Stock 68 spec W/2"OT and such...

[Strat78]

Finished the build last night and she sure is purdy. I'll call it the "knee" amp sense it brought some distraction from the 24/7 f'n pain from the surgery. Built most of it in bed from 2am to 5am each morning. I'll form the caps this afternoon and do a readings chart tomorrow. I really want to hear these new tranny's!

[vanhalen5150]

That looks pretty good. You put the main ground over on the side eh? Looks very clean.

At least your knees match.

[emmjaydubya]

What, no 100k Iskras? Ha, looks really good!

Seems everyone likes the .68 chicklet instead of the mustard. Can't wait to hear a clip.

[rgorke]

Looks good, especially with the walker in the shot.

[Strat78]

What, no 100k Iskras? Ha, looks really good!

Seems everyone likes the .68 chicklet instead of the mustard. Can't wait to hear a clip.

I was going to just do all Pihers on this build, but decided to try and use up some Iskras. I really like the look of the iskra/piher combination. I'm always on the lookout for 100k, 470k etc. Iskras, but they are pretty damn rare these days. The chicklet seems better than the mustard in that position and has a little more woody knock or something. How is your build going, what MM tranny's did you get?

[emmjaydubya]

Well still waiting on a few things, gonna start in the next few weeks. I'm gonna have a mix of both resistors myself. Right now I'm busy restoring an ugly 68 bottom cab with skinny handles and pre-Rola 25's that say 20 watt on the covers! Really glad I got it, sounds absolutely crushing!

The trannys I got are a 2.5k Marstran 132 OT and a M***** T2562 PT, hoping that combo will yield some good results.

[vanhalen5150]

I'm scoping out some Iskra's... wow...$$$$$. The other problem is the wattage on some of them. A lot are 1/2 watt. I'd like to find 2 watt but that may be asking the impossible.

[Roe]

prices are stupid high now for iskra, pihers and mustards. the resistors doesn't make all that much of a difference anyway, and the sozo vintage are good

[neikeel]

I'm scoping out some Iskra's... wow...$$$$$. The other problem is the wattage on some of them. A lot are 1/2 watt. I'd like to find 2 watt but that may be asking the impossible.

Which ones?

I have a few 2watt Iskras and Pihers but it is the 1/2w I'm after (15k, 470R and 100k)

[vanhalen5150]

I'm scoping out some Iskra's... wow...$$$$$. The other problem is the wattage on some of them. A lot are 1/2 watt. I'd like to find 2 watt but that may be asking the impossible.

Which ones?

I have a few 2watt Iskras and Pihers but it is the 1/2w I'm after (15k, 470R and 100k)

I guess thats really the question as well. Which ones actually need to be 2 watt? I know the 10k are.

[Strat78]

Yeah, only the 10k's and the one 8,2k need to be 2w. But I only use one 2w for the 10k voltage drop and use 1w for the rest. The 2w are huge, what you want are the 1w or true 1/2w for the vintage look. Ben's amp sold me on the 1w pihers. But then again 2w CC's really sound good at the voltage drop position especially the 8,2k. Sorry, if I'm not being clear, lots of pain today for some damn reason and I'm doing all I can not to reach for more oxycodone (that's the stuff that killed Heath Ledger), been watching lots of South Park, and that seems to be helping. Still, the NOS Erie caps re-formed beautifully on my new build and all the voltages came in on target, it sound pretty good too, but is not in good sagging territory yet.

[vanhalen5150]

Whats with the notation of 8,2k and 8k2? I've never understood that?

Guess I may as well start thus build regardless of all the parts I need. I actually have some parts from Ben I got back before Xmas I'm going to use as well. I got pih's and a few 100uf Eries(PI) from him. Didn't want any money..."just trade me something good later cause I know you find weird stuff up there ".

[emmjaydubya]

Yeah, only the 10k's and the one 8,2k need to be 2w. But I only use one 2w for the 10k voltage drop and use 1w for the rest. The 2w are huge, what you want are the 1w or true 1/2w for the vintage look. Ben's amp sold me on the 1w pihers.

You sure got that right! I bought 4 10k 2 watt Iskras for the 3 high voltage positions and now I'm thinking they are too freakin big! Damn shame because I paid alot for them, should have bought 1 watt instead. You live, you learn.

[Strat78]

Not a waste of cash at all, those values are important to have on hand. You can definitely use one more of the 2w 10k's along side the pre-amp filter cap. Hell, just use the 3rd 2w at the end of that cap as well, it will look cool. As long as things are somewhat the correct voltages, don't be afraid to finesse your builds, and make them your own.

Wow, this new amp sounds really damn good and is silent as the grave. I went with a 56k/250pf tone stack instead of the 33k/560pf opting for ceramic, and a 560pf dog bone for the bright mix cap. I biased up the amp for 395vdc plates but decided to push the bias up by ear and started hitting a pretty good sweet spot. I'll try a 5000pf treble cap on the bright channel to bring a little more shimmer to the highs but at this point it's cool to be able to raise the volume without that sudden jump you get with a treble cap. The gain is really nice on this amp and seems to be retaining focus even with 16/16 pre-filter and the 100k 4ohm tap, perhaps these tranny's are a move in the right direction. I can't make a clip yet because I moved my iMac upstairs before the knee surgery, I'll see if my wife and I can somehow get it back down to the shop tomorrow.

[vanhalen5150]

Are you using a variac on this?

Messing around with my original 12000 using a new guitar I just put together. I have easily over 300 hours on it now. All original kit parts. Never changed anything. Even the original Mullards are still in. I always thought the treble cap at 500 was too much though.

I'm really interested with these new PT's we have, not to mention the 2.2k's. I may flip a coin on the 2" or 1.5" OT.