5E3 build complete...Wow!

[PremiumPlus]

Friday night my cab and Celestion Blue arrived from Mojo, and Saturday morning I finished the amp. Right now I've got a Sylvania 12AY7 and an RCA 12AX7, with Sylvania 6L6 output tubes and a Sylvania 5U4 rectifier. I tried it with RCA 6V6s/5Y3 and I like the increased headroom with hotter tubes a lot. The Heyboer power transformer is spec'd to handle the added load. I'm not sure about the Wurlitzer organ output transformer...we'll see.
The Blue is an awesome speaker. It chimes and growls so sweetly, it is really hard to describe. Probably the best guitar speaker I've ever had. It's brand new and I'm sure it'll get even better as it breaks in. All in all I'm really pleased with the way this build ended up. It's really cool.
I do have a question, regarding the interaction of the volume controls. When I turn the unused volume up past 10.5 or so the amp loses clarity and focus. And I don't hear a lot of variation in the tone except at those extremes. Is this the way the 5E3 is supposed to be?

[cminor9]

Good work on the 5E3. Having a 5E3 has made me a better player, and hopefully it'll do that for you too.

I found the same weirdness with the volume controls, actually. Some people tout the interactive volume controls, but I found that after several months, I left the unused one at one place. It seemed to make a difference, but only a very slight one. And yes, turning the unused volume control all the way up yields what some have called "better than blackface clean" but I never had much use for it. I agree with you, it seemed to lack clarity, focus, and as I heard it, it lacked punch. No sir, I don't like it!

I actually stumbled on a mod for my 5E3 that has made that extra volume control and extra channel more useful. I detailed it over at tdpri: Tweed Deluxe Volume/Tone control mod - Telecaster Guitar Forum Something to think about, in case you ever start thinking about what to do with the unused triode. But I digress.

[tubeswell]

I do have a question, regarding the interaction of the volume controls. When I turn the unused volume up past 10.5 or so the amp loses clarity and focus. And I don't hear a lot of variation in the tone except at those extremes. Is this the way the 5E3 is supposed to be?

Yep, what cminor9 said. You'll see on the 5E3 schematic that the two vol pots are really in parallel with each other going into the grid of the second stage. There is no mixing resistor set-up there, so one pot affects the grid load/input impedance set by the other pot and vice versa. I reckon you get the 'best' vol with the 'unused' pot on about '6.5'-'7'ish somewhere with the 'main' pot dimed. If you jumper the two channels together, then this strange interfunctionality of the two vol pots is counteracted, and you just get more vol either way.

[mbratch]

Friday night my cab and Celestion Blue arrived from Mojo, and Saturday morning I finished the amp. Right now I've got a Sylvania 12AY7 and an RCA 12AX7, with Sylvania 6L6 output tubes and a Sylvania 5U4 rectifier. I tried it with RCA 6V6s/5Y3 and I like the increased headroom with hotter tubes a lot. The Heyboer power transformer is spec'd to handle the added load.

That's awesome PP. Question: is that the stock mojo power transformer? If so, I was wondering if it could handle 6L6's as it didn't come with complete specs. If you know that it does, I may go that route as well. I am currently running the Sovtek 5Y3 (which runs hotter than a standard 5Y3, closer to a 5R3) and JJ 6V6S. I increased the cathode resistor to 470 ohms to bring the plate power down to 12 watts with that setup, and the plate voltage sits at between 400 and 410VDC at idle (way less than my Deluxe Reverb). If I put a "normal" 5Y3 in, my wattage at plate is about 9 watts. But I would like to try 6L6's...

[PremiumPlus]

Thanks guys!
mbratch, actually it's a Heyboer power transformer and the output trans is from a 2x 6V6 Wurlitzer organ. I emailed Heyboer and they said that it should be no problem. Right now, I'm running 6L6GC outputs with a 5Y3 rectifier, and I took the zener/resistor out of the PT center tap. RIght now, my voltage on the outputs is around 375vdc. I am concerned that the 5Y3 might give up the ghost, and so I'm either going to install protection diodes in series with it or go back to the 5U4 and see how that works out. It really sounds nice right now.
What do you guys think? Am I asking for it with the 5Y3/6L6 combo?

[mbratch]

Thanks PP. I know you said Heyboer before, but I believe Mojo transformers (at least some of them) are made by Heyboer so I was wanting to be sure.

I'll email Mojo and ask if they have more detailed specs on their PT.