Extreme novice trying to finish JCM800 2203 100w

[thatdudeXIII]

Hi MetroAmp! So two or three years ago my buddy who was into this sort of thing convinced me I should build a clone amp rather than buy a new one. Through the process I started getting really excited to finish it, but after several different personal problems and delays this friend moved back home across the country, leaving me with a thousand dollar paperweight that is arguably a solder and a half from being completed.

Now, I know absolutely nothing about any of this. He was going to have a friend of his come over and check to make sure all the connections were good and the thing wasn't going to blow up in our faces, but he never got in contact with me ((musicians, am I right?)).

The only wires that aren't soldered are shielded wires, because this friend of mine wasn't sure which part was supposed to go to which, and his friend was going to point that out.

TL;DR: Extreme novice working on amp with experienced friend; friend left; don't know what to do. Please help me play my thousand dollar paperweight.

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. If anyone is based out of the Boston area and is willing to get together to help that would be ideal, as this friend took all his tools and I really have little-to-no clue what I'm doing.

I took pictures of the wiring: http://imgur.com/a/lZbBQ

[white noise]

First of all he would be no friend of mine...

You are going to do a lot of reading on here first.
I would start with the "General Beginner's Questions" and read at least the first 25 pages (including every page of each post), so that you can familiarize yourself with different terms and that will help a lot.

I would look up a post from "neikeel" did about lead dress (the length of your wires and how they sit in the chassis- especially the heater wires - reduce noise - oscillation).

I would not of used Metal Film resistors like you have throughout the amp like that (carbon would be better in a lot of the spots).

I see you have a layout to follow, so next I would get to know what the different components are on the board, there are a lot of identification pictures (George has posted a lot of them- search "VelvetGeorge" post) on the forum showing what the parts are and called ( eg. V1A Cathode, V1A and V1B plate resistor......)

Until you know what the name of the parts are I WOULD NOT TRY TO SOLDER ANYTHING or try to finish it.

Ask a ton of questions if you don't know, there are some really good and incredible amp builders on this forum that have amazed me and are always willing to answer questions.


Also get George's "100 Watt Master Volume instructions" and read every word of the instructions like 20 times:
http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=26255




hope this helps.

[syscokid]

Where are you located?