Jersey Impressionist: More Mishaps, Simple Connections & Power Up
Have I got a story since the last post! I’ll start with the things I was trying to do…
Musicologyee
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Recently received a bunch of pics from the guy who is building (has built rather) and finishing my head cab for the amp. The top most pic is what was most recently sent today, and top to bottom from earliest to most recent progress.
As you can see, there’s nice very nice flame on this maple and the most recent coats are allowing for a nice “pop” in the grain. Should be shipping shortly. That means I need to get off my butt and finish this amp up! When I get the cab and faceplate, I’ll post more pics.
Jersey Impressionist: Hardware Mounting (“For reals this time”)
I think I’ve recovered from the weekend frustrations. Now to actually mount stuff…
Jersey Impressionist: Weekend Mishaps
After the other night, I took the boards back out to have space to work on mounting the hardware: tube sockets mostly, but also a dry-fit of the pots. I also put blue tape around the perimeter to prevent scuffs and dings while working. But I hit a couple snags that prevented soldering anything yet…
Tools of the trade: A few noteworthy pieces of equipment
Forgot to discuss what sort of tools are useful for an amp build in particular. While most are self-explanatory, some are not so common and I comment on them below…
Received the transformers & chassis Thursday; prepping the boards to mount into the chassis before soldering in all the components.
I aligned the boards with one corner, then drilled the rest to lineup with the chassis holes. Slight adjustments were made as I dry-fit the board. Now to clean up the boards and mount components!
Jersey Impressionist: Chassis & Board Mounting pt. 1
After Thursday’s present of fantastic metal objects arrived, and the main reason why I’ve been waiting for the build instead of soldering right away, I got set to work on getting some of the component leads bent for mounting & soldering to the circuit board. I had a couple friends over as I discussed with them guitar amps, building approaches, and general science and electrical engineering topics. More towards the end of our time, I started to bend more leads and put some components on the boards. After they left, though, I came to an unfortunate realization.
Here’s the stuff I’d gathered for the build as of Wednesday night. Some prep work was already done (lead bending, component checking, contact cleaning, etc.)
Jersey Impressionist: Build Preparation
My wife says I can’t call it the Jersey Impressionist due to the white trash connotations of New Jersey, but I’m more worried about building the amp than thinking of a new name, so that’s what I’ll call it until I find an alternative.
Some comments first about the build: For the benefit of my friends, I’ve decided to explain the whole amp building process, the design of an amplifier, and other fundamental subjects. I won’t bog down the description of the build with these things, but I will show some things that are important via pics.
I’m concurrently posting some pics of the Wednesday night preparations. I had my turret circuit boards and a bunch of other items arrive in the previous week which I’ve been stockpiling in the garage at the workbench. I “organized” some tools out on the bench, I did some initial lead bending just to freshen up, and I am pretty stocked to get started for real! Next post will discuss in detail the prepping of the chassis and the turret board for the components. The nice thing about this build is that I can work at my own pace. I intend to put the whole thing up, unless it’s just not practical to do so.
Codename: The Jersey Impressionist (intro)
Alright, I gotta call this project something, so here’s my attempt at being oblique, yet descriptive. First off, let me say that this amp build is intended as an edifying project for my own experience. While I am not going to be able to replicate this much-heralded design, I also don’t really want to. My approach is to first make a “clone” as best as possible to the schematics & layouts I’ve seen, then take liberties with the design that I think the original designer had either eschewed or at the least did not address in his limited records of his customer correspondence. I don’t know what the results will be, but I hope to use this as a learning experience for things that I didn’t really delve into in my first “era” of amp building.
For the benefit of non-technical readers, in this post I will provide a brief overview of the guitar amp, circuits and the building process, as well as the preparation I’ve made thus far.
the summer comeback!
Well, it’s been a while. I’m still alive and doing well, I think. The “regular” posting thing has just never been my forte…. But, I’m back, hoping to write a bit more in the near future. I will say that besides being wracked with guilt for not posting in the interim since April and the completion of the Jackson, I have been busy at work (well not TOO busy) with a recent promotion, gotten some work done around the house, went wine tasting and bought wine entirely way too many times, been to some friends’ weddings, celebrated my 2nd wedding anniversary, then finally decided it’s time…
Current Gear
I added a sidebar link to current gear.
Let’s go on a quest…
On a gloomy President’s Day Monday, I set out across the San Rafael Bridge. You can see San Quentin on the lefthand side…
Continuing up north on CA 101, I took this exit…
About Musicologyee
A personal blog on grooves, gear, tech, and instruments
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