39 posts
Hell yeah....just pulled the trigger on a new Tungsten Cortez! :)
I can not wait!
Adam is starting work on a new batch this week!
I opted for the 25w version.
I'll try to get a clip up in a couple of weeks.
Randy
http://www.tungstenamp.com/cortez.htm
nice. 8-)
Keep it away from the armadillos ;D :o
Should have got something with 100 watts. You could have killed the armadillos from half way across the yard!!! :D
Congrats dude!!! Can't wait to hear her. You might beat me, Howie, and Craig to making a recording post. :)
Congrats Randy. Looks really nice!
Dearthian: — Aug 18, 2008 You might beat me, Howie, and Craig to making a recording post. :)
At the Bert Cave anyway, I had a few on the Hole a long time ago... :)
Armadillos?
We drown them! ;D
Yeah, I agonized over this decision.
I was all set to get the Rivera Venus 3....till the latest Guitar Player mag came out.
If you have it, take a look at the article about several low wattage small amps.
It shows the inside of all of these amps.
I saw the PCB and said......NOPE, not gonna buy it.
These Tungsten Amps are FINE!
This one guy in Florida makes them himself and refuses to compromise on quality.
I really wanted an amp that had more than one channel and had reverb....but I believe I can live without it.
The trade off is Tube Tone from the heavens...just dripping off like honey! :) :D
I started to make a trip down there but with the gas prices like they are and a 5 to 6 hour trip one way which would mean I'd have to pay for a hotel as well, I opted just to have it shipped to me.
Adam says he may start building an outboard Fender Reverb clone around December as he's had quite a few requests.
When that happens, I'll be ordering one of those as well.
Have a great work week youz guyz. ;D
Randy
Nice looking amp, Randy. Looks all vintage, but tediously new. Can't wait to hear it.
BTW. Randy used to post on most of the FNJ's before he took up killing armadillos as a hobby. So he's ahead of you. :D
Shit Randy, with 100 watts you could kill the armadillos sitting down without touching them!! ;D
Here's an interesting article about high end PCB boards in amps that you might find an interesting read:
http://www.bogneramplification.com/customshop/Pcboard.php
Looks sweet. When are you getting it?
Randy,
With regards to PCB vs PTP or turret board or whatever, this article Chris posted (which I've read before) is right on. PTP, Turret Board, Eyelet board etc may be more "sexy" to those of us who saw old amps, and/ or to those who just think that they are the only "real" handmade amps. But in reality, PCB can be just as good, and in fact, can be better.
A properly laid out PCB amp is MORE consistent than a PTP wired amp. In my amp building/moding forums, I've heard guys who had hum problems for weeks and finally found that moving a certain wire or bundle of wires, just 1/2 inch or so inside the chassis, cured the problem. Hand wired amps are labors of love, no doubt. The lengths you have to go to to make sure the amp is as quiet as possible are very intensive sometimes. Pull these wires over half an inch and tack them down because if you close the amp up and they move, your hum returns... Stuff like that is not nearly as much of an issue in a PCB amp. Sonically, some people argue that PTP amps using the best of everything are VERY SLIGHTLY better than a PCB design using similar components. But the difference is so small that using a guitar cable that's less than high end, or even one cheap patch cable between pedals, could mask that small difference. Running them through almost ANY pedal, would mask that difference as well. If it's there to start with.
That said, nothing looks cooler than a nice PTP or Turret Board amp on the inside.
Yeah, I've read that or a similar article before and agree with it largely.
But....I say BUT.... ;D
The OLD amps that Leo & Jim and a few others put out are the standard that many amp builders strive for.
How did they do it?
The old fashioned way with PTP/ hand wired amps.
Some of what was stated in that article was placed there because most of us are hobbyists or non-electronic builders.
They ask the question...."Can you tell us which solder and at what degree of heat and cooling", and of course most of us can't answer that.
HEY....THEY KNOW THAT. :D
But look at this.
Now compare the PTP to the PCB.
This is how they USED to do it.
This is how the great amps of yester year were built and why they are so collectable today and most importantly....why their sound kicked ass!
I'm simply going back to the source...looking for the TONE...."keepin' it real my brotha'." ;D
Randy
Sad...so sad.
Tubes mounted to the damn PCB.
Lawd have mercy! :o ;D
Randy
for clarification, that picture you put up at the top is not PTP. That's an "eyelet" board. Common in old Fenders and SIMILAR to the Turret board (the way I built mine).
Also, that bottom picture is not really fair. It's a micro amp running preamp tubes for pre and power sections to get very low watt output (about 1/5 or so of one watt) and the other versions were all hand wired. The PCB version just came out for less experienced builders who wanted to try a low watt tube amp.
p.s. Where the heck did you get that picture? LOL I ran a "properties" on it and that's one of my buddies from one of my DIY pedal forums, ya dang snoop! ;D ;D
Just googled...but just trying to get a point across.
PCB's are even worse.
Bottom line is, PTP doesn't have the micro-components with flex boards.
I mean, show me the beef. ;) ;D
Randy
Randy, there's nothing inherently worse about circuit board versus hand-wired, point-to-point. In fact, logic dictates that the more wire running in your design, the more noise and interference. The same exact design will sound, I believe, as good or better on a circuit board.
I know.
I'm just having a little fun with Howie. :D
Randy
oh SURE you were, you cork sniffin audiophile! ::)
;D ;D
Sweet amp Randy.
Can't wait to hear it!
Congrats.
Looks cool good luck with it
Alright...the Tungsten lands today!
Adam called me Sunday and said he burned it in and had been playing it and it turned out fantastic! :)
What's cool is he then asked my choice of tubes that dictate the sound that I want.
He explained to me which tubes have which effect and I made my decisions.
Damn, I'm going to have to work today....wondering if the damn UPS driver will deliver it or leave one of those damn notes that says he needs a signature. ;D
Film....at eleven.
Randy
Rush said PCB's are a liberal conspiracy so they must be worse than PTP's. ;)
WOW...this new little amp rocks!
25 watts....loud, but not too loud, damn sure club worthy though.
The clean is to die for!
Think Fender and then some. Jangly when you want it.
There's no reverb but you don't even miss.
That's how good this amp sounds.
I have yet to even try any effect with this amp.
The gain is absolutely organic.
This little amp has the best gain I've ever heard, bar none!
The cabinet build and tweed is perfection.
It's solid pine and birch, no particle board or plywood.
What is really wild, is so far I can dial in better tones with the 2 volumes and 1 tone knob, than I could with an amp with bass, mid, and treble.
You can crank up the amp volume and just use your guitar volume and/or pick attack to control going from clean to ROCK n ROLL! :)
I'm still in the process of checking this amp out.
But...so far...it rocks! :)
Randy
Sounds like you scored huge on your new amp.
Speaking of sound, where's the clips?
Bring it to Bowling Green!
Congrat's, makes you wonder why you didn't pull the trigger years ago, doesn't it. There is no substitution for a good valve amp.
Keebo — Sep 11, 2008Sounds like you scored huge on your new amp.
Speaking of sound, where's the clips?
Right next to Howie's, Craig's, Assman's, and mine... :D
Between board work I'm doing in my GATED community... ;D and work...I just haven't had time.
I'll make a couple, can anyone host a couple of mp3's and pics?
Thanks,
Randy
uh Randy.... with the new board you can just attach them to your post... Ya goob. ;D
For real?
I didn't realize that.
I don't have to have them put on web space first? :)
Randy
When you go to do a post, there is a ling just below the message box that says Attach and a button that says "Choose File". That's how you attach things. Max attachment size is around 6MB.
OK, small update.
You know in these kinds of amps where you don't have to bias them, you can swap out tubes to get different sounds.
You can also jumper inputs to blend the bright and normal channels.
So anyway, I got some new JJ's tubes in from Eurotubes the other day and got to try them out.
I picked up 2 6V6's , a GZ34 rectifier tube and a Weber Copper Cap WY3GT, also for the rectifier.
So I changed out my 5881's or 6L6's and changed out the rectifier tube to match the power amp tubes.
WOW....those 6V6's rock!
I couldn't believe the difference in sound.
Going from a solid state rectifier to a tube rectifier changes the sound nicely too.
The 6V6's do drop the wattage down from 25 to 18, but it's not that big of a deal.
This was the first time I jumpered the channels as well.
Both the bright and normal channels are nice, but once jumpered....blending them with the volume knobs really opened up a whole new palet of tones!
Anyway, this is a different amp than what I've been used to playing.
I like it!
It's simple yet has many tones to offer.
If you haven't played a Victoria 5E3 clone or any mfg like it....check them out.
I think you'll be surprised and I'm still shocked at the amount of gain these things put out!
Have a great weekend.
Randy
how do the 6V6's sound, compared to the 5881s? what's different?
I like 6v6's. I dropped a set in my Boogie and they sound awesome. Get's rid of a major amount of fizzy/flabbiness of the Roadster. Sweetens the cleans.
I've been tempted to get Bob to get me a set of KT77's that are matched for my 6v6's and do an integrated quad (Bob offers that combo for Rectos as part of his fav power config for Rectos).
Hey Howie,
I got to give them a good workout yesterday and they are more to my liking than the 5881's...and those sound fantastic!
The 6V6's break up at a higher volume than the 5881's, have more bass and sound fuller.
All together...just a real musical sounding tube.
I had to change out the rectifier tube as well to match them but I didn't notice much drop in volume.
The break up is more subtle when it starts and when you start really cranking the volume...the gain really kicks in with some major quality sounding ROCK! :)
I also didn't have enough clean headroom with the 5881's as they started breaking up too soon.
They sounded great, but broke up too soon.
Hope that helps.
Randy