New here, could use some seasoned eyes

[Chewbaccasauras]

Okso im new here, i recently purchased this 5e3 replica and it came fucked. I replaced the tubes a fixed the fucked soldering.... atleast enough for it to make some ok sound from my guitar.

Pre amble complete, tone doesnt seem to effect tone moving volumes doesnt really change tone, or really even the volume(doesnt matter which jack) bright is much louder). and im getting crazy popping only when i play certain note combos. So with that as my starting place, does this wiring on the imput jacks look right? I know its a jumbled mess.

Any help, advice or atleast a pointer in the right direction would be greatly appreciated, i have looked at a few wiring diagrams and they do not seem to match

[The Dude]

I see lots of turret connections with not nearly enough solder. Probably lots of bad or intermittent connections. Also can't see connections on bottom of board (if any), which are likely just as bad. I would start by checking and/or resoldering every single solder point in the amp. It seems the original assembler had no idea how to solder. Didn't even use the holes in the turrets. Who built this?

[Chewbaccasauras]

Some dude in Florida, got it for like 600, so I assumed I would have to do some work, but dang, more than I expected. Thanks for the advice. I'll start working on it after work tomorrow. I'll be back with updates.

[mozz]

Might have to turn the solder iron up a bit to get it to flow nice on those turrets. Maybe even use flux.

[Greg_L]

That is a fairly simple amp so you might be able to re-engineer it. Go through the connections as others have mentioned, clean up that ghastly wiring, and start from scratch.

Look at this is for comparison

[Mick Bailey]

Take a look at the 2nd turret to the right of the red wire - it doesn't look to be soldered at all. I'm also in agreement it needs to be resoldered with a good hot iron, making sure every joint is good. I'd assume that when it was built it worked - at least to some degree - so the priority should be to get it working properly as it stands then take a look at the wiring scheme, (especially the grounding) and general layout.

[Chewbaccasauras]

That is a fairly simple amp so you might be able to re-engineer it. Go through the connections as others have mentioned, clean up that ghastly wiring, and start from scratch.

Look at this is for comparison

I'm at work now, but I don't see a bar across the pots in this diagram, is that bar the pre-amp ground bus? Also what is the suggested wire gauge for this, going to grab some from work.

[Greg_L]

I'm at work now, but I don't see a bar across the pots in this diagram, is that bar the pre-amp ground bus? Also what is the suggested wire gauge for this, going to grab some from work.

The "bar across the pots" is unnecessary and frankly not the best way to do it anyway. Remove it and create a floating preamp ground buss that terminates at the input jacks like the pic and that would be a huge grounding improvement. You can use 20 gauge wire...I've used wire coathanger lol. Just sand the coating off and you got a nice rigid piece of rod to create a ground buss.

[Helmholtz]

Here's the original Fender layout (page 2): https://schematicheaven.net/fenderam..._5e3_schem.pdf
It uses a ground wiring different from the picture of post #5.
I wouldn't change the ground wiring before the amp works.
Use your Ohmmeter to check if all points with the ground symbol in the schematic are connected to chassis.
Good connection means resistance below 1 Ohm.

[Chewbaccasauras]

The "bar across the pots" is unnecessary and frankly not the best way to do it anyway. Remove it and create a floating preamp ground buss that terminates at the input jacks like the pic and that would be a huge grounding improvement. You can use 20 gauge wire...I've used wire coathanger lol. Just sand the coating off and you got a nice rigid piece of rod to create a ground buss.

Any harm in using 12 awg, I have 70k ft of it laying about the shop in different colors.

[loudthud]

12 awg is way too large for use in a guitar amp. 20 or 22 awg what is usually used.

[Greg_L]

Any harm in using 12 awg, I have 70k ft of it laying about the shop in different colors.

Could you use it? Sure. But you're building a guitar amp not a Death Star.

[Chuck H]

I don't see any harm using 12ga for the buss wire.?. But as mentioned, get the amp working before changing the ground scheme. Making changes not related to the diagnostic process can only serve to potentially introduce new problems and confuse the diagnosis. Less often something is inadvertently fixed with the change but then we still never get to know what the actual problem was.

[mozz]

12awg is good for the ground buss, as was just said. Other people are thinking you want to use that size for regular wiring. They didn't understand the thread.
Resolder anything that looks iffy. Then if it doesn't work follow the schematic bit by bit and see what's going on.

[Chewbaccasauras]

Update for any one following,

removed the old ground bus and all wiring Associated. used some 8 awg solid core copper deinsulated and soldered it to the chassis and bent such that it floats in front the resistors by an inch or so. Solderd that 12 gauge wire to the new ground buss and old connection points, to replace all old grounding points.

completely re wired the input jacks using 18awg(smallest gauge i found at the shop. Im cheap).

Re soldered all connections to the turrets and and to the amp plugs.


Didn't really want to fuck about inspecting the inside of the transformer

plugged in and it was super quiet, inspected and found that a power tube wire was touching ground, removed it added shrink tube to the exposed section of wire and re connected

now the amp sounds awesome.

May play around in the future with changing my pre amp tubes (they are both the same right now) but I'm am stoked.

thanks every one for your help!!!