[doudoudave]

Hi there!
I am David. I started building guitar pedals one year ago and recently finished my first LoW project (TT Emma). I love the sound of it and would like to start a new project with a Marshall classic sound, and am hesitating between Jim and PX18.
I have two questions to 'seasoned' DIY-ers from the forum:
1/ How big is the gap (in term of complexity) between a LoW amp and an 18W? Is is e.g. bigger than from a pedal to a LoW amp? Or would you recommend consolidating skills by doing another LoW project first?
2/ On the pictures, the PX18 is fitted with a turret board, which means that the many wirings at the bottom of the board must probably be solded before, with the right length (at least, correctly guessed). Is there an alternative acceptable technique (e.g. using the top of the turret for both the components and later the wirings by wrapping them around the turret), or is it preferable to fix the wirings opposite to the components ?

Thank you in advance for your contributions!
Best,
David

[smid]

Hi David,

when you mastered building your Emma without electrocuting yourself, you should be prepared for building a more complex amp. When you fell confident in terms of security, understanding schematics and layouts, measurements and bug-hunting, the go ahead!

Soldering wires to the bottom of the turrets resuts in a cleaner looking amp. I personally find it easier to solder the wires to the top; tracing signal paths, correcting errors and making changes is easier.
Anyway, I prefer eylets, but this is all just my personal taste. The electrons don‘t care….

Andreas

[doudoudave]

Hi David,

when you mastered building your Emma without electrocuting yourself, you should be prepared for building a more complex amp. When you fell confident in terms of security, understanding schematics and layouts, measurements and bug-hunting, the go ahead!

Soldering wires to the bottom of the turrets resuts in a cleaner looking amp. I personally find it easier to solder the wires to the top; tracing signal paths, correcting errors and making changes is easier.
Anyway, I prefer eylets, but this is all just my personal taste. The electrons don‘t care….

Andreas

Thank you very much Andreas!
For Emma, "unfortunately" the amp worked directly at first switch-on, so development of "bug-hunting" skills was not addressed but I assume there is also a community to give advice in case somebody is stuck.
Anyway, if I may, one additional question on soldering wirings on top (b.t.w. makes more sense to check layout after:-) : do you do it in 2 steps (i.e. first solder systematically all top components like resistors and caps with leads in the turret holes, then when a wiring needs to be connected, wrap it and solder it on the top side of the turret), or do you already solder components and wirings on top together at the same step bzw. same turret? If you know any video link to a recommended turret soldering technique, I would be grateful. I found...too many, therefore my main 'fear factor' before starting an 18W is mostly the turret soldering technique.
Many thanks
David

[smid]

Hi David,

I am not the best advisor for soldering turrets, since, as I wrote, I personally prefer eylet boards. I only once built an AB 763 from scratch on a selfmade turret board.
https://www.tube-town.de/ttforum/index.php/topic,21558.30.html
There is a photo of the guts in the thread.
Wherever it was possible, I just put the wire in the hole of the turret.
It is not the true religion of turret, but for me it worked.

Best
Andreas

[doudoudave]

Thank you Andreas,
On your pictures it looks very neat indeed. I am going to try it this way. One could even think of disposing the components on the turret without soldering the turrets where a wiring is needed, then cut and adjust wiring length, and then at last solder together the lead of the component and the wiring together in the same turret hole. Maybe it was how you did?
Anyway, many thanks for your advice and I hope to be able to share my experience soon!

Best,
David

[smid]

Hi David,

I usually populate the board first, using only the tiniest amount of solder to stick the component to the rim of the turret/eylet, leaving the holes open, so that I can easily insert the tin-coated wire ends later and finish the solder-point.

Andreas