NAD Assembly Required - Build Complete

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MadAsAHatter

Roadie
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I received my Amp Maker N5X amp kit last week. It took 5 days to ship from England to the US. The cost of the amp and shipping is very reasonable; about $350 total. No affiliation at all, but if you're interested in checking it out more, here's the website.

N5X British Overdrive amplifier – Amp Maker: Guitar amp kits

www.ampmaker.com www.ampmaker.com

The basic spec are:
  • Class A tube amp with variable power from 0-5 watts
  • Turret board construction
  • Can use either EL84 or octal tubes; EL34, 6L6, 6V6
  • 4, 8, 16 Ohm outputs
  • Gain, Master & TMB controls
  • Boost switch
  • Tone stack bypass switch
From the reviews and clips I found it sounds like mostly Marshall-ish with a bit of VOX chime. The kit came with everything needed to complete the amp and super detailed instructions are supplied on the website. I read through all the instructions before I bought it and it seems like it's within my skill set. This will be my first go at building an amp. Now all I have to do is put it together.... wish me luck.

1689015303828.png
 
norminal said:
@MadAsAHatter are you going to be putting it into a head shell or combo? If combo, what speaker do you plan on using?
Click to expand...

It'll be going into a headshell I made for a custom build that completely fell thought. After being overdue by a year+ the dude couldn't deliver what he promised and gave me my money back. That's what sparked my doing a kit build. I figured F it; I'll just make an amp myself. I'll likely run it through either my 212/115 with Weber Grey Wolf / Blue Dog mix or my 412 with Weber Grey Wolf/Silver Wolf mix
 
MadAsAHatter said:
I received my Amp Maker N5X amp kit last week. It took 5 days to ship from England to the US. The cost of the amp and shipping is very reasonable; about $350 total. No affiliation at all, but if you're interested in checking it out more, here's the website.

N5X British Overdrive amplifier – Amp Maker: Guitar amp kits

www.ampmaker.com www.ampmaker.com

The basic spec are:
  • Class A tube amp with variable power from 0-5 watts
  • Turret board construction
  • Can use either EL84 or octal tubes; EL34, 6L6, 6V6
  • 4, 8, 16 Ohm outputs
  • Gain, Master & TMB controls
  • Boost switch
  • Tone stack bypass switch
From the reviews and clips I found it sounds like mostly Marshall-ish with a bit of VOX chime. The kit came with everything needed to complete the amp and super detailed instructions are supplied on the website. I read through all the instructions before I bought it and it seems like it's within my skill set. This will be my first go at building an amp. Now all I have to do is put it together.... wish me luck.

View attachment 8805
Click to expand...
Probably the first candle powered amp I've ever seen.
 
Iron1 said:
I had no idea Ikea made amps... how did I miss that section the last time they routed me through the maze?
Click to expand...
Buddy, I forget the damn aisle in that fortress of soccer Mom’s & “a happy wife is a happy life type dudes”..,(-those f’n dude’s..can we go vomit?),
I remember!,
-it’s in the alarm clock/coffee maker/blender section.
You’ll notice the digital evolution as you work your way to the “Smart” section,
-so start caveman style-alarm clocks & alarm clock speakers.
 
Last edited:
To the OP,
I like what I see coming from them set of hands.
I can make HERDS of cash with them clams.
Keep creating man!!
 
I had some time over the last couple of days to finish off the power supply side and do an initial voltage test. The indicator light came on and voltages measured well. They were all slightly lower than what the spec sheet lists, but I think are within tolerances. The measurement on the IEC was 115V instead of the ideal 120V so that may be a factor too.

Everything was working well until I went to retest. All of a sudden nothing was working... The mains fuse blew. I think there was an accidental short. If you notice I wired the initial heater supply wires as that was easier to solder them to the lugs with the transformer wires all at once instead of separately. I had taped off the exposed ends so they wouldn't come in contact with anything. Well, at some point during testing the tape fell off exposing a piece of the bare wire. I think that bumped the chassis and caused a short which blew the fuse. I didn't have any extra fuses on hand to swap out and recheck everything. I'll have some delivered today. Hopefully I can put a new fuse in, everything will be fine, and I can move on to finishing up wiring the heater supply.

Here is how everything stands now and the initial voltage measurements.

1689764908382.png


1689764930447.png
 
As an extra note on the power supply...
I really like that it has 2 build in bleed resistors to drain off the voltages from the capacitors. They're the 2 blue colored resistors in the picture. They drain the caps down to safe voltages in about 5-10 seconds and fully drained in less than 30 seconds. It makes me feel a lot more comfortable knowing the all caps will automatically be drained quickly (once the power is fully disconnected) and I didn't miss something before diving back in. That doesn't mean I'm not going to check each and every time while working on it though.
 
Good news, no damage to the PT and crisis averted. Did a test on all the leads to make sure nothing was shorted. All was good there. Put in a new fuse, plugged it in and tested the mains. I got the correct voltage reading. Did the rest of the measurement and all was good to go. I had the same measurements as before.

Since there were no issues I moved on to finishing the heater supply wiring and a quick test with tubes in. I plugged in a 12AX7 into V1 and since I plan on using an EL34 plugged one into V3. V2 is for if you run it with an EL84, but you can't use both and EL34 & EL84 at the same time. Anyway, did a voltage test on V1. Plugged it into the wall and flipped it on. Both tubes started to glow. A voltage test on V1 showed 5.89 volts.

Like I mentioned before, all my tested voltages are a little lower than what's stated in the manual, but not by much. So I think everything is fine as is, but I'm going to email Barry @ ampmaker just to be 100% sure before moving on. Once I confirm with him that all is good I can move on to populating the preamp turret board.

1689806023473.png
 
MadAsAHatter said:
Like I mentioned before, all my tested voltages are a little lower than what's stated in the manual
Click to expand...

Your mains wall voltage in the US was 115.7 in that "initial voltage chart" that you posted here, so that's already lower than the expected 120v.

And I wonder if the wall voltage of the guy in the UK that wrote the manual was also higher than spec 🤔

Wall voltage can be a lot higher in the UK:

Mains voltage in the UK and the EU - and what it means for guitar amps. - Keld Ampworks Guitar Amplifier Repair

Discussing mains voltage in the UK and the EU and what the 230VAC standardization really means for guitar amps in the UK.
www.ampworks.co.uk www.ampworks.co.uk

I wonder if it's just down to these differences and you've probably done everything perfectly so far.
 
That's what I'm thinking too. Since the AC from the wall is 115V instead of the ideal 120V then everything will be slightly lower. Plus I'm sure he did all the readings based on EU voltage so there would likely be some differences there too.

This is my first amp build though and I have little practical experience. So it never hurts to triple check.
 
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