Hiwatt to Hell

[_Steve]

While i've been waiting on a JTM45/100 chassis to arrive i've been pottering around with some other projects including a DR504 clone with Heyboer transformers.



I've only just started really. Im a little bit nervous about this one as they are considered the gold standard of lead dress and I am basically the anti-christ of it. I have at least made an effort so far but have already deviated from Harry's layout for a different (safer?!) fuse arrangement and to accommodate radial caps instead of cap cans because im cheeeeeep

Please let me know if you want me to post updates as I progress? Not sure if people here are interested in Hiwatts or not.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

...

sure, do it!

 

[Trouble Free]

Please let me know if you want me to post updates as I progress? Not sure if people here are interested in Hiwatts or not.

Dude, if you're building a tube amp we are interested

 

[anitoli]

KEEP THIS THREAD GOING! PLEASE!

 

[StingRay85]

Awesome. Lead dress, who cares about that. My hiwatt build is messy as hell, but it sounds the way it should. It won't do any Marshall type of thing, I think the 47 nF cathode bypass caps are the reason for that. It'll do the Live in Leeds very well.

 

[jimmyjames]

Thread title brought me here Love your work, and your Bon avatar

 

[_Steve]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement!

So I already have a quick question. In the schematic im following there is something going to ground from the PT I don't understand. I've never seen this in a schematic before and the OT schematic has the same too. I don't have any additional wires from the transformers to use. Any ideas??

 

[anitoli]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement!

So I already have a quick question. In the schematic im following there is something going to ground from the PT I don't understand. I've never seen this in a schematic before and the OT schematic has the same too. I don't have any additional wires from the transformers to use. Any ideas??

View attachment 83255

It appears to be a ground connection to the iron of the transformer.

 

[South Park]

It could be some kind of floating ground . It could be inside the transformer .

 

[anitoli]

https://www.mercurymagnetics.com/2018/wp-content/uploads/shop/specsheets/HI50-P.pdf

 

[neikeel]

It is an electrostatic shield
Usually on the highest spec transformers to ground them, from extraneous noise, see them on Partridges.

 

[_Steve]

Great thanks for the info! These Heyboers don't have this shield so I will disregard, however out of curiosity I looked on a Sound City Partridge PT i have (future project!) and can now see the shield wire:



Learnt something new today Thanks!

 

[_Steve]

Got a little more done yesterday and today. There's not much more I can do now until I get the boards and some other bits from AES. Im waiting for them to have a holiday sale I really need those boards so I can figure out where im going to put my grounding points as well as the exact route for the heaters wire. Im not super excited about having to run the heaters over to the power tubes then right back through the middle of the chassis to the preamp tubes

 

[StingRay85]

Since it is a clone, why not do it exactly as the DR504? Are you going for NOS mustard caps?

 

[_Steve]

Since it is a clone, why not do it exactly as the DR504? Are you going for NOS mustard caps?

I may wire it close to the original, however I have a bit of 'wiggle room' to play with because I already put the rectifier and first smoothing circuit over to the side by the power supply. Im also using small radial filter caps instead of cans so I have that whole space in the middle where all the cutouts for the cap cans are to use, or leave empty... Once I have the boards i'll be able to picture it all together and see where I need/want to run hookups and heaters.

No NOS caps for me im afraid - I can't hear the difference and I am cheeeep

 

[gldtp99]

Interesting project---- I've built many DR504 and DR103 clones for local players (and myself) usually using the Heyboer Partridge clone iron.

Which Preamp are you going to use in this one ?

I've usually built the Early or Mid 70's 4 Inputs preamps----- I like the big clean tones and prefer to set the amps cleanish and use pedals for distorted tones

I did use a set of 100 watt Heyboer Partridge clone iron on a 100 watt (EL34 x 4) Hi Gain channel switcher with a BF Fender based Clean channel and a modern Hi Gain channel of my own design (non Marshall based) that's now owned by a Grindcore band----- they don't use the Clean channel often but like the gain structure/clarity of the Hi Gain channel ---- I think the Heyboer Partridge clone iron contributes to this in a major way.

Keep us updated on the progress of your amp work

 

[_Steve]

Interesting project---- I've built many DR504 and DR103 clones for local players (and myself) usually using the Heyboer Partridge clone iron.

Which Preamp are you going to use in this one ?

I've usually built the Early or Mid 70's 4 Inputs preamps----- I like the big clean tones and prefer to set the amps cleanish and use pedals for distorted tones

I did use a set of 100 watt Heyboer Partridge clone iron on a 100 watt (EL34 x 4) Hi Gain channel switcher with a BF Fender based Clean channel and a modern Hi Gain channel of my own design (non Marshall based) that's now owned by a Grindcore band----- they don't use the Clean channel often but like the gain structure/clarity of the Hi Gain channel ---- I think the Heyboer Partridge clone iron contributes to this in a major way.

Keep us updated on the progress of your amp work

Hey thanks for the post I found it really interesting.

At the moment im planning to do the mid-70s 4-hole preamp. Hopefully that will deliver 'that Hiwatt sound' that everyone raves about but i've never heard

Please do stop by and tell me when im doing something wrong. I am new to Hiwatts and still relatively new to amp building

 

[StingRay85]

Just listen to the Live in Leeds album of the Who, that is the benchmark for the cranked Hiwatt sound.



Best is of course to use Mullard tubes

 

[adew1]

Please let me know if you want me to post updates as I progress? Not sure if people here are interested in Hiwatts or not.

Yes please!
It's looking great.
Is this the Modulus chassis you mentioned in that other thread?

 

[_Steve]

Yes please!
It's looking great.
Is this the Modulus chassis you mentioned in that other thread?

Yep this is the chassis from Modulus This project is going to be on hold for a week or so while I wait for parts.