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My new build: The Mortar


Slaymoar

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After a 5150 combo clone dilemma, I finally settled on a design I had been working on before; a continuation of my original Tomahawk build. If anyone recalls, the tomahawk went through a LOT of changes, and later turned into a prototyping bench. This build is going to be the cumulation of what I ended up liking the most.

 

At the moment, the circuit is pretty much a 6L6/KT66 JCM800, with a big low end, and more gain. The beauty of it is that it has the low input like the JCM800, and essentially can be selected to sound like a plexi/bassman. Excellent pedal amp with the low input.

 

The high input works the same as the JCM's, but more as a "boost" function than anything. Adds treble to the signal, while riding on top of the plexi-ish tone.

 

There are 5 toggle switches. Two of them toggle the brightness of the amp, one changes the character of the gain crunchy/smooth, one adds the jose zener clipping (experimental), and the last is the bass boost circuit.

 

Knobs are: Gain1, Gain2 (not needed, but there for pedal flexibility), Master, Treb/Mid/Bass, Pres/Res.

 

There is an effects loop, and it is integrated into the design and is part of the overall tone shaping of the amp. It darkens the amp up a bit which is a good thing to me. There is also a signal level in the loop.

 

This time the build should look pretty decent, especially compared to the tomahawk which was a mess inside.

 

At the moment I am waiting for shipping confirmation for tube sockets and the actual turret board material, otherwise I am ready to start. Stay tuned if interested, I am fine-tuning the layout and will post progress as soon as those parts come in.

 

 

Paint is army green, and the theme won't look good until I am finished. I think its pretty sharp. :cop:

 

Oct15029.jpg

 

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Added Oct 18th:

 

 

Did the labelling, the main filter cap, most of the PT and some OT, the bias circuit and a few other things. THe pictures have really {censored}ty lighting and make it look pretty crappy... whatever, here is my current progress.

 

Amp005.jpg

 

Amp004.jpg

 

Amp002.jpg

 

Amp006.jpg

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Update:

 

Amp3012.jpg

 

Amp3018.jpg

 

Amp3020.jpg

 

 

First vid:

 

 

[video=youtube;W8P-X9oFATQ]

 

 

 

Some more tweaking left, but should be quite minimal. I am zeroing down on what I want, happy with the results. The feel of the amp is awesome, very responsive and quick, and just a little pick squeal a-la mark series. This amp is kind of a mix of all amps I have liked, borrows from many different designs but in the end its just my own flavor. I started off with a JCM800 type, then looked at the one wire mod plexi, and added my own stuff.

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I miss your wife face avatar
:p

Why did you scrape the 5150 plan?

 

:p

 

But yeah the 5150 ended up not being as versatile for my needs and this amp will suit me perfectly, and I also wanted my own unique build. Its nothing new, but its still mine.

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:p

But yeah the 5150 ended up not being as versatile for my needs and this amp will suit me perfectly, and I also wanted my own unique build. Its nothing new, but its still mine.

 

gotcha dude. What happened to the tomahawk proto?

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So far, waiting on:

 

Turret board + turrets, heater wiring, shielded wiring, tube sockets, knobs and odds&ends, and I just ordered JJ KT77's, 2 x Shuguang 12ax7b's (CF and Effects loop), and 2 x Tungsol (input & P/I ).

 

The amp can take any power tube in the 6L6, EL34, KT66/77/88 realm and then some, I will experiment with KT66's later.

 

I really hope to receive some boxes soon, they should start landing any time now.

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