GDS 18 watt Marshall clone

[LagrangeCalvert]

Man I played a hand wired marshall clone about three weeks ago...I feel in love but my wallet divorced me....so did my peavey delta blues!

Sweet amp and I cannot wait to hear it once your done.

 

[oldguy]

Looks great, M29!! You do nice work!
Is Robert's Heatseeker built along the same lines?????:whatever:

 

[M29]

Hello oldguy, I have not come across any schematics or anything that I could compare to this GDS amp. Not sure on comparing it to a Heatseaker.



Well I am little closer to finishing this thing up. I got some help from Adrian30 on my logo, thanks a million Adrian! For now I ended up using a piece of photo printer paper glued to a piece of styrene plastic. Maybe I can get a pro one done down the road.

I put matching grill cloth on the speaker cabs and tried to tie in the redhead cab with the (Eminence Inside) logos that were black and silver.
I have some Marshall style metal recessed handles to put in the sides of the cabs yet and the whole shebang should be done. These cabinets were stereo cabinets that my dad made back in the sixties ported for a 12 inch speakers. They are a great size for my bad back. I suppose there will be more trips to the car to haul but I could no way lift a 2x12 cab. Shoot I don't know if I will ever go anywhere with them anyway. I got a small wrinkle in the cloth of the cab, I had to take a corner back off to cut the port hole that I forgot. I hope it goes away...:thwap:
They have Eminence Tonkers inside and I think I may end up changing them to a Eminence Texas Heat or possibly something else. I just recently tried a Texas Heat speaker with my Valve Junior and it sounded very good. Nice even sound with a nice smooth top end.

I tried to do a clip the other day on the spur of the moment but I will need to get more prepared for that, but one is on the way.

M29

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Wowwwwww that's freakin' killer. Look at that you did all that! That's your creation man! :beer: I've heard a lot of good things about those Texas Heats.

 

[Simon]

Looks smashing!! Nice job..

 

[tunghaichuan]

Hello oldguy, I have not come across any schematics or anything that I could compare to this GDS amp. Not sure on comparing it to a Heatseaker.

Isn't your GDS amp a copy of the Marshall model 1974 circuit?

http://www.drtube.com/schematics/marshall/18wr.gif

I have not seen the schematic for the Heatseeker, but from the description on the Mack Amps site, it sounds like it is similar to a Matchless Lightning or Spitfire with its parallel 12AX7 triodes as the preamp.

tung

 

[ted s]

Looks great Barry !
Which guitar is that in the picture ? Gotta love that grain !

 

[mrmudcat]

Great job did you give some link to the site for the kits??

I plan on doing one from ceriatone(1986 model 50watt plexi) so id like to check prices. :beer:

 

[Adrian30]

Looking really good, Barry. I bet your Jazzmaster sings through that amp. Thanks for thanking, glad I could be of help, but I didn't do much.

 

[M29]

Thanks guys.

mrmudcat, I was looking into Ceriatone as well and read about Graydon's amps on http://www.18watt.com/ I found out Graydon lived about 40miles from me so I asked if I could come over and check them out. He was very helpful and we had a great visit and a lot in common. Here is Graydons GDS website. http://gdsamps.com/

ted s, The guitar is a build from Warmoth parts with a one piece swamp ash body. It is very Stratish sounding, which is what I was after.

tunghaichuan,

Graydon is well known for his quest to get an exact clone of the Marshall 18 and he explained all he went through and he has done well from what a lot of people say. I don't have the schematic handy but that looks quite a bit like it from what I remember. The EZ81 rectifier EL 84 power tubes and 12AX7 preamp tubes with tremolo. I am somewhat new to tube amps and this was a kit not a scratch build for me. Graydon had transformers built to his specs and was very very fussy with that. I love the sound of it, I just wish I was good enough to put it through its paces for you all in a clip.
Here is a clip I found on youtube of a GDS amp. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T6rWKMBSbU

Simon, Thank you for the kind words

Tone2TheBone, I have a V30 in my Valve Junior right now and I am going to check that out with the GDS before I go for any other speaker. I have heard quite a few good words on the Texas Heat too. Thanks Tone!

Adrian30, Thanks again you sure did help a lot. Shoot I kept you quite busy with PM's alone. I like the Jazzmaster with the amp. One thing I am not sure of yet with the Jazzmaster is the compound radius neck. It is pretty flat. It goes from 10 to 16 if I remember correctly. I find it a little touchy doing some chords up the neck some. Might just be my clumsy fingers:thwap:


Thanks again all.

M29

 

[Robert]

Sweet job M29! I'd love to play yours to see how it compares to my Heatseeker! Dude, come on over this weekend with your amp under your arm, will ya? I will share lots :beer:'s with you. (tip: they make us sound better too)

 

[M29]

Let me see if I can find my big boots, I think you have more snow then we do. Will there be pancakes? :thwap:

M29

 

[ted s]

just get Dread to clear a path for you.