Allen Amps: Accomplice

[Charlie]

Well here is the completed wiring sans heater wiring:

I already have the heaters wired I just need to solder them in tonight and then test the amp and then I'm done.

:wink:

 

[devilrob1979]

I just found my DMM. Some day...

 

[Charlie]

I just finished everything up a few hours ago. Unfortunately it is too late to turn it up and really test it out but everything works and it sounds really good so far.



I'll post some more pics and some sound clips as soon as I get a chance.

 

[RR]

Well here is the completed wiring sans heater wiring:

I already have the heaters wired I just need to solder them in tonight and then test the amp and then I'm done.

:wink:

I just glanced at your images before I read your post and I was wondering why the heater wires coming from the jewelry lamps were yet hooked up.

But then I read your post carefully.

Charlie, that is clean work. I like the way you tied up the "star ground" wires. I failed to do that with my Allen Kit (mine was the easier no step-by-step instruction 5F Series [discontinued] kits) so mine looked a bit like a "squirrel's nest". :?

I was never a stomp box, pedal person but these amps (Allen) accepts pedals, stomp box extremely well if you need more preamp gain at lower volume. Otherwise, to me it sound best cranked up, no stomp box.

 

[Charlie]

Well here is the completed wiring sans heater wiring:

I already have the heaters wired I just need to solder them in tonight and then test the amp and then I'm done.

:wink:

I just glanced at your images before I read your post and I was wondering why the heater wires coming from the jewelry lamps were yet hooked up.

But then I read your post carefully.

Charlie, that is clean work. I like the way you tied up the "star ground" wires. I failed to do that with my Allen Kit (mine was the easier no step-by-step instruction 5F Series [discontinued] kits) so mine looked a bit like a "squirrel's nest". :?

I was never a stomp box, pedal person but these amps (Allen) accepts pedals, stomp box extremely well if you need more preamp gain at lower volume. Otherwise, to me it sound best cranked up, no stomp box.

Yeah my first amp was a terrible, terrible mess. This one is WAY cleaner than that one. Having a good set of instructions with a proper layout diagram helps a lot too. I may build a tube screamer clone to go with this but it seems like it has a good amount of gain.... although it does get fuzzy at extreme gain settings - but I have still only tried the amp at very low volumes so it's hard to tell. I'll know more later on today when I get home and can turn it up a little.

 

[devilrob1979]

On the 18watt.com there's a good suggestion for a head shell. Order a custom cabinet drawer like this:

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=1991

You're most of the way to a headshell with that. Supposed to be about $60 shipped.

 

[Charlie]

On the 18watt.com there's a good suggestion for a head shell. Order a custom cabinet drawer like this:

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=1991

You're most of the way to a headshell with that. Supposed to be about $60 shipped.

Nice!

I already have a combo cab for it with a single 12 inch speaker in it. Just haven't had time to post any pics of it yet. That's a cool idea though maybe I'll use it for a future project.

 

[guitarchitect66]

Charlie,
Man, that is a thing of beauty. Really nice work. How does it sound? I received my Accomplice chassis and plan to get started on it as time allows before Christmas.

I've found a link of some recordings:
http://abitsproductions.com/clips/index.html

Thanks for posting. Enjoy!
Jack

 

[Charlie]

Charlie,
Man, that is a thing of beauty. Really nice work. How does it sound? I received my Accomplice chassis and plan to get started on it as time allows before Christmas.

I've found a link of some recordings:
http://abitsproductions.com/clips/index.html

Thanks for posting. Enjoy!
Jack

Thanks! It sounds great! Took me a little over a month or so to finish mine. I think my speaker still needs to break in though. The clean sound is to die for. It seems to really like single coil pickups with the stock speaker in the open back 1x12 cab. It'll sound great with humbuckers too but you really need to pump it through a closed back cab. With a Les Paul, closed back cab and the raw and preamp gain turned up a little more than halfway you can get a really awesome crunch with it. You can get extreme gain settings out of this amp but it becomes VERY fuzzy so you may want to consider putting a pedal in front of it if you are looking for the whole liquid lead type of sound. I use an Expandora in front of it... works great.

The clips on that link you posted are very accurate of what the amp sounds like.

One word of advice - it is VERY easy to flow solder down into those tube sockets. I ended up propping the amp up against a wall (on a pillow) at weird angles so that gravity would work to my advantage and not go down into the sockets. I screwed that up the first time and had to get new sockets and re- do it.

Btw I'm no expert but if there is anything I can help you out with just let me know.

 

[devilrob1979]

Nice work man! I think I'm going to do a few BYOC pedals early next year and once I'm a little more confident I'm going to do an 18 watt TMB. Always wanted one but I'll be damned if I'm paying $2500 for one. $510 seems like the better deal and I'm sure it's gotta be a great feeling when you fire that sucker up and know that you built it. Once again, great work.

 

[Charlie]

Sorry it took so long...... but here are some pics of the finished amp!

:lol:

 

[RR]

Sweet!

I love Black Face Fenders but imagine having a Black Face Fender but having a "RAW" control which allows you recover some of the gain loss from the Tone Stack (note: at the expense the bass and treble control becomes less effective) ... => Allen Amps.

Gretsch and Accomplice, wow, rock-a-billy.

 

[guitarchitect66]

Charlie,
Beautiful work! The cream Tolex and cinnamon grillcloth are a great combination. Early '60s vibe. I bet it sounds as good as it looks.

I've just begun my own Accomplice build. I've got the hardware on the chassis and sorted/tested the resistors much the way you have shown. I'll start the circuit board this weekend. I am waiting for the cabinet. I've gone with the stock black Tolex and silver grill but with a purple jewel--and an Eminence Texas Heat speaker.

Thanks for sharing your build!
Regards,
Jack

 

[Charlie]

Thanks!

Be careful when you are soldering the tube sockets. I flowed solder into mine by accident and couldn't get it back out so I had to get new sockets. Best advice I can give is to bend the socket tabs out at 45 degrees AND position the chassis at whatever angle you need to so that if gravity takes effect (and it most likely will) the solder won't go into the socket. I propped my chassis up against a wall (with a pillow between it so it wouldn't scratch up the chassis or the wall) and rotated the chassis depending on what socket tab I was working on. It was a PITA but it worked out really well.

Good luck! It's an awesome sounding amp.

 

[212Mavguy]

Way to go, Charlie! Like many others I sure have enjoyed this thread, it is a positive example of what this site is designed to be. Nice sharing from you and others. 8) Peace.