I Want to Build a 12000 Series Head but?

[strat man 69]

Since George does not sell kits anymore I was wondering what you all recommend me to do? I will need a 12000 series build instructions and layout diagram. I was hoping to bypass all that and get a kit but since I cannot, I am asking for some help. What do you recommend? Thanks in advance.

[BAinFL]

Welcome Stratman,

I was in your same exact shoes a couple months ago. Here's the Readers Digest of the feedback I got and followed.

Start by reading pretty much EVERY build journal in the 12000 section. Unfortunately there is no 12000 build guide. You're going to need to gather information from various documents and diagrams and use these build journal and pictures of other people to help you put it all together. For anything you don't understand, use the search function before you ask. Start planning your hardware early, but do research before you buy stuff. There are lots of good vendors who can supply quality parts for these builds. But a specific PT might not fit into a certain chassis without modifications, etc... If you read some of the threads, you might get a better idea if you want to use brand X Y or Z for certain components and/or look for NOS pieces in certain parts of your amp.

I'd say I spent about a month reading stuff here, then bought some parts, then read for another month+ and ordered the rest of my kit. Then I spent another few weeks looking up specific things I might use in my amp such as a Lar/Mar PPI MV or Larry Grounding. It's been about 3 month of research and I've just now started assembly of my amp. With 3 months of reading I can tell you I still feel like I know about 10% of what I need to know about circuits and electronics theory. I have some handle on WHAT is done in certain parts of vintage Marshalls, but barely any clue how or why it works. 3 Months in, and I barely know anything. Best advice, is take the advice of other seasoned builders. Start your amp simple (stock - or close to it) and then you can tweak it from there.

Some other tips...make sure you have quality tools. I would also personally recommend buying a chassis from George if they become available, or from other forum members who may offer one of his for sale. I would also recommend dealing with Robert at Valvestorm.com for all the odds and ends small parts that make up most of what goes in your amp. His parts list and excellent customer service are beyond top notch. Finally I would recommend Brian H for your turret board...another excellent quality product for your build.

Good luck!

Bram

[Tone Slinger]

Try and find Nightowls 12xxx build guide. Vanhalen5150 and Strat78 (as well as myself) have reffered to this. There may be a couple of 'errors' with it, but nothing that what you have just learned (from it) cant fix.

[BAinFL]

excellent...somehow I missed that. I thought I'd read every build post in this section. Well there you have it =)

[vanhalen5150]

Yeah, I pretty much went off that(Night owl). Vhjunkie helped us with the bias and trouble shooting at the end.

[strat man 69]

Thanks, I found the build manual. Now need to start buying parts. I do not know anything about building amps so plan on me asking lots of questions.

[vanhalen5150]

Valvestorm.......awesome character....

That would be Vhjunkie.....