Monday, December 19, 2011

The Fenton Project VI

We are close to the limits of my understanding of Roman Numerals (all of which is learned, like every American, from the Super Bowl) and my photographic limitations are taking a toll.

When we left off, I had connected the main power supply wiring, leaving the power cord for last so it wouldn't get in the way on the bench. Now it's time for the output transformer.


Early on, I was thinking to break out the wire lacing ribbon and go old-school HiWatt on it. However, the necessity of just getting this thing done sorta became a priority. The hand lacing is beautiful, but wire ties work too and since I'm only making one of these there isn't time to build the sort of wiring jig that would make lacing fast. You'll note that I left the primaries of the Output Tranny long enough to swap. Having had a painful formative experience with a mis-marked transformer I always do this until the phase is confirmed and then clean up the excess lead.


With the back of the amp wired up, now it's time to do the front. It's much easier to do this stuff without other things in the way. Yes, shielded wire on the low level stuff like from the input jack to the first stage and from the volume/tone controls back to the recovery stage. Why? Because I can. It doesn't cost much and could save time later. Anyone who has ever had to futz with the green wires in an old Marshall to get them exactly where they belong (just so high above the chassis, not near this, not too high) will understand.



So let's drop the board in and wire it up. Here is where the planning pays off. This part went fast and smooth enough I just got in a groove and neglected to take pictures.


A little front end detail.

Here she is ready for tubes and applied voltage.

There's the cute little back side. The stacked jacks are 4 Ohms. The only reason I could see for adding a pair of 8 Ohm jacks is to run a full stack. Doesn't look likely. But running this with an extension cab seems real probable so let's make it easy.


Pretty, isn't it. I like the big Alco knobs. I use them on everything. Great look and feel.

Next phase is to power up, do some testing and detailing on the wiring - then to fit it in the cab and rock out a little.

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