Allen Amps: Accomplice

[Charlie]

So I'll be getting this in kit form sometime next week:

http://www.allenamps.com/accomplice.php

I should receive the chassis/tubes/electronics etc sometime next week and I'm supposed to get the cabinet, which I custom ordered with cream tolex, cream knobs, cinnamon grill cloth and leather handle, sometime next month.

I plan on posting pics of it here. It'll probably take a while to build though because I plan on taking my sweet *** time with it.

 

[Charlie]

Well I got the kit today!



Everything was extremely well packed and the instructions are very well written. I'm going to start posting pics of my progress soon...

 

[Charlie]

Here are some pics. I should be able to start working on this in a couple of days.

 

[212Mavguy]

love those amp porn pics, send more as you go! and may all your solder joints be conductive!

 

[Charlie]

love those amp porn pics, send more as you go! and may all your solder joints be conductive!

I plan on keeping a 'picture diary' in this thread so I'll post pics as I go along. I'm hoping to get the chassis put together this weekend.

 

[Charlie]

Well here are some more pics:

The small pair of transformers are for the reverb and choke. The next one is the output transformer and the last one is the power transformer:

And here is another picture of the chassis with all of the hardware installed:

I removed all of the resistors from their bag and checked all of the color codes and double checked their resistance with an ohm meter. Then I taped them all to a piece of paper and wrote their values down next to them for easy reference:

And here is the circuit board with the jumpers and a few components stuffed into it:

 

[212Mavguy]

Yay! Bring it!

 

[guitarchitect66]

Man, keep it up. I'll be following in your footsteps in one month.

 

[RR]

The small pair of transformers are for the reverb and choke. The next one is the output transformer and the last one is the power transformer:

:shock: Whoa, Heyboer Transformers!!! Good Stuff!

 

[Charlie]

I've almost got the entire board stuffed now. I'm hoping to get the entire board w/ flying leads soldered and installed this weekend.

 

[MesaENGR412]

That's awesome man, let us know how it sounds when you get it done. The pics are great as well!

-AJH

 

[Moot]

My Allen Accomplice is, hands down, my favourite amp. Other amps have come and gone but the Accomplice will be with me forever.

I built mine from a kit, too. It taught me a lot about tube amps and basic DC electronics.

Enjoy!

 

[Charlie]

My Allen Accomplice is, hands down, my favourite amp. Other amps have come and gone but the Accomplice will be with me forever.

I built mine from a kit, too. It taught me a lot about tube amps and basic DC electronics.

Enjoy!

That's good to hear! I've heard nothing but good things about these amps I can't wait to hear mine.



So here are a few more pics. The first one shows all of the flying leads trimmed up and pasted on a piece of paper with their length written down for easy access. The next one shows the board in the middle of soldering it - I'm using a couple of alligator clips. One is to keep the wire from moving while I work and the other is being used as a heat sink. The final two pictures are of the finished circuit board.

 

[jtb226]

That is awesome! I wish I knew how to do that kind of stuff. I don't even know how to solder though. I'd really love to build my own amp, but I feel like I'd get too frustrated doing it. Can't wait to hear how yours sounds when you're done!

 

[EMGguitarist]

Im just now getting into the BYO stuff and I must say I'm excited to see its coming along keep it up as it appears you have the audience on the edge of its seat... i know i am at least and kudos on the pics very descriptive and i might use your ideas of taping components to a board...

 

[212Mavguy]

That is awesome! I wish I knew how to do that kind of stuff. I don't even know how to solder though.

Hey JTB226,
you forgot one word in your post..."yet" Nearly all of the work you see in these pics can be done with a 25 watt soldering iron, they can be had new for less than 15-25 bucks, and then you can get some wire strippers for cheap, and practice a few times with joining a couple of scrap wires together. Don't be shy, jump in there and smell the fumes! Something great is going on here in this thread. There is sharing from one to another going on, and no flamers. peace.

 

[Charlie]

Thanks for the kind words everybody! I'm glad everybody is enjoying my little 'picture diary'.

Just to mirror what 212Mavguy said - this is something anybody can learn to do. You just need some soldering skills, an ability to follow instructions and patience. Learning how a guitar amp works is a lot of fun too.

I'd recommend starting out with some BYOC fx kits and getting the best soldering iron and wire strippers you can get.

I'll have more pics up soon. I accidently flowed some solder into one of the holes in my preamp socket so I had to remove it and I'm waiting for a new part to come in the mail.

 

[Charlie]

Well it looks like David Allen shares my 'nice guys finish first' philosophy. I emailed him and told him what happened with my preamp tube sockets and he sent me a bunch of replacements free of charge.



I managed to remedy the problem with solder flowing into the sockets by propping the chassis up against a wall at weird angles. Kind of a pain in the a$$ but it worked!

Anyway here's another progress pic:

 

[RR]

That's nice tight work.

I know your next step, wiring the "star ground" where all the grounding wires emerge together and the heater wires, the wires the power up the stage tubes and preamp tubes.

Here's a tip for future amp builds, get some cotton braid covered wires (Hoffman site) for the heater wiring (naturally come in green), they're easier to wind together. Although you should have any trouble with poly wires.

Great job, ptp wiring.

 

[Charlie]

Thanks dude.

Well I finished up everything except the heater wiring last night. So once that is done I just need to test the amp out and install it into the cabinet and then it's rock and roll time!



More pics to come soon...