Kitchen Table Deluxe Reverb Project, now complete!

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

The work bench in the garage has the better part of two Leslie amps on it so this one is on the kitchen table (No wonder I live alone eh?). I worked on many black and silver face Fender amps over the years but this is my first ground up chassis build. I finished wiring the main board tonight and felt like I just had to show somebody. The cab in the pics is a used Mojo I found on ebay for $127.00. I stuck a '68 C12NF in it but will most likely go to a Weber JBL clone with neo mag. when more funds are available. Caps are mostly Mallory 150 series and the trannies will be Heyboer (Mojo). The biggest single investment so far has been all the spools of cloth covered push back wire needed to color code it. I love the smell of melting solder and rosin in the morning, smells like victory!

Mark MacKenzie · From: Franklin, Tennessee, USA

Very nice! Pride in workmanship is a wonderful thing. I bet that will be a sweet amp!

BTW I put Hammond output transformers in my old Magnatone that were much less expensive but sounded great. Now that I think about it, I didn't have a choice. Mercury didn't make them and I don't think Heyboer did either.

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

Years ago, a buddy of mine rebuilt his VW engine on the dining room table. It was too cold and rainy to do it outside and he didn't have a garage. His wife wasn't too happy about it...

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

I got busy this week and finished her off tonight. The Deluxe Reverb clone lives! My first scratch build.

I am actually amazed by this little amp. It has tons of clean headroom. It just keeps getting louder as you twist the volume knob. It starts to hair up at about 7 and is in full bloom at about 8. Very loud by then. This thing really reminds me of my Pro Reverb tone wise. Smooth. The reverb is full and lush and the tremolo gets very deep with no ticks or pops. Over all the amp came out super quiet. I am very pleased. A few pics of my lead dress and the finished amp to follow:

I have all JJ tubes in it and am running a '68 Jensen C12N with a fresh recone.

Jamie Danter · Posted 15 Aug 2009 4:57 am

Rich,

Beautiful workmanship!

Think you need your name in Fender-style script on the faceplate, "Rich-Deluxe Reverb"

Which vendor supplied the circuit boards?

Jamie

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

Thanks Jamie,

The chassis, eyelet boards and transformers are from Mojo. I chose my own selection of caps for this build using mostly Mallory's. Honestly I was a bit disapointed in quality of the eyelet boards. A bit thin and flimsy and not drilled for mounting. The filter cap board needed to be drilled for all the thru wiring as well. All's well that ends well I guess. On the advice of Ken Fox I used a chassis and trannies from the same vendor so they would fit correctly. The Heyboers from Mojo are good, I,ve used them for replacement in the past. The costly part was buying all the cloth covered push back hookup wire. I have enough of that now for several more amps! I thought color coding would be easier to wire up and look cool in the end.

A forum member posed about making logos and decals a week or so ago. I need to find that post. I want to put my signature in the blank spot on the faceplate!

Next I'm thinking Vibroverb.

Best,

Rich

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

Nice job on the wiring! I like anything that has a Fender logo on it. I am restoring a 60's Vibro-Champ and it doesn't take long to spend a lot of money on these amps.

Greg

Jamie Danter · Posted 15 Aug 2009 11:40 am **Vinyl Decals Thread Link**

Rich,

Greg Wisecup-Vinyl Decals Thread Link

jamie

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Rich,
A good source of cloth-covered wiring is old Hammond organs! I've seen them at many Goodwill stores, fer cheap. These aren't the ones that anyone really wants. Great source for all sorts of parts, and a few miles of color-coded, push-back wire. I've bought them at Goodwill, removed the tubes and speakers, and donated them right back. All without leaving the store. The tubes? Great quality, from Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany. EL-84s and 12AX-7s. Speakers? Very nice Jensen's! An old, low model Hammond or Lowery can be a treasure trove!

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

The tube osillator Conn organs can have a ton of wire and tubes (70 or 80) as well. I wanted all new stuff in this one. I have a Hammond RT3 & Leslie in the living room. I'm not cutting that one up!

Our founder b0b and member Josh Grange both have Hammonds I have brought back to life.Then found a good home for.

Best,

Rich

Ken Fox · From: Nashville GA USA

About the only place I have found the correct cloth covered wire is at New Sensor. My fiber boards are from Mojotone for the 5D6B amps I am building and they are excellent quality.

They have also made a custom baord for me at one tine, a 5D3 (1954 Tweed Deluxe) and it was great, Not sure about there Blackface era boards, never used them.

Good job on the amp!!!!

Bob Lawrence · From: Beaver Bank, Nova Scotia, Canada

Great Job!! mighty fine looking.
Very Happy

Ben Jones · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

wow, that looks great! lead dress is sharp.

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

Thanks guys,

I really worked hard on making the amp clean under the hood. I think it paid dividends because it is very quiet. I also s-canned the brass grounding plate idea and ran a 18 ga ground buss all the way around the chassis. From the nornal input #1 full circle around to the reverb RCAs on the back side picking up everything that needed grounding in the process. I've seen ground failures of the pots to the brass plate in amps that I have serviced. Time will tell if this was a good idea or not.

Ken,

I don't know how correct it is but I found solid cloth covered hookup wire at Mojotone and also from Antique Electronics. It worked out great. I use braided for guitar control wiring that I have bought from StuMac in the past. The only PVC covered wire in the amp is what was supplied with the transformers. I'll have to take a look at New Sensor and see what they have.

I wasn't really knocking Mojo about the board. I just think a better job could have been done with the hole punch. The eyelets where great.

The other little mod I made was to tap the filter cap cover mounting holes 8-32 and mount the cover with machine screws. The chassis is quite thick (a good thing) so sheet metal screws ala Fender were not an easy option

I took the amp to a jam yesyerday and it ran perfectly. Things got loud and it cut right through. I didn't play steel but used a Strat. The amp takes OD pedals well. It will only get better as the speaker cone breaks in.

Thanks again for your kind words.

Rich

Ken Fox · From: Nashville GA USA

I have not tried the Mojo wire, it looks like the same as I get from New Sensor, just more expensive. Tried the wire from Antique Electronics and it was not a true push back wire and had a much different looking cloth cover on it. Got a bunch of it in the shop and will not use it on a vintage Fender amp!!!

Tom Wolverton · From: Carpinteria, CA

Beautiful work, Rich. I was wondering, do you think there room to fit a JBL D130F into that cabinet?
_________________
To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

Tom,

I don't think a 15" driver will fit in a stock DR cab even with a baffle board mod. Me thinks it is too short. I believe a custom cabinet would have to be made for it.

JD Newell has built many cabs for me and would be a source if you wanted to have one built. There is also an SGF member who builds cabs but I can't come up with his name right now.

Ken,

Yep, that wire has an inner insulation so it really isn't push back type. The cloth is also laquered so it has a shiny look to it. I used it for all the high voltage power tube stuff. I'm going to take your advice and see if I can get 18 ga solid push back from New Sensor on the next build.

Thanks,

Rich

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Rick Johnson makes beautiful cabs, etc..

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