Amp Build: Cameron Aldrich

technomancer

Well-known member
I've wanted one of these for quite some time, and since I don't have another spare $3k+ to buy a Cameron one-off I decided to build myself one.

This is my first build, and I'm open to constructive criticism, but please be gentle :rofl:

I REALLY hate the small turrets I had to use on this, but since Watts Tube Audio screwed me on my order I had to use what I could get quickly (ordered 6/12, still hasn't shipped and ignores all emails etc). I think going forward I'll be using the large turrets from Amplified Parts on future builds as I grabbed a pack of them and they seem nice.

I'm almost done with the board so thought I'd throw some pics of that up. I still need to solder in the tone stack, get some glue on to help hold the large filter caps, and wire up the underside before it's done.

Resistors are PRP 1w, caps are mostly CDE 715 Orange Drops. The big 1uF caps in the preamp are CDE 225s since there aren't any 715s of that value. Ceramic caps are Muratas. This will use DC heaters which I'm putting on a separate board. I was going to just tack them on the end of the main board but it would have gotten hung up on the power/standy switches and power indicator.

I'm using a Classic Tone transformers: 40-18069 power transformer, NOS17482 output transformer, and 40-18058 3H choke.

Thanks to scottosan and CrazyNutz on here and the guys at the SLOclone forum for sharing so much information on amp building.

Also, thanks to Mark Cameron for creating the design, and being a hell of a nice guy in my interactions with him. He helped me on a number of questions I had with this build.

IMG_3594L.jpg

IMG_3595L.jpg

IMG_3596L.jpg
 
Lookin' good so far :rock:

Is the Aldrich circuit basically 4 gain stages from 2 triodes with a plate fed tone stack, and no clippers? Or am I thinking of something else?
Edit: I meant 4 gain stages from 2 12ax7's - :D

Side note: Interesting info about Watts Tube audio. I'm still waiting for 2 boards I ordered in May, and I can't get any response either. Wondering WTF is going on?
Did you file a PayPal claim?
 
fusedbrain":3l1l8brb said:
Lookin' good so far :rock:

Is the Aldrich circuit basically 4 gain stages from 2 triodes with a plate fed tone stack, and no clippers? Or am I thinking of something else?
Edit: I meant 4 gain stages from 2 12ax7's - :D

Side note: Interesting info about Watts Tube audio. I'm still waiting for 2 boards I ordered in May, and I can't get any response either. Wondering WTF is going on?
Did you file a PayPal claim?

Yep, 4 gain stages with a plate fed tone stack and no clippers, 3 12ax7s total.

I sent a message on Wednesday of last week through paypal after he's ignored 3 emails since June, if he doesn't respond by this coming Wednesday I'm escalating it to a claim.

paulyc":3l1l8brb said:
Looks sweet ! Good luck with the build.

Thanks :thumbsup:
 
Hope we can get thru this thread and just focus on the amp and the great tones and avoid any talk of the past. Not expecting miracles..

With that said, awesome that you are doing your own build and cool he helped you with some of the issues. I've said it before many times on this forum, that Aldrich tone was my dream tone for years and as I tried to buy Cameron amps from friends, they would not part with them. LOL!

I have heard great amps and have heard great tones but to this day, nothing can touch the first time I heard my buddy's Aldrich in person. It captured the tones I heard in Doug Aldrich's own Cameron that I had seen in a DVD when he was in DIO. That oversaturated crunch is just unreal.
 
romanianreaper":352ariyi said:
Hope we can get thru this thread and just focus on the amp and the great tones and avoid any talk of the past. Not expecting miracles..

With that said, awesome that you are doing your own build and cool he helped you with some of the issues. I've said it before many times on this forum, that Aldrich tone was my dream tone for years and as I tried to buy Cameron amps from friends, they would not part with them. LOL!

I have heard great amps and have heard great tones but to this day, nothing can touch the first time I heard my buddy's Aldrich in person. It captured the tones I heard in Doug Aldrich's own Cameron that I had seen in a DVD when he was in DIO. That oversaturated crunch is just unreal.

That Aldrich Dio tone is a huge part of the reason I am doing this :rock:
 
romanianreaper":2eshl0km said:
Hope we can get thru this thread and just focus on the amp and the great tones and avoid any talk of the past. Not expecting miracles..

With that said, awesome that you are doing your own build and cool he helped you with some of the issues. I've said it before many times on this forum, that Aldrich tone was my dream tone for years and as I tried to buy Cameron amps from friends, they would not part with them. LOL!

I have heard great amps and have heard great tones but to this day, nothing can touch the first time I heard my buddy's Aldrich in person. It captured the tones I heard in Doug Aldrich's own Cameron that I had seen in a DVD when he was in DIO. That oversaturated crunch is just unreal.
Which Dio DVD ?
 
The whole reason I even registered on this forum was to snag a 1959SLP marshall 100W Cameron modded with his ocean mod. To this day I'd still love to build one of my own but it's a dream at this point. So few were made and even less come up for sale. Good on him for helping you out on the build!
 
I have to say... for all the shit that went on about Cameron Amps, Mark is really approachable and friendly and surprisingly willing to help guys out, friend him on FB.
 
Cool stuff

I love my Aldrich mod. Mark modded it for me back in 2011. I posted a clip of it the other day in the Cameron forum. :D
 
paulyc":2e6sdfzz said:
I have to say... for all the shit that went on about Cameron Amps, Mark is really approachable and friendly and surprisingly willing to help guys out, friend him on FB.

Plenty of drama, but Mark is a great player, and even better builder.
 
Cool build! I gave up on Watts a while back. I think it's really cool that MC is helpful like that. What B+ voltage are you expecting?
 
technomancer":x4mj46jz said:
romanianreaper":x4mj46jz said:
Hope we can get thru this thread and just focus on the amp and the great tones and avoid any talk of the past. Not expecting miracles..

With that said, awesome that you are doing your own build and cool he helped you with some of the issues. I've said it before many times on this forum, that Aldrich tone was my dream tone for years and as I tried to buy Cameron amps from friends, they would not part with them. LOL!

I have heard great amps and have heard great tones but to this day, nothing can touch the first time I heard my buddy's Aldrich in person. It captured the tones I heard in Doug Aldrich's own Cameron that I had seen in a DVD when he was in DIO. That oversaturated crunch is just unreal.

That Aldrich Dio tone is a huge part of the reason I am doing this :rock:

YES!!! Dude, when I heard that galloping sound on "Killing the Dragon" I was floored. I still love that crazy divebomb Doug does at the end of the song. I think it is awesome you are building and curious how it turns out. I'll help you key in on the missing ingredients if there are any. LOL
 
paulyc":28zjxj7r said:
romanianreaper":28zjxj7r said:
Hope we can get thru this thread and just focus on the amp and the great tones and avoid any talk of the past. Not expecting miracles..

With that said, awesome that you are doing your own build and cool he helped you with some of the issues. I've said it before many times on this forum, that Aldrich tone was my dream tone for years and as I tried to buy Cameron amps from friends, they would not part with them. LOL!

I have heard great amps and have heard great tones but to this day, nothing can touch the first time I heard my buddy's Aldrich in person. It captured the tones I heard in Doug Aldrich's own Cameron that I had seen in a DVD when he was in DIO. That oversaturated crunch is just unreal.
Which Dio DVD ?

It is "Live in NYC" I believe. I don't think I even have it anymore but there is a CD out too. My daughter and I had that thing memorized to the point where we could repeat the between song banter from RJD. I knew every word, every pause in breathing, etc. LOL! I'm telling you the tone on that is sick!!
 
Here is the best example of the Aldrich tone in my opinion. The lead tones are great but really listen when Doug hits chords and lets them ring out. You hear this tone that sounds like a muscle car engine. That is Aldrich tone to me:

 
SpiderWars":wyiyen1m said:
Cool build! I gave up on Watts a while back. I think it's really cool that MC is helpful like that. What B+ voltage are you expecting?

Looking around 450 initially, will tweak from there to see what I like. This PT gives a lot of flexibilit to play with different voltages.

hopkinWFG":wyiyen1m said:
Cool build !! But mind to ask where did you getta sprague sealed capacitor ?

Caps are all from Mouser except the filters which are all ARS that I ordered direct.

Here's the link to what I ordered: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/vi ... cycode=USD

romanianreaper":wyiyen1m said:
YES!!! Dude, when I heard that galloping sound on "Killing the Dragon" I was floored. I still love that crazy divebomb Doug does at the end of the song. I think it is awesome you are building and curious how it turns out. I'll help you key in on the missing ingredients if there are any. LOL

:thumbsup:

Now to go get the tone stack soldered in and do the DC heater board.
 
fusedbrain":2bguj6to said:
Lookin' good so far :rock:

Is the Aldrich circuit basically 4 gain stages from 2 triodes with a plate fed tone stack, and no clippers? Or am I thinking of something else?
Edit: I meant 4 gain stages from 2 12ax7's - :D

Side note: Interesting info about Watts Tube audio. I'm still waiting for 2 boards I ordered in May, and I can't get any response either. Wondering WTF is going on?
Did you file a PayPal claim?

There was a note about him being on vacation in July. His site was down for awhile now it is back up with a note at the top saying he is back from vacation and is playing catch up on orders. He has always been great to deal with in the past, maybe he is dealing with personal issues like a divorce that can derail almost anyone. Not filling an order since May is kind of a bad sign hopefully he gets it worked out I like to get some from him from time to time.
 
harddriver":3n9hjizj said:
fusedbrain":3n9hjizj said:
Lookin' good so far :rock:

Is the Aldrich circuit basically 4 gain stages from 2 triodes with a plate fed tone stack, and no clippers? Or am I thinking of something else?
Edit: I meant 4 gain stages from 2 12ax7's - :D

Side note: Interesting info about Watts Tube audio. I'm still waiting for 2 boards I ordered in May, and I can't get any response either. Wondering WTF is going on?
Did you file a PayPal claim?

There was a note about him being on vacation in July. His site was down for awhile now it is back up with a note at the top saying he is back from vacation and is playing catch up on orders. He has always been great to deal with in the past, maybe he is dealing with personal issues like a divorce that can derail almost anyone. Not filling an order since May is kind of a bad sign hopefully he gets it worked out I like to get some from him from time to time.

Yeah I ordered BEFORE he posted the note saying he was going on vacation and well before the supposed cutoff for orders to ship before he left. He's also been back since mid-July. To be blunt if he can't respond to a customer email on an order that is two months late he doesn't need my money or business.
 
And some pics of the chassis... I had to get some to send to Valvestorm to ask about a faceplate, so figured I might as well post them as well.

IMG_3598.jpg

IMG_3605.jpg
 
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