Post by simes on Sept 14, 2013 16:40:06 GMT -5
4 years ago I bought a Madamp M15Mk1 amp kit from Das Musikding, EUR 278 including pre-punched and printed steel chassis, chickenhead knobs and shipping from Germany to Spain. The order was processed and served quickly and efficiently, and communication was fluid by e-mail with the supplier when I had to request a PDF copy of the documents.
As I have very little electrical knowledge and no intention whatsoever of playing around with 300V, I tried to trick a series of friends into wiring it up for me. The difficulty encountered in achieving this end and also my becoming a father meant that 3 years passed before one fool finally succumbed and built the thing for me in exchange for an empty promise of a few beers. I also conned a relative into building me a head enclosure, which has just been finished.
The amp is advertised as a “British” type amp, with one channel based on a Marshall 18W (just volume and tone) and another T/M/B master volume channel based on the Marshall JTM “but with more gain”. It has three ECC83 preamp valves, two EL84 power valves and a diode rectifier. It doesn’t have foot switching for the channels or an effects loop, though these mods are described on the seller’s forum and the chassis has the necessary holes for these additions.
My wiring friend was rather disconcerted by how messy the recommended wiring configuration was. He comes from other sectors and wondered if it was normal for guitar amps to be wired up spaghetti-fashion, with components and wires soldered on top of and criss-crossing each other, instead of everything being on separate neat turret boards. However, he didn’t have any problems wiring it up, except that the instructions did not coincide with the current model of output transformer supplied (this was quickly cleared up by e-mail).
Sound-wise, I’m no connoisseur, although I can hear the difference between an AC30 and a Twin, or a hotrodded Marshall and a Boogie. This amp is very definitely in the tradition of Vox and Marshall amps, for the player who wants a classic British rock sound. I only had the chance to crank the “clean” channel briefly, using a Strat equipped with 6/6/10K Lil’ Killers, and it starts to overdrive around 6 on the volume knob, if I recall correctly, producing a satisfying power valve crunch from there on. I can’t comment on its quality compared to, say, an AC15 at this point, but it sure sounded good to me. The overdrive of the master volume channel has a different quality to it (at least the preamp gain tested at a lower volume did), more of a “belligerent” Marshall tone that gets you moderate distortion on 10 (i.e. it does AC/DC but not metal, at least not without external help). I’m playing it through the Fane speaker of a 50W Laney amp, by the way.
I obviously need to play around with it quite a bit, try it with a few different guitars, but for the moment I’m pretty pleased with it. I can think of a few ways it could be improved (wiring layout, effects loop and foot switching included, etc.), but it suits my playing style which is basically set-and-forget the amp, controlling the gain via PU selection and guitar pots.
Anyway, you can see a picture here:
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60869322/amp.jpg
Cheers,
Simes
As I have very little electrical knowledge and no intention whatsoever of playing around with 300V, I tried to trick a series of friends into wiring it up for me. The difficulty encountered in achieving this end and also my becoming a father meant that 3 years passed before one fool finally succumbed and built the thing for me in exchange for an empty promise of a few beers. I also conned a relative into building me a head enclosure, which has just been finished.
The amp is advertised as a “British” type amp, with one channel based on a Marshall 18W (just volume and tone) and another T/M/B master volume channel based on the Marshall JTM “but with more gain”. It has three ECC83 preamp valves, two EL84 power valves and a diode rectifier. It doesn’t have foot switching for the channels or an effects loop, though these mods are described on the seller’s forum and the chassis has the necessary holes for these additions.
My wiring friend was rather disconcerted by how messy the recommended wiring configuration was. He comes from other sectors and wondered if it was normal for guitar amps to be wired up spaghetti-fashion, with components and wires soldered on top of and criss-crossing each other, instead of everything being on separate neat turret boards. However, he didn’t have any problems wiring it up, except that the instructions did not coincide with the current model of output transformer supplied (this was quickly cleared up by e-mail).
Sound-wise, I’m no connoisseur, although I can hear the difference between an AC30 and a Twin, or a hotrodded Marshall and a Boogie. This amp is very definitely in the tradition of Vox and Marshall amps, for the player who wants a classic British rock sound. I only had the chance to crank the “clean” channel briefly, using a Strat equipped with 6/6/10K Lil’ Killers, and it starts to overdrive around 6 on the volume knob, if I recall correctly, producing a satisfying power valve crunch from there on. I can’t comment on its quality compared to, say, an AC15 at this point, but it sure sounded good to me. The overdrive of the master volume channel has a different quality to it (at least the preamp gain tested at a lower volume did), more of a “belligerent” Marshall tone that gets you moderate distortion on 10 (i.e. it does AC/DC but not metal, at least not without external help). I’m playing it through the Fane speaker of a 50W Laney amp, by the way.
I obviously need to play around with it quite a bit, try it with a few different guitars, but for the moment I’m pretty pleased with it. I can think of a few ways it could be improved (wiring layout, effects loop and foot switching included, etc.), but it suits my playing style which is basically set-and-forget the amp, controlling the gain via PU selection and guitar pots.
Anyway, you can see a picture here:
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60869322/amp.jpg
Cheers,
Simes
