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Post subject: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 12:58 pm
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Hey guys,

New here and thought I would share my 5E3 build. It's all tube 18w amp based on the Fender Tweed Deluxe. I bought all the parts from Tube Depot. It's basically the TD kit but with the caps upgraded to orange drops, spragues and F&Ts. I also used a Texas Heat speaker and I built the cab and chassis. I also used metal film resistors throughout, where I could.

The thing that makes this one unique, other than the fact I built it myself, is I covered it with 2x2 twill carbon fiber and hand built the chassis.

I also use two 12AY7's in the preamp for more clean headroom and to get mostly power tube distortion, which just sounds great.

I must say the amp sounds fantastic and is probably one of the best amps I've heard. I'm not saying that either cause I built it. It really does sound great.

Here are quite a few build pictures.

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This was done on a budget, so here's my nifty way of clamping the wood while the glue dried.

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The chassis layout I drafted up.
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The scrap piece of 18 gauge I used to build the chassis.

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The chassis after sandblasting, drilling and tack welding together.
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Here's the cab glued, routed, and painted. I did however coat the entire outside of the cab with black paint before I applied the carbon fiber cloth to prevent the wood from showing through at bends.

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Here's the chassis painted and all the parts test fitted. I used hammer tone black paint.

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Here's the PCB populated. Very nice board, BTW. Easily to solder on.

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Cutting the carbon fiber and keeping the pattern aligned proved to be tricky. I imagine using tolex would've been much easier of a job.

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Here she is all completed and wired up. Only thing I would've done differently would've been to make the filament wires shorter, for looks only. It really is a VERY quite amp.

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And a shot with my Lonstar Strat.

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A video of the carbon effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9p3q9CW50Q


Enjoy!

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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 1:09 pm
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Great photo essay, Matt!

It's been a while since I've seen an amp built from true "raw materials".

Rawk on!

8)

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 1:18 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
Great photo essay, Matt!

It's been a while since I've seen an amp built from true "raw materials".

Rawk on!

8)

Arjay



Thank you, Arjay! I forgot to mention, which was a real milestone for a DIYer such as myself, the hand sawed dovetail joints in which I created using a plane ol' hardback saw. In the end, it need a couple gaps and chips filled with some wood glue and saw dust, but I'm happy with how it came out. :D

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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 1:45 pm
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My woodwooking facilities are limited so I buy my cabs as pre-fab kits on Ebay -- milled to spec, with finished ¼" tongue-and-groove joints. It sure hastens my time spent on assembly.

Yours looks great though, Matt!

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 7:31 pm
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Beautiful work! With that carbon fiber cover, I'd dare say the amp's cab will outlast everyone of us. I have a friend whose brother works in Grumman-Northrup machine shop. And he brings home C-F scraps. They are the craziest things I've ever seen. Like you can break a sledgehammer over it and not even damage the material.

I wish I had the wood/metal work shop you own. I've been building this narrow panel Super 5F4 circuit off a turret board. On and off for years now. It sure could use a nice home. (nudge-nudge, wink-wink)... :D

http://www.ampwares.com/amp.asp?id=93

http://www.ampwares.com/schematics/super_5f4.pdf


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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 8:08 pm
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Great build Matt, she looks very familiar. :wink:

I agree with you about the sound, that Tube Depot kit builds into one of the best sounding amps I've heard, bar none. A great combination of the 5E3 circuit, upgraded Heyboer Deluxe Reverb transformers and the GZ34 rectifier all make for a really great sounding Deluxe.

The Texas Heat speaker is my favourite in that amp too, a great solid "Made in Kentucky" speaker that delivers all this amp has to give. I love how there's just no bass flub at all, you can crank the amp and play a chunky shuffle in E and it just delivers up solid tube overdrive with zero flubber. 8)

Nice work mate!!!


Snowy


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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 4:09 am
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Fantastic work with the whole project!
That CF covering looks great!

Congratulations!

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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 5:18 am
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Awesome, building stuff yourself is just great, building stuff you can use is even better!

The carbon cover looks great, I wouldn't have dared to try that. I have looked at several tolex types that I would like to use someday.

Jim


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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:58 am
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Very nice! I can't wait til I have the time to do stuff like this!

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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 10:26 am
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Beautiful job mate! Rock on! 8)


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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 12:46 pm
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I applaud your skills, sir! That actually turned out really nice. I especially like the idea of how the joints were done - solid as a rock, I say! 8)


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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 1:47 pm
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Sir, you should be building amps or atleast the cab, sell em
On eBay.
Serious nice work

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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 1:49 pm
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Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

It's great seeing you over hear, Snowy!

It was fun building it as a first time build and it will be gigged with regularly. I expect it to last a lifetime. If something goes wrong with it, I'm sure I can fix it. The hardest part was covering the amp, I think. It was pretty easy to knock the weave out of alignment. If I were to do it over, I would have covered it with a epoxy or lacquer. Although carbon fiber itself is strong andt even stronger when epoxied, I still managed to bang it up a little from transporting it. It's starting to get a nice little relic look. :D Nothing too major though. The material does hold up really well though.

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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 1:57 pm
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bluesstrattone wrote:
Sir, you should be building amps or atleast the cab, sell em
On eBay.
Serious nice work


Thank you! My wife said the same thing. Even though it may seem I have a fancy shop, I really used just basic hand tools. I borrowed the router from my friend and used the table saw here at work to cut the wood. I did have to buy a couple hole saws to do this project.

It's definitely something I've kicked around. I'm a graphic designer, so creating a website to sell them on wouldn't be a big deal. It would definitely be something worth looking into. My buddy is actually quite the wood worker as well. I've thought about seeing if he would like to go into business. :D

Something to think about at least.

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Post subject: Re: My 5E3 Tweed Deluxe build aka Carbon Twill Deluxe
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:03 pm
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BTW, I just finished creating a demo of my amp. It wasn't very well thought out and I probably should've done it when I wasn't so worn out after work. It would've made for a better demo of the amp and I would've been more creative with my licks or chords use. I basically just fiddled around with the amp at different setting. I kept the Tone know at about 6-7 the whole time. I wish I would've changed it up a little, but I'm sure everyone knows what a tone knob does.

Enjoy! :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4fh8qoNT88

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