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Fired her up about a week or so ago. Got a little ground 60 cycle hum to
chase down, but she sounds really good! Big, full and punchy.

John Mayes38743.7427893519

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Is this a kit amp, John. Are you using this for acoustics? Tell us more.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

No kit. I did it all from scratch..... Well I did have the cab custom made
for me, but the chassis I made... sourced the components, made the
turret board, wired it up, and everything. Took me a while, but I finally
got it! And no for sure not an acoustic amp, but I did plug a acoustic in it
today. IT sounded ok. Really thick. But an electric rocks through it!

IT's an 18 watter based off an old 18 watt Marshall, but with the tremelo/
EQ circuit stripped out for simplicity. Has 2 12" speakers (both webber
speakers..one weber blue dog and one weber silver bell..great speaker
combo...speakers were custom made for me as well.). The tubes are two
12ax7's, two EL84's, and a EZ81 Rectifier. Vintage style transformers.
Mallory capacitors. John Mayes38743.7445717593

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

If you're getting a 60 cycle ground hum, check if your outlets are properly grounded. Circuit testers are about $8 at OSH, and have 3 LED lights that will tell if you have proper ground. If not grounded, there's a little plug for about $.50 that will fix it.

CrowDuck

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Chris Nielsen
Soquel, CA.

Man! That's awesome! The pic doesn't look like 2-12s, I thought at first it was 1-10 and solid state. Now that I know it's tube and 2-12s I'm all impressed. You must be stoked! Congrats!
Give us another pic w/ your guitar next to it. Really nice clean look. I'll bet she can wail.
Do you think you'll build more?

I wish I could sit my guitar next to it! I have not finished building that
one yet. I borrowed a friends strat to test it out. I'm building myself a
LEs Paul Jr copy right now with Lollar P-90's.....Should be a rock n roll
set-up!

It is a large amp. About 30 inches across...for reference the logo plate is
4 inches across.

And yeah it ws very fun to build. I know I have a friend who wants me to
build him one as well.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

[QUOTE=John Mayes] I wish I could sit my guitar next to it! I have not finished building that
one yet. I borrowed a friends strat to test it out. I'm building myself a
LEs Paul Jr copy right now with Lollar P-90's.....Should be a rock n roll
set-up!

It is a large amp. About 30 inches across...for reference the logo plate is
4 inches across.

And yeah it ws very fun to build. I know I have a friend who wants me to
build him one as well.[/QUOTE]

You may have another "friend" to build one for. I'm looking for an upgrade to my Behringer 110! My brother has a Fender dual reverb that I just love. Can't turn it past "2". Fun stuff!

John, This very cool. How about a schematic or is it secret? I've built some small preamps for special duty etc but this is very retro. I love it!

Who made the case, I thought it was production.

Steve Brown

PS always wanted to build a tube amp but never had the guts and the available kits are too expensive.

here is the schematic:

http://www.silvatone.bravepages.com/18%20Watt%20Lite%20II/Pd f/
18%20Watt%20Lite%20II%20Schematic.pdf


And the cab was custom made for me by these guys:

Reason AmpsJohn Mayes38743.8993518519

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Nice amp John. Tubes are the way to go. On the 60hz hum
are the filamant voltages to the tubes AC or DC? Tried looking for the schematic on your link but couldn't find it. AC as a filament voltage will give you that hum and was a common practice in tube design.

Well I plugged it in at home and no hum...so it has to be my shop
building is not grounded well.

And yeah even though it is only 18 watts it is loud..really loud.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

John,

The grounding plugs have a little tab on the top, you unscrew the outlet coverplate, then put the plug in, and put the coverplate screw through the hole in the plugs tab and the coverplate. Screw in all in and the plug is grounded to the outlets metal frame and any metal conduit. Makes oldtime 2 hole ungrounded outlets into grounded 3 hole'rs. Cost about $.50 each.

CrowDuck

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Chris Nielsen
Soquel, CA.

Oh, MAN!!! 18 Watts + P-90's = Tone Heaven!!! Where's that "envy" emoticon?

Great Job John! Now that you're finished with that one, we'll start a group buy for the next 500 of these babies aweright?

Serge

ha! It took me like 5 months to finish this one! Thanks for the nice
comments though fellas. It's always nice to hear some encouragement.
I'm really diggin the tone of this amp a ton!

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Fantastic looking amp John. I too like to build amplifiers in my spare time
Here are some pictures of mine. One for the shop sterio driveing voice of the theatre cabs and horns and one built on a tweed deluxe circuit for the electric guitar.
My step son is responsible for the airbrushing on the sterio amp. Pretty cool, huh.John How38744.0317939815

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

sweet John! I really dig the wood cab, with the cane grill clothe. Wicked
cool! I think I'm gonna build a champ style amp next. Small and not near
as loud as my 18 watter, but perfect for the shop.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

I want to try this "Angela Instruments Super Single-Ended 6V6 Guitar Amplifier" one of these days see it here under the how to section. This ia a great place to get old tube stuff and ideas.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Way cool John and John, you should see me when there is more than 2 extension cords layin' on the shop floor! I would never be able to build something like that when i'm scared of wiring a bender!

Serge

John, does your shop have flourescent lighting? Hum?

[QUOTE=Dickey] John, does your shop have flourescent lighting? Hum?[/
QUOTE]

It does, but that was the first thing I turned off.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com