Is this lead dress ok?

[Stratz]

Hey all. This is my first build and I have been told by a friend that my lead dress isn't high enough off the chassis.
Can you guys please take a look and tell me if it's acceptable or not?

It was a lot of work with the learning curve and with the way I have my physical connections crimped on to the socket lugs I'd most likely be replacing the 9 pin sockets as well as the wire if I have to do it over but I dont want any noise issues either.

Thanks
Rob.

[nosaj]

Hey all. This is my first build and I have been told by a friend that my lead dress isn't high enough off the chassis.
Can you guys please take a look and tell me if it's acceptable or not?

It was a lot of work with the learning curve and with the way I have my physical connections crimped on to the socket lugs I'd most likely be replacing the 9 pin sockets as well as the wire if I have to do it over but I dont want any noise issues either.

Thanks
Rob.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]39795[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]39796[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]39797[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]39798[/ATTACH]

Looks ok to me. I've run them flat on the chassis and up in the air. Mine have been quiet. From what I understand when you have 2 different sets of wires one of them being HV it's best to run it perpendicular to say the filament wires.
Part of the learning process is to work with issues that you may create then when you fix it it knida of imprints on you.
You say crimped the wires on did you solder them? Has you buddy built any amps?
Good luck and happy amp building
nosaj

[Leo_Gnardo]

Hey all. This is my first build and I have been told by a friend that my lead dress isn't high enough off the chassis.

Picky, picky, picky... is your "friend" going to buy it from you? Pay a LOT of cash? - - - - - I didn't think so.

Does your amp WORK? Sounds good? Then it IS good & that's all that counts. FWIW the photos look just fine to me. Congrats on your first build!

[Stratz]

nosaj , maybe crimped was a poor choice of words. I have very good mechanical connections on the tube sockets and they are soldered perfectly with 63/37 solder. Yes, my friend has built many amps and he's very particular, especially about grounding so he had me install a couple of terminal strips to use for grounding different sections of the amp.

Lets see what other builders may have to say because I really have no desire to do these leads over again.
Thanks.
Rob.

[Stratz]

Picky, picky, picky... is your "friend" going to buy it from you? Pay a LOT of cash? - - - - - I didn't think so.

Does your amp WORK? Sounds good? Then it IS good & that's all that counts. FWIW the photos look just fine to me. Congrats on your first build!

I haven't gotten anywhere near far enough to tell you how it sounds yet but I'll certainly let all of you know when I finish it.
And no, he's not going to buy my amp. He's just giving me advice along the way.
Thanks very much for the reply.
Rob.

[eschertron]

Stratz, I'm still a novice myself, having built only a couple of amps, but I'd say the nice tight twists that you have on the heater wiring will go a long way to minimizing hum from that source.

You can always move wires, but they all lead to the tube at some point. Can't get away from that!

[Justin Thomas]

I've had to lay half the heater wires ON the chassis (a la Ampeg) and above the chassis (a la Fender) in the same amp! I've never had issues with heater noise. I've had exceptionally radiative power trannies that forced me to defy every rule of grounding negate the hum (long lead and route it most of the way around the chassis...) And I mistakenly put my bias diode near my input because it was the only turret left on my board. THAT made a wicked buzz!

All of this theory is great in theory, and if you are a "manufacturer," striving for consistency. But for a lot of us, it's trial and error, because no two amps are anywhere near the same parts-wise, chassis, layout, etc. I always am working around the tranny/cap/socket layout a previous builder gave me. So I understand the principles of WHY we do things the way we do, but I am open to changing them and not worrying about it TOO much. The theory is great - how you are able to best implement it is, well, up to you to do your best!

I think you'll be fine, just keep the signal wires away.

Justin

[big_teee]

It looks good to me.
Ground loops is where most noise comes from.
I like to use shielded wire from input jacks to preamp tubes.
But, I'm not a vintage type builder, and I like all PVC, or PFE wire.
GL,
T

[g1]

I've had to lay half the heater wires ON the chassis (a la Ampeg) and above the chassis (a la Fender) in the same amp!

Exactly. Both methods are used by various manufacturers. Whichever method works best functionally is best.
Sounds like your friend may be confusing his personal preference for correctness. Some builders (boutique especially) concern themselves with how it looks when opened up, and may even compromise functionality for aesthetics.

[DrGonz78]

One thing that caught my eye... 3rd Picture far right preamp tube socket it looks like pin 4/5 connects to the middle tube sockets pin 9. Pictures can be hard to see what's really connected but that is what I am seeing. From what I have always followed is that you want to connect all 4/5 pins and all 9 pins (12ax7 of course) together and not interchanging per socket. Just give it a close look to make sure...

[Tom Phillips]

One thing that caught my eye... 3rd Picture far right preamp tube socket it looks like pin 4/5 connects to the middle tube sockets pin 9. Pictures can be hard to see what's really connected but that is what I am seeing. From what I have always followed is that you want to connect all 4/5 pins and all 9 pins (12ax7 of course) together and not interchanging per socket. Just give it a close look to make sure...

I usually keep them "in-phase" too. However, I have never considered it necessary for the pre-amp tubes and have no evidence that it will make a difference. It's therefore just in my "can't hurt" category. However, it does make a difference to wire the heaters of push/pull output tubes in phase with each other. I have been able to measure a reduction in 60Hz hum component at the output of a Push-Pull power amp when I have corrected the heater wiring that came to me out of phase. There is a gotcha though and that is that, although I can measure lower hum with sensitive instruments, you cannot always hear a reduction in the hum level. That's because 1) The amount of actual hum level change is variable usually small and 2) small changes in hum can easily be masked by the hum level present from other sources.

Note that the change in hum due to reversing the power tube heater connections is always small in my experience. If you have a hummy amp don't take this discussion as something to put on your short list of possible solutions. It is sometimes useful as a final tweak for a recording amp or stereo system.

Cheers,
Tom

[big_teee]

The Marshall Red and black makes it easier to keep track.
T