As promised, after the primer was fully dry I took the power transformer down to my shop and put it together with the grey top on the chassis. Whereas the grey would make for an interesting look, I think I’ll like the black better. So unless there’s an uproarious outcry from the amp builders of the world, that’s the way I’ll be going.
Continue readingSorry about the title; I couldn’t resist. I got some time today so I applied the primer to the metal for the 6L6 SE-UL amp. The primer takes 24 hours to fully dry so tomorrow I’ll place it in the amp with an Edcor transformer on top and show everyone what the grey looks like with the spalted alder.
Continue readingThe fact that it’s been two and a half weeks since my last post should be an indication of just how busy I’ve been. However, I have been making progress on the 6L6 SE-UL in the background whenever I could. And now I’m happy to report that the chassis is complete and all the metal has been drilled and fitted to the finished chassis.
Continue readingI now have five coats of oil on the amp chassis and the color is incredible. But this finish isn’t going to be like the last couple of projects. The wood is just too different.
Continue readingThe second coat of oil went on the 6L6 SE-UL chassis this morning. The oil is bringing out something in the wood which was totally unexpected; color!
Continue readingYesterday I did the final metal fitting and drilled the mounting holes in the metal pieces. This allowed me to finish up all the marking and drilling on the wood chassis. This morning I applied the first coat of oil to the spalted alder. It looks very good.
Continue readingI’ve been on vacation for the last couple of weeks but I’m back now and ready to get moving on the 6L6 SE-UL amplifier.
Continue readingI have finally finished cutting and marking all the metal for the new amp. Now comes the long process of getting all the pieces drilled and finished.
Continue readingToday I made my final decisions about which piece of wood would go in each position and orientation. This amp chassis is going to be a work of art!
Continue readingThis morning the power transformer for the 6L6 SE-UL arrived from Edcor. And even more importantly, I’ve got the spalted alder converted to dimensional boards. Now I just need to select what goes where and I can begin milling the chassis.
Continue readingI just got a notification from Edcor. The power transformer I ordered for the 6L6/KT88 SE-UL Amplifier on the 2nd of May (just 9 days ago) shipped today! I thought I was going to have a lot more time to get the spalted alder chassis into shape.
Continue readingI’ve been making an effort this morning to get my head around the internal layout of the 6L6 SE-UL amplifier. Unfortunately, I keep being stymied by the sheer physical size of many of the components.
Continue readingEven though I’m waiting on a power transformer and some oversized components for the 6L6 SE-UL amp that doesn’t mean that all progress has come to a standstill. The new amp needs a chassis. And a new chassis means it’s lumber selection time.
Continue readingThe gear switching I’ve been doing on this rainy afternoon has been putting the 6AS7 “Purpleheart” SET in the “finished” column of the ledger and getting to work on the upcoming 6L6 SE-UL amp. And I’ve already run into a delay.
Continue readingIt’s been a productive few days. Two different amp projects are coming along nicely and today I’ve reached a milestone.
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