New to the forum: Ready to build a tweed deluxe from a kit

[No457 Snowy]

Hi d.spree,

I would also check the actual resistance of the cathode resister (the large 250 Ohm) and the voltage drop across it, what are those measurements?
Hopefully Rob can help out a bit more.

Also, this may sound stupid but make sure your multimeter has fresh batteries

Snowy

[d. spree]

Hi d.spree,

I would also check the actual resistance of the cathode resister (the large 250 Ohm) and the voltage drop across it, what are those measurements?
Hopefully Rob can help out a bit more.

Also, this may sound stupid but make sure your multimeter has fresh batteries

Snowy

Snowy, none of this sounds stupid! I followeds Rob's advice - checked soldering of the cap and the brown devil resistor and had no problems, checked the connection of pin 8 on first output tube (from "h" on board) and it was fine. Last check was ground to chassis from G9 and that seemed good. However when I used the multimeter to check resistance from here to chassis I did not get a 0000 read on the mutimeter. So presuming the soldered connection on the ground wire at G9 was bad I simply ran another ground wire from G10 to teh chassis ground point and would you believe it - it started a low hum. I rechecked the voltages at the test points and all was well! I have just plugged in and played and what a sweet feeling!!! She sounds great and what a joy to have built it.

Tomorrow I order a Mission chassis and parts and look forward to me next build. I will post the build diary (probably on a Gretsch forum - will let you know as I start to post. Meanwhile I owe you a big thank you - your posts and amazing pictures were absolutely a gift - helped me check all my wiring and I don't know how you got such good pics. I must say I wish my soldering was as perfect as yours!!

Thanks mate!

[No457 Snowy]

Nice work!!

Yeah, it builds into a great sounding amp, I absolutely love mine.

Please keep us posted about your Mission kit and it would be great to follow your build diary, I really look forward to it. One day I will tackle the Mission or Trinity kit. But at the moment with these two recent builds I feel a little guilty and over-indulgent. I am sure that feeling will wear off pretty fast though.


Snowy

[d. spree]

ear All - the support and help I got here was enourmous and now I have an amazing sounding Tweed Deluxe. so thank you one and all. Snowy, you have been an inspiration. Today I am ordering a new amp build kit - I want to get closer to the original design and would love to build a mission kit - they have been out of stock awhile and it looks like it will take maybe up to 12 weeks to get delivery. So I am looking at the Trinity kit - it has a great rep and the old type board. However, as best I can tell they don't seem to use the cloth covered wiring. I was wondering about ordering this separately and using it. What type and guage should I order?


I am posting my build diary on the gretsch-talk forum under the amplifier section. I am about halfway through. Here's the link - although on that forum you may need to be a logged in member to view the jpegs, am not sure. Here's the link anyway - My First Amp Build Diary - Tweed Deluxe - Gretsch Guitar Discussion Forum

Would like to post a pic or 2 heare but have been unable to figure it out.

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

Not sure where 12 weeks came from but the 5E3 chassis kits are back in stock. The 5E3 cabinets are about 3 weeks out though.
Looks like since WeberVST quit the amp cabinet business, even my cabinet guy has been swamped with filling orders for other vendors.
So, I won't be selling loose cabinets any longer.... it's not fair to my combo kit customers
Only chassis kits and full on combo kits with cabinets from now on... no separate cabinets.

[d. spree]

Not sure where 12 weeks came from but the 5E3 chassis kits are back in stock. The 5E3 cabinets are about 3 weeks out though.
Looks like since WeberVST quit the amp cabinet business, even my cabinet guy has been swamped with filling orders for other vendors.
So, I won't be selling loose cabinets any longer.... it's not fair to my combo kit customers
Only chassis kits and full on combo kits with cabinets from now on... no separate cabinets.

Thanks - will be ordering today and am ready to build

[d. spree]

Well I am excited. Played through my TubeDepot build last night and she sounds sweet - I will work this weekend to reduce some of the background hum, but even better I just ordered the Mission Tweed Deluxe kit - after all my research I feel the Mission amp looks closest to the original and that is my goal.

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

I just built another one of mine last night but this time with my 35 watt transformers.... two 6L6s and a 5U4GB... stuck it in the 2x12 cabinet and CHRIST almighty!!
I forgot how much fun one of these is at 25-28 watts output. Whoopee. Oh, speakers used .... a G12H30 and a Celestion Blue AlNiCo. Lovely!

[d. spree]

I just built another one of mine last night but this time with my 35 watt transformers.... two 6L6s and a 5U4GB... stuck it in the 2x12 cabinet and CHRIST almighty!!
I forgot how much fun one of these is at 25-28 watts output. Whoopee. Oh, speakers used .... a G12H30 and a Celestion Blue AlNiCo. Lovely!

How does the Celstion Blue compare with the Weber Blue Dog AlNiCo in the tweed? I am busy playing mine in - I think you warned me it could take about 50 hours. Its still a little stiff and dark. For my Mission Tweed build I ordered a Weber built 12A125A Vintage Series AlNiCo.

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

Honestly... my brother Lew and I helped Weber design and beta test that AlNiCo Blue Dog speaker during those earlier days... it was called the P12B, then the final 25-30 watt version was called the P12B-MA (MA>Mission Amps). I've used quite a few of them.
It was modeled after a fair number of vintage mid 60's samples we (possibly others) sent out for reconing and "exploration" over about a year.
I never felt Ted et al, got it "right on", even after using the proper Mueller paper cones from England and all that rot, but it still sounded better then about 90% of the other AlNiCo speakers out there.
Of course this is only my opinion but, compared to a real vintage AlNiCo Blue, the best sounding Weber one is probably the 15-20 watter. But like many speakers, when driven really hard, they ghost note and edge yowl.... not sure why but that has been my observation.
Some edge doping seems to help, but too much of that, you loose that spacious sound of real Celestion speakers and that thumby tone and finite separation of bass and treble starts to blend together in a mundane way.
I think the tight tolerances and stiff spider in the Weber speakers make them harder to break in... but when they do, they sound really good.

[d. spree]

I have been playing as much as I can through the new amp. As of last night my exepriences suggested that the amp sounds amazing with my Fender Start (with Texas special pups), and sounds like it was built for my archtop - this hand carved guitar has a single armstrong floationg pickup mounted at the neck. It has a very bright tone - it was built specifically for a blues sensibility (and has tremendous volume even played acoustically). It has a volume control and no tone control. My Gretsch electromatic 5120 has not sounded as good. A lot of people complain about the gretschbucker pups on this guitar and upgrade them, but on my other amps I have never felt the need. It has sounded a little too dark. I had been thinking about modding the filter caps and the cap on the tone pot. Mods on the tubedepot board probably will be difficult for me as the grommet points are pretty tiny and I wouldn't want to take the whole board out. But then, this morning I played an hour before work and I suddenly found the sweet spot for the gretsch and it sounded unbelievable playing lead lines even through the neck pup only setting. I am beginning to hear the really wonderful and subtle break-up that gives this amp the reputation for blues playing (my thing), so I guess I am learning the amp and the thing is beginning to break in. I am happy and now waiting for my Mission kit to arrive.

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

It takes a few hours behind the wheel to feel the 5E3 circuit out.... regardless of who's kit or amp it is.
I really think, with all it's simplicity and small footprint, it is still one of the best sounding 10-12 watt amps out there.... but it is not just a one trick pony, as some describe.
There are lots of great tones to be found, you just have to experiment around with the right speaker, guitars, amp settings, the interactive volume pots and understand the power limit with hot biased 6V6s using that single triode driver circuit.
If you aren't willing to do these things, then buy a modeling amp and play in your basement.
And, they weren't really designed and built to be played with hot humbucker guitars so keep that in mind when tweaking the circuit later.

[d. spree]

It takes a few hours behind the wheel to feel the 5E3 circuit out.... regardless of who's kit or amp it is.
I really think, with all it's simplicity and small footprint, it is still one of the best sounding 10-12 watt amps out there.... but it is not just a one trick pony, as some describe.
There are lots of great tones to be found, you just have to experiment around with the right speaker, guitars, amp settings, the interactive volume pots and understand the power limit with hot biased 6V6s using that single triode driver circuit.
If you aren't willing to do these things, then buy a modeling amp and play in your basement.
And, they weren't really designed and built to be played with hot humbucker guitars so keep that in mind when tweaking the circuit later.

I am having fun with this amp and loving it. I am already finding a range of tones and have been experimenting with a cable fromnormal 1 input to bright 2 input and plugging my guitar into bright 1 input. Its amazing how this gives a whole lot more to play with. I plugged into my tweed blues junior briefly and it sounds much thinner and tinnier in sound. I am playing all I can to get the Blue Dog speaker played in - fortunately got a lot of hours in this past weekend and i am already hearing a change.

I had one moment of scare when I started getting a lot of crackle and it felt like one tube was curring out though they all looked good. I ran some tests and rechecked my wiring and found a bad solder joint at the first preamp tube socket, resoldering seems to have fixed the problem.

I have ordered a Weber AlNiCo 12A125A speaker for my mission build and I will also try this speaker with the one I have already built. I am having fun and playing a lot too - which is the point ain't it!

[d. spree]

Save your money... when fat again, from this build move right to a Princeton Reverb to Deluxe Reverb amp. Then you'll have three of the best bang for the buck amps out there!!

Does Mission sell the Princeton reverb as a kit - from the website it like a no?

[d. spree]

Nevertheless, the Mission 5E3 chassis is a thing of beauty and well worth the wait! Also consider obtaining the chassis support bracket found on the Mission site. It removed an annoying cabinet rattle for me and makes the whole amp solid as a brick. It requires a little bit of drilling, however.

Thanks for the tip - I will do. I already ordered the Mission Tweed Deluxe kit and am all excited about starting. Just have to be patient now. Also bought a GE NOS 12AY7 for the first pre-amp tube to replace the 12AX7 that came with my tube depot kit - will be trying it out this weekend.