Audio and Electrical Engineering
1957 Tweed Deluxe Guitar Amp Build
"For many, the Deluxe amp defines the Fender tweed sound. Its rock ’n’ roll growl and sweet singing saturation has long been associated with countless guitar luminaries over the years including Larry Carlton, Mike Campbell, Neil Young, Scotty Moore and Don Felder. Several permutations of the Deluxe were designed, although it’s the sixth version – the 5E3, released in 1955 and manufactured until 1961 – that is the most widely acclaimed and serves as the basis for Fender’s hand-wired ’57 Custom Deluxe reissue." — Guitar World
And I wanted one. So I built my own. Made in the USA cabinet, chassis, transformers, tubes, capacitors - all American. The speaker is a Made in the UK Celestion, which could have been American too, but this speaker loves to be in this amp so I'll let the British piece slide. This and a Vox AC15 with a Celestion Blue are my favorite guitar tube amps ever.
Drilling bare chassis.
Mounting transformers and Micalex vacuum tube sockets.
The populated PCB and connector wires.
Mounting the PCB in the steel chassis. Starting to look at running wires.
Floating heater wiring in place. Wiring done. Reviewing for mistakes or issues.
All new old stock (NOS) American tube set: 2 x 12AT7 preamp tubes, 1 5U4GB rectifier and 2 coin base Sylvania Joint Army Navy (JAN) 6V6 beam tetrode output tubes.
Speaker is a 12 inch, Made in the U.K. Celestion Heritage G12M Greenback rated at 16 ohms at 20 watts max.
See the 1965 Deluxe Reverb build here.