# PTM's 5E3 Deluxe amp build!



## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)

On Friday, I picked up my Mission Amps 5E6 D’luxe kit. Everything was excellently packed and arrived safe. This is my first build so I was pretty nervous at the prospect of completing this project.

I just have to say that the quality of cabinets that Mission uses for their kits are amazing. The attention to detail – the tweed pattern even matches going from the cabinet to the rear panels.

I’ll start by saying that this kit is not a “paint by numbers” sort of assembly. The Mission kit contains all the parts you’ll need in labelled envelopes. You have a diagram, a schematic, and some printed photos. Bruce does email you a zip file containing about 100 photos of various points of the assembly, but there is no step-by-step manual. For example, I’ve looked at the assembly guide for the Tube Depot’s kit and there is nothing near as comprehensive as that here. However, Bruce is amazing with his support – he answers emails very quickly and is very encouraging and offers several tips and detailed advice. This is a great kit, from a great company, with great support, but if you’re not someone who can figure things out for themselves or enjoys the challenge of a puzzle, then this is not the kit for you.

The hardest part was actually getting started. I sat there looking at this pile of parts with a diagram in front of me and it was a bit overwhelming at first. Even the photos looked like gobbledygook because I wasn’t even sure what I was looking at. I started with where the kit recommends and after I got going I gained momentum and confidence along the way. Wherever I got stuck or wasn’t sure, I’d snap a photo and email it to Bruce. In some cases, I’d actually even figured it out by the time he emailed me back. So really, once I got immersed in the build, it became easier to interpret the photos from the kit.

I started things on Friday and finished up late Saturday evening. Actually, I decided to wait until Sunday morning to do a first power up test because it was late and I was tired and I figured probably best to wait and go over everything once more with a fresh pair of eyes. Good thing I did too! When I sat down and started tracing out all the connections I discovered I’d accidentally wired the lead from the board to pin 1 of the power tubes instead of pin 8.

Once that was corrected and I was satisfied, I turned the power switch on and then plugged it in with no tubes installed. Pilot light and no smoke or explosions, so unplugged it and then inserted all the tubes and then powered it up again. Again, nothing out of the ordinary, so I plugged in a cable and turned up the volume just to check that there was sound. Again, all good!

It sounds great! The speaker is a bit tight sounding and the compression at higher volume is a bit much, but that’s to be expected of any brand new speaker. I figure it will get nicer as it breaks in. I’m in awe of how early this amp breaks up. You get it above 2 and it’s already starting to overdrive. The kit did ship with a 12AY7 for V1, but I swapped in a 12AX7 because I want that lower breakup threshold. I really find the Bright channel is sweeter sounding than the Normal channel. Another thing is that you get about all the volume you’re going to out of the amp by about 2 on the dial. After that, it just gets dirtier the further you turn up.

All in all, an enjoyable project! I know there’s those that debate the cost of a kit versus buying a used clone, but really, you buy a kit for the challenge and experience of putting it together yourself, not to save a buck on assembly. If your only interest is the end product (the amp), then by all means buy one used (or new). I do recommend the Mission kit and I’d definitely buy from them again if they offered another kit that I was interested in building.

Now, the photos!

Workspace:









How I sorted my resistors









Adding resistors to the 6V6 sockets:









Beginning to populate the chassis:









Control plate setup:









Hmm, where to begin?








Just roughly laid out (no solder yet - and yes, I know I was missing 2 resistors - added after the photo)









Power Transformer installed and starting to wire it up:









Rectifier and power tube sockets mostly wired:









Close up detail:


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## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)

Back of the board with the leads in place:









Top with the control plate wired up









Folded and ready to go into the chassis









Getting more crowded now!









Preamp tube sockets all wired:









Speaker jacks. Left is 8 ohm, right is 4 ohm.









Input jacks:









Control pots:









Fuse, power switch, and pilot light assembly









Board close up:


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## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)

Speaker with back panels removed. Just today I purchased a vintage 1961 Jensen P12Q on eBay. Will swap this speaker out when it arrives.









The completed chassis:









Mounted and ready with the tubes installed









Final shot of the power tube sockets




































*DONE!*


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Very very sweet. Been toying with the idea of doing the same thing, for quite a while actually. Off to surf kits.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Nice build there, thanks for posting the pictures


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Many thanks for doing this thread. 

The pics are great !! ....much appreciated that you took the time to take so many pics...and so many close-up shots.

Did the amp work OK the first time you tried it, or did you have to do some troubleshooting (if so, what)?

*Congratulations* on a fantastic build.

Cheers

Dave


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## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)

Thanks guys!



greco said:


> Many thanks for doing this thread.
> 
> The pics are great !! ....much appreciated that you took the time to take so many pics...and so many close-up shots.
> 
> ...


I had absolutely no trouble on power up. It was a good thing I went over the entire thing in the morning when I was fresh though because I'd accidentally wired one of the leads from the board to the wrong power tube socket pins. That was really the only problem I had, but it was my error and I fixed it before running any juice through it. I guess that's the important thing - take your time and double check things a day later to give you a better perspective on the build. But yeah, I powered it on first without any tubes installed, just to make sure I had the pilot light and no smoke, then I unplugged, put the tubes in, and then tried again. All good. 

The amp is nice and quiet too. No hissing or buzzing. Very quiet at idle.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

_Speaker with back panels removed. Just today I purchased a vintage 1961 Jensen P12Q on eBay_

You gonna luv that ....


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## Mr Yerp (Feb 24, 2006)

Another great build thread...Well done!


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## keithb7 (Dec 28, 2006)

keto said:


> Very very sweet. Been toying with the idea of doing the same thing, for quite a while actually. Off to surf kits.


I recently built a Trinity Tweed Deluxe kit. It is Canadian and and excellent kit. Be sure to check out there web site. I highly recommend. Here it is with a repro Fender badge that I installed.


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## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)

I know of the Trinity kits but did not buy one because they do not sell them as a complete kit with a speaker and cabinet.


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