Anyone build an amp from an amp kit

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 10 Mar 2021 12:04 pm

Mojo Tone, Stewmac and a few other places offer several model amp kits. Anyone try using one of these kits. Before Covid, Mojo Tone had a several day class where you build your own amp.

Sounds like fun or maybe too ambitious?

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 10 Mar 2021 12:10 pm

I built a couple shown here:

http://www.gregcutshaw.com/Allen%20Enco ... 20Amp.html

and here:

http://www.gregcutshaw.com/Allen%20Chih ... 20Amp.html

Bill A. Moore · Post by **Bill A. Moore** » 10 Mar 2021 12:52 pm

I've only built 3 amps.I bought a Weber DR kit from a fellow that decided he wouldn't complete it. Generally I buy the parts I need, make the turret board, and build the way I want to. (I also think it's cheaper!)

Jeff Porter · Post by **Jeff Porter** » 10 Mar 2021 12:53 pm

I've built a few kits and some from scratch. Depending on the amp they can vary in complexity. Mike Marsh (Member here at the forum) sells great kits. I built one of his 5E3 kits and it was an easy buld and sounded great.

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 10 Mar 2021 1:52 pm

If I'm not mistaken, Mike Marsh sells kits for his amps

admin · Post by **b0b** » 10 Mar 2021 2:05 pm

I used to build 4 amps a day. It's not hard to do if you have the right tools.

Bill A. Moore · Post by **Bill A. Moore** » 10 Mar 2021 2:15 pm

b0b, one person actually builds the complete amp? I figured it would be an assembly line type operation.

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 10 Mar 2021 5:08 pm

I'm pretty good with a soldering iron but not so good at reading directions

I'm thinking a simple circuit 15 watts with a 12 inch speaker.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 10 Mar 2021 10:17 pm

Bill A. Moore wrote:b0b, one person actually builds the complete amp? I figured it would be an assembly line type operation.

There was a bit of bolting things together before the chassis reached my bench, and the cabinets were built separately in the woodshop. So I guess you're right. I always felt that it wasn't an amp when I got it, and it was an amp when I finished. Plug in a guitar and a speaker and it makes noise.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 11 Mar 2021 3:10 am

I designed and built a guitar amp using a Bogen P.A. amp when I worked as a tech at a background music and jukebox company in mid 60's.

Built a Heathkit guitar amp.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 11 Mar 2021 7:59 am

Years ago when "hi-fi" was just coming in, I built a pre-amp and and amp from kits bought from Allied radio.
Then we got into "stereo" and I built an additional amp for stereo.
Now if you really want to go back in time, I also built a crystal radio set!
It was fun!

Erv

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 11 Mar 2021 8:07 am

I built a Mojotone tweed Champ. I had a little guidance from a friend who is not really a tech but has built a few amps..I enjoyed it and it came out great!

Tim Marcus · Post by **Tim Marcus** » 11 Mar 2021 9:00 am

absolutely!

that's how I got my start - built a kit, fell in love and caught the bug

not all kits are the same. I think Mojotone has the highest quality from the start but there is plenty of of things you will want to upgrade. You will also want to cross check some of their layouts and schematics with the originals (you will find mistakes...)

the thrill of powering on an amp you built for the first time never goes away even after you build nearly 2 thousand of them

Bill A. Moore · Post by **Bill A. Moore** » 11 Mar 2021 9:01 am

Was it a "cat's whisker" radio Erv? My uncle helped me build one when I was probably 8 or 9.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 11 Mar 2021 9:29 am

Bill,
Right on!
I built a fancy one with two dials for fine tuning.
I had an antenna strung across 40 acres (or so it seemed)!
Lots of fun.

Erv

Bill A. Moore · Post by **Bill A. Moore** » 11 Mar 2021 9:35 am

I found early on the best antenna was the "dial stop" on the telephone. I had several hundred feet of wire salvaged from dead motors strung between the trees behind our house, but the "telephone stop" seemed to work better!

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 11 Mar 2021 9:40 am

Bill, thanks!
You never get too old to learn something.

Erv

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 11 Mar 2021 11:13 am

I wasn't driving yet so it was before I was 16. My first amp was a Bell PA head, 30 watts I think and was definitely tubes. I have no idea how many or what type.

It had screws for speaker terminals and I built a crude speaker cab and installed 2 Radio Shack speakers. Back then I didn't even know what impedance meant I just hooked it up and it worked. Everything was bought with my newspaper delivery money.

Every once in a while I surf Ebay for a Bell PA and the prices are crazy for a decent unit. OH well, times have changed

Michael Butler · Post by **Michael Butler** » 11 Mar 2021 11:39 am

some people start by building a pedal then moving up to building an amp.

after learning to repair my own amps as well as a few friend's amps, i decided to build one. bought a tube depot kit tweed 5e3, printed circuit board, and put it together. great instructions and all the parts as a kit. since then, i've built two more 5e3 amps buying the cab, transformers, chassis, speakers and components separately and built point to point. the cab, chassis, speaker and tranformers are the most costly of a build. if you can build the cab and chassis, you'll save a lot of money.

probably the easiest is mojotone. but you can sub different cabs and speakers as well as other parts if you wish.

good luck

Bill A. Moore · Post by **Bill A. Moore** » 11 Mar 2021 3:51 pm

Michael, I built a 5E3 using one of those boards, and it sounds great!

George Biner · Post by **George Biner** » 11 Mar 2021 4:05 pm

This sounds like a great hobby -- the spirit of Heathkit lives on!!

1. Invest in a good soldering rig (Weller makes a bunch of good stuff). Don't cheap out here and learn how to solder, it's a major skill and it also is a major determination of reliability. Learn how to recognize a cold solder joint.

2. After it's built, I personally wouldn't just flip on the power, that's asking for an explosion. Get yourself a Variac, bring it up a little, check some voltages, bring it up a bit more, etc.

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 11 Mar 2021 6:54 pm

Len, I just finished building a Mojotone Princeton Reverb kit. It turned out nice. But I upgraded a few parts and did some mods (per rob robinette). I put a 12â€ speaker in it. It makes a nice low volume steel amp.

Note: donâ€™t trust Mojotone schematics and layouts completely. There are a few typos. Also, I recommend a good soldering iron and a good multimeter. Mike S recommended a Fluke 117 and Iâ€™m glad I got one. Very easy to check cap values.

Also note, you wonâ€™t save a lot of money building it yourself, but the education is very valuable.

Blake Hawkins · Post by **Blake Hawkins** » 11 Mar 2021 11:03 pm

Bill and Erv, Count me in as a member of the "Cats Whisker" Club. My first was built from a kit and later some from parts. It remains my biggest thrill after 75 years.
At age 16 I got my first lap steel. Did not have enough money for an amp. So I built my own using parts from discarded radios and a schematic from "Popular Mechanics" magazine. Had an old 12 inch electro dynamic speaker and a pair of 6v6 output tubes. Worked well.

Dan Kelly · Post by **Dan Kelly** » 12 Mar 2021 4:02 pm

Hey Len!

I just finished building my first amp. It is a single end Class A tube amp head kit from Trinity Amps in Canada.

It was a little challenging, but not too hard. It took me about 12 hours from start to finish. The instructions were thorough and this 15 watt tube amp sounds great.

Cappone dAngelo · Post by **Cappone dAngelo** » 12 Mar 2021 6:47 pm

I've built a few amps, as well as a few high voltage tube preamps. I started with pedals (of which I've built at least several dozen, ranging from simple boosts and fuzzes to clones of EHX DMM and Attack Decay) then moved to tube amps.

If you're completely new to it, I recommend pedals as a starting point, both because they do not entail high voltage and because the cost is low if you completely botch it. If you jump straight into amps, consider Bruce Egnater's excellent amp build seminars (there are several scheduled for this year) - you will learn a ton and are guaranteed to get a working amp out of it since Bruce is there to troubleshoot and fix if there are issues. My Egnater seminar amp has been my #1 gigging amp (for 6 string guitar) for 6 years.

If you just want to buy a kit, know that some kits come with detailed instructions while others don't - for example, when I did a Mojotone kit it came with only a schematic and wiring diagram and nothing else - which I would not recommend for a complete beginner - though I think some of their kits now come with build instructions.

Good luck!

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Anyone build an amp from an amp kit

Anyone build an amp from an amp kit

Anyone built an amp from an amp kit