I'm building my first amp and I'd like some help..

[pott]

I'm building my first amp. Now keep in mind, the last time I soldered something before I started working on guitars was back in 8th grade. I.e 6 years ago. I've been working on guitars for the past year but an amp is an entirely different beast. Here is my main problem so far:
I just finished wiring the power section and I'm now grounding the other components (the amp by the way is a Madamp G2: 2W single channel all tube)
However the wires I'm working with are single, not braided. Just a thick piece of wire. I'm trying to ground the volume control but as soon as the wire is soldered to the pot's lug, it breaks. It just always do... As soon as I touch it, it snaps. I have no idea why (it breaks just at where it starts to be stripped) and it's really annoying...I've tried it 5 times and always broke it.
If you guys have any tips on how to work this out, it'll be welcome. I don't have anyone to show me or help me, I'm doing it all by myself and as such it's hard to do anything other than by trial and error. But right now I'm at too many trials.

Other question: Would it matter if I changed the type of wire? I have some gauge 24 braided wire that I use for my guitar work (though it's very thick) which would definitely work better for this kind of job on the amplifier. The way I see it, it'd make no difference to use this no?

Thanks guys...

[Twisteramps]

Re: I\'m building my first amp and I\'d like some help..

You need to be more careful with your wire stripping - you are damaging the wire when you strip the insulation. Might want to check your wire rating before you use something else...

Pete

[pott]

Re: I\'m building my first amp and I\'d like some help..

I checked both. The wire isn't damaged with the stripping, and I've been told the other wire I have in mind would work well. But tomorrow I'm off to buy some specialized high voltage wire anyway, just to be sure [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] Thanks

[rstites]

Re: I\'m building my first amp and I\'d like some he

I agree with Pete. I don't know how you could break the wire like that unless it's damaged. Maybe you got a bad batch of wire? I'd have to see it to come up with anything else.

[fett]

Re: I\'m building my first amp and I\'d like some he

Call me stupid, but in this application, is the iron too hot and melting the wire? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Twisteramps]

Re: I\'m building my first amp and I\'d like some he

It would be super hard to melt wire. Most likely he's nicking or scratching the wire, then when he solders it and moves the wire, there is a weak point and it breaks. takes me a few times with new wire to figure out where the insulation ends and the wire begins. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Pete