Possible DIY Tube Combo??? Opinions???

[El Davino]

READ POST #6



Hello all!

I have a question about a possible tube combo build. My girldfriend has a small Crate practice combo that she is going to give me (even though I bought it for her about 4 years ago) but it sounds hideous in all aspects. The combo has 15w going through an 8" speaker.

My "idea" is to make the hole slightly larger to fit a 10" speaker and then send it off to a tube amp maker (most likely Bearpaw) to have a tube amp built for it. I would also want a 1/4" input for the speaker so I could use the head section with an other/additional speaker or as a combo. I think that this would yield a great practice/coffee shop/recording amp.

Thanks for reading. Thoughts?

 

[roschmbo]

Sounds like an awful lot of investment to make a custom amp for a particle board cabinet. Seriously, if you want to do that, building a nice cabinet is the smallest part of the expense of such a project.

 

[bongomania]

That is the worst project idea I've heard in a while. Do not throw good money after bad. A cheap little combo amp will not benefit from being gold plated and milk fed. Spend your money on a good amp instead.

 

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Even as a die hard DIYer I have to echo the above comments: Really bad idea.

If You're thinking about the beginnings of Mesa Engineering, that was a bit different . The Crate in question ain't Fender Princeton, even if it was a tube amp, which I highly doubt, and polishing a turd can go only to a certain gloss.

Let the amp manufacturer make the amp if You wish to have a "DIY Custom", and build a cabinet around the chassis.

Regards
Sam

 

[6810]

And anyway, you can always buy a small, 1-15W all tube guitar amp, make your own cab (or have one made) etc.

Don't forget, even though guitar amps aren't always "voiced" for bass, they can still sound pretty gnarly. And at 7 watts, you'd start getting some cool tube distortion without earthquake causing volume levels!

Just a thought!

 

[El Davino]

Thanks for the replys. This question was really two questions in one that got asked wrong by me. I agree that te little combo is a "turd" and also agree that if you paint a pumpkin black it doesn't become a bowling ball. So for question one--- Is there any cost effective way for me to make it sound more pleasing, new speaker, or should I just sell it for cheap? Next question--- This had given me the idea of getting small tube combo made. How would one go about this in a cost effective way? Should I try to build a cab myself and then send to an amp builder? Has anyone done this sort of thing before and could share experience?

Mainly, I want a small tube combo. I don't want a huge tube head and a fridge because all I want is a nice combo to record with or for practice and small gigs. I have the other stuff covered (I hope).

Thanks. I hope this time it is clear....

 

[bongomania]

There is honestly no reasonable way to improve the Crate. Putting a new speaker in would be a waste of a good new speaker. Honestly, the only good choice there is to sell it.

There are many people who custom make tube amps of all sizes, but they charge many hundreds, up to a couple thousand dollars. Having a custom builder make you something is about as far from "cost effective" as you could get. It's frankly mind-blowing to me how many people think they can get an individual artist to do something for cheaper than they could get a similar item that was mass-produced in Asia.

If you were yourself comfortable with the technical side of DIY tube amp building, and already owned all the tools, then DIY would be a valid cost-saving option. Doesn't sound like that's the case though.

Your best bet IMO would be to keep a close eye on Ebay and Craigslist, and pick up an old all-tube combo amp. Or often you'll see a tube amp sold with no body/housing or cab, and that's something you could send to a cab builder like LDS or Fliptops, and have them make it into a little combo for you. A custom cab is way cheaper than a custom tube amp.

 

[T-Bird]

Hi.

The Crate is about what it'll always be, any improvement that can be done with a resonable amount of money will most likely go un-noticed by everyone. Including the modder, filled with expectations.

There seems to be quite a lot of small 5-15W tube combos and heads floating towards us from the Chinese factories. It's near damn impossible to mod them without pumping the price tag into a whole new level though. And at the same time destroying any resale value what those amps may have in the first place.

You might want to take a peek at the http://www.ax84.com/, lots of good information over there.

Regards
Sam

 

[JimmyM]

Sorry, but if you're talking bass, I can't hang with those little 5-15w guitar heads for bass. I was told that the output transformer is way too small in those heads to put out any meaningful low end, and they distort way too easily when you use a bass. And even if you like distortion, it's too thin-sounding to be usable, like most guitar distortion pedals. I've tried a couple out on bass (including my badass '62 Airline 15w tube guitar combo) and they just don't work.