Whats the best 5F2-A Circuit

[ncusack]

Hey Everyone,

My room mate is an electrical engineer but doesnt play guitar or anything. He is interested in building a beginner tube amp and I was wondering what your suggestions were for the best sounding 5F2-A circuit. Im looking for something with a nice clean tone. We are going to make it into a head to match to a speaker cabinet i already own. The speaker impedance is 8ohms. If you can suggest a schematic that uses just the 6V6GT, 12ax7 and a diode rectifier and mabey suggest what parts to use that would be awsome. We plan to source all the parts individually so please dont suggest any kits.

Thanks

[txstrat]

The 5F2-A would be OK if you have that schmematic already.
I would expect the diode rectifier to tighten up the amps response (due to higher voltages) and therefore being slightly cleaner. Just watch for the voltages fed to the 6V6's plate.

[ncusack]

I was looking at the schematic and parts list from Steve at diycustomamps.com. Do you think this is a good design or would there be anything in that circuit we should avoid.

[txstrat]

It depends on what you are looking for. It's a classic tweed circuit.
Should be OK to build it as it is.

[KingCameron]

5F2-A as is

I have built three 5F2-As for me and friends...the only changes I would make are...

1. Twisted pair heater wires (instead of setting the pin 7s to gnd)
2. Insulated signal lines (just to kill a little hum)
3. Add chassis ground from three-prong A/C

That's it! These little guys are some of the coolest amps I've ever built...very fun and easy.

They are nice and loud.

use a 10" Jensen AlNico, and almost any PT. I have tried the Hammond OT and other cheapy ones. The Hammond Universal Single-ended OT is nice, because it will let you decide whether you want the 6L6 interchangability or not.(You can adjust the primary impedance)

[tubeswell]

I built one last year with an old Goodmans 12" alnico speaker (albeit mine was a traditional thing with a 5Y3GT rectifier). But that 5F2A clone-building site you mentioned is quite useful. The diode rectification shouldn't affect the tone too much - if anything it'll give it a bit more bite.

I built mine with a switch that cuts the NFB loop - for extra screeching gain when I want it. Does a mean sounding stairway solo with just my strat and no FX! (and everything dimed) ('xcuse my mangling of this well known theme)