New Member with completed first build - Weber 5E7M

[Modern Saint]

Another new member here and I just got through building my first amp kit which is a Weber 5E7M a few weeks ago. The amp sounds great and I have used it at 2 hour gig, my son's one hour blues class and yesterday 5 hour blues jam as I provided my amp as one of the backline amps for the day. The has just sounded super with no mods other than selected tube choices and chicken knob colors. I was planning on a couple of mods but with the way the amp sounds, I am leaving well enough alone. I am planning to age the tweed like the member Snowy did - his looked super. I will also be planning on building a 5E3 in the future.

Here are some pics of my completed amp and at the end of the pics, a video of my friend did a quick video of the amps sound. Unfortunately the sound quality is a little compressed but you will get the just of it.

Inside the Chassis



Top Chassis



Completed Front Chassis



Completed Back Chassis



The Completed Amp



Rear Shot

[loudthud]

Another member built one of these and reports the Mid control doesn't do much. Have you had that experience?

[Modern Saint]

Another member built one of these and reports the Mid control doesn't do much. Have you had that experience?

The amount of control is very small. I have been meaning to put a 5751 in V2 to see if giving more headroom would give more mid control in the tone stack but haven't done so. The preamp tubes are V1-12AY7 (NOS); V2-GE 12AX7; V3-12AX7B (Chinese). I get such a great sound right now with where the amp is set (TMB controls set at 12 o'clock) that I really don't mess with the setting much. I have fiddled with them when I completed the build but found the 12 o'clock position to be where use it.

The amp has already seen a gig and 5 hour jam session with the TMB controls not even touched. Go figure that one.

[hasserl]

Hey Randy, nice job! It looks really good and sounds great. Though a trio of alnico 10's or a single 15 is the more traditional speaker type for this style amp, it sounds very nice thru that 12" Mesa Boogie thiele cab.

Sorry I missed the jam the other day, I've been fighting a cold and the dang thing has kept me down. I would have loved to play thru it. But I'm sure I'll get that chance at an upcoming jam. Talk to you later.

Richard

[Modern Saint]

Thanks Richard! I kept looking around hoping that you would show up to give it a whirl and then asked Roy who mentioned that you were sick. Yes it will show up at another jam, maybe next time I would have picked up a matching 15" cab. No rush on that at the moment as my 12's sound great as well.


@loudthud - messed with my head again yesterday as I got a new Celestion Vintage 12 speaker. Since I was breaking in the speaker I decided to play more with the knobs and effects of the mid control. The amount of mids added or cut is very slight and small as I mentioned previously. When added, it tend to beef up the lower mid when used with my strat.

[rschultz]

I'm thinking of building a 5E7M, they are on sale right now for $300 (no cab, no speaker). You say the mid control is minimal. Have you considered modifying it to a 5E7 with the presence control instead of mid? The schematics look very similar.

[Modern Saint]

@rshultz - I have thought about that after the immediate build but found that I love the sound that I am getting. With that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Besides I will be building another one in the future which is the Bassman circuit - very similar to the this build but with the prescence control.

Also on a side note, my tone controls rarely move below or above 5 anyway. Just depends on the place I play if an adjustment is needed.