Awhile back my dad and I built a homemade point to point replica of a 1959 Tweed Deluxe (5E3 circuit layout) we used all the best parts we could find and even built it into a head format! With a custom pine finger jointed head cabinet and speaker cabinet and wicker grills (think Mesa Boogie Mark I)! Then we built a 4 x 12 cab loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s! And I have to say... this amp is pretty darn simple. 4 input jacks 2 volumes and a tone control, but wow it gets some awesome tones.
It is the perfect blues amp. Its not twin reverb clean, its not JCM gain. But its nice light and spanky clean or gritty crispy crunch. Very beautiful sounding. I did a small gig with it and the only pedals I used were a Clyde wah, a Keeley TS9, and a Keeley TR2 tremelo! And it was one of the best sounding gigs I have done. Its also LOUD as heck. I constantly found myself cutting down. But it sounded so beautiful cranked. Just so much sustain it made me want to hold EVERY note longer. And add the TS9 to it and it just soars off into some uncharted lead tone that sounds something like Neil Young would produce. I even did my rendition of "Cinammon Girl" and the famous two note solo! :D
This was really a great experience for me as a DIYer and has inspired me to build my own 5E3 in a small head format. Even for a moment I thought about SELLING my Marshall... but I held my judgement and just got the loan from my dad to purchase the Mission Amps 5E3 kit.
http://www.missionamps.com/5E3kit.shtml
Any of you who have ever thought about building your own copy should really do it! These things sound like pure blues and rock and roll.
Ok ramble over. I hope I can get some pics of the gig up soon.
GN's resident learning sponge, show me a little and I will soak it up.
That is a really nice amp! Simple is good! :D
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
There's just something about a good tube amp that you've built and tweaked yourself, eh? ;) I built a Weber 6M45P (not an exact Plexi-50 clone, but pretty close) a few months ago and really like it. Stock, the bright channel was way way too bright, so I remedied that by mucking w/ the bright cap, then I replaced one of the Chinese 12AX7s with a NOS Mullard 12AT7 for a little gain, and this thing sounds great to me now. Only thing is.... It's way too freaking loud! Need an attenuator. Different sort of amp from yours, but I think I may have to try a 5E3 sometime in the future....
TZ
Yea its definitly alot of fun. Even more fun with a dummyload! I really like how the two volume knobs interact with each other. Almost one controls volume and other controls a small amount of dirt. I definitly steal this thing from my Dad as much as I can. And I cant want to start building my own!
GN's resident learning sponge, show me a little and I will soak it up.
Well.... Let it never be said that I'll pass up any opportunity to go bragging on my 5E3. Here's a link to some photos.
http://home.earthlink.net/~trickflier/storage/5E3Photos/index.html
Well.... Let it never be said that I'll pass up any opportunity to go bragging on my 5E3. Here's a link to some photos.
Looks cool! BTW, roughly how many hours of work did it take for you to put the kit together?
--vink
"Life is either an adventure or nothing" -- Helen Keller
well we took our time. But it could be done in a day. We took our time planning and soldering and double checking and checking each connection with a meter. And then building the cabinets and wiring the speakers and biasing and all that good stuff took about the rest of a week. But again we were taking our time doing as much as we could in spare time. And we did it together so that cuased scheduling conflicts. Father Son project, ya know? :D
By the way sweet 5E3 quarterfront! What type of cab did you use?
GN's resident learning sponge, show me a little and I will soak it up.
Mine took a couple of evenings. Late evenings, admittedly. I put maybe 10 or 12 hours in on it all told.
The cabinet was supplied by Weber as part of the kit.
The speaker I put in initially was a Weber 12A125A; I've since swapped it out for an Eminence Canabis Rex which seems to have a little tigher low end. I substituted Sprague Orange Drop and Sprague Atom capacitors, Carling switches and Switchcraft jacks for the ones that came with the kit, put in a better pilot light. Also I added the Fender tilt back legs.
Mine took a couple of evenings. Late evenings, admittedly. I put maybe 10 or 12 hours in on it all told.
well we took our time. But it could be done in a day
Thanks for the info .. that does not sound too bad. Probably would take twice as long for me, as this would be my first project along these lines.
Also I added the Fender tilt back legs.
Are the tilt back legs the ones shown in your "right.jpg"? (coming out from the sides of the cabinet?)
BTW, do you know the difference between the different Weber 5E3 kits (5E3, 5E3P, 5C1?) Also, in terms of modern fender amps, what would you say the 5E3 is closest to? A 65 Deluxe Reverb?
thanks.
--vink
"Life is either an adventure or nothing" -- Helen Keller
Double post
Are the tilt back legs the ones shown in your "right.jpg"? (coming out from the sides of the cabinet?)
Yup.
BTW, do you know the difference between the different Weber 5E3 kits (5E3, 5E3P, 5C1?) Also, in terms of modern fender amps, what would you say the 5E3 is closest to? A 65 Deluxe Reverb?
Well, kind of, but not really. If you want to do some research you can learn a lot more than I can begin to tell you here:
This link is to the "Fender Field Guide". Lots of historic info that speaks to just what you're asking about. The 5E3 circuit is the late '50's Tweed Deluxe; I believe the 5C1 circuit is the Fender Champ. The 5E3P is, IIRC, something called the "ProLux" which may be a hybred design - but I'm not sure. Also, Weber makes the 5e3x2 which is a 5E3 with two pairs of output tubes that run in tandem, essentially making it the same amp but with 2x the output.
Thanks for the link, I will check it out!
--vink
"Life is either an adventure or nothing" -- Helen Keller
