Starting an Amp project

[FuzzyAce]

Well, I'm getting the bug again to build something.
Not like I need another project, seeing I have a few guitars that also need some attention. But this should be fun and right up my alley.

This amp began its life as a Vox Valvetronix with a 12" speaker. Decent little amp for what it was, and it used to be my nephew's. Unfortunately (or fortunately lol) it had not been working for years and there was something spilled that got inside the chassis. Anyways, it's mine now so I've decided to gut the whole thing and build a 15-20 tube amp out of it.

Goals:
•15-20 watts, 2x6V6GT power section, 6SL7 PI, and 2x12AX7 in the preamp.
•volume, bass, treble, cut, master, bias switch in the preamp to add more gain, NFB on/off switch. circuit is not based on anything particular (that I'm aware of) due to the gain staging choices and tone controls staggered in the circuit
•use existing chassis, which means drilling out new holes for tube sockets and anything transformer related. This is the trickiest part of the build due to the chassis design and size. It'll take a bit more layout planning which is fine but will be the most time consuming process of the build.
•May or may not laser cut a control plate for the panel. There are existing holes exactly for what I need, but there are extra holes underneath that will not be used. Either way I need to cover these up, I can always use hvac tape. Part of me doesn't mind keeping it bare bones in case I want to change things further down the road.
•Laser cut a Fuzzy's Amp logo (duh) and put in same spot as old Vox logo
•Paint the cab yellow to match my yellow strat. Basically have an amp/guitar pair that fits together aesthetically. Repaint the metal grill black, but put a white vinyl or even grill cloth underneath for contrast. Not sure if I want to see the speaker hole so I'm leaning toward the grill cloth option. Get new black metal corner bumpers and keep existing raised, black handle.
•speaker is tbd. I have options but I'm thinking of using a Tone Tubby Purple Haze I have stashed away. But I also have G12M, EVM12S, V30, Governor, among others.
•cut a new back panel to accommodate for ventilation reasons, reuse and repaint the 2 top panel vent inserts.

The good thing is, I should already have all the parts needed except for white grill cloth. Just going to work on it when I can, no rush. But I figured I'd document it somewhat for those interested. I'm really bad with progress pics, I tend to get caught up in what I'm doing and forget, but I'll try to post as I'm in the process.

Here's what I've done so far:

The stripped down cab ready for primer.

Primed grill.

Primed cab. I didn't have white primer on hand but this should be fine. I'll likely hit it with white again before doing the yellow.

Chassis.

 

[bikescene]

Cool project! I love seeing things like this. Do you have a board lined up for the build or are you going to make your own?

Old Greenlee radio knockout punches are good for making the holes for tube sockets.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Cool project! I love seeing things like this. Do you have a board lined up for the build or are you going to make your own?

Old Greenlee radio knockout punches are good for making the holes for tube sockets.

I actually have a punch out set, and also taper bits.
As far as a board goes, I could go in a couple directions. Make my own from some leftover G10 material from an older project -- drill it out and press in the eyelets. Or, use a generic turret board just like this:

I already have a bunch of these in various sizes so probably what I'll use. I'm going to do the wiring without a schem or layout too because why not lol. At most a power amp schem for node reference, and tube pinout charts for my sanity. But, of course it wouldn't hurt to draw something out either. I just kind of want to build this one on the fly without too much overthinking is all.