1 # Bdale's First Tube Guitar Amplifier #
3 Once I started working on my [first guitar](../bdale-1), I started to think
4 about what I wanted as an amp to plug it in to. Of course, my son already
5 has a couple amplifiers he's happy to let me use:
7 * Silvertone "Smart II S" that came with his beginner's guitar kit
8 * Fender "[Mustang III](http://www.fender.com/search?q=mustang%20iii)
9 that some friends bought him after
10 [the fire](http://gag.com/blackforestfire.html)
12 Both of these are fine amps, particularly for just starting out. The
13 Silvertone is very small, with simple controls. The Fender is far more
14 complicated because it's a "modeling amp", which means it has DSP innards
15 that allow it to "fake" a bunch of different amplifier tone profiles. But
16 both are solid-state amps... and Robert and I both felt that adding a real
17 tube amplifer to the mix would be great fun!
19 After a lot of reading and listening to various video clips and audio files,
20 I started to narrow in on building a clone of the Fender "Tweed Deluxe", which
21 was an early very simple amplifier with two 12AX7 tubes for the preamp and
22 tone stack, and a pair of 6V6 power tubes in push-pull configuration for
23 about 12-15 watts output into a single 12" driver in a combo cabinet. The
24 schematics for this amplifier are on the web, and all the parts are widely
25 available at modest cost. A good page describing more about this amp is
26 available on [fenderguru.com](http://fenderguru.com/amps/deluxe-5e3). And
28 [full kit from Tube Depot](https://tubedepot.com/products/tweed-5e3-vacuum-tube-amp-kit)
29 seems like a great starting point.
31 Then I stumbled over a reference to the book "Guitar Amplifer Handbook" by
32 Dave Hunter. For me, at least, it did a great job of explaining how
33 tube amps work and what makes the different vintage tube amp designs
34 interesting. The conclusion of the first part of the book is a chapter
35 showing the design and construction of a simple but versatile amp called
36 the "Two Stroke" that instantly appealed to me.
38 The things that appeal to me about this amplifier are:
40 * It's a very simple design with lots of potential for experimentation
41 * It can use any of several final output tubes down to about 4W, which
42 means it should be possible to get good tones at volume levels low
43 enough to be compatible with our basement rec room for practice, yet
44 with a single tube swap be able to make enough power for gigging in
46 * The tones I heard on demo videos with a strat clone into it direct with no
47 pedals are pretty cool, and please my ear.
48 * The somewhat novel combination of one each inexpensive ceramic magnet
49 10" and 8" drivers seem to yield a lot of flexibility at very low cost.
50 * The kit price for everything except a cabinet is reasonable, and using the
51 custom build of a cabinet as an excuse to go buy more woodworking tools
54 Robert points out that he thinks the lack of reverb, in fact the lack even of
55 an effects send/return circuit means he thinks we'll want a reverb pedal to
56 put in front of it pretty soon. But to be honest, the tones available out of
57 the box sound good, so I'm not sure how big a deal that will be to me. I've
58 also found many opinions posted in forums about the 5e3 and similar vintage
59 simple tube amp designs suggesting they really aren't the right amps to put
60 lots of effects in front of... might be better to think in terms of something
61 like a blackface amp clone with internal spring reverb for a follow-on project?
63 If Robert is right, the
64 [Reverb 2](http://buildyourownclone.com/products/reverb2)
65 looks like it could be a completely plausible addition to the mix at some
70 Not sure exactly when I'll start this project .. stay tuned!
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