Friday 23 January 2015

Not many updates for a while  -been too busy having fun with the PP-18!

Anyway, decide to build another amp, this time a JTM45 clone based on the Metroamp kit listings given at Valvestorm. Got all the parts, except the valves, and just started the build. New blog needed! Details will follow once I get it set up

Thursday 16 January 2014

Sockets problem

Just an update here, for reference really. I had been having problems with the input sockets. The bottom one was OK but the top wasnt working. Turns out it was a simple short from a bit of wire to earth. A little poking around and tidying did the trick. Now works OK. Both channels are fine. I had thought about completely re-doing the sockets, but that wasnt necessary


However, it shows the need for tidy lead dress and watching for "whiskers" of wire that can short out. Some of the distances that these whiskers need to jump are very small.

Barry refers to this type of problem in his testing procedure:

"By testing adjacent pins for continuity you can find shorts caused by wire 'whiskers' that are easily overlooked by the naked eye"

http://www.ampmaker.com/pp-18-initial-testing-1044-0.html

Anyway, all is fine now!

Monday 30 December 2013

Found the Font!

Well, heres something. The amp has got a big gap on the front where a logo needs to go. I have always wanted simply to use "Ampmaker" as the logo, but couldnt find a font I liked. Something like the Marshall logo would be good, but I realise that the Marshall logo is a logo per se and not an actual font.

A Google search for "Marshall amp logo font" throws up all sorts of stuff, but none of them so far have been quite what I have been looking for.

And then this appears:

http://www.aringtypeface.com/amplify/

Have a look - its seriously cool. And free for personal use; commercial use needs payment (which is only fair). "Amplify" is listed in the "New" fonts category. Some of the Authors other fonts are very neat as well.

Anyway, "Ampmaker" in the Amplify font looks like this:



So I think I'll go an see my local sign making company about getting something made up. Hats off to Måns Grebäck, the author. A superb job producing this font! 

A quick and dirty mock-up using just a bit of paper and card looks like this:



Pic is a bit blurry I know.




Anyway, quite pleased with that for now. I think it works well, but if anyone has any constructive criticism, let me know!

Cheers!

James



Sunday 29 December 2013

Small repair

OK, been a bit of a while since I updated the blog. Main reason is that there hasn't really been much to add. I have been very happy with the PP18 amplifier so far. However the other day all fell silent. I switched it on, let it warm up, hit the standby and then... silence.

OK, I thought, lets try different cables, different speaker. Still no good. Off with the case it was then.

I worked through Barry's extremely useful test procedure listed here:

http://www.ampmaker.com/pp-18-initial-testing-1044-0.html

when it became obvious what the problem was. One of the bus wires wasnt actually soldered to one of the turrets. It was just sort of held against it! And had decided that it wasnt having it any more. A quick blob of solder on the offending connection and the tests ran OK.

It was then a case of plugging in the speaker, mains cable and guitar and hey, the magical sound was back again! And sounding better than before I might add. Ahem. Here is a pic of the offending connection, now soldered (marked with an X)




















Yes, I know , it looks a bit nasty. But it works just fine. On Channel 2. After putting the whole lot back together again (and re-gluing some Tolex along the way) it doesnt work on Channel 1. I think I mentioned earlier on in this blog that I didn't like my sockets and the way I had done them. A bit messy. They need re-doing so I can see an order going in to Barry for some new sockets and wire and stuff. More to come!

I mentioned Tolex back there. When building the case, I used a spray-on glue from my local Builders' merchant for the Tolex. It appeared to work well but with time (and heat I suspect) it has started to lift. Really annoying. What I have discovered is that Evo-stik does a much better job (although I suspect that if you wanted to remove it to do a re-Tolex, it might be stubborn). But it definitely holds it well and doesn't lift.

Anyway thats all for now. Happy New Year when it comes!

JW





Monday 8 October 2012

New case for the PP-18

I decided that the PP-18 needed a new case. I always wanted to make one that looked like the 1959RR Marshall head, you know the white Randy Rhoads one? Heres a pic of the original 1959RR:









Anyway, finally managed to knock one together. Here is a pic of it:



As you can see its not the same size as the 1959RR - its smaller. But its the same construction style, made with several Marshall parts. Tolex, corners, handle, piping,  knobs are all Marshall. The amp kit of course is an Ampmker PP-18. Modified with the "voltage mod" that allows power ratings of 2, 9 and 18 watts.

It also runs through my home built power attenuator, based on the BitMo 10-uator design.

The feet on the base are generic Maplin feet. I WAS going to put on the sprung feet that Marshall have on the 1959RR but that can wait for a bit, just to keep the costs down.

It took about a week to make, working on and off for about 1 1/2 hours a day. Lots of waiting on glue to dry! Wood is pine - easy to work with and rounding off the edges was simple.

Anyway, that's it - heres another few pics. Yes, I know it is a bit different - but it was the style I was trying to copy rather than the whole thing.

And yes, it definitely needs a logo to fill in that empty white space. Any suggestions?

Hopefully get some sound samples up soon!

















Wednesday 25 July 2012

SE5A and PP18

I built the SE5A two years ago - it was my first proper valve map build and it went very well. Th eamp sounds good, but I feel that the PP18 sound much better. When driven hard the PP18  has a much fatter sound.much more satisfying. What I intend to do soon is record a few short  clips comparing the two amps. In the meantime here is a pic of the two Ampmaker amps together on top of my "Marshall" 4 x 12.....


























Bye for now

\m/ James Westland



Tuesday 12 June 2012

Buzzing

Amp seemed to develop a noise problem the other day. Dont know how it happened but whenevcr a guitar lead wa plugged into it, there was a loud , very loud hum from the speaker. Using the test diagram and instructions on Ampmakers site, I was able to quickly diagnose the problem -  a bad earth caused by a whisker of soldered wire poking through the insulation on one of the shielded cables from the input sockets.

After this was tidied up, it all went back to how it was. Have to say, when building the amp, I found the input socket wiring to be the hardest part, definitely very fiddly. I was never terribly happy with the finished result. I may order up a new set of sockets and resistors and re-do it a bit neater. We'll see!

Test pages here:

PP18 Initial testing

Bye for now

James