22 watt head finally done

[Rob's Radio-Active]

Just finished my 22 watt (clean) amp head I've been messing with for a while. It's scratch built except for the blank chassis, which is from Hammond.
Just wanted to share.
cheers
Rob

[Richard]

Very nice. Out of curiosity, why did you select that form factor?

[big_teee]

Looks really nice, but very different looking.
Very clean, and great build quality!
Curious about the way you did your AC power.
Not sure how you turn it off and on.
Tubes on the edge for a head?
I think I'll stick to a turret board and the Marshall way!
T

[Leo_Gnardo]

Now that's different! Like the kolor koded knobs and punched-steel vent grills. A bit of a nod to Davis PA amps of the late 50 - early 60's, they often wound up as guitar amps.

[olddawg]

Looks really nice, but very different looking.
Very clean, and great build quality!
Curious about the way you did your AC power.
Not sure how you turn it off and on.
Tubes on the edge for a head?
I think I'll stick to a turret board and the Marshall way!
T

This is usually what happens when you stick a combo style chassis in a head box. I have an 18w variant that I built that way because the chassis was already set up like that. I have had no problem with the tubes laying flat like that. (although I was warned I would.) It makes it convenient to change tubes, but also makes it easier to damage them while transporting the head. After smashing a rectifier tube I mounted a 2x2 piece of angle aluminum to protect the tubes.

[Justin Thomas]

Really nice build! And, JUST the right number of knobs for ANY amp! So, I'm curious about the power cord - did you put a vacuum-cleaner retractor on it? That'd be hilarious!

Leo, I did something similar to my Prosonic's knobs. Volume (clean) & Master (Mesa) knobs are red, the two Gain knobs are purple, TMB yelllow, and Reverb is bright green. Or something like that. Made it MUCH easier to grab the right knob in a dark room!

Justin

[Richard]

Looks really nice, but very different looking.
Very clean, and great build quality!
Curious about the way you did your AC power.
Not sure how you turn it off and on.
Tubes on the edge for a head?
I think I'll stick to a turret board and the Marshall way!
T

Is the volume knob also the mains switch?

[Justin Thomas]

Seems so...

Justin

[Rob's Radio-Active]

Thank, guys!
Yeah it was going to be a combo, but I changed my mind, so it's laid flat. It does make it easy to service or pull the chassis, but you can get to anything with just the top of the cabinet removed, and then the metal chassis cover plate.
The on/off knob is the master volume, yes.
The cord is just pushed into the box for transport mode. Just pull out what you need. The colored knobs are for quick ID of the clean or OD channel in the semi-dark.
I still want to rig a foot switch for it, but not right away. I got old radios and stuff stacking up to be fixed (for customers).
cheers
Rob
PS, since the photos, I replaced all the gold cabinet screws and finishing washers with stainless to better match the other "silver" hardware.

[Richard]

The tubes probably get better airflow with that layout. And it probably keeps some heat out of the internals. I know my SRRI gets pretty warm.

[mozz]

"but you can get to anything with just the top of the cabinet removed"
A-la Traynor.

[Rob's Radio-Active]

I try to build all my amps for easy service. I hate pulling the chassis out of Marshall combos just to set the bias...Getting lazy in my old age.
Yeah, it should run fairly cool. The rectifier, a GZ34, (and all the others, of course) are all heater-cathode type so filament sag should not be an issue with the horizontal tube mounting.
The only disadvantage is the larger footprint as far as setting it on top of a speaker cabinet. The rubber feet are almost 12 in (30.5 cm) apart, front to back, so it will need a sizable cabinet to set it on--or else the floor or a table.
cheers
Rob

[Richard]

I would set it on edge next to the cab.