Thanks very much for your continued support!

Your positive comment has made my day. Many thanks.

Thanks very much for your kindness. I played in a band once whose bassist was a triplet - the only ones I'd met. All the best to you and your family, and I wish you a day full of music.

I'm sorry the analogy didn't work for you. At least the bottom line came through: there's a legitimate justification for compound fretboards. Have a great day full of music!

@@auburnamplifiers1786 thanks man!

Thanks very much for your positive comment. Our goal is to encourage musicians to just focus on enjoying making music.

Thanks very much for your very kind comment. At Auburn we're very conscious of the risk of feeding GAS, so we tend to weed out requests for amplifiers we suspect won't actually get used for making music. Maybe that makes us lousy business people, but we're not really in it for the money. We just like building amps that will be enjoyed and appreciated.

1. Congratulations! 2. Don't turn it on - have the filter caps replaced first! This will save you money, time and heartache. Consult with a qualified tech for the proper steps to take, or better still, take it to one. Enjoy!

All I can suggest is searching online for the error codes for your model of amp. "Error 3" doesn't have a generic meaning, unfortunately. Our own amplifiers don't have error codes.

Thanks very much for your positive comments. I'm not aware of the Watkins Dominator having series resistors on the OPT primary, but I doubt that a manufacturer would use that method to affect the load impedance on the output tubes; they'd probably just spec a different transformer and maximize power. This doesn't mean that you can't play around with this, however. Just be very careful around high voltages, as always.

Thanks very much!

Thanks very much for your kind comment.

Thanks very much for your kind comment, Ian. I'll happily accept 'extemporaneous' as a euphemism for 'completely devoid of planning' :)

Thanks very much for your comment and interesting suggestion. A rackmount version of the Solitaire wouldn't be too challenging at all - we just hadn't considered that there'd be much of a market for it, but you've got us thinking. Someone else suggested a version for modular synth rigs, which would be a little trickier, but far from impossible. What applications do you envision for a rackmount version? Reamping? Studio preamp? Curious to know.

Thanks very much for your positive comment, David. The subject of capacitors is indeed a can of worms - the answer would fill a book. In general, be cautious about caps that are being marketed directly to music gear enthusiasts as being of a special grade - it's not always the case. Definitely don't let price be your only guide. Good caps do cost more, but an overpriced rebranded or resold cap is not the answer. You're best to work alongside someone who regularly uses a professional components distributor (Mouser, Digi-Key, Newark/Farnell, etc.) and make your searches on those websites based on actual specifications, not colorful descriptions. You may have to buy a few extra pieces of a cap you need, but you'll still come out ahead, especially if you know someone in the same boat. Good luck to you! And be safe!

Having worked in Aerospace I am well aware of Farnell, Digikey and Mouser but cannot always find the values I need. I have a 1965 Fender Vibro Champ which is all original except for one resistor. It still works fine, but obviously the filter capacitor should probably be replaced. I have been looking at the CE Manufacturing version which is expensive but would you say worth it rather than something like a JJ ? @@auburnamplifiers1786

Thanks very much for your kind words and your insightful comment, Andrew. I agree with you to a large extent that there's a massive gap between the quality of Auburn's designs and the production values of my videos. If I had better video skills and tools, I would definitely apply them. Our approach as an organization is that we put EVERYTHING into our amplifiers to make them accessible to as many musicians as possible. We don't devote any overhead to dealer networks, magazine ads, NAMM booths, etc. We also won't pay for online reviews or celebrity endorsements because these would add to the cost of our amps, and we don't think it's fair to make our customers pay for all that. But you've got me thinking that if someone were to come along and offer to help us make videos of a better standard, we would consider compensating them with an Auburn amp.

Hi, Ben. Thanks for your question. There's no one answer unfortunately, as it all comes down to what features you'd want and how resourceful and skilled you are. You can go a long way in building an one-off musical instrument amp cost effectively if you can repurpose an existing chassis and/or transformers. If you'll be buying output tubes, check the prices of the various types before making your final choice; their costs range considerably and will have an impact on your project cost. An isolation transformer with a voltage doubler can often make an acceptable plate supply, and a 12V LED power supply can serve as filament supply. Some hobbyists can put an amp together from things they have lying around, which can be a fun challenge. Repairing a non-functional used amp can be an affordable solution. Kits aren't as cheap as they used to be, but they can also be good value. The important thing to keep in mind is that tube amplifier voltages can injure or even kill you, so it's best for you and your family if you don't tackle anything beyond your skill and knowledge level. Re the early Peavey Classics: yes, good amps, good platform, and a respectable alternative to the usual suspects. Good luck with your quest!

Thanks very much for your positive comment, which means even more coming from a fellow builder. It's so gratifying when people in this field support and encourage one another. Best wishes to you.

Thanks very much. We worked very hard on the Solitaire, so we're grateful that it shows.

Thanks very much for your insightful comment and support. You're quite correct that tube emissions become reduced as the tube ages. What's perhaps a little counterintuitive is that those emissions won't all fall off at the same rate, even if the tubes are the same age and have seen the same number of hours. This is why it's important to actually check the tubes and replace only the ones that either no longer meet their specs OR fail to provide satisfactory performance (which is not the same thing). It's not like changing the light bulbs on a suspension bridge, where the labor costs might justify changing them all at once. I just don't like seeing people needlessly paying to change their reverb driver or the preamp tubes in a channel they never use as part of a retubing job. Regarding filter cap size in amps with tube rectifiers, I should have mentioned that the tube's spec sheet usually indicates what the maximum safe filter cap size is. I've seen situations where an excessively large cap was installed in an (unsuccessful) attempt to reduce the hum in a single-ended amp, which of course is not being canceled the way it is in a push-pull amp.

@@auburnamplifiers1786 Thanks for the detailed reply Rob, thanks for the extra details on emissions, while I didn't suspect a linear decline you've added a bit of insight into typical emission modes of decline... while I have started "playing" (no playing @ ~400volts) around with tube (hi-fi) electronics I have no personal long term experience (usage) of tube(s) aging . building my own 7868 PP amp but its sadly been on pause for year now...

Very much appreciated. Just don't ask me anything about cooking. My daughters will politely taste a few mouthfulls before asking what time their mother will be home.

Thanks for your very good question. In a nutshell, a failure in an electrolytic capacitor - which can happen quickly - in the worst case can lead to the hasty destruction of much more expensive amplifier components, including tubes, transformers, chokes - even speakers in extreme cases. What's more likely is that your amp's hum will become unbearable and you'll switch it off before anything else is damaged. This could happen in the middle of a gig or a session. This is why it can be false economy to put off a recapping job for too long. This doesn't apply to museum pieces of course - just amplifiers that are actually being used.

Thanks. I collected Kustom Amps (still have *3) and have been using them on an off over the years. Id visually inspected and checked uF readings in spec on electrolytics w/ a meter. The big Pwr Caps avg 30 to 60$ a pop and as I don't use the amps much anymore its not worth it to me to sink in the cash. I power them on every 3 months as I'd heard that it helps. Fingers crossed. *I had (3) all Red Kustoms w/ Altec's I sold to the TV show 'GLEE' as they had red ones in their band room.

Thank you kindly.

You're very welcome.

Exactly.

Do you mean the outside foil connection, and how it should always go toward the circuit point with the lowest impedance to ground?

@@auburnamplifiers1786 yep that’s exactly what I mean ☺️

You're very welcome. It's a curious thing that the chaos inherent in what are often the most efficient systems - whether in amplifiers or in nature - makes humans queasy.

I see your point, but as strings are generally parallel to the fretboard edges, the ratio of nut width to heel width is essentially the same as the ratio of overall string spacing at those two places. The point of diminished returns is reached quite early, and the degree of precision gets overridden by the inherent coarseness of other factors. At the end of the day, the idea is to make a buildable guitar that plays well and avoids any unnecessary misalignments.

@@auburnamplifiers1786 Actually radius decision gave me a headache . I'm not gonna think too much or be too picky. I'll go for 7.25-9.5 radius. Thanks for your video. It helps a lot for me to get an idea about compound radius.

The wire-wrap I'm familiar with is an entirely different animal, and was commonly used for prototyping early digital circuits based on DIP packages (e.g. TTL). I don't think I've never seen this kind of wire-wrap used for analog circuits. It did sometimes find it way into finished one-off and very low production products, sometimes after being soldered just as you describe. But it was kind of a mess to troubleshoot, and stray capacitance was a problem (although it could actually be beneficial in many audio circuits).

Thanks very much for your comment!

Thanks and Happy New Year to you too!

So true. It's worth noting that some contemporary large manufacturing facilities are not fundamentally different.