sneak peek

[adam]

Our first batch of 5w Valve Amps have been made and will arrive in August.

We'll start with these combos then introduce heads + cabs down the track. Prelim costings have them around $330RRP.

Something missing? Yes! A PBG badge.

Can anyone recommend someone in Aus who can make stamped metal badges we can screw to the front/top panel?

19953

[andrewdosborne]

Looking good Ads

[Dedman]

search for enamel badges Adam. There are a few aussie makers.

heres 1

http://www.ebadges.com.au/

[stan]

http://www.precisionbadges.com.au/

[Simon Barden]

With that distinctive diamond grill cloth, how are you going to badge it? As it's a Valve amp and Australian, can I suggest VOZ? ;)

[adam]

With that distinctive diamond grill cloth, how are you going to badge it? As it's a Valve amp and Australian, can I suggest VOZ? ;)

haha, love it... afraid I was thinking more traditional with the VC-5 (valve combo 5 watt). Although that has probably been done to death.

How are you feeling post-election Simon? Hung parliament is big news over here. Welcome to our world of minor party influence.

[Simon Barden]

Its not a great result, but for me, a better result than it would have been had the Conservatives had a majority. Like most people, none of the parties really represented my views, though I'm anti-Tory and more on the Labour side, though Labour were making spending promises there was no way the country could have afforded without creating a huge deficit. One thing I didn't expect was for Tory gains in Scotland, where I expected the Scottish Nationalist Party to sweep the board this time. In my view they are the party with the most realistic policies. Had this not happened, a Labour-led coalition would have been more likely.

The good news is that a soft Brexit is now far more likely, with a better outlook for the country economically (I'm very anti-Brexit, though the EU does need a severe overhaul). The bad news now is that it looks like the Conservatives have enough seats to try running the country with the aid of the Ulster Unionist Party, though by a very slim margin. It may fail in practice and we may all be back voting again in a few months.

[Simon Barden]

Laney did have a VC range of amps, the VC-15 and the VC-30 (which were Vox-styled with diamond grille cloth), though they seem to have recently disappeared from their catalogue (though the run-out amps are still available in shops). Maybe something more unique than VC-5?

Maybe dog related e.g. the Pitt Bull Pup?

[Rabbitz]

Clearly, as it has an orangey/red case, and continuing the canine theme:

Blue Heeler by Pitbull.

EDIT:

Blue Heeler by Pitbull - for Sounds with Bite.

[wikid of Oz]

August is perfect timing. My missus should have calmed down enough after I just got a PB-4 and MK-2 kits. Will definitely look into ordering one if I am out of the dog house by then

[stan]

PBA V5

Pit bull Amp, Valve 5 watt

[DrNomis_44]

@ Adam That little 5 Watt valve amp looks cool, you might have seen the thread I started about my little 5 Watt Legacy amp, I bought it from my local Pro Music shop for about $150.00, it was normally retailing for about $299.00, I got it for half price because it was non-functional but it turned out to be pretty easy to fix in the end, I would say that around $300.00 is a reasonable price to pay for a 5 Watt Valve amp considering that similar ones can cost a lot more, especially Boutique ones.

Any chance of a demo video of the amp so we can hear what it sounds like?

[gavinturner]

Please can we get a demo Ads? I've got the credit card in my hot little hand... ;)

cheers,
Gav.

[zeromick]

Please can we get a demo Ads? I've got the credit card in my hot little hand... ;)

cheers,
Gav.

+1 for that!

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/79/79af6b3bc5b23131ace1d835c402fa444ebd7cfc574c6b0406 65280337e74d7e.jpg

[Guvna19]

Any possibility we could see a DIY tube amp Kit?

my ears pricked up at the initial mention of 'tube/valve amp heads to come ?' ( *checks over shoulder to ensure missus doesnt hear my thoughts, ...when i mentioned my intent of getting one more guitar, and my 1st PB - LP kit around August the seed was planted...hehe)

After all, everyone here seems to love the building part as much as the result. I'd most probably pay extra just to DIY.
Building my Lapsteel myself recently proved far more enjoying than $aving coin. ....just thinkin outloud

Anyone else here like to make an amp?

[DrNomis_44]

Any possibility we could see a DIY tube amp Kit?

my ears pricked up at the initial mention of 'tube/valve amp heads to come ?' ( *checks over shoulder to ensure missus doesnt hear my thoughts, ...when i mentioned my intent of getting one more guitar, and my 1st PB - LP kit around August the seed was planted...hehe)

After all, everyone here seems to love the building part as much as the result. I'd most probably pay extra just to DIY.
Building my Lapsteel myself recently proved far more enjoying than $aving coin. ....just thinkin outloud

Anyone else here like to make an amp?


You could consider checking out, and maybe buying one of the Lamington Amp kits.

[stan]

Any possibility we could see a DIY tube amp Kit?

my ears pricked up at the initial mention of 'tube/valve amp heads to come ?' ( *checks over shoulder to ensure missus doesnt hear my thoughts, ...when i mentioned my intent of getting one more guitar, and my 1st PB - LP kit around August the seed was planted...hehe)

After all, everyone here seems to love the building part as much as the result. I'd most probably pay extra just to DIY.
Building my Lapsteel myself recently proved far more enjoying than $aving coin. ....just thinkin outloud

Anyone else here like to make an amp?

It's a nice idea, but it's been floated before.
Ads and the team are very conscious of the safety and quality of their products - one problem with DIY amps is that if you do it wrong the consequences can be pretty big - hence nice economical complete amps vs DIY.

Doc's suggestion of lamington amps is a good one, and reports of them are good

[OliSam]

It's a nice idea, but it's been floated before.
Ads and the team are very conscious of the safety and quality of their products - one problem with DIY amps is that if you do it wrong the consequences can be pretty big - hence nice economical complete amps vs DIY.

Doc's suggestion of lamington amps is a good one, and reports of them are good

kind of agree with this point. I've been really keen (lamington amps in particular) for a few years to give this a go but am a little worried about electricity meeting my hands in the wrong situation.......

[dave.king1]

Ten Commandments of Electrical Safety
(1) Beware of the lightning that lurks in an undischarged capacitor lest it cause thee to be bounced upon thy backside in a most ungainly manner.

(2) Cause thou the switch that supplies large quantities of juice to be opened and thusly tagged, so thy days may be long on this earthly vale of tears.

(3) Prove to thyself that all circuits that radiateth and upon which thou worketh are grounded lest they lift thee to high-frequency potential and cause thee to radiate also.

(4) Take care thou useth the proper method when thou taketh the measure of high-voltage circuits so that thou doth not incinerate both thee and the meter, for verily though thou hast no account number and can be easily replaced, the meter doth have one and as a consequence bringeth much woe upon the supply department.

(5)Tarry thee not amongst those who engage in intentional shocks for they are surely non-believers and are not long for this world.

(6) Take care thou tampereth not with interlocks and safety devices, for this incureth the wrath of thy seniors and bringeth the fury of the safety officer down upon thy head and shoulders.

(7) Work thee not on energized equipment, for if thou doeth, thy mates will surely be buying lunch without thee and thy space at the table will be filled by another.

(8) Verily, verily I say unto thee, never service high-voltage equipment alone, for electric cooking is a slothful process, and thou might sizzle in thy own fat for hours on end before thy Maker sees fit to end thy misery and drag thee into His fold.

(9) Trifle thee not with radioactive tubes and substances lest thou commence to glow in the dark like a lightning bug.

(10) Commit thee to memory the works of the prophets, which are written in the instruction books, which giveth the straight info and which consoleth thee, and thou cannot make mistakes.

[FrankenWashie]

Amen, Reverend King! Testify!

[Rabbitz]

For those wondering why people fear valve gear - it is quite simple:

The grid voltages for a valve typically run at levels around 600 V. However, they can run MUCH higher depending on amp design and purpose - 3000 V is not very unusual.

Some designs have enormous capacitors - think it of a big-arse battery that will discharge that 600 to 3000 V charge very quickly at surprisingly high current. Capacitors can hold lethal charges for very long periods, thus keeping it very dangerous for those sticking fingers into a chassis even one that is unplugged...

[DrNomis_44]

It's a nice idea, but it's been floated before.
Ads and the team are very conscious of the safety and quality of their products - one problem with DIY amps is that if you do it wrong the consequences can be pretty big - hence nice economical complete amps vs DIY.

Doc's suggestion of lamington amps is a good one, and reports of them are good



Definitely, when building a valve type guitar amp the danger of getting an electric shock from one is very real, there is very little margin for error, and all it takes is for electrical current to pass from one hand across your chest to your other hand to cause your heart to go into fibrillation (the heart stops beating normally), which will have fatal consequences if you don't know what you're doing, I've been pretty lucky so far but I wouldn't tempt fate.


To safely work on a valve amplifier you need to follow correct electrical-safety procedures.


When I did an Electrical Testing & Tagging course to get my Electrical Testing & Tagging card, we were taught that as little as around 100mA, or .1 of an amp, is enough to cause heart Fibrillation, the current levels in a valve guitar amp can easily exceed this due to the HT supply filter caps (typically around 100uF or so in value) storing electrical charge, it's not the voltage that kills, it's the current.

https://engineering.dartmouth.edu/safety/electrical/TheFatalCurrent.html


And considering that the average Australian household 240V AC power socket is capable of supplying up to something like 15 Amps , they can be instantly lethal.

[Guvna19]

It's a nice idea, but it's been floated before.
Ads and the team are very conscious of the safety and quality of their products - one problem with DIY amps is that if you do it wrong the consequences can be pretty big - hence nice economical complete amps vs DIY.

Doc's suggestion of lamington amps is a good one, and reports of them are good

Wise advice , and all points taken. I hearby retract the DIY amp suggestion in the name of Safety

[dave.king1]

Amen, Reverend King! Testify!
Let me see, brass compass across live 240v in the music room at high school, yeah fingers did go across it first.

Then some years later found out how much kick 385v on the anode cap of my AC30 clone had.

Then later again dropped a ring spanner across 50v DC, main bus bars carrying about 3.5K amps from memory, the spanner simply disappeared in a bright flash into an alternate universe

[DrNomis_44]

Had a pretty shocking experience when my hand touched two pins of the power plug of a three-phase arc welder, I was in the process of replacing said plug with a new one and forgot to discharge the two dirty great big capacitors lurking in the back of the three-phase arc welder, did I jump?.....yes.

The three-phase arc welder I was working on was designed to run on three-phase 415V AC, no wonder I suddenly jumped and dropped the power plug.

[FrankenWashie]

Let me see, brass compass across live 240v in the music room at high school, yeah fingers did go across it first.

Then some years later found out how much kick 385v on the anode cap of my AC30 clone had.

Then later again dropped a ring spanner across 50v DC, main bus bars carrying about 3.5K amps from memory, the spanner simply disappeared in a bright flash into an alternate universe

Yep, walked in on my brother changing over a single GPO to a dual plug GPO in his room way back when. Coversation went like this:

Me: WTF are you doing?!?!
Him: it was cracked and I want the extra plug
Me: you are not a qualified electrician
Him: It's okay, I've switched it off....(shows me the outlet switch in the off position)
Me: did you at least pull the Fuse or switch off the main switch?
Him: ????? Urrrrrr???
Me: ............ I'm just going to the fuse box, I'll come back in a minute to slap the stupid off you.

[DrNomis_44]

Yep, walked in on my brother changing over a single GPO to a dual plug GPO in his room way back when. Coversation went like this:

Me: WTF are you doing?!?!
Him: it was cracked and I want the extra plug
Me: you are not a qualified electrician
Him: It's okay, I've switched it off....(shows me the outlet switch in the off position)
Me: did you at least pull the Fuse or switch off the main switch?
Him: ????? Urrrrrr???
Me: ............ I'm just going to the fuse box, I'll come back in a minute to slap the stupid off you.


Geez, your brother should be grateful to you for saving his life.

[FrankenWashie]

He just didn't get that what he was trying to was dangerous, most people don't realise exactly how dangerous many things around the house are. He'd figured that because he'd turned it off that it was safe to work on.

[stan]

wow Franken - it's takes a lot of slapping to remove stupid, you must have been busy...

[FrankenWashie]

wow Franken - it's takes a lot of slapping to remove stupid, you must have been busy...

I've been trying to slap some sense into my older brother since i was about 5. Coming up to 37 years worth and i think i've finally made a breakthrough! Persistence is the key.

[Rabbitz]

Trouble is, you slap some sense into them, they go out for morning tea and you've got to do it all over again :)

[Marcel]

As much as I'd love to be able to buy an Australian tube amp kit and build it I find it very difficult to recommend to anyone to go and supply such a kit to the public.

Safety of the builder would be the biggest concern.

But with that said, a quick look in the Jaycar catalogue shows quite a few mains powered kits, with some kits having all the electronics at mains potential, so it is not an impossible task to market a tube amp kit. With due diligence incorporated into the kit instructions a tube amp kit could be a very rewarding challenge, however I think appropriate pricing would be needed to divert those simply seeking a cheap option to look elsewhere.

$300 for a complete 5W tube combo is reasonably competitive. Leaves room for a 15W or 30W tube combo for slightly more.

[FrankenWashie]

As much as I'd love to be able to buy an Australian tube amp kit and build it I find it very difficult to recommend to anyone to go and supply such a kit to the public.

Safety of the builder would be the biggest concern.

But with that said, a quick look in the Jaycar catalogue shows quite a few mains powered kits, with some kits having all the electronics at mains potential, so it is not an impossible task to market a tube amp kit. With due diligence incorporated into the kit instructions a tube amp kit could be a very rewarding challenge, however I think appropriate pricing would be needed to divert those simply seeking a cheap option to look elsewhere.

$300 for a complete 5W tube combo is reasonably competitive. Leaves room for a 15W or 30W tube combo for slightly more.

Yes, electrickery is tricky, that's why I have a fully qualified Igor to apply the electrodes and wire the lightning rod in the FrankenLab

[Marcel]

Oh, the joys of having a fully qualified Igor at your disposal...

Still, I beg to differ there FW...

There isn't that much trickery go on with electrickery... pretty simple really .. it just wants to go from where there is plenty to where there is none via the quickest easiest shortest path.. and if that happens to be via you it WILL take that path EVERY time!!! ...

It's kinda lazy of it if you think about it, It doesn't care, and it will avoid doing work if it can, and it can make a real mess of things given half the chance. A bit like some teenagers...lol

[wazkelly]

And there's the reason why I have bought 3 combo amps for around $300 - $400 each rather than try and build one myself for fear of frying oneself from an earth leakage.

[DrNomis_44]

If there are any of you still thinking of building a valve guitar amp after all the safety warnings we've given you, may I first strongly recommend investing money in a decent portable ELCB (Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker), since it could save your life, I seriously need to invest some money into one too, might see if my local big green shed has them in stock this week.

[Simon Barden]

Although an ELCB (or RCCB/RCD as they are now called) won't save you from a possibly lethal capacitor discharge if you don't allow enough time for the power supply capacitors to discharge naturally or you forget to actively discharge them whilst working on a just turned-off valve amp circuit. But having one is always better than not having one.

[JB RETRO]

If there are any of you still thinking of building a valve guitar amp after all the safety warnings we've given you, may I first strongly recommend investing money in a decent portable ELCB (Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker), since it could save your life, I seriously need to invest some money into one too, might see if my local big green shed has them in stock this week.

As a licenced builder we plug everything into a Earth leakage board on site. Having said that all new homes have an Earth leakage fuse as part of the switch board. It's worth putting one in your house even if its old and from memory, at least in Victoria, if an electrician does any work on your house, he is supposed to install one and get rid of old fuses.

[wazkelly]

Comforting to know that if you cop a boot from the circuit you may not self combust thanks to the ELCB.

Yeah, right, having had a few brushes with electrical shocks in the past taught me to leave things well alone and have an expert do that sort of stuff instead.

[corsair]

Amen to old chopsticks for poking around the innards of a valve amp! And, do you know, you never learn; I got belted once as a youngster from the caps in my old Holden - they're as big as bloody dinner plates and bite! - so learned to discharge the caps before sticking anything organic or metal in there but when I had our stuff shipped from NZ to Aus after some years in Europe, I had cause to poke around in the chassis, and was happily poking about when I suddenly thought about the caps. The train of thought was that it had been years since the old cow had been powered up so I'd be OK but hmmm; perhaps I'll just go through the discharge procedure, and there was indeed a little juice left in there!! Probably not enough to do me any major damage, but still - safety first, eh?!?

Now. Let's talk about DC voltage and piddling on an electric fence. An electric fence designed to keep deer away from the boundary, i.e. an outrigger style fence....

[Marcel]

There are nil wooden chop sticks in my toolbox but I do have a couple of Teflon screw drivers and a few alligator leads with a built in 100k or 1M resistors to keep caps discharged, and bamboo skewers are great for holding tiny SMD components in place while you solder them in. Generally though I find wood can have too much moisture content for working in really high voltage or in certain RF environments.

Can't remember when I last got an actual 'boot' from electrickery. Did get one off a megger meter back in my teens when a classmate thought it would be funny to go and zap every unsuspecting class member, and in my 20's I got an RF burn once when working inside a large Antenna tuning unit.

Electric fences.... Should be nil DC, Pulses a few times a second of a few kV @ about 1mA ... lots of bite with little damage...

[dave.king1]

Did get one off a megger meter back in my teens when a classmate thought it would be funny to go and zap every unsuspecting class member...

Ah the good old days of college and wiring up the urinal to a magneto telephone magneto.

For you younguns on here the magneto is the thing connected to the crank handle on telephones you sometimes see in old black & white movies.

Megger was a barrel of laughs too

[wazkelly]

Electric fences.... Should be nil DC, Pulses a few times a second of a few kV @ about 1mA ... lots of bite with little damage...

Always best to test with the back of your hand if not sure or just so stupidly curious to find out how much it can give.

Now peeing on one takes things to a higher level of courage or stupidity, or perhaps a bit of both. The zap probably wouldn't do much damage but one's pecker would be feeling a bit sad and sorry for the experience.

[Hobastard]

Best way to test an electric fence is to touch it with a blade of green grass, you only get a little tingle if it's live.
Having said that, I usually just use the back of my hand.....

Have been nailed severely by a Big Cattle Fence, single strand, we used to step on it then over, this time the grass and my boots were wet, and it fired as I was stepping off, dropped me like a stone, face first next to a big Cow Pie..... Felt like a 4x2 across the back of my head.....
Never did that again.....

[DrNomis_44]

Ah the good old days of college and wiring up the urinal to a magneto telephone magneto.

For you younguns on here the magneto is the thing connected to the crank handle on telephones you sometimes see in old black & white movies.

Megger was a barrel of laughs too


One day in Science class at school, the teacher was demonstrating static electricity, he had set up a device called a Wimshurst Machine, he got some on my fellow students to form a chain by holding each others hands and then instructed the students at the ends of the chain to touch the two electrodes of the Wimshurst Machine while he cranked the handle, did my fellow students jump...of course they did, I've received a shock from a Wimshurst Machine and I can tell you that it is not a very pleasant experience, and not one that I would like to experience again, I've had the Megger prank done on me too, sure the prankster might have thought it funny, but I certainly did not for obvious reasons.

[evancprentice]

Just a thought - seeing that you provide guitar kits for DIY, any chance the amps will be available at some stage as a DIY too?

[Brendan]

Check out http://www.valveheaven.com/diy-amp-kits/. I think the risks of voltage, etc and not being a space that Adam understands well may preclude the offering of an amp kit.

[adam]

What Brendan said... getting a solder burn is one thing, but losing your life from a 230V shock is another.

[adam]

Took along one of our soon-to-be released 5 watt valve amps (pre-badges and certification for AS/NZ Standards) to the Red Dog* rehearsal last night.

I thought it sounded so good I stuck my iPhone in front of it to capture a minute of video.

Clearly this wasn't planned, as I most certainly wouldn't have worn my Uggies.

Check it out: https://youtu.be/V4feoCdfZvI


*Red Dog is our Fire Services band, we used to play FESA/DFES social functions and a couple of charity gigs. There's a reunion gig planned for November.

[Dedman]

wait.....that's not a tele-mcaster!

Does sound pretty good however.

[wokkaboy]

sounds good for 5 watts Ads. Is it just you on guitar or another guitar player as well ? Heard the bass and drums ok.
What axe were you playing ?
Nice ugg boots haha

[andrewdosborne]

Nice one Adam, amp sounds great. I was actually quite envious of the Uggs, my toes went through mine last week so Ugg-less for the remainder of winter (unless I get some for fathers day hint hint)

[adam]

sounds good for 5 watts Ads. Is it just you on guitar or another guitar player as well ? Heard the bass and drums ok.
What axe were you playing ?
Nice ugg boots haha

Hey Wokka, there's 3 guitars in Red Dog; lead, rhythm and an acoustic. That's my old 80's Tele... it had been looking sadly neglected, so I took it out for a spin. The strings were almost black... 2013 was the last time I played it.

[Marcel]

For a tired set of strings it still sounded pretty darn good... Shows well what even 5W of tube grunt can do...

Now, where's the 'Like' button?

[dingobass]

Noice one Adam. Good to see you embracing your inner Bogan there buddy.......

[FrankenWashie]

Noice one Adam. Good to see you embracing your inner Bogan there buddy.......

For bogan authenticity though it should really be uggies and footy shorts. Mullet optional.

[DrNomis_44]

Took along one of our soon-to-be released 5 watt valve amps (pre-badges and certification for AS/NZ Standards) to the Red Dog* rehearsal last night.

I thought it sounded so good I stuck my iPhone in front of it to capture a minute of video.

Clearly this wasn't planned, as I most certainly wouldn't have worn my Uggies.

Check it out: https://youtu.be/V4feoCdfZvI


*Red Dog is our Fire Services band, we used to play FESA/DFES social functions and a couple of charity gigs. There's a reunion gig planned for November.


Pretty nice sounding little amp Adam, I'll have to buy one one day.

[wokkaboy]

haha that's it Franky, sure if the camera panned up Ads would have had one of those mullet wigs on and a packet of Winny red under his flannelette shirt with his Holden ute keys on the 6 pack esky (with AC/DC stickers on the side) with Emu Export in it hahah

[wazkelly]

haha that's it Franky, sure if the camera panned up Ads would have had one of those mullet wigs on and a packet of Winny red under his flannelette shirt with his Holden ute keys on the 6 pack esky (with AC/DC stickers on the side) with Emu Export in it hahah

Don't you own a Holden Ute Woks?

[Andy40]

Sounds great