Henning Bottle Rocket Amp... UPDATED 1/22!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
gibson5413":2numprx7 said:
Looking great Steve! I love the knobs as well.
Yeah, they are pretty much my standard offering for knobs now!

Where's that Cherry Bomb Kemper profile clip? :gethim: :lol: :LOL:

Steve
 
sah5150":2bxdyszs said:
gibson5413":2bxdyszs said:
Looking great Steve! I love the knobs as well.
Yeah, they are pretty much my standard offering for knobs now!

Where's that Cherry Bomb Kemper profile clip? :gethim: :lol: :LOL:

Steve

I promise, I'll get one together. I have a great idea for this profile but was trying to decide if I should save it for the real amp. I'll try and get something done in the next couple of days as I leave for Maui on Friday. Must say, I can't wait! :rock: :thumbsup:

tfridgen":2bxdyszs said:
gibson5413":2bxdyszs said:
Looking great Steve! I love the knobs as well.

Hehehehe ;)

Dirty double meanings! :emofag: :grim: :poke:
 
IT"S ALIVE!!!

test_rig_1.jpg

test_rig_2.jpg

test_rig_3.jpg


Well... now it is anyway. I got the build done yesterday and tested things out:

1.) "ON" lamp lit up as expected and the AC voltage at the Mains Input connector was correct
2.) When I flipped the SOLO and LOOP switches, the corresponding LEDs illuminated
3.) I was getting correct DC heater voltages at all preamp tubes
4.) I was getting correct AC heater voltages at the power tubes
5.) I was getting 6VDC at the relays and elsewhere I expected so that supply was working

Since this all went well, I flipped the Standby:

1.) Negative bias voltage checked out
2.) B+ at pin 3 at both power tubes was 490 VDC, Pin 4 checked out as well

Since this went well, I put the tubes in:

1.) B+ with tubes in was 484 VDC - looked good.
2.) Biased up the two EL34s with the back ports and the top pots to ~40 mA - all that stuff worked...

Everything looked good, so I hooked up a cab and plugged a guitar in:

1.) All I got was a VERY, VERY low volume sound out of the cab with the PPIMV turned all the way up. As I turned the PPIMV down, I got lower and lower volume, until nothing. PPIMV was working, but no real amp sound.
2.) If I adjusted GAIN 1 and GAIN 2, I could hear the gain get higher and lower. If I adjusted the bright switches, I could hear the amp get gainer or less gainy. All as expected...
3.) None of the other controls seemed to do anything, including the channel volumes.
4.) Although there was 6V at the relays, I noticed that I didn't hear the little electrical relay "CLICK" that I usually hear when switching the SOLO and LOOP switches. On the Cherry Bomb, there is an audible electrical relay click.

Hmmmm...

So... given that I don't hear the relays clicking and that the SOLO and VOLUME controls don't work, I suspected there was a problem with the switching. Started looking around and it looked like the relays were in upside down... Sure enough, they were, so I flipped them and fired it up again and, YES, SHE'S ALIVE!!! :rock:

Sounds great, but there was a mistake in the Resonance circuit that will be fixed in the production boards - I had to wire a cap straight to the pot. Also, there was a oscillation/squealing problem at high volume that turned out to be a pair of flipped wires on the OT primary. Once those wires were flipped, the oscillation/squealing is gone and the noise floor is incredibly low - less than 5mV - dead quiet with all the masters cranked!

Still going to tweak a few things... Try some different values and cap types in a few places, but this is a pretty major milestone! I'm pumped!

Here's a few pics of the finished build as well:

built_1.jpg

built_2.jpg


Steve
 
sah5150":31gzk82k said:
IT"S ALIVE!!!

test_rig_1.jpg

test_rig_2.jpg

test_rig_3.jpg


Well... now it is anyway. I got the build done yesterday and tested things out:

1.) "ON" lamp lit up as expected and the AC voltage at the Mains Input connector was correct
2.) When I flipped the SOLO and LOOP switches, the corresponding LEDs illuminated
3.) I was getting correct DC heater voltages at all preamp tubes
4.) I was getting correct AC heater voltages at the power tubes
5.) I was getting 6VDC at the relays and elsewhere I expected so that supply was working

Since this all went well, I flipped the Standby:

1.) Negative bias voltage checked out
2.) B+ at pin 3 at both power tubes was 490 VDC, Pin 4 checked out as well

Since this went well, I put the tubes in:

1.) B+ with tubes in was 484 VDC - looked good.
2.) Biased up the two EL34s with the back ports and the top pots to ~40 mA - all that stuff worked...

Everything looked good, so I hooked up a cab and plugged a guitar in:

1.) All I got was a VERY, VERY low volume sound out of the cab with the PPIMV turned all the way up. As I turned the PPIMV down, I got lower and lower volume, until nothing. PPIMV was working, but no real amp sound.
2.) If I adjusted GAIN 1 and GAIN 2, I could hear the gain get higher and lower. If I adjusted the bright switches, I could hear the amp get gainer or less gainy. All as expected...
3.) None of the other controls seemed to do anything, including the channel volumes.
4.) Although there was 6V at the relays, I noticed that I didn't hear the little electrical relay "CLICK" that I usually hear when switching the SOLO and LOOP switches. On the Cherry Bomb, there is an audible electrical relay click.

Hmmmm...

So... given that I don't hear the relays clicking and that the SOLO and VOLUME controls don't work, I suspected there was a problem with the switching. Started looking around and it looked like the relays were in upside down... Sure enough, they were, so I flipped them and fired it up again and, YES, SHE'S ALIVE!!! :rock:

Sounds great, but there was a mistake in the Resonance circuit that will be fixed in the production boards - I had to wire a cap straight to the pot. Also, there was a oscillation/squealing problem at high volume that turned out to be a pair of flipped wires on the OT primary. Once those wires were flipped, the oscillation/squealing is gone and the noise floor is incredibly low - less than 5mV - dead quiet with all the masters cranked!

Still going to tweak a few things... Try some different values and cap types in a few places, but this is a pretty major milestone! I'm pumped!

Here's a few pics of the finished build as well:

built_1.jpg

built_2.jpg


Steve

Nice to see her eyes light up!!! Cant wait to hear the final results when all is fine tuned! Very very cool build and love that you included us all in it. Cheers Steve :cheers:
 
Congrats.

That super low noise floor seems great. I haven't had a lot of amps if any that would be that quiet.
 
Just saw this on Facebook (and shared it to my feed). So excited for you Steve and can't wait to hear it!!!
 
Just in time for NAMM!

I just have to say I love that charvel you have pictured... nice light pint and dark fretboard. I love the feel of ebony... rosewood too but ebony I have learned, just does it for me.

So has your pricepoint changed at all now that you have seen what goes into these? Do you have an idea of a ballpark?
 
maddnotez":a6hcr0pa said:
Congrats.

That super low noise floor seems great. I haven't had a lot of amps if any that would be that quiet.
Yeah, I'm really happy about it. I have to credit my PCB design guy Tracy as far as the noise floor goes, he really did a great job with the trace layout!

Steve
 
gibson5413":3fokzwyl said:
Just saw this on Facebook (and shared it to my feed). So excited for you Steve and can't wait to hear it!!!
You will. Sooner than most... ;)

Steve
 
Kapo_Polenton":15c6wtba said:
Just in time for NAMM!

I just have to say I love that charvel you have pictured... nice light pint and dark fretboard. I love the feel of ebony... rosewood too but ebony I have learned, just does it for me.

So has your pricepoint changed at all now that you have seen what goes into these? Do you have an idea of a ballpark?
Yeah, that Charvel is killer. The board is rosewood, whereas normally I go for all maple, but I love it. It has OX4 PAF clones in it and just love the way the guitar sounds with them...

On the price point... Yes, I know exactly what it will be now. Unfortunately, I was unable to hit my goal because the chassis (and footswitch chassis) cost me so much to have made. The final price will be $2199. I still think this is an exceptional value for such a flexible single channel boutique amp, with footswitchable SOLO master, footswitchable EFX loop, made in the USA with top quality components and beautiful, durable powder coated and silk screened chassis. Certainly competitive, IMO, but the market will decide...

Steve
 
This is so interesting sah5150, can't wait to hear it! So being that you have made quite a few new amps now, is there truth to the "theory" that brand new amps have to break in to sound best, I've read some builders say they actually sound kinda bad (not sure if that's the right term lol) before they have some playtime on them...or do they get burned in?
 
crankyrayhanky":3qyyt07t said:
This is super exciting!

IndyWS6":3qyyt07t said:

Thanks guys, I'm excited to start some minor tweaking. This is actually the most fun part! For sure I'm going to change out the mica bright caps I put in for poly film - will warm things up a bit...

Steve
 
sjk":1ztygsd4 said:
This is so interesting sah5150, can't wait to hear it! So being that you have made quite a few new amps now, is there truth to the "theory" that brand new amps have to break in to sound best, I've read some builders say they actually sound kinda bad (not sure if that's the right term lol) before they have some playtime on them...or do they get burned in?
Much appreciated, man!

There is some burn in time that I do, and the amps do seem to warm up a bit after some playing, but mine sound good to me pretty much right away. They certainly don't sound bad when they are first fired up...

Steve
 
Build looks amazing ,
I am so curious to see the grill design ,you mentioned it will have holes to see inside will it be like a mesh?? .
The rest of the amp looks amazing
waiting for clips on this one especially since you mentioned its a lil meaner than the bomb
Cool stuff
 
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