- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
- Messages
- 23,146
- Reaction score
- 18,840
- Location
- NJ (The nice part)
- Guild Total
- 112
All done with the soldering. I gave in to my obsessive side and basically did nothing but build for the past 20 hours or so. Here are some pics:
I had all sorts of problems with the brass plate. I simply could not get it to take the solder. I got to the point where I tried a heat gun, and even said F-it - and used a blowtorch. Nothing! I emailed Bruce, who wondered if I was having solder problems, and that's when it hit me - I'd been using silver solder that I've had since my audiophile headphone amp-building days (seen in pic). I pulled the wires, scrubbed down the plate so it looks like new, got out the old reliable Kester 40/60 and it worked like a charm.
Testing on the non-flammable garage floor:
When I first tested the power tubes, only one lit up. I swapped their position, and it followed the tube. I swapped them back, and they both lit up. Weird. Could I have somehow caused that?
Here it is ready to rock:
My wife took a picture of me in the garage at 3:30pm playing my guitar in my bathrobe. She said something about Facebook, but I was too busy having fun to care.
The cab is being built. I'll update with more pics when it comes in.
Overall I'm very pleased with the Mission build. The chassis is worth the price of admission alone. The built-in nuts are wonderful, and it looks great to boot.
I would say that this kit is not for an absolute beginner. There are no step by step instructions, and though Bruce will send pics via email download, some of them can be confusing. Bruce is fantastic about answering questions though. I think for me, building the BYOC Champ first was an excellent first amp stepping up into this one.
I also ordered the Paul C. and Humbucker I and II mods, but I'm going to get a feel for the amp stock before I mess with any of that.
I do see a Marshall 18W clone in my future though.
I had all sorts of problems with the brass plate. I simply could not get it to take the solder. I got to the point where I tried a heat gun, and even said F-it - and used a blowtorch. Nothing! I emailed Bruce, who wondered if I was having solder problems, and that's when it hit me - I'd been using silver solder that I've had since my audiophile headphone amp-building days (seen in pic). I pulled the wires, scrubbed down the plate so it looks like new, got out the old reliable Kester 40/60 and it worked like a charm.
Testing on the non-flammable garage floor:
When I first tested the power tubes, only one lit up. I swapped their position, and it followed the tube. I swapped them back, and they both lit up. Weird. Could I have somehow caused that?
Here it is ready to rock:
My wife took a picture of me in the garage at 3:30pm playing my guitar in my bathrobe. She said something about Facebook, but I was too busy having fun to care.
The cab is being built. I'll update with more pics when it comes in.
Overall I'm very pleased with the Mission build. The chassis is worth the price of admission alone. The built-in nuts are wonderful, and it looks great to boot.
I would say that this kit is not for an absolute beginner. There are no step by step instructions, and though Bruce will send pics via email download, some of them can be confusing. Bruce is fantastic about answering questions though. I think for me, building the BYOC Champ first was an excellent first amp stepping up into this one.
I also ordered the Paul C. and Humbucker I and II mods, but I'm going to get a feel for the amp stock before I mess with any of that.
I do see a Marshall 18W clone in my future though.
