SL-18 amplifiers

Allan Bruce's blonde mini-stack

Auckland-based Allan is yet another skilled cabinet maker. His cabs let the wood speak for itself, and the dovetail details are superb. He's opted for replacement knobs, using two different sizes to distinguish the tone controls. Looks great.

"The cabinet is loaded with 2 x 75 watt 10in Eminence Ramrod speakers. 10s to my mind produce a tighter sound than 12s. They have an SPL rating of over 100dB/W. The cabinets are made of American Ash. My locale is Auckland New Zealand.

Bruce Scott's SL-18

Another Kiwi build here: "Gidday Barry, I thought I'd like to let
you know how happy I am with my finished SL-18. I purchased the PP-18 with an additional SL-18 TMB conversion kit and I'm very happy with the
results. This was my first build and I learned a lot in the process. I
built the cab to my own specs using 17mm plywood covered in Marshall -style tolex. I made the logo from peel-and-stick brass letterbox numbers. It's a nice compliment to my home-built 2x12 cab with vintage
'70s alnico Rola Celestion speakers."

Simon Baker's rich ash combo

"It sounds incredible. Absolutely gorgeous. I've always thought my bridge pickup sounded a bit two dimensional (JB Humbucker), until I put it through this. I just want to play through now. The amp just sings. It truly is more than I expected from an amp, and very loud. I put in a VVR, which is located at the back in the 16-ohm speaker hole where only I can get to it.

"The speaker is a Celestion 8ohm G12H Anniversary model, and I have put a Tayden diffuser in front to spread the high frequencies. I've put a Fender handle on it and Fender corners along with a Marshall valve grille plate. The cabinet is made of ash off cuts from my work, with chunky dovetails holding it together. I used an oil based varnish called Osmo which has much less yellow to it than Danish oil and others, and gives the ash a bit more of a natural blonde 'glow.' It looks good on oak floors as well!"

I don't use Facebook myself, but Simon's kindly sent a link of his construction process that might be useful for other users of that site: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a...bd4&type=1

Rob Williams' SL-18 head

Rob's SL-18 started off as standard, but has been through a few revisions now, including a 2W/9W/18W switch and PPIMV conversion. Rob's also made a great slideshow/video at YouTube, with soundtrack provided by his build: