wow..time flys

The year is about gone and I am not ready for that. Wally world is a maddhouse. I am glad I have not had to go there for much.
Did score a new (old) muzzle loaded for me (yeah!). Am looking forward to food,music and fun.
Playing @ church Christmas eve..doing some picking with my buds. I will be playing my Martin tune in open C.
Will post pics later...
Merry Christmas

date nite 2

Wow doesn't seem like very long since my last post...but it has been. We did the date nite conference last weekend. Chris Beam pulled it all together. We played...had fun...then he spoke and tied it all together.
Since I was in the band...here is the set list.
Rosanna
Carry on Wayward Son
Then we played "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" with the songs:
I Can't Fight this Feelin
Hold on Loosely
Good Times (Chic version)
Home
Word Up

Followed by:
Why Can't this be Love? (VanHalen)
Take Me There
So Small
Say (What you need to Say)

Bunch of fun songs with a great message form Chris.

Can't wait for the next one....maybe I can snag some pics to post.
k

It's Saturday...

And I will be going to work for a while...fun. Then coming home to work..fun. But after that is done I plan to find SOMETHING to put on the grill this evening. I believe I have some smoke chops in the freezer.

On another note. Wife is the drama teacher at the high school. They are doing a version of To Kill A Mocking Bird for one act. Interesting play. I have seen it several times, see the movie, read the book, etc. A lot of folks who see the play are fixated on the race issue in it. They lose the fact that Atticus is teaching his kids that the folks who are looked down apon because of age, economic situations, mental handicap, etc....all thoughout the play.....are not to be looked down apon because they have so much to offer. I hope the kids involved in this play and those who watch it pick up on that fact. We all have something to contriute...everyone is special in some way. Just my two cents in this crazy mixed up world we live in.

k

kansas

Am playing with a group doing a conference and one of the songs we are doing is "wayward son" by kansas. Kerry Levgrin is a neat guitarist. The solos and structure of this song are very well crafted. Got the first of 4 solos in and a bridge run learned yesterday. Plan to learn the second one tonight. Figured out the best way: Audacity has the ability to solo a solo down without changing pitch so you can play it and hear what is going on.

On another note: found a neat mod to do to my 18 watt...a power reduction switch. Should help me drop the power down to like 9, then 4 watts. Much better for practice although 4 watts is still pretty loud. Those who say no have never spent any time with my 1.5 watt Firefly..it will make your ears ring.
k

Labor day weekend

Labor day weekend was fun. Took the wife and kids to the Bay Point Marriott in Panama City Fl.
Much fun and food was had by all. Wife did the spa thingy. I got her an appointment and she had a wonderful time.
It's not about the trip...it's all about them. I love my family. I am proud of my wife and kids. I don't know how I could go on without them and being able to spend a weekend away was very rewarding.
I just want my wife to know she is the love of my life and means everything to me. Love you honey!
We have been married 13 wonderful years and I look forward to many more.
I love my kids too...of course, but I know that without us loving each other and making the commitment to each other our kids would be missing something that they truly need...a family.
I see so many others struggling to stay together. I see what a busted marriage, affairs, distrust and lying can do to kids and a marriage. I pray that the good Lord will hold us and keep us from ever giving up on each other, or giving in to this world.
I love you Di and don't you ever forget it.
K

Headed to Hiltonhead...

Going to a conference in Hiltonhead...hope there is some nice music around to listen to. Have been thinking of getting a Travel Guitar..yes the ones that are branded "Travel Guitar". Something to take on the road. I really need to practice the solos out of "Wayward Son" by Kansas...got to get them learned.

new speaker to try with amps

I picked up a Judy Box amps "BadBetty" 30watt 8 ohm speaker to try. They were parted out of some amps that had problems, so it is New In Box. The BB is a 92.5db rated speaker, so it is quieter than the 100db Veteran 30 from Warehouse Guitar Speakers or the 95db Celestion G12L-40H that is in my little cab now. According the Judy Box and the frequecy graf they have on their site, it has better lows and highs than the Celestion, but at a lower volume. The Celestion sounds good, but the lows are lacking and the highs are brittle..so we will see how this one stacks up against it.
(Try the search bar below and go look at the Judy Box amps, nice amps for the money...I think it will find them...Google ususaly does).
Let you know how it sounds.
Kirk

18 watt post 17

Hope I got the number right. Went to Home Depot yesterday and got a 10 foot 10" white pine board. Very tight grain, so it should do nicely. Will work on cutting and joining it this weekend, if not before.
Keep you posted.
k

Caffine...my brain is just slow

I am still struggling with the caffine thing. Not that I want it, gotta have it, etc....my brain just seems to be running slower. I play music as you know, and on sundays fast decisions when playing often are a struggle...remembering lead lines, etc...
I sit and think..."what was his name?" and get no answer from the terrabyte of storage between my ears....feels like i have molasses in there. Frustraiting...anyhows...hope it improves. Need more fish oil and ginko i guess...
k

18 watter at church again..more on caffine

Played the 18 watter at church again...my playing was much better this week. I mounted the 18watt on a board to keep folks from gettins shocked until I get a cab built. Love the sound..big full, even through my cheap cab. Now through the Vet 30 in my other cab...big mojo going on. The Celestion g12L-40H is a cheap speaker...less lows, smaller magnet...less db. All that is well and good for the church gig. If I play live somewhere else...use other cab.

Am going to Home Depot today to get boards to start on the cab with. Hope to work on it one night this week. Would love to get it cut out, finger jointed and then drilled this week. Then I can at least mount it in the box to use will I can work on it again. I would then do the stays to hold the front and back, then cut the front and back out and start working on the inlay for the front. Have a place to get faceplate material...so I need to go by there and get it and drill and mount it. Plan to get it engraved too. We shall see. May just get wood and do face plate first...
This is going to take a few weeks.

Still holdin out on no or low caffine...energy levels are ok...still not up to par yet...
k

school is almost here

My son is not looking forward to school starting....my 4 yr old is. My wife is ready so she can have a routine. I am ready, so things will settle down...
fun I guess.
Hope to grill tonight....swim a little and relax. Has been a long week.
Did get to see RUSH tuesday night in Atlanta...was a great show as always.
Playing the 18 watt again Sunday. May build a scratch cab to put it in until I can build a proper one...just don't want to get shocked or break the amp in the mean time.
kirk

18 watter at church...caffine again...

Amp did well at church. Sound was nice, my playing was off....had a brain lapse in the middle of one song and had to rethink what I was doing completely= not fun.
My mind is not thinking as fast on it's feet right now. Wonder how long it will be before my brain gets back up to speed? I hope soon. I have to be able to think to play.
Will be working on the cab later in the week...need something to put it in. Don't really want some kid going over there and shocking himself on all the DC voltage running around in there.

no caffine day 8 and the 18watt goes to church

Today is 8th day of no or low caffine. I feel fine. Am very relaxed...still. Still get tired easier than I did before, but I supposed that will change in time. Honestly, it is like my mind is in relax mode all the time. My only concerns are how I will handle stress, whether I will gain weight.

On another note. Fender is acting up and in shop..so the 18 watt get a call a few weeks early. Now I have to get the cab for it finished pronto. May build a scratch cab for it so I can safely play it and then build a better one later...we shall see.
k

Caffine......

I have been for many years...at least 20 years...a serious coffee hound. I all started when I was in college. Working evenings, nights and weekends at the radio station. The diner at college always had coffee on too. I graduated and went to work...they always had coffee. I was consuming 6 to 10 cups a day...sometimes more. Funny thing though. I could go home and just go to sleep. It takes 4 or five cups back to back for me to feel the caffine. Since I was just constantly sipping on it I never really reached a buzz most of the time..but my body was taking count, it liked it.
Enter 2007. In 2007 I began to notice my ears were ringing a lot. Low rumbles. I have always had, at least as long as I can remember, some tinitus. Too much music, guns and weedeaters growing up I guess. Not too bad though, not distracting. I began looking for reasons. I tried ginko this year for a few months, it helped some. Then I was reading....caffine can cause ringing, not a good thing...I love coffee.
So I tried reducing my caffine for a couple days to just morning coffee...maybe a little at night. End of day my ringing would subside some, then after morning coffee...it would increase a little. It still was there very prominatly. I decided I would bite the bullet and try going off caffine for at least a month or so...almost completely.
Do you know how hard that is? Coffee is everywhere. Coke is everywhere. Black tea is everywhere. I have had to readjust my whole thinking.
I took a one cup coffee maker to the office. Am now making one cup of decafe at a time. Am also drinking a cup or two of green tea during the day...yeah it has 40 mg of caffine in a cup, but I consider that acceptable, since the tea lasts for a long time..you can't chug it like I do coffee. It would make you nausiated. I drink it unsweet too. (my coffee is always black by the way).
What has happened? Well for the first day I was ok, a little tired. Monday I was friggin exausted all day. Tuesday was a little better. Wednesday I could still feel it.
What am I feeling. It's like my whold body achs....is tired. It just wants to go to sleep. Addiction withdrawal. Not fun, but not bad IF I can keep going. Is like I am on the edge of fatiegue. My mind is the biggest thing. I am not trying to wax philosophically, but my mind feels different.
I feel mellow. It's like before I couldn't wait to just jump into a conversation. My mind would race at things to think about as I constantly ran into situations. At the moment it as if my mind is trying to take in all the scenery it has missed for the last 100 years. My skin feels different...or at least my tacktile senses do. Have not eatin any multi contextural food...ie complex flavors, so I do not know how this has effected my taste buds. I suppose until the caffine withdrawal finish everything maybe effected. Will it change back? I can't say. It is almost like I have read drug addicts talk about how on cocaine, speed or what have you...everything feels different. Since I have been on HEAVY caffine for the last 20 years...I guess I don't remember what it feels like to NOT have caffine effecting my nerves. I feel calmer. I feel not so relaxed right now, but I can feel it easing. Will post again in a few days.
Decafe coffee is like drinking coffee without something. I know it isn't there, and it does taste slightly different...I still like it though..just have to find some good stuff or mix it half and half to get some more flavor.
Eventually I guess I will be able to stand a cup of regular in the morning or when ever...but I don't think I will ever be back on the coffee barge...why.
Over the last 5 days the ringing in my ears has changed pitch. NO more low rumble, less high hiss. Hope it continue to subside. We shall see. More later.
k

18 watt post 16

Took the 18 watt to praise band practice tonight. Worked very well. Hooked up my dd3 delay and a DS1 distortion to use as a boost.. (no drive). Was able to control the drive and tone of the amp by the guitar vol controls. Roll it off...it cleans up, cut it back up and it drives like crazy. Nice....exactly what i wanted. And very touch responsive.
Working on the head cab now. Hope to have it done in a couple weeks.
Will keep ya posted.
Kirk

18 Watt Post 15

I rewired front end of the Lite IIb tonight. Coax is a little more microphonic than I like, but it is quite. NO VZZZT... so I will leave as is for now...until I come across a piece of shielded wire that I find suitable.


Here is a pic of the chassis front..there is a post Phase Inverter Master Volume, a tone, and a Volume. (have almost convinced myself to remove the MV.)





Sounds nice....no noise...
Have a A/B switch on order from Musicians Friend. I need it to use with this amp. The low gain channel had a ton of tone and crunch. But roll the guitar vol to 7 and it clean right up. The High gain channel has a lot more pop to it. So, with the A/B box, I can have a clean, crunch and Lead gain...without doing much. Yeah, I know a lot of folks would say use one channel or the other, or use a Tube Screamer...but the amp has it, and has the tone...so I don't want it to go to waste. Will be playing this one live soon...getting boards tomorrow to work on cab.
k

18 Watt post 14

Well, I couldn't leave well enough alone. I noticed that the low gain channel has a little bit of buzz in it, so I have decided to rewire the input section again. I went and got some smaller shielded coax..was orginally done with a piece of guitar cable...which is very bulky. We shall see how this comes out. I think the noise is from the fact the cabling i used before is stranded and is under some strain with the solder joint being unsupported..so every time I poke it, it crackles..or when is vibrated by music...does same..albet very faintly..still I want it gone.
Will see how it goes.
Let you know.
kirk

18 watt post 13

I got rid of the noise. Took me a couple days of poking around, but I got it. I reflowed the solder on the board. Didn't fix it. I reflowed the input jacks and that didn't fix it. I went and got a chopstick and started poking...found it. The wire going from the input jack to the first preamp tube for the high gain channel was not soldered well...it went zzzzz when i pushed on it. I unsoldered and resoldered the wire and now it sounds ever better than before, more gain and better highs.
Now, back to chopsticking. Why use a chopstick or other similar object? Electricity kills. The voltages in the amp I have been building are over 300v dc...more than enough to kill you. Don't think about using a pencil either...graphite in pencil lead is a conductor of electricity. Chopsticks, wooden dowels, a plasitc rod...anything that won't conduct will work.
Have karate tonight. When I get back I plan to record the amp and post the clip and some new photos.
k

18 watt post 12

I could not stand it. I got up this morning and went over the layout in about 15 min. and made sure my ei's were dotted and my tee's were crossed. Went and got my mimi mass (attinuator/dummy load)...flipped the 18 watter upside down and plugged ac power and the MM in. NO tubes-flipped the switch. Measured AC and heater voltages...350 vac to the rect pins (yeah thats high, but no load form tube heaters)...checked heaters on all sockets..hmmm..looks good so far. Popped in the EZ81 rectifyer tube...Voltages to the PT and pretube sockets look good. Put in the el84s...still looks good. Put in the pres...all voltages look good!
Hooked up a speaker and with no guitar...cut the vol up...a little faint ac humm...ok, good so far...plugged in a guitar... 1/2 up..jangle jangle...I'm liken it!....wide open.....HOLY COW!
I started playing "ALL RIGHT NOW" ...and the tone was so there...backed the vol off and it just purrs...OH YEAH baby...das what I'm talking about. There is a little overring (fuzz after notes)..probably a cold solder joint...will shorten a couple wires and reflow the joints in the morning..but all I got to say is....YES....that is how a Marshall 18 is supposed to sound...at least as far as the internet recording I have heard of them.....BINGO....
I am in narvana right now...(will get back to narvana after I go cook some hotdogs and watch some fireworks...happy 4th all.)....
MORE LATER....with sound clips.
kw

18 watt Post 11

Cool, got the parts in from AES and finished wiring up the amp tonight....here is what it looks like from the bottom side.

Tomorrow night I will take a copy of the layout and highlighter and go over everything one more time. Friday I plan to test it...hopefully no fireworks. Hope to have a good report on it Friday, maybe even a sound clip.

After it is successfully working and debugged I will begin cabinet construction. Thinking pine, finger joined....with a nice poly finish. I may do something special with the front panel, don't know yet....more on that later.

Bedtime....Later.

Kirk

karate

I have gotten back in to doing karate again, Shotokan specifically. They have been teaching it out at the college and I could just about kick myself for not getting back into it sooner. It provides a good form of exercise and stress reflief. Have a possible test coming up late July..if I am ready I will test..at present I do not feel properly equipt to handle said test. No matter, since there is a test in November I believe. I am currently at 5th kue. There are 10 kues from white to black. If I stick with it I should, if all goes well, be able to have black by the end of 2010...maybe. If not I will keep trying. Beats going to the YMCA and running on a tread mill.
k

18 watt Post 10

Got all the wires to all the pots, sockets, switches and jacks completed. Tonight we put in the standoffs and set the board in. Should take about an hour to wire up everything to the board. Before I do that though I plan to zip tie and shrink tube some wires to make it much neater in there. I have been shortening the wires as I have been soldering them. The shorter the wire, the less the noise.
Did order my 2 .01uf (10nf) 400v caps that were missing and a black Ampeg style handle for the cab. We shall see how it all works out....caps should be here by thursday...I am off the 4th...sounds like the 4th is going to be a day for fireworks..hopefully not from the trannys in my amp.
Here also is some non earth shattering news about the amp. Yes it is an 18 watter...but I have to have a name for what I call it. Instead of a Lite IIb....it shall bear a name plate with the name of "Hamlet".... IIb or not IIb...that was the question...what to build ...since I am a Shakespeare fan...and as the question was put in the play....be true to yourself...and have a nice day.
k

18 Watt Post 9

Did some good work on my 18 watt this weekend. Make a starteling discovery. I read the wrong line on the build on order quantitiy...I ordered 2 10nf poly caps instead of 4...I though I needed 1..no that was the 100nf...so I ordered two to have a backup...but I shoulda ordered 6. Go figure.
No matter...I need a handle for the amp anyways for when I build the cab. Will order the caps and the handle today.
Did get the Output tranny wired to the chassis, the Power tranny wired to the chassis, the board done except for the one cap and all basic wireing done to the sockets. Tonight I will put in the standoffs, wire up the pots, set the board on top and begin wireing in the board. Also need to do the input wires to V1...which won't take long. It ought to take about an hour to do all that.
When I get all the above done I will put it down for the evening. Tuesday I will go back over everything with a layout and a highlighter...make sure all the wires are where they should be.
Then all we need to do is WAIT for the two polys to get here...wire them up and start checking voltages. Hopefully it will be ready for the 4th!
As far as cab designs...I want to finger join some pine. Never done that, so it should be an experience...at least a 16 foot pine board is only 18.00...I can mess up a could times and not go broke...need to get me some faceplate material. Don't know what to use yet....Am thinking...they have some copper strips for use with gutters on houses....I could do it out of that and then poly spray it to keep it from turning...have it engraved/stamped and backfill...just a thought...
any ideas? shoot me a line... kirkwhitaker at yahoo.com
k

18 watt Post 8

Back after a few days am I! Talk like Yoda I can!
Wire from ApexJr came in today (600v teflon wire- 5 different colors). Last night after karate I went and finally drilled and turreted the board for my 18 watt. Tonight I plan to populate the board and I have wire, so I might even mount the tranys, hook up the heater wires and mount the standoffs...who knows...it all depends on how froggy I feel at the time. Above all...we are making progress. It looks more and more like an amp every time I fool with it.
May get Steveo to help...He and Becky are coming over and we gonna get our grill on....hope to have some pics tomorrow of something amp looking.
more later....
kirk

Firefly Modifications

One mod I wanted to do to the FireFly (1.5 watt amp I built) was to put a bright switch on it. The board I used had a place for the mod so when I was ordering stuff for my 18 watt build I order a 120pf and 220pf mica cap. I went to radio shack and got a three way (on off on) and wired it up. Seems to have helped some with high end..we shall see...didn't have a lot of time to fool with it yesterday...but i will this week.
Having the swim meet this weekend didn't allow me to work on the 18 watt any..so I plan to start back on that tonight or tomorrow night. Am working on the board now...wire is on the way. Should be ready to see if it will make noise by next weekend.
We shall see.

18 watt post 7

Got the layout drawn tonight, hope it works, will drill and turret the board tomorrow.
Put the grommets on the chassis, along with the tube sockets. I beginning to LOOK like an amp. I even stuck a coupel tubes in it to see how it looked....pretty spiffy.
Hope to have board turreted tomorrow and begin populating it. Still no wire...need to get on that asap. But if I can get the other components on the board by Saturday i will feel like I have accomplished something this week. Next week I should be able to solder in the wires and go through Paul Ruby of Ruby amps startup guide.
Ruby's start up guide is a MUST. It walks you through measuring voltages and such as you add sections to the amp. It basically keeps you from frying the amp. Good stuff...google it.

18 watt Post 6

My kingdom for some tape!! I have a daughter (3) who loves tape. If she finds a roll...it's a goner.
And now my problem..I have all my parts sans wire, to build my 18 watter. I need to lay out the board so I can mark it and drill holes for the turrets. The plan was to tape components to the board as I work across it, mark it and remove them. But, thanks to my daughter I have no tape. Found what was left of the last of it in her room. The tape was wrapped around several barbie dolls and dora dolls...so tomorrow I shall purchase some more take and tomorrow evening lay it out. I did manage to put the IEC power module, pots, and neon power indicator light on the chassis, finger tight. Need some small bolts, nuts and washers to put the tube sockets onto the chassis...will pick those up tomorrow at lunch from Home Depot...I am sure they have Scotch tape too...if not, Wally World is next door. So much for getting a lot done, but I got a little done. Each step is one step closer. Board is the big hurdle, once I get it done it will only be a matter of an hour or so of work. Will order wire tomorrow, ApexJr doesn't have an online purchase system...have to call.
k

Only in Bainbridge I guess.....

Man hits moving train....
http://bainbridgega.com/news/publish/061408train.shtml

18 watt Post 5

Ordering wire today. Have pretty much everything else wrapped up as far as coming. May pick up another amp handle from somewhere. Have a cheap one...but we ain't to cab building yet. Deburred the chassis, got some screws for the standoffs and lock washers to go with them. Did forget to order hole covers for the 6v6 holes. Don't know if I will, I might just play the amp like it is for a while, and then order some 8 pin sockets and put in a differenct tail resistor and cathode bias resistor ( I think that is the two i change out)...and be able to use both el84s and 6v6s in the amp..not at the same time though).
6V6's have a mellower sound, about the same power, less chimey. If i think the amp is too bright...might be a good option. Have heard some 6v6 Lite IIb's on the web, some sound good, some don't. But that is the same with el84 versions too...you sometimes have to tweek them to get them to do what you want by changing values of resistors and caps...remember i am new at this, so i will probably screw it up once or twice.
Enough of that....have a great day.
k

18 watt post 4

Today I go to Home Depot. I plan to get a deburring tool, some screws, lock washers. some other misc. stuff. Since I don't have a board mask or drill plan, I think I will go ahead and order my stuff from Mouser and Antique Audio so I can lay the caps (bigger pieces) on the board to get an idea of how much space to leave.
I need the deburring tool to clean up some of the edges on my chassis...they are pretty sharp and i really have no desire to get a cut.
More later.

18 Watt Post 3

Postman came today and brought me a box of goodies! What came in today you ask?
Board material, turret lugs, spst switches for power and standby, standoffs, washers, ground rings, chicken head knobs (my favorite), rubber grommets, a turret staking tool, an impedance selector switch. switchcraft jacks for input and speakers. Well I felt like a kid in a candy store.
Will work on drawing off a board mask so i can drill and stake the turrets next weekend. Will post pics when i get it done. Once completed I will order my other board componentes and wire.
Watch for board pics soon.
kw

Swimming...just keep swiming

Sorry no post last couple days. We had a swim meet here in Bainbridge at the City Pool. I am still exhausted. What started out nice, turned very sour. Our computer went bonkers and deleted a whole team. So we had to manually add them back. Fun, except that on the computer the people order didn't match the heat sheets and everything had to be manually checked. We got through it, made some mistakes and had to fix them, but we survived. This was the first time I have ever done a meet by myself, I hope the next one goes smoother or I won't have any hair left.

Waiting on board parts for the 18 watter...hopefully the little brown sata will come see me soon.

about some new sites i put links to.

I just placed links for three new sites in my sites I like area.

www.ax84.com is a great how to forum for amp building. There are a lot of knowledgeable folks over there. My first amp was a FireFly designed by one of the guys over there. The P1 or P1ex are both great amps to start building with.

www.18watt.com is a forum for building the 18watt marshall amp and its derivitives. There are also some sister forums for Push/Pull amp and Single ended amps...again a lot of nice folks who know a lot about building amps.

www.gracechurchga.org is the church I attend and the praise band I play guitar and mandolin for. We are in Bainbridge Ga...find yourself in the area, drop in on Sunday at 10:30...

that's about it for now.....
k

18 watter post 2

Here is my 18 watt Lite IIb chassis with the transformers sitting on top of it as they will be later bolted down. Later tonight I plan to go online and order my board, turrets, standoffs and an impedance selector switch from a vendor. I will then begin building my board. Once completed I will order the electronic parts to populate the board with. Thanks to Dockery amps for the prompt service.

Watch for pics of the board as I get it started. My hopes are that documenting all this will possibly help someone else who is thinking about or doing the same thing.

Have a great evening.

k

june is here and i can't believe it

It just doesn't seem right for June to be here already. Could someone please make the year slow down...I don't want to start Christmas shopping yet!
Seriously though, it does seem to fly by. My grandma is turning 93 on the 11th. Thad turn 8 in July. Christie turn 4 in August...that just don't seem right.

Parents are down now keeping the kids while Di does summer school. Dad is building a new swingset for the kids. All wood and very heavy...don't think Thad can flip it.

Still waiting on tranny number two so i can figure out the dimensions of fiberglass board to order for my 18 watter....(see post 1 on the 18 watter). Hope it comes in today and I can place my order for board, turrets and standoffs. We shall see what the postman brings.

Grill and Chillin...

I'll tell you, I am suffering right now. Steveo and becklita came over for diner and swimming with the kids. Steve brought some Cubanell peppers (long big sweet peppers). We proceeded to brown up some hamburger mixed with jalepeno peppers, onions, tomatoes and seasonings...mixed with some cheese and stuffed into the peppers...oh my goodness. We put those on the grill for about 20 min. and then proceeded to hurt ourselves consuming them.
Food network ain't got nothing on us...at least for this time.
Grilling is good,
Grilling fun,
but right now I don't think I could eat another one!
(oh, excuse me...there are none left.)

Me thinks I shall sleep well...kids are loosing it too after three hours of swimming. Ain't summer fun!
k

18 watter post 1

About a month ago I was all set up to start building a http://www.ax84.com/ P1 extreme. This amp is basically a Fender Champ on steriods. Power section can be any octal tube..I was planning to do a EL34 in there. I might still build one, but someone mentioned the 18 watt Marshall clone.
What is that you probably ask...Jim Marshall started making a clone of a the Watkins Dominator in 1966 or so and made it till 1968. Marshall then changed the amp to a 20 watter..used solid state rectification and a few other changes. This changed the sound and the amp was nevera as popular as the 18 watter...otherwise known as a 1974X. It competed with the VOX AC15. Main difference in the two is the Vox has an EF86 in v1 position, where the 1974X has a ecc83 (12ax7).

I listened to the sounds of this amp and decided it was cool. It is just big enough to play at church. My current amp is a 40 watt Fender and it is a little too big for most of the playing I do. I may not end up using this amp at church, but it will be fun to build a piece of history. Transformers and the chassis is on the way. Will post pics and detail step two when they arrive.
k

Lets get started!

Ok, here is my initial post...and I will tell a little about myself. I am just a computer guy with a wife and two kids. But I have a crazy life. I seem to be pulled in so man directions sometime I feel like stretcharmstrong (you remember those?).
I enjoy building things, playing and recording music and grilling out.... among other things. Over the last year I have built two guitar amps and am currently working on number three...an 18watt marshall clone (Lite IIb version). Unlike most folks who says "I want to build that"...I didn't buy a kit. I got a schematic, layout and a material list and started ordering parts. I plan to calendar my exploits here...along with other crazyness.
I also am a USA Swim Stroke and Turn judge (you know the guy at the end of the pool at a swim meet)...so the kids sometimes love me, sometimes hate me....I tell them just to get back in the pool and swim...my son included.
I have a home studio and love music. My wife and I play music in the Grace Church of Bainbridge praise band every Sunday. (why do you think I got started building amps...)
My kids love music too...so maybe oneday we will all sing together...but don't expect us to all dress up the same in polyester suites and dresses like some southern gospel family groups did in the 1970s and 80's (man that was ugly!).
Myother website is http://www.kirkwhitaker.com which i need to update more frequently. When I will post over there and link up here so you can hear. I currenly have about 10 songs written to record...just no time to do it...maybe i need to take a week off and work on it? I would, but have no time.
More later....
k