Talk to me about amp kits

[Cygnus X1]

I finally watched the clip on youtube for the p1 extreme. Yuck! I know there are mp3's somewhere on the ax84.org site, but can't find them.

Exactly.
I shy away from telling people to build almost any AX84 project.
My first SEL sounded like a bad amplified stomp box, like a Boss SD1 but lacking tone.

I did a lot of small tweaks that eventually led to a nice sounding touch sensitive amp with good drive and great range of tone..
6 months worth, I'm guessing three total tear down and rebuilds by the time I was done, and I'm not quite a novice.

[missionguitars1]

I was in the same situation...ended up buying an Epi Valve Jr. head for $99 on clearance (V2) at MF for the chassis, enclosure and power supply, a Hammond 125 DE transformer for $35 or so from angela.com. and the Marshallized board kit with upgraded jacks from turretboards.com for about $125, giving me a cool Marshall-esque point-to-point 5 watt kits for $260 or so - well within my budget...bad news is I'm still trying to get the time to complete it!

FWIW, Nik at Ceritone puts together some GREAT amps, but to be honest, just pay him the extra $100 to complete it for you - he does an awesome job wiring...

[Partial @ Marshall]

I was in the same situation...ended up buying an Epi Valve Jr. head for $99 on clearance (V2) at MF for the chassis, enclosure and power supply, a Hammond 125 DE transformer for $35 or so from angela.com. and the Marshallized board kit with upgraded jacks from turretboards.com for about $125, giving me a cool Marshall-esque point-to-point 5 watt kits for $260 or so - well within my budget...bad news is I'm still trying to get the time to complete it!

FWIW, Nik at Ceritone puts together some GREAT amps, but to be honest, just pay him the extra $100 to complete it for you - he does an awesome job wiring...

Not much left of the epiphone. I went thru the same thing, got a merc mag kit uninstalled on the bay for $140 (steal) and a new marshallized turret board...looked at the epiphone and said "why", sold the epi and built a new chassis. Still trying to find the time to complete it too.

[Cygnus X1]

Not much left of the epiphone. I went thru the same thing, got a merc mag kit uninstalled on the bay for $140 (steal) and a new marshallized turret board...looked at the epiphone and said "why", sold the epi and built a new chassis. Still trying to find the time to complete it too.

Cool.
Stay on top of it.
I have the building GAS bad, to the point where I'm still breaking in amps while I'm building or modding another.

The biggest surprise was the Spitfire build.
I really intended on building it to sell it.
It's a keeper!

[DonP]

Time is the key.

I don't think the issue is with AX84 projects, I think it's just that the EL84 doesn't sound all that great single ended. I have a Kalamazoo Model 1 (single ended EL84) that doesn't sound too hot, but the Model 12 with a pair sounds fine.

If you think about it, Fender had lots of success with a single 6V6. If you are ambitious, just mount 2 power tube sockets and you can swap the EL84 out for a 6V6.

I'm thinking of doing this to the Model 1, but you have to think of resale value with an antique. Any small single ended builds I do in the future will have two sockets.

[Cygnus X1]

Never tried an EL84 in SE mode.
The Spitfire is EL84's in push pull.
The AX84 builds I started out with were 6V6 family.
I stuck with the 6V6, also use 6L6 or 6500 for cleaner headroom.