my first post

[doulos24]

hi guys I'm new to this forum and new to the world of diy amplifiers in general. I just finished my first build a ruby amp head with bassman mods in a small 5.25 by 3 metal radio shack box and I'm hooked. I'm already planning a tube cricket it's on the breadboard and I"m learning alot. I kind of have a thing for small amps and heads like the epi valve jr and the blackheart killer ant and the fender champ amp. I'd like to learn how to do the woodworking but on a smaller scale any advice or learning how to make mini amp heads like small wood boxes with tolex or vinyl covering for small metal chasis and low watt amp heads? thanks alot

[black_labb]

just use ply or mdf and use butt joints if your covering them. sorry if thats not what your looking for but the question is a bit vague and open ended.

[doulos24]

I used 1/4 inch wood and some cheap vinyl and hot glue for my first one it turned out ok but I hope to get better when I do my other mini tube amp head projects heres a pic

[tubeswell]

I use 3/4" timber - pine (or other solid timber) - with butt joints reinforced by 1"sq cleats for the cab carcass. The 3/4" takes nicely to 1/2" roundover bits for routing the edges. Pine is easy to work with, provided ou are handy with cutting square, straight edges

For combos, depending on the size of the baffle and speaker required, I use 3/8" ply (for smaller amps like champs) - 3/4" ply (for everything-else sizewise).

[cminor9]

if you are making heads instead of combos for tweed amps, you'll have to tweak the layout a little bit. If you look at the way the tweed chassis were laid out, and then look at the way you need to do it for a head, you'll see what I mean.

If you ever do have to tweak a tweed style layout to make it work as a head, be careful! Those layouts were designed the way they were for a reason. You could be inviting headaches if you deviate too much.

That's just a little something I learned from experience by building a 5E3 head. Brown and Blackface fenders don't have that problem due to the way the chassis are oriented. It's just the tweed-style chassis orientation.