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Building a Dual Rectifier...

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9/18/2000 11:27 PM

Building a Dual Rectifier...

Ok, so I'm taking an electronics course at
my high school, and supposedly after a while
I will have an understanding of electrical
concepts and how to read a wiring schematic,
so on, so forth. The reason I took the class
is that I wanted to build my own effets or
amplifiers. Specifically, I had in mind building
something along the lines of a Mesa/Boogie Dual
Rectifier or a Marshall JCM900.

You people seem to know what you're doing...
would you reccomend my attempt at building
something like a guitar amp? How much would this
cost? Where could I find the necessary schematics?

Any help appreciated...
-Tom

9/19/2000 1:51 AM

Tom,If I were you I would buy an old amp,buy some books and start by just modding it and do some practice first.Every time I've seen someone try to build a amp from scratch without ever having any experience,they fail and I have to go thru hell tring to make it work and I usually have to start all over.And these guys were just trying to build fender champs!!Trying to build a boogie for your first project,in my opinion,is a bad idea.Just my 2 cents.Good luck.

9/19/2000 2:35 AM
Les	Take a look at the projects onthe AX84 site. http://www.ax84.com there are several there and one in particular, (the P1), that is suited for a first time builder like yourself. Les

9/19/2000 3:24 AM

After you get a feel for electronics you can consider trying maybe an AX84 project. From the sound clips ive heard they are good sounding amps for a small (dont blow your hearing type of amp) and thats a good thing! They are very old Marshall sounding. The Guy that made and started the AX84 project is a VERY VERY good tech and an down to earth nice guy who has a perfect grasp on what a good amp should sound like. If you really want to get a killer hi gain sound you should go to the blue guitar site here on ampage and download the Soldano SLO 100 schematics . Ive built clone amps including the Marshall JCM 800 and the Soldano has a unbelievable sound. The Dual rectifier and the Peavey 5150 are Rippoffs of the Soldano amp. Ive looked at all these schematics and the preamps are almost identical. I will probably get flamed for saying that but Oh well...
Its always good to see a new future tech looking at doing his own amp and enjoying the build of the amp at the same time. Just be careful with the hi voltages as they can kill. Good luck and have fun with your new project.
Cheers...

9/19/2000 4:53 PM

Mitch,
I just finished my first homebrew and it was a dual rec with just the red channel and solid state rectifier. Granted, I had a few mistakes (one was a fried PT, oops...) and I still have a hum to fix but I eventually got it going. And the tone kicks. I mean it is a "10"! My point is, I asked alot of questions here, checked out all the links I could find and dug into all the layouts I could get my hands on (Aspen Pittman's book is great for that). It would have been easier starting with one of the other suggestions, true, but if you have your heart set and are willing to eat a few dollars in mistakes it can be done.

Kent S.

9/19/2000 5:13 PM

Kent,
Sounds like you basically build a sort of a soldano by just using the red channel. I have to say that the distortion on my SLO clone IS THE BEST distortion Ive ever gotten out of a tube amp. The sound is harmonically rich, even when the gain is full on the chords are well defined and crisp. the bass is tight and very punchy but smooth as well as the distortion is smooth and no BUZZINESS at all. It has taken me a bit of time as when I first built it a year ago I did some mods to it that just didnt do it justice and after I removed the mods, Wow what a sound. I couldnt have done this amp though without the help from Joe L. and Jeff S as they were the first two guys to do the SLO clones and work out some of the errors off the schem. Just recently Joe L caught another error on the LDR switching supply as well as Jeff noticed that the power to the LDR was a separate tap and not tapped off the Heater tap. Also the clean channel is really good to and can also be a medium gain channel if needed. Just food for thought.
Cheers

9/19/2000 9:32 PM
Joe L	Ditto to what Mitch said. I have a Dual Rectifier Tremoverb at the house that I am servicing for a friend and I would be scared to death to try and duplicate this monster. Basically it's every bell and whistle you can possibly stack on top of the SLO circuitry and while it does succeed to a certain extent, it sure isn't a good candidate for doing a clone. ..Joe L

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