NBD! New build day

So I just wrapped this up! Based on a Friedman Dirty Shirley, with a few small changes.
ClassicTone PT and choke.
Metro / Heyboer Drake 50watt OPT with 3.5k primary ( NOT the JTM45 OPT ) with a pair of wafer-based 5881's and a GZ34 tube rectifier.
A well known local cabinet guy in Southern Ontario ( Derrick Bell ) built the headshell for me.
I didn't want to put a Friedman logo on it ( 'cause it ain't ), so I went with the "M" logo, as it's kinda based on a couple of their amps.
I moved the "Structure" switch to the area above the low input jack ( because the guitar cable plugged into the "HI" jack obstructed the stock location ) The other switch is a 3 way bright switch with 470pf / off / 1000pf
I added protection diodes to the rectifier socket, moved the standby switch to after the reservoir cap, changed the value of the cap on the 100k cathode follower resistor, and ran the NFB off the 4 ohm tap, not the speaker jack.

Note that there is a Metro loop going in this, but it's not here yet. The little switch on the back is just holding the back panel on for now.

Really diggin' how it turned out and thought I'd share

Nice

Sweet !!!

fusedbrain":3tim095y said:

So I just wrapped this up! Based on a Friedman Dirty Shirley, with a few small changes.
ClassicTone PT and choke.
Metro / Heyboer Drake 50watt OPT with 3.5k primary ( NOT the JTM45 OPT ) with a pair of wafer-based 5881's and a GZ34 tube rectifier.
A well known local cabinet guy in Southern Ontario ( Derrick Bell ) built the headshell for me.
I didn't want to put a Friedman logo on it ( 'cause it ain't ), so I went with the "M" logo, as it's kinda based on a couple of their amps.
I moved the "Structure" switch to the area above the low input jack ( because the guitar cable plugged into the "HI" jack obstructed the stock location ) The other switch is a 3 way bright switch with 470pf / off / 1000pf
I added protection diodes to the rectifier socket, moved the standby switch to after the reservoir cap, changed the value of the cap on the 100k cathode follower resistor, and ran the NFB off the 4 ohm tap, not the speaker jack.

Note that there is a Metro loop going in this, but it's not here yet. The little switch on the back is just holding the back panel on for now.

Really diggin' how it turned out and thought I'd share

Click to expand...

I was looking at your list of amplifiers, and I'm wondering... Do you not find an excessive amount of overlap between these amplifiers? Except for the VOX and Orange, they're all variations on the same design. Also, where do the VOX amps fit in? Do you play a traditional Tele and/or Stratocaster? Just curious.

Goat":330xu30y said:

fusedbrain":330xu30y said:

So I just wrapped this up! Based on a Friedman Dirty Shirley, with a few small changes.
ClassicTone PT and choke.
Metro / Heyboer Drake 50watt OPT with 3.5k primary ( NOT the JTM45 OPT ) with a pair of wafer-based 5881's and a GZ34 tube rectifier.
A well known local cabinet guy in Southern Ontario ( Derrick Bell ) built the headshell for me.
I didn't want to put a Friedman logo on it ( 'cause it ain't ), so I went with the "M" logo, as it's kinda based on a couple of their amps.
I moved the "Structure" switch to the area above the low input jack ( because the guitar cable plugged into the "HI" jack obstructed the stock location ) The other switch is a 3 way bright switch with 470pf / off / 1000pf
I added protection diodes to the rectifier socket, moved the standby switch to after the reservoir cap, changed the value of the cap on the 100k cathode follower resistor, and ran the NFB off the 4 ohm tap, not the speaker jack.

Note that there is a Metro loop going in this, but it's not here yet. The little switch on the back is just holding the back panel on for now.

Really diggin' how it turned out and thought I'd share

Click to expand...

I was looking at your list of amplifiers, and I'm wondering... Do you not find an excessive amount of overlap between these amplifiers? Except for the VOX and Orange, they're all variations on the same design. Also, where do the VOX amps fit in? Do you play a traditional Tele and/or Stratocaster? Just curious.

Click to expand...

re: the Vox's, yeah I have a few Tele's that I keep in open tunings for when I want get some Black Crowes on. Also the AC 30 has a surprising amount of gain and does Black Crowes / Stones to a T. The AC15 doesn't have a master vol and gets stupid loud before it breaks up, but the clean is my favourite clean sound.
As for all the amps and overlap, there's a couple of things going on here. First, yeah I see your point about overlap in the "modded Marshall" thing, but even then, they are quite different in the FEEL dept. The MCII and the Roccaforte, for example, have a similar bright modded 800 tone, but the MCII is super tight, hard and punchy, and the Rocca is a lot more greasy and compressed.
Also a lot of the amps are brought in just to check out, knowing that they will similar to stuff I already own, with the intention of keeping the one I like more and moving the other one ( the 101b vs the BE100 for example). But.....they seem to come in faster than they leave
The other thing here is that many of the amps were bought super cheap with "issues" and either returned to original condition ( Roccaforte, Rocker 30, AC15 ) or or modded to hell and back so I could test out mod ideas ( EVH, 1987xl )
I built the DS clone because I really like JTM45's, and the DS circuit with the structure switch in the medium gain position and the gain control about 11 o'clock sounds just like a dime'd JTM45. At this point it's just easier for me to build something like that than buy a used JTM45. It's also cheaper and I get a better amp.

Looks great!

What a beauty! How does it sounds? Do you have any samples?