de-soldered one of the leads in order to route it properly. Now I want to build another one.

The speaker really does sound great. What would be a superior speaker to this one for the 5E3 vibe?



Thanks,

Barry

[TD_Madden]

Celestion Blue. You TRULY won't believe the difference.

[n5oet3h]

I will get some more pictures up, but I just couldn't wait. I fired up the amp tonight.

Even though I needed a couple of grid stop resistors to finish off, I buttoned down everything else on the amp (minus final grounding and the grid stop resistors for the brite channel). I brought the amp up and smoke tested. All looked good although the pilot lamp blew within a minute or so. There's about 6.5 VAC at the lamp socket so I am not sure what to think of that. Voltage seemed stable. I pulled the bulb and moved on after convincing myself nothing else was wrong. So far chalking it up to a poor bulb unless there's another concept I am missing (inrush maybe? dunno...).

I finally brought up the under full power and plugged in a guitar to the normal channel. Damn. This thing sounds great! I could not run it through its paces because it was getting a bit late for lots of noise and the wife was trying to nap. It was quiet with the P90s from my TA Cobra. Minus the fact that it'll be too loud for the neighbors, I think this might eb a keeper.

On the down side, my '64 VC fizzled away this afternoon. I had been playing it right around the break up point and then cranked it up to about 8 and was wailing away when it popped and fizzled and just stopped making music. I smelled strench and detected lots of heat. New electrolytics just weeks ago. Another project, I guess.



Barry

My lamp did the same thing - blew after about a minute. Checked all the voltages and couldn't see anything wrong. I bought a ten pack of bulbs, replaced it, and it's been fine since.

n5oet3h

[n5oet3h]

Wow! What's the story with that big collection of home-brew stompies behind the 5E3 cabinet?
Looks really good... now tuck those blue wires from the 100nF coupling caps over to the volume pots, down into the fold of the chassis and under the bright channel input jacks if possible... come up from under the pots to feed them... and I still think that reissue C12Q is a real good starting speaker for a "do it yourselfer" building a 5e3.

It sure as hell is! The C12Q is warm and full without piercing highs. Still want the Celestion Blue, but I'll need a serious attentuator for that. I can't beilieve how loud the 5E3 can play!

n5oet4h