Amp Build: Ceriatone Kraken 50

[FourT6and2]

Built in an empty Ceriatone Chupa chassis. They're all the same anyway—basically a Cameron SomethingOrOther, which is the same as a Fortin Kali. All the same design (JMP/JCM800 with a Jose master, dual gains, and some bright switches). Since y'all liked my SLO Clone build thread, I figured I'd do another one. Chassis, turret board, and all the hardware are from Ceriatone. I sourced everything else myself. Still waiting on the iron and a few components here and there. But figured I'd get this ball rolling.

Without further ado, I give you... The Kraken!

 

[lespaul6]

Release the Kracken!

 

[SpiderWars]

Subscribed. Who's doing the cab? And will it be purple?

 

[FourT6and2]

The cab won't be purple but everything else will be haha.

 

[rottingcorpse]

Watching with baited breath. I dig this shit!!!!

 

[marcus262]

can't wait.
You always do a perfect wiring job.

What will you do with the old Chupa?

Have you tested the mods?
Just wondering, because sometimes it can be good on paper but the reality turns out different.

 

[Racerxrated]

Ok fine, it's really a Chupacabra. But it's got some voicing changes of my own and if the Yeti gets its own name... then this does too lol . They're all the same anyway—basically a Cameron SomethingOrOther, which is the same as a Fortin Kali. All the same design (JMP/JCM800 with a Jose master, dual gains, and some bright switches). Since y'all liked my SLO Clone build thread, I figured I'd do another one. Chassis, turret board, and all the hardware are from Ceriatone. I sourced everything else myself. Still waiting on the iron and a few components here and there. But figured I'd get this ball rolling.

Without further ado, I give you... The Kraken!

Dude...Love it!!!


You should seriously consider doing kits like this for guys...you have some great skills! For a reasonable price of course....

 

[SavageRiffer]

Ha! That's great.

 

[FourT6and2]

can't wait.
You always do a perfect wiring job.

What will you do with the old Chupa?

Have you tested the mods?
Just wondering, because sometimes it can be good on paper but the reality turns out different.

Nah pretty much all on paper at this point. I'm gonna have to try a few things and see what works. I have a few verified schematics for Cameron and Fortin and Bogner and Friedman. So I kinda see how each one is voiced. The stock chupa is like 90% a Fortin Cali. And I like it as is. I'm keeping nun chupa but I figure I'll build this one with a bit of tonal variance.

 

[FourT6and2]

Ok fine, it's really a Chupacabra. But it's got some voicing changes of my own and if the Yeti gets its own name... then this does too lol . They're all the same anyway—basically a Cameron SomethingOrOther, which is the same as a Fortin Kali. All the same design (JMP/JCM800 with a Jose master, dual gains, and some bright switches). Since y'all liked my SLO Clone build thread, I figured I'd do another one. Chassis, turret board, and all the hardware are from Ceriatone. I sourced everything else myself. Still waiting on the iron and a few components here and there. But figured I'd get this ball rolling.

Without further ado, I give you... The Kraken!

Dude...Love it!!!


You should seriously consider doing kits like this for guys...you have some great skills! For a reasonable price of course....

lol reasonable to me might not be reasonable to everyone else

 

[FourT6and2]

Chassis:

Turret board:

 

[FourT6and2]

Parts type/brand is a can of worms. Some people say they hear a difference but it's small. Some say they don't hear anything at all. And some say it's night and day will fight you to the death if you disagree. I can't say either way. But I do have a lot of different components in my stash and I need to figure out which ones to use and where. Ceriatone seems to use a wide variety of parts with no real consistency. My current Chupa has Mallory 150 coupling/bypass caps and mostly 1/2-watt carbon film. I've decided I'll probably go with metal film for this build to see if there's a difference regarding thermal noise and hiss.

Filter caps. I think I might go with the ARS. Not sure why. I know Bogner and Marshall use them. F&T have a good reputation, but a lot of people on various forums report that they make the amp sound a bit grainy. I'm not sure how much a filter cap really affects the "tone" of an amp. But who knows...

Bias supply caps. The black/grey Illinois caps are a bit too long to fit on the board. The blue Nichcons are brand new and probably pretty good. The shiny, blue NOS BCs are vintage correct and look cool. So hey, why not use those haha!

I also have these SUPER RAD MEGA AWESOME PURPLE Cornell Dubilier caps. And I really want to use them because purple makes amps sound like a bajillion times better. But... they might be a touch too big for the board. I'll what I can do, though

 

[FourT6and2]

I used these Vishay CCF60 metal film resistors in my SLO Clone. They are basically the best spec'd I've been able to find in a modern resistor. They're affordable, easy to find (Mouser, Digikey, etc.) and are up-rated to 1 watt, 500v. But I already tried 'em in that build, so maybe I'll go with something else this time around?

PRP "audio grade". I've got both 1/2-watt and 1-watt. I've heard good things. Larry (from Larry Amplification) always recommends Beyschlag metal films. But those are impossible to find in the US. And I think he likes these as a runner up. I'm leaning toward using 'em for this build. They're non-inductive, non-magnetic, blah blah blah.

Takman carbon film and metal film. The hi-fi guys like these. Guitar amp peeps... not so much. I'll probably keep these for something else.

Kiwame 2-watt (!) carbon film. These are the same size as the 1-watt PRP. But they're 2-watts! They also have a good reputation from some other amp builders. I may use a few in some key spots in the circuit.

Amtrans AMRG 2-watt carbon film. Parts Connexion has this to say about them: "We've finally been able to source a premium carbon film resistor, to replace the legendary RIKEN (out of production since 2006).....it's the Amtrans AMRG. These Japanese-made beauties, are amazingly well built (black anodized aluminum case, epoxy filled, copper-plated brass end caps, gold-plated OFHC leads, etc..) and are sonically superior to the RIKENs." But... some bad sonic reviews from a few people. I don't know... Maybe I'll use one or two somewhere. Maybe the NFB resistor, since I have the right value.

Various metal oxides for the screens and filter caps and whatnot.

 

[FourT6and2]

Bypass and coupling caps!

Ceriatone sent me some TADs. But I'm not gonna use them. Why not? I don't have the slightest clue haha.

Good ol' Mallory 150s. Metallized polyester. My current Chupa has 'em. And I like how the amp sounds. My KSR Ares and Gemini have them. And I like how those amps sound. But I doubt it really boils down to the dielectric material of the bypass and coupling caps. But it probably contributes a small amount of character. I was going to default to these. But now I'm wondering about the next ones...

Illinois MPW metallized polypropylene. Again, these have some good reviews. Some say they are "more aggressive" than polyesters. I'm not a huge fan of the Sprague 715/716 metallized polyprops. But I might give them a try just to be different.

But the 0.68uF 630v ones I have are way too big for the turret board. I mean just freakin' gigantic. It's like they got a case of elephantiasis or something. So, I've sourced a few NOS Vishay/Roederstein/ERO MKT1813 polyester replacements. They are 240v and a bit smaller. So I think they'll do the trick. Here are the giants, though. The MKTs haven't arrived yet.

And finally... some cool NOS Philips axial film/foil caps. I'll use these for the bright switches and possible as the fizz cap in the PI. Everybody always uses ceramic or silver mica. But I want to try these and see how it goes. I've noticed my current Chupa (and some other earlier ones) use similar caps for the bright switches. And I've noticed clips of those amps sound a bit different than others that use micas. Plus they look wicked cool, kid.

 

[SpiderWars]

Damn you got some cool components. When I used ODs I always used the polyester film instead of polypropylene. But only because I read Fischer/Dumble used them.

 

[fusedbrain]

This is gonna be cool

I've got a Ceriatone-based build going right now too, and I'm getting to be a big fan of Nik & Ceriatone in general. Either for a complete build, or using their kits/parts as the basis for a custom build. You can pick the model that has the general layout and # of tubes you want and tweak from there. My amp is the AFD#35 layout with 4 12ax7's, so I'm going in a kind of Bogner XTC direction, but I'm already starting to think about doing a Chuppa / Yeti type Jose build when I finish this one.

I didn't start a build thread for my amp because it's my first full amp build and I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. You've set the bar pretty high around here with that SLO clone thread. I've looked at that thread of your's many times, and it certainly looks like you know how to build amps. If my AFD build turns out half as nice as that, I'll be happy. ( and maybe, maybe post a few pics )

Looking forward to the rest of this thread

 

[paulyc]

Marked.

 

[IndyWS6]

^ Ditto...

 

[FourT6and2]

Damn you got some cool components. When I used ODs I always used the polyester film instead of polypropylene. But only because I read Fischer/Dumble used them.

Yeah, the 225s? When people say "Orange Drop" that's probably what they're referring to. But there are a bunch of caps that all look like ODs. And the 715/716s are polyprops and sound different. I've never used the 225s. If I had to choose, I'd go with the Mallory 150s simply because they're smaller and I think axials are easier to work with over radials.

 

[SpiderWars]

I've got a Ceriatone-based build going right now too, and I'm getting to be a big fan of Nik & Ceriatone in general.

Nik has some of the best customer service I've encountered. Always quick to respond, always pleasant, top notch imo.