Building My Own 5E3

As a guitarist, I am always looking for ways to improve my sound. This means I listen to and play through a lot of different amplifiers. I do this both with and without effects. I am always seeking that killer tone. For the longest time, I was playing through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe II. While there is nothing particularly bad about this amplifier, the tone in nor way compares to older vintage tube amps. I shopped around at some of the local music stores and played a few different amps. I found a couple of amps modified by John Landgraff which sounded great, but these were just modified Hot Rod amps. I came across a Vintage Sound Amp and was blown away by the tone and quality. Since I lived near Rick Hayes, I hit him up and he graciously indulged me and helped me in my desire to learn.

I decided that I would build my own tube amp and decided on a 5E3 clone. The first couple would be from kits. I researched the best quality components and decided on building a kit from Trinity Amps. I opted to by only the chassis and components as I would source the cabinet and speaker elsewhere. I ordered the kit. While awaiting delivery, I assembled the tools that I would need, ordered the cabinet and ordered the speaker. I was ready to build.

Before building the amp, I had to make sure I had the right tools including the right soldering station, voltmeter, dim bulb tester and a variac so that I could properly power on and test the new build. I was able to find most of the tools at reasonable prices. I ended up building my own dim bulb tester following instructions from Uncle Doug. Here’s how mine turned out:

This device is used to test for high amperage (shorts) in a circuit downstream. If the big bulb glows when the voltage is up, there is an issue. The bulb can blow before the circuit is damaged acting like a fuse.

Once the kit arrived, I spent a bit of time reviewing the instructions and making sure I had all the required parts. The process is straightforward. Here are the basic steps: