# TW Express clone completed... Photos inside



## MCKBC (Aug 22, 2011)

Ok. Finally I have the cab finish completed so I thought I would post some photos here. Amp was completed around Christmas of last year and the cab took a while to get sorted out... It turned out great and I am truly happy with the outcome!!! Truly an enriching experience.


Minor todo items remain like the labelling on the back and a tube chart etc but for all functional purposes we are finally done! 


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## MCKBC (Aug 22, 2011)

PS. I have no idea why I can't embed my photos here so you can see them without having to click on them. Sorry about the inconvenience.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Looks awesome, how does it sound?


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

WOW..it looks fantastic...and I'll bet that it sounds even better (if that is possible)!! 

Congratulations !

Is the PT an old (~ 1960's) Stancor? The label looks familiar.

If it isn't too difficult to pull the chassis, any chance of a few pics of the inside layout?

Cheers

Dave


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

Wow! Nice! I see you tried to stick to very close to the originals in many ways... probably more so than I did.
Cherry(?) cab looks great. Where did you get the Stancors from?
With the inclusion of the authentic type knobs and such, I'm wondering if you used even flea clips for the board and everything. 

I see you used a socket for the power plug, and made handle holes, so you aren't a complete stickler.
I like that scuffing design on the top of the chassis too. Was that you that did that?

I guess you got us curious now that we have to see the guts too.


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## Intrepid (Oct 9, 2008)

Now that looks incredible. Very clean look. Nice job. Congratulations.


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## MCKBC (Aug 22, 2011)

Hey guys, thanks for all the compliments. It does sound great indeed. I now have 6V6s on it to reduce volume a little and it sounds even better with the EL34s. 

You can see all the gut shots here : https://picasaweb.google.com/email....&authkey=Gv1sRgCPGqrY-qx66pXg&feat=directlink

Be warned. Quite a lot of photos there including some gradual build photos I placed there while asking questions to some folk. Final guts shots are in there too...

Now the Stancor A-3801, OT, is period correct to the early Expresses built. I bought this on eBay a while back as installed on a homebuilt from 70s and pulled it. Very clean and works well. The PT is a newer Heyboer. No flea clips here though.

The other big deviation from exact clones is the inclusion of a VVR module from Hall Amplification. This is the first knob next to the standby and allows me to reduce the B+ & Bias voltages to the amp between 10% to 100%. Very useful for a really loud amp like this. 

Scuffing on the chassis is my doing. Basically I had a slip incident while drilling some holes on the chassis top and had a scratch on the otherwise perfect looking chassis. I then thought of using my Dremel attached wire brush to make some scuffing marks to hide the scratch. It worked real well. It looks like up close and from a distance.

IEC, yes I like it better than the direct wired cables so I went with it. Tight fit so I had to slant fit it with some Dremel action.

Yes, handles are a deviation too but a great way to get a grip if you know what I mean! The cherry cab is real nice and applying the Tru-Oil finish, a first for me, took way more than actually building the amp...

Thanks once again for looking. It was fun building and sharing. All the best.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Thanks very much for the link to the build pics. I learn a lot from these pics.

Cheers

Dave


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## starjag (Jan 30, 2008)

Very nice! Greco is planning something very similar. Looking forward to his build process.


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## MCKBC (Aug 22, 2011)

Its a very fulfilling build experience thats for sure. One suggestion if I may to future builders of this platform... Have many preamp tubes on hand to roll through to find the best fits. The amp is very very very tube sensitive. On the verge of instability by design so you really need to find the right tubes that make it work well.

Best of luck with your build Greco (Dave). If you have any questions that I might be of help just PM me.


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## kw_guitarguy (Apr 29, 2008)

Man...all you guys building amps and I'm sitting here scared to death to tackle a BYOC pedal...

I love this build and am also looking forward to Greco's build.

~Andrew


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## MCKBC (Aug 22, 2011)

Andrew, the trick is to start somewhere! A pedal build is a good place IMHO. Once you start the rest comes easy with many willing and able folk helping out with questions. All the best.

Edit - and also build what you think you will use for a while as resale for home built stuff will not even get you half the money you put into these things. I'm stating this based on ads I have seen for builds by others much more experienced than myself. Build what you need and don't over-spend!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

starjag said:


> Very nice! Greco is planning something very similar. Looking forward to his build process.


Quite a bit less sophisticated (Champ clone) ...but I do intend to make it a head with a spacious chassis.

Cheers

Dave


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

MCKBC said:


> Best of luck with your build Greco (Dave). If you have any questions that I might be of help just PM me.


Thanks very much for the encouragement and for the offer to respond to questions.
I'm reading/studying like crazy and my confidence to start the build is increasing exponentially.

I recently started a thread with questions and will be using it.

Cheers

Dave


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## MCKBC (Aug 22, 2011)

Great! Just saw your thread. Apologies for my earlier mistake in thinking that you will be building a Wreck as well. Champ is a great amp to build. I am sure you will have much fun doing it. All the best.


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