Trainwreck Express build

[tone spelunking]

Finished a Trainwreck Express build. I used a lot of misc. parts on hand but also acquired the Express specific components for quite a while. I haven't had the opportunity to really open it up yet but initial test was a very touch sensitive and "alive" feeling and sounding amplifier. Interested in seeing how others approached their TW builds! Cheers.

 

[controlled_voltage]

sure looks purdy

 

[midnightlaundry]

Looks good mang. There are loud as fuck amps because it's basically a 50 watt amp on full blast..LOL

They don't have a lot of bass, but you can run JJ KT77's and get a lot of low end that way. They bias up the same as an EL34.

The cool thing about these amps is how well they clean up when you roll back on the guitar volume. I run mine with a Rivera Rockcrusher, so I don't have to blow out the neighborhood.

 

[R45VT]

Why aren't the transformers 90 degrees from each other?

 

[tone spelunking]

This IS the loudest 50 watt amp I've experienced, for damn sure.... As for any new build, it could use some burn in time to settle in (kinda stiff) and a more closely matched pair of output tubes. EL34 plates are running 510v. Freakin' screams through a 412. Waiting on a set of EH 6CA7s till I can swing something more swanky.

I would like to try the KT77s, good call. Also, gotta try it with a Strat too. Kills with a Les Paul. Right, some sort of attenuator is a must with this amp in the house.

As for the transformer orientation, it was just a matter of fitting the chassis. The tranny covers stuck out the other way....it does sorta bug me that I had to mount them like that.

 

[baron55]

Built one of those many moons ago.

Trainwrecks are all about EL34 distortion (power tube) in fact the power tubes start clipping heavily before the preamp does.

Basically in a nut shell a Train Wreck is basically a Fender preamp circuit with an extra cold gain stage run into a pair of mismatched EL34's which delivers tons of mid range and upper mid range. Real Trainwrecks run the plates around 400 -420 volts and are rated at 35 watts. The reason they clean up so well is because the power tubes are the majority of the distortion. To get a basic idea, dime the volume control on your amps and try and use the gain control to control volume, you will get the idea, but of course not the Trainwreck tone.

Typically in an EL34 amp running the plates from 400 to 460 volts, the power tubes when the speaker impedance is matched, want to see a primary resistance of 3.4 to 3.6K. On Train Wrecks, Ken used 6.6K primaries which is similar to plugging into a cab one step impedance higher. So in a Nut shell Train Wreck EL34's see impedance of 8,16,and 32 ohms when plugged into 4,8,16 ohm cabs. This results in a loss of power output (35 watts) but results in more mids and upper mid emphasis and harmonic overtones. Running power tubes in this type of mismatch can lead to issues with fly-back voltage spikes back to the OT and tubes. This is why Trainwrecks have 3 N147007 diodes in series from the plates to ground in the circuit. This results in 3000 volts flyback prevention diodes. Ampeg used these a lot in their designs, funny because Ken worked at Ampeg in his early years.

The 35 watt Trainwrecks seemed louder than they were because you are hearing all mids, and the human ear is most sensitive to mids. They are great for clean tones and dynamic lead playing, but don't work to well for modern rhythm playing.

 

[R45VT]

Bummer on the tranny.

Cool build. Ken was all about eeking as many harmonics out of them as he could.

 

[IndyWS6]

I always thought this was a good demo of a Trainwreck - especially the ability to roll back the volume and clean it up. Deosn't hurt that the guitar he has is also lust-worthy...

 

[Telephant]

Built one of those many moons ago.

Trainwrecks are all about EL34 distortion (power tube) in fact the power tubes start clipping heavily before the preamp does.

Basically in a nut shell a Train Wreck is basically a Fender preamp circuit with an extra cold gain stage run into a pair of mismatched EL34's which delivers tons of mid range and upper mid range. Real Trainwrecks run the plates around 400 -420 volts and are rated at 35 watts. The reason they clean up so well is because the power tubes are the majority of the distortion. To get a basic idea, dime the volume control on your amps and try and use the gain control to control volume, you will get the idea, but of course not the Trainwreck tone.

Typically in an EL34 amp running the plates from 400 to 460 volts, the power tubes when the speaker impedance is matched, want to see a primary resistance of 3.4 to 3.6K. On Train Wrecks, Ken used 6.6K primaries which is similar to plugging into a cab one step impedance higher. So in a Nut shell Train Wreck EL34's see impedance of 8,16,and 32 ohms when plugged into 4,8,16 ohm cabs. This results in a loss of power output (35 watts) but results in more mids and upper mid emphasis and harmonic overtones. Running power tubes in this type of mismatch can lead to issues with fly-back voltage spikes back to the OT and tubes. This is why Trainwrecks have 3 N147007 diodes in series from the plates to ground in the circuit. This results in 3000 volts flyback prevention diodes. Ampeg used these a lot in their designs, funny because Ken worked at Ampeg in his early years.

The 35 watt Trainwrecks seemed louder than they were because you are hearing all mids, and the human ear is most sensitive to mids. They are great for clean tones and dynamic lead playing, but don't work to well for modern rhythm playing.

You mean EL84's...?

 

[AmpliFIRE]

Built one of those many moons ago.

Trainwrecks are all about EL34 distortion (power tube) in fact the power tubes start clipping heavily before the preamp does.

Basically in a nut shell a Train Wreck is basically a Fender preamp circuit with an extra cold gain stage run into a pair of mismatched EL34's which delivers tons of mid range and upper mid range. Real Trainwrecks run the plates around 400 -420 volts and are rated at 35 watts. The reason they clean up so well is because the power tubes are the majority of the distortion. To get a basic idea, dime the volume control on your amps and try and use the gain control to control volume, you will get the idea, but of course not the Trainwreck tone.

Typically in an EL34 amp running the plates from 400 to 460 volts, the power tubes when the speaker impedance is matched, want to see a primary resistance of 3.4 to 3.6K. On Train Wrecks, Ken used 6.6K primaries which is similar to plugging into a cab one step impedance higher. So in a Nut shell Train Wreck EL34's see impedance of 8,16,and 32 ohms when plugged into 4,8,16 ohm cabs. This results in a loss of power output (35 watts) but results in more mids and upper mid emphasis and harmonic overtones. Running power tubes in this type of mismatch can lead to issues with fly-back voltage spikes back to the OT and tubes. This is why Trainwrecks have 3 N147007 diodes in series from the plates to ground in the circuit. This results in 3000 volts flyback prevention diodes. Ampeg used these a lot in their designs, funny because Ken worked at Ampeg in his early years.

The 35 watt Trainwrecks seemed louder than they were because you are hearing all mids, and the human ear is most sensitive to mids. They are great for clean tones and dynamic lead playing, but don't work to well for modern rhythm playing.

You mean EL84's...?

Express= EL34
Liverpool and Rocket= EL84

 

[xXDaveyJonesXx]

I always thought this was a good demo of a Trainwreck - especially the ability to roll back the volume and clean it up. Deosn't hurt that the guitar he has is also lust-worthy...

That was SO cool!! Love that clean up action he had going on.

 

[tone spelunking]

I always thought this was a good demo of a Trainwreck - especially the ability to roll back the volume and clean it up. Deosn't hurt that the guitar he has is also lust-worthy...

That was SO cool!! Love that clean up action he had going on.

+1 indeed!

This ones not bad either:

 

[Telephant]

Built one of those many moons ago.

Trainwrecks are all about EL34 distortion (power tube) in fact the power tubes start clipping heavily before the preamp does.

Basically in a nut shell a Train Wreck is basically a Fender preamp circuit with an extra cold gain stage run into a pair of mismatched EL34's which delivers tons of mid range and upper mid range. Real Trainwrecks run the plates around 400 -420 volts and are rated at 35 watts. The reason they clean up so well is because the power tubes are the majority of the distortion. To get a basic idea, dime the volume control on your amps and try and use the gain control to control volume, you will get the idea, but of course not the Trainwreck tone.

Typically in an EL34 amp running the plates from 400 to 460 volts, the power tubes when the speaker impedance is matched, want to see a primary resistance of 3.4 to 3.6K. On Train Wrecks, Ken used 6.6K primaries which is similar to plugging into a cab one step impedance higher. So in a Nut shell Train Wreck EL34's see impedance of 8,16,and 32 ohms when plugged into 4,8,16 ohm cabs. This results in a loss of power output (35 watts) but results in more mids and upper mid emphasis and harmonic overtones. Running power tubes in this type of mismatch can lead to issues with fly-back voltage spikes back to the OT and tubes. This is why Trainwrecks have 3 N147007 diodes in series from the plates to ground in the circuit. This results in 3000 volts flyback prevention diodes. Ampeg used these a lot in their designs, funny because Ken worked at Ampeg in his early years.

The 35 watt Trainwrecks seemed louder than they were because you are hearing all mids, and the human ear is most sensitive to mids. They are great for clean tones and dynamic lead playing, but don't work to well for modern rhythm playing.

You mean EL84's...?

Express= EL34
Liverpool and Rocket= EL84

Duh!

 

[boost]

I have a Ceriatone Expression that was built by Ceriatone. That's about as close as I'm going to get.

Spent a good deal of time rolling preamp tubes in and out yesterday. Lots of ringing in my head all day yesterday! Mine has a master that was set at about 11 o'clock and that was quite loud, but that was the sweet spot. You will learn to use your volume and tone on the guitar with these amps and learn to listen and not get hung up on where they are set. Lots of great sounds at your fingertips. No channels or pedals required.

I went with a Tungstram in V1, Tung Sol in V2, and a Sovtek LPS in the PI.

 

[midnightlaundry]

6CA7's sound very interesting! I'll have to try a pair for sure..

Didn't EVH run 6CA7's in his Super Lead?

 

[tone spelunking]

6CA7's sound very interesting! I'll have to try a pair for sure..

Didn't EVH run 6CA7's in his Super Lead?

I think EL34s and found this tidbit on EVH's amps:

"For years, there was more than a little mystery surrounding EVH’s stunning tone. Some of the confusion was due in part to the guitarist being less than completely forthcoming about his rig, mostly because his bandmates—ever protective of their golden goose—urged him not to completely reveal his signal path. While he initially threw imitators off his trail with hints of secret amp mods and boosted transformer voltages, subsequent interviews revealed that the famous Marshall head that powered the classic David Lee Roth-era Van Halen albums was entirely stock—though typically biased hot enough to melt its Sylvania EL34 power tubes at least once a week. The one tonetweaker practice EVH engaged in regularly was lowering his amp’s transformer voltage to about 90 volts via a Variac. Today, EVH gets his sizzle from his signature 6L6-powered EVH 5150 III heads." - See more at: http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/10- ... R9SIx.dpuf

 

[tone spelunking]

So finally got the Express amp head done. I sorta like it open like this so may just leave it and skip the wood panel front. There is a gap at the face plate bottom because I used the other side of it since it was blank, oh well. I didn't build the head. It was an Express project build someone gave up on and never finished then sold the finger jointed cab, faceplate, chassis, pots and switches. That made the build a bit easier for sure. Working on a Liverpool organ-donor chassis parts amp now. Cheers-

 

[rupe]

Very cool I have one of the new JM built Trainwreck Express' and it's simply an amazing amp. I first played an Express in the early 90's and loved it but was never able to score one (too far down on the list). The new one sounds even better than I remembered the original sounding, although a lot of factors could affect that (tubes, cab/speakers, guitar used, changing tastes, etc).


Basically, everything baron55 said is spot on from what I know and have experienced.

Here are a couple examples of the new ones at work:

I recently picked up one of those Ampeg V4 cabs...it was the one that Ken (and now JM) recommend. It blows away my Marshall cabs and I haven't even put good speakers in it yet (it has old T-75's). Awesome cab...huge yet sweet sounding with the Express.

 

[tone spelunking]

Nice demo, thanks!

 

[blackba]

I always thought this was a good demo of a Trainwreck - especially the ability to roll back the volume and clean it up. Deosn't hurt that the guitar he has is also lust-worthy...

Gas inducing for sure. Makes me want to learn to work my volume knob more, even though that means retiring my LPs for the 50s wiring.