MadAsAHatter
Roadie
- Messages
- 242
This one has been a while in the making. Back in December of 2023 I bought the Hilbish PCB and chassis as a Christmas present to myself while there was a sale to eventually build a Matamp GT-120 clone.
It took me a few months to source all the components. This is my first non-kit build so it took me a while to figure out what all I was going to need. Mouser and Digikey aren't the easiest to search when there are thousands of things to choose from and you're not sure of exactly what you need. Soundwise I have no idea how it will all work out, but I did buy quality brands and am confident I got all the right values.
Around April of 2024 I had what I needed to do some work on the PCB and got most of it populated.
Around here is where I got stuck for a long while. I originally bought a set of Heyboer transformers to use. While they could have worked out fine, they weren't the same as the ones in the documentation. I would have had to do an artificial tap and rerouted a lead or two to other places. I'm not really there with my level of experience and would be more comfortable doing things as shown in the plans. I sat on it for a long while before ordering the Mercury ones that Nathan Hilbish specified for the build.
In the meantime I sidetracked to another project; the Headfirst/Evolve DIY drop-in PCB mod for a Marshall Origin 50. I posted a thread on that and am happy to say that project was successfully completed.
Skip ahead to around August of this year and I finally got around to buying the Mercury transformers. I actually bough them sometime in June and Mercury about a 6-8 week lead time. So, with everything I needed on hand it was time to get back to working on things. My weekends have been full recently so I took everything to work with me and have been slowly building the amp on my breaks; 20 minutes here, 30 minutes there. I've been slowly making progress over the last 2-3 weeks. I think I'm at least a good half way done. Power tube sockets, all the back panel components, can caps, and most of the transformers are all wired up. Plus what I had already done on the PCB. I still have to do the preamp tube sockets, front panel components and whatever's left on the PCB. Hopefully I can get it all finished up before the holiday season starts to take off.
All hardware mounted to the chassis & the start of wiring power tube sockets.
It took me a few months to source all the components. This is my first non-kit build so it took me a while to figure out what all I was going to need. Mouser and Digikey aren't the easiest to search when there are thousands of things to choose from and you're not sure of exactly what you need. Soundwise I have no idea how it will all work out, but I did buy quality brands and am confident I got all the right values.
Around April of 2024 I had what I needed to do some work on the PCB and got most of it populated.
Around here is where I got stuck for a long while. I originally bought a set of Heyboer transformers to use. While they could have worked out fine, they weren't the same as the ones in the documentation. I would have had to do an artificial tap and rerouted a lead or two to other places. I'm not really there with my level of experience and would be more comfortable doing things as shown in the plans. I sat on it for a long while before ordering the Mercury ones that Nathan Hilbish specified for the build.
In the meantime I sidetracked to another project; the Headfirst/Evolve DIY drop-in PCB mod for a Marshall Origin 50. I posted a thread on that and am happy to say that project was successfully completed.
Skip ahead to around August of this year and I finally got around to buying the Mercury transformers. I actually bough them sometime in June and Mercury about a 6-8 week lead time. So, with everything I needed on hand it was time to get back to working on things. My weekends have been full recently so I took everything to work with me and have been slowly building the amp on my breaks; 20 minutes here, 30 minutes there. I've been slowly making progress over the last 2-3 weeks. I think I'm at least a good half way done. Power tube sockets, all the back panel components, can caps, and most of the transformers are all wired up. Plus what I had already done on the PCB. I still have to do the preamp tube sockets, front panel components and whatever's left on the PCB. Hopefully I can get it all finished up before the holiday season starts to take off.
All hardware mounted to the chassis & the start of wiring power tube sockets.
