Weber Amp Kits...

[Dagan8]

I would definitely go with the Trinity kit. Especially if you live in T.O. Their quality, documentation and support is top notch. They have a very resourceful forum on which they will support you throughout the build. Contact Stephen and I'm sure he will invite you over to have a look and try out the different models. If you don't like the EL84's he offers an 18watt with 6V6's, a tweed deluxe, and a low powered Hiwatt clone.

[Zee Lowell]

Hi Axpro., I actually think I have one of your Weber 5F1 Kits you built...did you mod yours with a Tone & Bass circuit? Mine is modded and its a GREAT little amp...one of my all time favs' actually.
I traded a Laney amp for the Weber kit a few months ago via Kijiji.

[Squirt]

I know this is a couple of years late but from my experience, I would steer people away from Weber. I have built two kits now; a 5E3 from Mojo and now a 5F4 from Weber. Mojo was more expensive but the experience and result was very rewarding. Weber is another story. Horrible customer service. They lost my first order and I had to re-order 7 weeks later. The actual delivery was 6 weeks and not 3 to 4 (13 weeks total). I really wanted to try Weber because of their prices but I'd gladly pay extra for better components and better customer service from Mojo. Next time.

[soundmasterg]

I know this is a couple of years late but from my experience, I would steer people away from Weber. I have built two kits now; a 5E3 from Mojo and now a 5F4 from Weber. Mojo was more expensive but the experience and result was very rewarding. Weber is another story. Horrible customer service. They lost my first order and I had to re-order 7 weeks later. The actual delivery was 6 weeks and not 3 to 4 (13 weeks total). I really wanted to try Weber because of their prices but I'd gladly pay extra for better components and better customer service from Mojo. Next time.

Some people have complained about Weber's service, but I have never had a problem myself except for one time a kit order was lost because of a mistake of a new worker there. The guys at Weber were very apologetic and got it solved quickly and even threw in a couple free tshirts. I know you're thinking...wow, t-shirts...woop de doo....but its the gesture that counts. Everyone makes mistakes in business...its how they react when the mistakes are made and Weber has always treated me well.

Regarding their kits....yes they are cheap in places....but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Many people, and I would say probably most people who order their kits only get certain parts like the chassis or transformers (which are both excellent) and build it with other parts that they supply themselves. Weber could sell it with all good quality stuff, but then it would be the same as the Mojo stuff pricewise, and then they have a harder time selling. I think most people realize what Weber is selling (bottom market kits with some fantastic parts and some lousy ones) and pick and choose what they want so they get the good stuff for a good price.

Greg

[dbf909]

I've built 3 Weber Kits - 5e3, 5f1, and standalone reverb. This was back in 2007/2008.

The things that I upgraded right away (during the build) were pots, switches, jacks, pilot light, and tubes. I ultimately changed out the coupling caps in the 5f1 with Orange drops as an experiment which made a very slight improvement in tone. In all three builds, I used the Weber iron and had very good results. Their transformers are not bad for the $.

The Reverb was a challenge because after I built it up I realized that the grounding scheme that I had used on the 5e3 and 5f1 would never work. I needed to significantly modify the circuit in order to isolate the chassis ground and signal grounds. This included drilling out the input and output jack holes and using insulating washers as well as adding a small value resistor and a cap between the two grounds to eliminate the massive ground loop caused by connecting the Reverb to an amplifier with a guitar cord. This detail and modification is not included anywhere in Weber's schematic or layout or even mentioned anywhere that I could find on the website. No big deal - it was a great learning experience.

I've built quite a few amps since then and although for most of them I have sourced all of the parts individually, I've bought some chassis parts kits from Dave at Boothill. These include some better components than the Webers but I still complain about the Pilot Light... These days I have so many parts "in stock" that I only have to source chassis, boards, cabinets, and iron to build most of the projects I've done lately.

As I understand, these days, Weber ships much higher quality pots (CTS?), Carling switches, and Neutrik jacks with their kits so I probably would use them as is. I am still very partial to the actual Fender style pilot light - I wish they offered it as an option. I would still source good tubes separately - Weber only supplies Chinese tubes which are decent but I like TungSol RI and NOS tubes for most of the amps that I build.

Weber does very nice chassis and cabinetry though. The bottom line is that they are great kits for a beginning to intermediate builder but you should have some knowledge of how to put them together or an experienced helper to assist because there are no "instructions".

[Wittgenstein]

The Reverb was a challenge because after I built it up I realized that the grounding scheme that I had used on the 5e3 and 5f1 would never work. I needed to significantly modify the circuit in order to isolate the chassis ground and signal grounds. This included drilling out the input and output jack holes and using insulating washers as well as adding a small value resistor and a cap between the two grounds to eliminate the massive ground loop caused by connecting the Reverb to an amplifier with a guitar cord. This detail and modification is not included anywhere in Weber's schematic or layout or even mentioned anywhere that I could find on the website. No big deal - it was a great learning experience.

Do you have any more info on this. I have a 6G15 stand alone reverb unit that still gives me grounding trouble when hooked up to certain amps. Any suggestions or additional info would be appreciated. You can see what I have done with it linked in my signature.

[dbf909]

Do you have any more info on this. I have a 6G15 stand alone reverb unit that still gives me grounding trouble when hooked up to certain amps. Any suggestions or additional info would be appreciated. You can see what I have done with it linked in my signature.

Sure. I did some digging since it has been a number of years since I built this one.

In essence, the ground loop is created by the shielded cord that is plugged into the output of the Reverb and the input of the amp. Since the amp's signal ground is connected to its chassis and the chassis is grounded via the 3 prong power plug; and the Reverb's signal ground is connected to its chassis and the chassis is grounded via its separate 3 prong power cord; the shield on the cord between them completes a big ground loop antenna and is very efficient at picking up 60hz hum. The shield connects the two chassis together and they are grounded separately - big ground loop.

One option is the lift the ground on either the amp or the Reverb by using a "cheater" 3 pin to 2 pin adapter or by cutting the ground pin on one of the power cords. This is definitely a bad idea - do not do this as a fault in either unit can result in high voltage on the chassis and by connection on your guitar stings. This will not make for a pleasant experience...

The most rational and safest way to deal with it is to isolate the grounds in the Reverb to eliminate the loop.

I found a link to a build of the "Re-Vibe" unit which is a bit more involved that the straight 6G15 Reverb but the grounding that is described is exactly what I did with my build.

http://http://home.everestkc.net/jge...revibe1-4.html

Basically, I removed everything that was "signal ground" that was connected to the chassis and isolated it to a separate star ground point. This included all points in the circuit that would go to ground like the rectifier, filter caps, cathode bypasses, and a few other points in the circuit. I had to isolate all of the jacks (both 1/4" and RCAs) on the input, output, tank in and out, and footswitch from the chassis as well and run wires from the rings to this ground. The green lead on the power cord and the frames of the transformers/choke are pretty much all that were left connected directly to the chassis via the power transformer lug.

I then created a "bridge" between these two grounds using two signal diodes (1N4001 or 1N4004 I think) and a 15 ohm 1/2w resistor all in parallel. The diodes are connected in parallel but facing the opposite direction - this ensures that the potential between the signal ground and chassis ground will never be more than 0.7v. The resistor establishes the reference between the two but prevents any ground loop current from creating noise.

I also added a .047uf capacitor in parallel to the bridge but located right at the input jack to suppress any RF signals that might get into the signal ground via the guitar and its connecting cable. This cap is connected from the ring of the input jack right to the chassis at the closest point.

Here is a detailed list of the mods I made:

- Drill out Chassis for the 3 jacks (Input, Output, Footswitch)
- Disconnect attached ground wires and .01 capacitor from brass plate
- Remove panel mounted components (or take loose)
- Remove brass plate
- Carefully pry faceplate loose and move out of the way
- Drill 3 holes to ½” and de-burr
- Re-position faceplate
- Isolate jacks with fiber shoulder washers and re-install
- Re-install pots and other panel mounted components
- Remove RCA jacks, enlarge RCA jack holes slightly, de-burr, replace RCA jacks
- Using a large copper wire, create a new ground buss between negative side of bridge rectifier and the negative side of the first filter capacitor OR create a star ground point on the lower choke mounting bolt
- Relocate all circuit grounds to isolated buss (use black wire)
- Upper right corner of board (100K, 250pf, 1.5K)
- Ring of Output jack
- .01uf cap from left tab of Tone pot
- Top of board right (1.5K, 25pf, 2.2M)
- Ring and middle tab of Input jack
- Top of board middle (1K, 25pf, 1.5K, 220K)
- Left tab of Dwell pot
- Ring of Footpedal jack
- Ring of “Reverb Output” (recovery) RCA jack
- Center Tap of Filament winding from PT
- Create Ground Bridge circuit on a terminal strip and mount it to lower PT mounting bolt along with green chassis ground wire from power cord - two diodes and a 15ohm resistor in parallel between the two grounds.
- Add optional .047uf cap on input jack between Ring and direct to chassis (this may have to be soldered to the chassis prior to replacement of faceplate to avoid heat

These mods totally eliminated any issues I had with hum.

Good Luck