My 5E3 Build From Scratch

[JoeM]

Looks great. Nice job.

[Chuck H]

Looking good

[cmattdabrat]

Thanks guys.

[cmattdabrat]

Just a small update. My parts should be in sometime today, so it should start coming together quickly this weekend.

I painted the chassis with a hammered black paint. The pictures don't do it justice. It looks really good in person, IMO. I wouldn't necessarily call it a hammered look. More like a pitted look. Nonetheless, still looks pretty cool.




I also put down a light coat of black paint on the outside. I did this to prevent the wood from showing through the carbon fiber twill cloth. I plan to sand the inside overspray off so the interior will be the natural wood color.

[cmattdabrat]

The finished amp will look something like this, but with the traditional silver Fender grill cloth.




Like this, but with real carbon fiber, chicken head knobs and simplified chassis labeling like above.

[cmattdabrat]

My parts from Tube Depot came in yesterday evening. My shipment from UPS, which includes my carbon fiber twill, speaker, grill cloth, handle, etc., was delayed due to weather.

I immediately started off mocking up my chassis to be sure all the holes were to spec.








It's a good feeling seeing everything start to come together. I'm loving how it's coming out so far.

Once I got back from band practice later yesterday evening, I started populating the board. I used metal film resistors, a brown ohmite resistor, orange drops, F&T filter caps, and whatnot. I didn't realize how small some of these parts are.

It took me a few resistors to get the hang of soldering. I'm still getting a feel as to how much solder to use. I'm getting there though.








I used a little hot glue under the filter caps to keep them from rattling around do to their size.




Starting to get the hang of soldering, kinda.




I'm pretty happy with my decision to use Tube Depots PCB board for my first build. It has made things extremely painless at this point. Populating the board was a breeze. All the resistors, caps and whatnot, come in their own labeled baggy so there's no guessing.

I'll have more after this weekend. I'll probably be finished with it, but I will take pictures as I go along. Possibly even some video of the sounds once I dial in my sound.

[Gibsonman63]

Not to criticize, but some have found the metal film resistors and orange drop capacitors to be a bit harsh and brittle sounding. I experimented a while back with these in a Super Reverb and it was ear piercingly bright. I went back in with carbon composition resistors and Sozo tone caps and the Mojo was back. Of course, if you have a dark sounding speaker, this may be just the ticket.

Nice looking build and thanks for such a detailed thread of your build process. I will definitely pop in at your gig to have a listen when it's done.

[cmattdabrat]

Thanks for the feedback. I didn't know that. I'm going to use a Texas Heat speaker, so maybe that will help some.

Thanks. Sounds good to me.

[No457 Snowy]

Looking good Mat,

My Tube Depot kit arrived as well. I also went with F&T Filter caps and the Sprague Orange Drops. I agree, the board is great to work with and very high quality compared to the PCB's in any production amp i've seen.

Nice work so far, one tip I would give is to use a small paint brush and a little Isopropanol Alcohol to carefully cleanup the excess solder flux/resin from around your solder joints on the back of the board.

I think you'll love the sound of this amp with the Texas Heat speaker it is a great match for it, at least it is in my first amp.

Snowy

[cmattdabrat]

Thanks, Snowy.

Are you going to use a Texas Heat in your new build? It would be interesting to compare and see how much of a difference using different kinds of resistors make. Doing a comparison using video or audio recording over the net isn't too accurate, but still would be interesting, nonetheless.

Sounds good. Thanks for the tip. Will you be starting a build thread on this forum for the new kit? I'm interested in seeing the end results.

I agree, I've heard great things about it.

[cmattdabrat]

A little more progress as the day goes on.

Wires measured, striped, tinned, and soldered in.




Pots, lamp, switches, and fuse installed. I used a little hot glue on the fuse to keep the nut from backing out.




Transformers and tube sockets installed and ready to go.






I had to improv a little on the preamp tube socket mounting. The specs from the sheet I got online was wrong for these, or maybe they were for another size. So I basically bolted down the ears and used hot melt to make sure they don't ever go anywhere.






Last, but not least, the board installed into the chassis. I need to tighten down the lock nuts. All that's left is the input and output jacks and it's ready for wiring.

[cminor9]

Not to criticize, but some have found the metal film resistors and orange drop capacitors to be a bit harsh and brittle sounding. I experimented a while back with these in a Super Reverb and it was ear piercingly bright. I went back in with carbon composition resistors and Sozo tone caps and the Mojo was back. Of course, if you have a dark sounding speaker, this may be just the ticket.

I have never understood the "harsh and brittle" criticism of caps and resistors. What did those parts change about the amp that a simple twist of a treble knob couldn't cure? Just wondering.

[Chuck H]

+++
But... I have heard amps increase in fidelity with a change to the caps and resistors. In my case it was a Marshall JMP MKII. This thing was trashed but sounded OK. Since it wasn't (at the time) a very collectible Marshall I salvaged the mustard caps and changed them for orange drops. I replaced all the preamp resistors with metal film. The amp was notably brighter. I can't explain it but having heard it for myself, well... But, as noted, turning the treble down two digits worked fine as a fix. Also worthy of note, the amp was much quieter with less hiss after the work.

EDIT: Matt, which orange drops did you get? There are two commonly sold. 225P is polyester and the 715P is polypropylene.

Loving that hammerite finish BTW. Now if you can find some old bakelite knobs you'll complete the look.

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

oops

[No457 Snowy]

The board is very high quality. Designed by Rob Hull and made in Memphis, USA.