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This summer's build is the 5E3 Tweed Deluxe. This is predecessor of the Blackface Deluxe Reverb. It is much different. It lacks reverb and tremolo. It has two channels like the Deluxe Reverb, instead of Vibrato and Normal the are Bright and Normal though. It has a single tone control which is just a high cut control. The output is also different. he Tweed Deluxe features two cathode biased 6V6s. The Deluxe Reverb has two fixed biased 6V6s.

Though they are both Fender Deluxe's they are very different. The Tweed has little headroom and is very punchy and fat. It is a warm sounding amp, it's clean sound it quite nice very jazzy/bluesy. It is renowned for it's great natural distorted tone. Neil Youngs dirty tone = Tweed Deluxe, he also uses a Deluxe Reverb for clean and dirty tones too though. The Tweed Deluxe uses a 12AY7 preamp, 12AX7 phase inverter, two 6V6 in cathode bias and a 5Y3 rectifier tube.

Two channel amp, bright and normal, 4 inputs both a high and low input for each channel. A volume control for each channel and a single tone control. Sounds simple but the volume controls are very very interactive. When plugged into one channel the other volume control still effects tone. More info on the net if your interested and want to find out. Anyways lots of tonal options to be had.
 

Plans:
Going to try to really go over spec with this build. All resistors are 1W or bigger, pots are 2W military spec PEC, really nice Belton sockets, Switchcraft jacks, Carling switches, Heyboer transformers. Trying to really build it as nice as possible. Sprague Atom electrolytic caps, Orange Drop 716P coupling caps, NOS 1W carbon composition resistors for tube's plates.

Going over spec and using these high quality parts should result in a very quiet amp that will last the test of time, o and sound pretty damn good!

With such a simple amp tubes play a bigger role in tone than normal I find. The less components your signal sees the purer the tone you get in my opinion. That means your component choice is critical. Nothing is more critical than those glass bottles doing the amplifying.

Tubes to try...

Output:
NOS 6V6 JAN Phillips
Tung Sol 6V6
EHX 6V6
Recto:
NOS RCA 5Y3
Sovtek 5Y3
Preamp:
NOS Sylvania 12AY7
NOS JAN Phillips 12AY7
EHX 12AY7
EHX 12AX7 Gold Pin
Tung Sol 12AX7
JJ 12AX7

 

Lets Build!

Trickiest part of the build I encountered right away. The Tweed chassis are very tight, just that's just the way Fender made them. This makes mounting all the hardware and tightening it very tough. Sounds like the easy part but with so many parts in a tight space it was quite difficult.

	Note the 220K 3W bleeder resistor to drain the filter caps.

Progress...

Completion!

Finished the wiring, checked over my work a couple of times. Plugged in the recto and got a B+ of just under 400V DC. Next preamp tubes, all voltage within spec, considering not under full load. Put in the power tubes, voltages spot on, plugged in a guitar and off we go.

With brand new tubes and a "el cheapo" Celestion the tone is very good. The normal channel is very fat and rich. The bright has twang and a bit more headroom. Amazing smooth silky compressed OD tones. Cant believe it is sounding this good already. I really like the taper of the PEC pots, the volume controls are both very smooth, no jumping. Also DEAD QUIET when it comes to floor noise. I attribute the very low floor noise to the over spec component choices and the grounding scheme.

Been doing a wee bit of tube swapping already. Quickly found out I like a NOS Slyvanis over a EHX in V1. V2 is tricky, Tung Sol, JJ and EHX Gold Pin, all sound good yet have unique characters, have the EHX Gold in right now. I am going to do more tube swapping including the output tubes. The amp is way more versatile than I though, just been enjoying all its tones

Cabinet and Boxing It All Up:

Got a beautiful pine cabinet for this amp from Trinity Amps. It is a 112 wide panel cabinet that is uses solid pine wood. It features an oxblood grill cloth and a tweed covering. The tweed is covered in an amber shellac to give a vintage look while also protecting the covering.

Got two speakers to try as well. A old AlNiCo Roma and a new production Jensen Mod. In the pictures the Roma is installed.

Final comments and sound clips coming soon...