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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:59 pm
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Rock Star
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Glad the wife's foot is on the mend, but sorry to hear about the cataracts. But on the good side, really like the amp logo! This amp is going to sound great and LOOK COOL! Way to go.

Not being as ambitious as you, I am over on the vintage amp side of the forum refurbing a late 69 Bantam Bass Amp...with loads of help from Arjay! I am having alot of fun doing this, I actually forgot to eat dinner tonight working on the disassembly and cleaning of the amp.

T2

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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 10:21 pm
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Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
dvlsadvc8t wrote:
That logo plate looks pretty good. And next month your wife will be getting hearing aids after you've destroyed her hearing from cranking that amp so much. :D


Thanks.

Actually, both she and our two Golden Retrievers automatically leave the room when I pull out one of my guitars. :lol:

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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 10:27 pm
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Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
T2Stratman wrote:
Glad the wife's foot is on the mend, but sorry to hear about the cataracts. But on the good side, really like the amp logo! This amp is going to sound great and LOOK COOL! Way to go.

Not being as ambitious as you, I am over on the vintage amp side of the forum refurbing a late 69 Bantam Bass Amp...with loads of help from Arjay! I am having alot of fun doing this, I actually forgot to eat dinner tonight working on the disassembly and cleaning of the amp.

T2


Thanks.

I got the logo here:

http://www.plaquemaker.com/

Its brass that is coated to prevent tarnishing and the lettering is laser etched. Not cheap but should last. They deliver pretty quickly too.

I saw your amp thread. Pretty cool. I remember those speakers. :roll:

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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 9:40 am
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A great build and a treat to see the pics! I wish I had the talent to do this!

Best wishes for the wife's continued recovery!


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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:21 pm
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Butterscotch wrote:
A great build and a treat to see the pics! I wish I had the talent to do this!

Best wishes for the wife's continued recovery!


Thanks, Butterscotch on both counts.'

I don't know about the "talent" part, but having an overabundance of patience really helps out. :lol:

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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:50 pm
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Here's today's update on last night's and today's activities.

Last night I pulled out the controls/input jacks and removed the output transformer so I could install the lower insulating fiberboard. The stock mounting uses 4 sheet metal screws that you use to hold the circuit board and insulating board to the chassis. Of course, the holes that were predrilled in the boards were too close to the components and none of the holes matched the holes in the chassis anyway. :lol:

I didn't like that arrangement and decided to use 3/8" long 6-32 bolts and 1/2" long aluminum standoff spacers to mount the insulating board to the chassis and provide a little space between the insulating board and circuit board wiring. I drilled new holes in both boards as well as the chassis. The writing on the board is to remind me of which way to drill the chassis and install the insulating board as the holes were not equally spaced on the boards.

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Afterwards I ran the heater wiring to all of the tubes. This was a little tricky as I wanted to keep the wiring as far away from things as I could to minimze hum and the wiring is fairly heavy, made even worse by twisting it, to bend and solder. But it worked out OK if not the prettiest job. I had a moment of panic after I finished and was checking the wire for continuity and I found I had a short between the heater terminals of V1. It took me a minute to realize that I was measuring DC resistance back through the transformer heater secondary so obviously the resistance was negligable. Whew.

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The small pot on the right is the bias adjustment pot which hasn't been wired up yet.

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Things were kind of busy today but I did manage to install the wires that run under the circuit board as well as the flying leads off the board. Gotta be careful to get all of them and to make sure they are long enough to reach. Better to make them too long and to trim them for installation than too short to begin with. :wink:

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That's it for today (WOW! It's only 8:45 pm) as I have a bad migraine. I plan on spending most of Sunday working on the amp (Between walking the dogs and doing laundry. :lol: ), so hopefully I can get a lot done. I'll be off Monday so I hope to squeeze in same amp time then, also. Stay tuned for the next installment. :D

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Last edited by bluesky636 on Sat Nov 03, 2012 10:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:46 am
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Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
We're getting close to the finish line. I spent almost all day yesterday until about 2 a.m. this morning installing all of the sub assemblies and wiring everything up. It was quite the challenge as there is not a whole lot of room left to work inside the chassis. I had to rearrange some wires and a few were cut too short and had to be replaced. I also had to make some adjustments to my mounting scheme for the insulating board and circuit board as it was rather difficult getting it installed and there was some interference with the #2 inputs. That got worked out in short order. I also had to order some decent phono plugs used to connect the speaker cables to the amp to replace the cheapo plastic bodied ones that came in the kit. When I was test fitting one of them into the jack, the center pin of the plug came out and there was no way to reattach it. I ordered some decent metal bodied Switchcraft plugs from Newark. They should be here by the end of the week. Some people replace the phono plugs/jacks with phone plugs/jacks, but Leo used phono connectors so I stuck with those.

Here is an overall view of the chassis interior with everything installed. Only thing missing is the power cord which will go in next week.

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Here is a close up shot of the wiring starting from the power transformer end. From left to right are the two power tube sockets and the rectifier tube socket.

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A few closeups of the circuit board.

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Bright volume, normal volume, and input wiring (left to right).

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Presence, middle, bass, and treble wiring (left to right).

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Power wiring (disconnected ground switch, fuse holder, main switch, standby switch, and pilot light, left to right).

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Preamp tube wiring. Left to right: V1 (12AY7), V2 (12AX7), V3 (12AX7 phase inverter).

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Output jacks and one of the power tubes.

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V4 and V5 sockets (6L6GCs) and main power supply caps.

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V5 socket and rectifier tube socket (left to right).

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Next weekend, assuming the new speaker connectors arrive (or I can jury rig something), I'll be installing the power cord, mounting the chassis into the cabinet, throwing in some old tubes (in case something blows up :lol: ), and firing her up. Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed for me. We're almost there. I'm pumped. :D

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Last edited by bluesky636 on Sat Nov 03, 2012 10:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:54 am
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Looking really good! Hope to hear some audio samples when you finish. I'm really enjoying this thread. Hope to do the same one day.

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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:52 am
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BLUESMAN1904 wrote:
Looking really good! Hope to hear some audio samples when you finish. I'm really enjoying this thread. Hope to do the same one day.


Thanks.

Gonna be a while for audio samples as I need to get a portable digital recorder.

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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 1:40 pm
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Looking great mate, got my fingers crossed for launch day. 8)


Snowy


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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 4:47 pm
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No457 Snowy wrote:
Looking great mate, got my fingers crossed for launch day. 8)


Snowy


Thanks. So do I. :lol:

Just got notified that the phono connectors have shipped and should be here by the end of the week.

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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:09 pm
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The new phono connectors and my NOS JAN GE 12AY7s showed up today.

Here is a shot of the cheap phono plugs supplied in the kit and the new Switchcraft phono plugs. Quite a difference. I have to say that the plugs were probably the shoddiest parts included in the kit and I am glad the center pin broke off on one of them. They will go in the trash real soon. The new plugs came from here:

http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/produc ... KU=39F2159

Not cheap but well worth the price.

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I bought two 12AY7s (one as a spare). One will go into V1 once everything is checked out and verified to work properly.

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These were purchased from here:

http://www.kcanostubes.com/content/nos-jan-ge-12ay7

Current plans are to finish assembling everything Friday night and start checking the amp out Saturday. My fingers are crossed and I can't wait. Stay tuned.

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Last edited by bluesky636 on Sat Nov 03, 2012 10:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:51 pm
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Bill good luck with Power Up. Everything looks fantastic and you certainly did a fine job with assembly, big Hand Salute to you! Like the JAN tubes too!

T2

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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 6:04 pm
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Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
T2Stratman wrote:
Bill good luck with Power Up. Everything looks fantastic and you certainly did a fine job with assembly, big Hand Salute to you! Like the JAN tubes too!

T2


Thanks. My compliment of JJs arrived today.

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Post subject: Re: My Weber 5F6A Bassman Build-Up Thread
Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 12:52 am
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It's now 2:37 am Saturday morning. With the exception of installation of the tubes, assembly of my 5F6A has been completed. The only problem I had tonight was that I had to remove the magnet cover of the upper speaker behind the power transformer as the PT hit the cover and I could not install the chassis. However, after finding several photos of vintage 59 Bassmans, it appears the magnet cover had to be removed even on the originals. Of course, I also removed the magnet cover of the other upper speaker for symmetry.

Here is a shot of the back of the amp with the chassis installed and the speaker cables and power cord hooked up.

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Here it is with the back panel installed (but not screwed down). I added some aluminum tape to the back of the upper panel to aid in shielding the open back of the amp chassis. The chassis is adjusted so that the metal edge touches the tape. It should help some.

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Finally, here is a shot of the control panel. The ground switch is for show only and is not hooked up as the amp uses a grounded three-prong plug.

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The weather during the day on Saturday is supposed to be pretty crappy in Virginia with sleet and freezing rain. So my plans are to stay inside and check the amp out, install the tubes, and fire her up. I'll take measurements at each stage and report them as I work.

Off to bed now with my fingers crossed. See you all soon.

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Last edited by bluesky636 on Sat Nov 03, 2012 10:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

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