tpruitt":2tvfdwv3 said:
What made you abandon this project?
that's a great question. After building 3 Metro Marshall clones, I wanted to tackle something more significant. Now those Marshall clones were purchased in kit form, complete with George's awesome directions. They went together perfectly and I enjoyed the process immensely.
The SLOClone didn't come to me with any directions, and the documentation i had was pretty lacking. I did go so far as to buy a real SLO just to photograph, and that did help, but only somewhat.
Since I didn't have a deep understanding of amp design, I wasn't comfortable doing certain things based upon hunches/guesses, and didn't have a good source of support to run things by. I got to a sticking point and without help, was too scared to proceed, fearful of ruining parts that weren't cheap. I figured maybe someday I'd learn enough to finish.
Well that never really happened
What did happen, however, was that my girlfriend kept nagging me to finish it. She didn't understand the risks/dangers in my opinion, so was easy for her to say. On a few occasions, things even got heated, partially due to my feelings of inadequacy that I couldn't do it on my own. Finally, I had had enough, so as a shot in the dark, I wrote Rob at C3 Amps, and asked if he might be able to assist me a bit. This is where things got good...
Not only did he say that he'd lend a hand, he said he would help me in any/every way possible, from building it from scratch for me to providing detailed instructions throughout the entire process. After much deliberation, I decided to have Rob prep the chassis for me - install all switches/pots/sockets/some of the more detailed bus wire runs. I didn't want to get stuck due to not being able to do things like removing powdercoating effectively/cleanly and such, so opted to let his expert hands do the mechanical stuff, leaving the electrical stuff for me. This would assure the cleanest build possible.
He was so encouraging, and assured me that "we" would get it done, and i was off and running. And get it done we did. I am getting the best tone I've had in 35 years with this monster. I LOVE it, and what strange timing, now that Mike is retiring.
The only bad part of this whole build is that he is out of the country and i can't thank him for weeks! He is the most amazing person to help me realize a dream 8 years in the making - I simply can't thank him enough, or say enough great things about him.
That's the short version, LOL. Bet you're sorry you asked what should have been such a simple question
Here's my latest pride and joy:
Best,
Stu