Build a hand-wired valve amp with great tone for the cost of a mass-produced PCB-based amp. This ultra-affordable 5W home/recording amp is stuffed with top-quality components - including British-made transformers, chassis, turrets and turret board. By providing the labour yourself, you save an absolute fortune, and get sound quality that's more than a match for boutique-built amps.
 
The SE-5a is a single channel amp with a full set of controls; Gain and Master volume allow you to balance preamp amd power amp distortion. A three-band tone stack (Treble, Middle and Bass) allows you to fine-tune your guitar tone. It's a typically 'British sounding' amp, with a bright tone full of harmonics when overdriven. Don't let the 5W rating fool you - when the SE-5a's cranked it's a loud amp. And thanks to the distortion available, it feels considerably louder than a cleaner amp, such as the 4W WF-55.
Easy to build The SE-5a is a quick build and very easy to get running. On a complexity scale of 1-5, it rates as a '2' (same as the PP-18, where the WF-55 is a '1', for example). To see just how easy it is, you can read through the online construction manual (see below) which takes you step-by-step through the whole process.
The SE-5a's hand-made turret board takes all of the guesswork out of how to layout the amp's components. With this proven low-noise and trouble-free layout, you can start soldering straightaway.
Pricing and versions
There are a number of options for the SE-5a. If you already have valves, you can buy without valves, and if you already have a donor chassis that you want to use, you can buy the Basic version of the kit which excludes the pre-punched Time saver chassis and control panels. You can also upgrade the control knobs using the options below. All kits include transformers, turret board, all electronic components, hardware for assembly, wire for connections.
BEFORE YOU ORDER
Please be aware that I am about to completely revise the SE-5a guitar amp kit. The new version will have the same basic tone, but with more tonal options and extra features. I'll also be incorporating some useful suggestions from past SE-5a customers. I'm letting customers know now so that they can decide whether to order the original SE-5a or whether to wait for the new version. As I work on the changes, I will add more details to the SE-5a's InfoCentre page.
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InfoCentre links:
The pre-punched chassis reduces the build time of the SE-5a Time saver kit to around one weekend
| | | | | | | | | SE-5a specifications | + All-valve signal path
+ 5W output
+ 100% Class A design
+ ECC83 and EL84 valves
+ Hand-wired turret board
+ Gain and Master volume controls
+ Treble, Middle & Bass tone controls
+ 8 and 16 ohm speaker outputs
+ 120V (US) or 240V (Europe)
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SE-5a customers have built their kits into all sorts of cabinets (above), but if you want a ready-made cabinet designed to fit your amp, check out Cabs by Chris | | | | | | | | | SE-5a sound clips (MP3 format) | The SE-5a has a surprising amount of gain on tap, as well as a sweet 'British' clean tone:
Chunky (280KB): Tokai Telecaster, both pickups, amp settings: 10, 10, 10, 5, 7.
Clean (296KB): Tokai Telecaster, both pickups, amp settings: 10, 10, 10, 5, 7.
Britpoppish (180KB): Gibson LP, both pickups, amp settings: 10, 8, 10, 9, 4.
Edgy Blues Rock (233KB): Gibson LP, bridge pickup, amp settings: 10, 8, 0, 7, 8.
Semi Crunchy (213KB): Gibson ES-335, bridge pickup, amp settings: 10, 10, 7, 10, 8.
Dimed Crunch (101KB): Gibson LP, bridge pickup, amp settings: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10.
Amp settings: Master, Bass, Middle, Treble, Gain. | | | | | |
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