VH Clip of the 12000 I built

[sah5150]

So, just as an experiment, based on the clips I've heard here, I decided to build a 12000 series to the spec that Dave Friedman posted here. The only thing I didn't do was the 220uF-470uF on V2a. Didn't need it, IMO. I did do the Larry grounding (the resistors on the board are dummies) and I shielded the inputs. Lotsa NOS parts - mustard caps, Iskra resistors, Lemco dogbones... M e r r e n C1998 Dagnall clone for output, Classic Tone T2562 Dagnall PT clone (M e r r e n did not have any) and a Metropolous C1999 choke.

The amp has a set of NOS Sylvania 6CA7s in it and NOS Sylvania 12AX7s as well... NO mods of any kind - bone stock.

This was recorded straight into the amp, everything on 10, variac'd to 90V (bias is 48mA at 90V) slaved into my Fryette PS2 (top switch set to EDGE, bottom switch set to WARM), straight into my recording interface. I used a Celestion IR of a 4x12 w/G12M Greenbacks that had a Royer R121 and an SM57 on it. The only EQ on the guitar is a cut above 20Khz and below 60hz...

Runnin' With The Devil Cover

BTW, here is the backing track I used, which has absolutely zero of Eddie's guitar on it:

Backing Track

This was recorded with a guitar I built recently, which has a Jalen Frankenstein pickup that is like 14K output:



What do you guys think?

Anyway, to me, it's a great sounding amp and setup...

Here is a little build log as well:









































Steve

[chrisom]

EXCELLENT POST! This feels like the heyday days of past at this forum! Would love to see more posts like this! What service are you using to post pics..?

[sah5150]

EXCELLENT POST! This feels like the heyday days of past at this forum! Would love to see more posts like this! What service are you using to post pics..?

Thanks man! I am not using a service to post my pics. I host everything on my amp company’s web site.

What did you think of the clip?

Steve

[chrisom]

Sounds GREAT! Your shop area looks like Candy-Land for amp-builders!

George: I think having easy access to cool pics is what brings a forum like this to life!

"... A picture is worth a thousand words.."

[sah5150]

Sounds GREAT! Your shop area looks like Candy-Land for amp-builders!

George: I think having easy access to cool pics is what brings a forum like this to life!

"... A picture is worth a thousand words.."

Cool - thanks for listening!

Yeah, it's a small shop, but I sure have everything I need to build stuff for myself and my production Henning Amps line...

Steve

[Its Luke]

Sounds and looks awesome!!

Clip sounds really really good.

Also really enjoyed the build pictures, appreciate the throwback thread.

I was a little late to the party in finding this forum, but this is refreshing to see.

[sah5150]

Sounds and looks awesome!!

Clip sounds really really good.

Also really enjoyed the build pictures, appreciate the throwback thread.

I was a little late to the party in finding this forum, but this is refreshing to see.

Cool - thanks for listening and looking. It's funny a few years ago a thread like this would have generated tons of responses, but I think the whole VHI thing has been solved in a bunch of different ways and people have moved on.

Steve

[Its Luke]

Probably true to a large degree, however as George pointed out forums seem to be down all over.
TGP still does well but all of the others seem to have drastically shrunk.
The original brown sound is one of the greatest rock tones of all time and will still be sought after.
Going to start a new thread for 2018 to see the current status of everyone’s tone journey.
I think that would be fun.

[dirtycooter]

Sounds great!
Yes. Very true everyone skins the cat here from a couple different angles we know that work or sound great.
In the end its directional choice now really in what one is looking for as an ideal method.
This forum does need to get jump started again.
Miss the good old days.
But, everyone kinda got what they were lookin for and now its ghost city and everyone has moved on and doin their own thing and not so much on a tone chase as much these days.

[glpg80]

I spent the large majority of the past years in college, so it's a treasure trove of information to sift through. It's great to have this resource - Steve pointed me over here recently after noticing I was wanting a plexi to get the VHI/VHII thing going on which none of my current amplifiers can grab (No offense meant Steve!)

The build looks and sounds great!

[sah5150]

Sounds great!
Yes. Very true everyone skins the cat here from a couple different angles we know that work or sound great.
In the end its directional choice now really in what one is looking for as an ideal method.
This forum does need to get jump started again.
Miss the good old days.
But, everyone kinda got what they were lookin for and now its ghost city and everyone has moved on and doin their own thing and not so much on a tone chase as much these days.

Thanks man! I was hoping this post might jump start a bit of conversation, but, yeah, as you said, people have moved on from the VH tone chase. Still it was a fun project for me and proved what I already thought was true based on the clips I heard when this place was buzzing.

Steve

[Tone Slinger]

Nice sounding clip, and nice looking build. It is great to still see amps being built here !

[sah5150]

Nice sounding clip, and nice looking build. It is great to still see amps being built here !

Thanks man! Yeah, I was hoping to stir up some interest...

Steve

[jnew]

Agreed, refreshing to see this. I’ve hardly been around here lately myself but pop in every so often. Glad I did. Great looking build BTW. What did you mean in the description when you said the resistors were dummies?

EDIT: Nevermind. I now understand what was done on the inputs. HOWEVER, are the 68K resistors at tube pins, Riken RMG resistors?
Also, is the coupling cap a .022 on V1B? Instead of the more typical .0022?

[sah5150]

Agreed, refreshing to see this. I’ve hardly been around here lately myself but pop in every so often. Glad I did. Great looking build BTW. What did you mean in the description when you said the resistors were dummies?

EDIT: Nevermind. I now understand what was done on the inputs. HOWEVER, are the 68K resistors at tube pins, Riken RMG resistors?
Also, is the coupling cap a .022 on V1B? Instead of the more typical .0022?

Glad ya dropped in, man! What did you think of the clip?

Yup, those are Rikens at the tube pins. No, V1B is .0022uF...

Steve