Guitar Gear Forum

I have been checking out tube amp kits as I am really interested in building one. I love electronics and this would be an awesome and fun project for me. What brands/companies have the best parts in their kits? Not sure what kit I am going to build but it will be a turret or eyelet based kit.

Thanks for any suggestions and sharing your experience!

Mark

I never built one but Ted Weber kits are popular: https://www.tedweber.com/amps/kits

Ceriatone is reliable - they sell their amps fully built or in kit form: http://www.ceriatone.com/

The trinity triwatt is well received

I am liking the Trinity line.

Here´s my take...

Many that buy kits seem to believe that it´s a short cut for putting an amp TGT. Might be,but the best piece of advice i can hand anyone in this case is...
Read.

There´s TONS of info online and what´s needed is papers on the subject and these are often found in PDF form. Various boards in their own right but the thing is that what you need to read up on is facts. Not opinions,that MIGHT come later.

Ontop of that there´s a few sites that really are good for the novice to check out.

First up "The Wizards" page. Merlin.

http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/

Apart from easy to understand information it at least strives for a more indepth look at things too. I advice the novice to study the chapter on grounding and grounding layout especially.

That done there´s a page that is a tad beyond 101..and that´s Aiken´s pages.
One board in turn that sports a plethora of INFO is Doug Hoffmans EL-34 board. Might very well be worth a visit.

That said?
Read. Learn about Ohm...Kirchoff..learn to read schematics. That´s the ONLY way to do it,and the internet provides. I absolutely guarantee.

Racing wrote:Here´s my take...

Many that buy kits seem to believe that it´s a short cut for putting an amp TGT. Might be,but the best piece of advice i can hand anyone in this case is...
Read.

There´s TONS of info online and what´s needed is papers on the subject and these are often found in PDF form. Various boards in their own right but the thing is that what you need to read up on is facts. Not opinions,that MIGHT come later.

Ontop of that there´s a few sites that really are good for the novice to check out.

First up "The Wizards" page. Merlin.

http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/

Apart from easy to understand information it at least strives for a more indepth look at things too. I advice the novice to study the chapter on grounding and grounding layout especially.

That done there´s a page that is a tad beyond 101..and that´s Aiken´s pages.
One board in turn that sports a plethora of INFO is Doug Hoffmans EL-34 board. Might very well be worth a visit.

That said?
Read. Learn about Ohm...Kirchoff..learn to read schematics. That´s the ONLY way to do it,and the internet provides. I absolutely guarantee.

Thanks, I have no issue with schematics and want to do this as a fun project to keep me busy since I am very board.. LOL

The only reason why I want a kit is for the ease of access to parts that are already thought out for assembly. I am not into designing a wiring layout on a turett board so I would love ot have a wiring diagram. I checked out el34world.com and that site seems to be chock full of crazy good info including wiring digrams and schematics. I will also check out the valvewizard website. Thanks for that tip!

Mark

best kit style thing i built was the plexi se pcb. fits right into an epiphone valve junior. valve jr goes for about $100 used. the rest will cost you about $100. you get an easily modifiable 5w jcm800 for 200 bucks. its not a turret but the pcb is of high quality. in my opinion, the jcm800 is "the" amp for hard rock.

Do your research on what the kit includes. Sometimes, it's literally just a box of parts with literally no literature. I think this might be how mojotone does it.

Personally, I would want some kind of instructions included.

Have you thought about doing Bruce Egnater's class? I ended up with a handmade USA amp that Bruce personally went over and checked with an oscilliscope. He also checks all of your joints and work to make sure it's top notch.

The price is worth it for the amp, and his education. I also learned that I don't really want to try doing everything on my own. I don't have the electronics knowledge, nor do I have the time to source parts on my own. There's a LOT to learn, and I think it's awesome if you have the time and skill. Getting help is a major plus though.

Also check out http://triodeelectronics.com/. Their kits use classictone transformers.

Ax84.com was a really great resource when I started out. It's still good, but not nearly as active as it was. Everything you would want to know is still there, but there are TONs of posts to search through.

I think Merlin still has the 1st chapter of his 1st preamp book available for free on his site (valvewizard mentioned previously). It is well worth the read. I own all of his books.

Before you get started building, I would print out a layout and a schematic of the same amp (say a Fender Bassman for simplicity's sake). Take a highlighter and trace each wire in the circuit, comparing where it is on the schematic vs the layout. That will really help to get a feel for understanding how the two overlap. Then go through and figure out the name/purpose of each component (bias resistor, plate resistor, bypass capacitor, filter capacitor, rectifier diode, etc). That will help when you inevitably start to debug your build.

I would recommend an Allen Amps kit for the "Fendery" vibe (not exact clones). They aren't cheap, but they have great step-by-step instructions (all text; no photos).

Mojotone kits are really good. Weber is hit or miss, not a fan of most of their stuff without serious upgrades.

I'd have a look at Allen Amps (for Fender-based kits) and Egnater Boutikits (for modded-Marshall type kits).