18watt.com amps

[TmcB]

Has anyone built one?
I'm looking at buying a kitset version of their 18watt lite IIb amp from dockery amps
(http://www.dockeryamps.com/web/Products ... te-iib.php)
Or, if someone made one of these beasties, where they sourced their chassis and hard-to-find parts from.

[ant]

I have built an 18watt. But I thought the point of the kits was that they supplied everything?

[sgt mukuzi]

yea mine is the 74X schem, then fuzziebro modded the preamp

now its a keeper

[ant]

What mods did he do, the reason they are popular is they sound good without mods

[sgt mukuzi]

What mods did he do, the reason they are popular is they sound good without mods

The amp sounded great but after I heard one of his amps I wanted the same pre amp gain he had, I asked him to mod the normal channel, he went point to point and left the trem channel as is, the difference is huge. The amp sounds way better thanks to Fb.

[TmcB]

I have built an 18watt. But I thought the point of the kits was that they supplied everything?

Yeah, I was wondering whether its actually cheaper and easier to source the parts in NZ rather than buying the kit. I'll probably buy it just to avoid headaches of inevitably forgetting a part.

[sgt mukuzi]

i sourced the parts here, it was easy as

[TmcB]

Really? 4 q's for you then!
1) where did you get/what did you use for the chassis and how did you make the holes?
2) where did you get the tube sockets?
3) what transformer did you use and where did you get it?
4) Did you use a turret board?

[sgt mukuzi]

the transformers were made locally by a guy in howik/botany
they cost around 100 to 150 each, i had to get the power tranny rewound and he charged me a hand shandy. his name is Basil and is a very cool guy.
the amp has a CB made locally at MIT in manukau, the tube sockets came from MIT as well, just old stock in a store room in building P. the CB was made the old way by an old guy who was interested in making valve amps a few years ago, he made two.
the chassis was made out of aluminum, just bent and drilled using a hole saw.
the cab was made by a chippie

[AmpShop]

Really? 4 q's for you then!
1) where did you get/what did you use for the chassis and how did you make the holes?
2) where did you get the tube sockets?
3) what transformer did you use and where did you get it?
4) Did you use a turret board?

I can help with question two, plenty of JJ Octal and Noval sockets available.

[Cdog]

the transformers were made locally by a guy in howik/botany
they cost around 100 to 150 each, i had to get the power tranny rewound and he charged me a hand shandy. his name is Basil and is a very cool guy.
the amp has a CB made locally at MIT in manukau, the tube sockets came from MIT as well, just old stock in a store room in building P. the CB was made the old way by an old guy who was interested in making valve amps a few years ago, he made two.
the chassis was made out of aluminum, just bent and drilled using a hole saw.
the cab was made by a chippie

Pictures?

[TmcB]

Pictures?

+1

[rickenbackerkid]

the transformers were made locally by a guy in howik/botany
they cost around 100 to 150 each, i had to get the power tranny rewound and he charged me a hand shandy. his name is Basil and is a very cool guy.
the amp has a CB made locally at MIT in manukau, the tube sockets came from MIT as well, just old stock in a store room in building P. the CB was made the old way by an old guy who was interested in making valve amps a few years ago, he made two.
the chassis was made out of aluminum, just bent and drilled using a hole saw.
the cab was made by a chippie

This illistrates how much work it is. SGT found some people who were willing to help at a reasonable cost. I if you do everything from scratch, there is a huge amount of time, money and effort to get it right.

I'm currently working on an amp based on the 18 but with some new ideas thrown in.
For the first one, I would recommed a kit, and Dockery is suposed to be really good.

[sgt mukuzi]

thats right Ben, it still took three years to get right and a fire, a few pops and burnt out output tubes, it had 480V at one stage

its worth it tho better than getting a crappy build marshall, Fb makes great amps also, my amp sucked before he modded it

[Bg]

yep go with a kit, ceriatone do great ones too Unless you're willing to put extra time and energy into scavenging - in which case you might as well buy a Marshall 1974 and be done with it! As time is money ...and I wouldn't describe the 1974's as crappy built

For the record I built a 36watt kit from Weber Which reminds me, its about time it was gigged again, praps at Bar159 next month