First tube amp build: Fender Deluxe AB763 style amp (no reverb).

[Leo_Gnardo]

...... and if you're going to solder directly to the chassis or brass plate, get some flux paste. I little extra flux makes a big difference in getting the solder to "take".

Good tip that ^^^. My little tin of Nokorode is turning out to be a lifetime supply. It also helps to have a very clean metal surface where you want your solder to stick. A couple seconds spent with wire brush, super fine sandpaper & solvent wash will save a lot of frustration. Same advice if you choose to bolt your wires to chassis, scrub it clean at the contact area first.

[The Dude]

Yep. I've had the same tin for years. It doesn't take much. I couldn't tell you when I bought it, but I wouldn't be without it. Great for soldering onto potentiometer bodies, too...... and anything else with some mass.

[mikepukmel]

Thanks everyone!!!

[mikepukmel]

Good tip that ^^^. My little tin of Nokorode is turning out to be a lifetime supply. It also helps to have a very clean metal surface where you want your solder to stick. A couple seconds spent with wire brush, super fine sandpaper & solvent wash will save a lot of frustration. Same advice if you choose to bolt your wires to chassis, scrub it clean at the contact area first.

Hi Leo, when you use Nokorode, do you need to clean off the residue after soldering? If so, what do you use (soap, etc?) I always had thought Nokorode was acid based but just googled and found it isn't, wahoo!!!!

What kind of liquid flux do you use?

[mikepukmel]

Incidentally, should you make more of these, I have a no reverb AB763 Deluxe turret board I got by mistake from Mojo, or watts or someplace that I would sell for cheap.

Oh yeah, send me a message!

[mikepukmel]

Skip the Weller guns, get their 80 watt "pencil." I got mine 30 years ago as a castoff, well used from a stained glass artist. It's proven so useful I bought a spare, about $30. But the old beat up one just won't quit! The charm to these, and their 120W and 160W cousins, is the massive tip which transfers lots of heat to the chassis metal. Maybe others have better luck with their 100W to 300W soldering "guns" but me not so much.

Lookee! Wallymart's practically giving them away at $25.26. Dream up something else to buy so you can get free shipping, or pay a little more & order from another vendor. You can find several on Amazon.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Weller-SP...&wl13=&veh=sem

Don't forget to stock up on some proper solder, and don't cheap out. What used to cost a buck a pound, ain't no more. Kester 60/40 .050 diameter is good stuff and will set you back 25-30 bucks for a pound roll these days unless you find a knock down sale somewhere. One fellow tech thought he found a huge bargain "only $4 a pound" then it wouldn't melt . . . he finally read the fine print & was chagrined to find he'd bought 40/60, "the wrong stuff." Ooops.

Cool, thanks, I never thought 80 would be enough wattage. This unit looks like the old wood burning irons we had when we were kids.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Hi Leo, when you use Nokorode, do you need to clean off the residue after soldering? If so, what do you use (soap, etc?) I always had thought Nokorode was acid based but just googled and found it isn't, wahoo!!!!

What kind of liquid flux do you use?

Nokorode = no corrode. It does leave a splotch of brownish crud but over the course of years doesn't cause the metal under it to decompose. If I'm feeling fastidious, clean it up with cotton swabs soaked in hi proof alcohol or cleaner spray (mostly acetone plus alcohol).

No liquid flux here. Whatever's in the solder (Kester 44 or occasionally Ersin), and the occasional dab of Nokorode. Clean metal surfaces help a lot, I'll repeat.

[mikepukmel]

Nokorode = no corrode. It does leave a splotch of brownish crud but over the course of years doesn't cause the metal under it to decompose. If I'm feeling fastidious, clean it up with cotton swabs soaked in hi proof alcohol or cleaner spray (mostly acetone plus alcohol).

No liquid flux here. Whatever's in the solder (Kester 44 or occasionally Ersin), and the occasional dab of Nokorode. Clean metal surfaces help a lot, I'll repeat.

Thanks Leo.

[The Dude]

Good points about cleaning, Leo. FWIW, I use a GC 9088 a lot for this. Pretty handy little tool. It has a little wire brush on one end for cleaning and the other end has a little lead holder that works well for holding leads while you solder/desolder and also works for bending leads.

http://www.ralphselectronics.com/ProductImages/GC-9088.jpg

[mikepukmel]

Well, the cap can arrived, and the cap board was a bit too wide for the board. A little surprised since the Deluxe Reverb has 5 filter caps. Luckily, with a little elbow grease and my cheap miter box, I was able to cut about 1/4" off the ends of he board, and it now fits into the little can like a champ.



The parts are still all crookedy since they are just sitting there, not yet soldered in. All I have to do now is drill the mounts and mount the cap board, and FINALLY!!!!, since we're done drilling, we'll be able to mount the tube sockets, transformers, choke and get soldering.

I love the smell of rosin core solder!

(this has got to be the slowest moving amp project ever)

[Randall]

Well, the cap can arrived, and the cap board was a bit too wide for the board. A little surprised since the Deluxe Reverb has 5 filter caps

How do you Get 5 filter caps? I see four, the reservoir cap before the standby switch, and one each for the screens, PI and preamp nodes.

[bob p]

Found an awesome site:
https://sites.google.com/site/jmasterschematics/

My tired eyes say "Thanks!" That's a great find.

[Justin Thomas]

Randall makes a good point... the Deluxe does only have four filter caps. Are you using five to put the first two in series or parallel? If you are putting two in series for a margin of safety regarding voltage, be aware that your resulting cap will only be 8uF; you may want to use a pair of 32uF or 47uF in series to get closer to the original spec, and a little bit more never hurt. If you're putting two in parallel, I'm not sure if that boosts the VOLTAGE handling, even if it ups the capacitance. But I'm willing to get schooled on that...

Personally, I'd use two 32s in series, because I don't trust caps with only a 30V margin, especially if you need to do some testing with tubes out for a while... I think you'll be okay for the time being, but might be worth upgrading in the future.

Justin

[bob p]

My recollection is that the DR uses 32/16/16/16 as the 4 nodes, so he's going to need five 16uF caps to get there, tying two 16 together for the first node. To do that he'll need to move the resistors one position to the left in his mockup before he solders them in, putting a jumper in the rightmost position.



Those F&T are rated at 475V so I wouldn't worry too much about working voltage on them. that's a nice board. Where did you get it?

[Randall]

My recollection is that the DR uses 32/16/16/16 as the 4 nodes, so he's going to need five 16uF caps to get there, tying two 16 together for the first node.

I believe we are talking about a Deluxe with no reverb, not a DR. It has four 16uFs AFAIK.