ampmaker

The PP-18 amp that Kare bought was a Christmas present for his son. The cabinet he made to house it has a mixture of design cues: thinner ply like ’70s WEM amps, salt-and-pepper cloth a la Marshall and protective hardware of the type you see on a lot of independent amp maker builds. “My son […]

Peter did a fantastic job of documenting his build with photographs, from opening the box to the finished mini-stack. I’ll upload the ZIP file of his photo-album as soon as possible. For the gallery, here’s a taster, with the first photo showing some of the chassis planning. This is a vital step for those customers

Lars used the PP-18 as the basis for his ultra-compact 2-channel combo. There’s enough juice available from the PP-18’s power transformer to power an extra preamp valve and Lars added his own circuit with Treble, Middle, Bass and Master controls. This channel works alongside the PP-18’s normal input.

A number of 18W amp builders have wanted the amp’s natural overdrive tone at lower room levels. By far the smartest approach is reducing the power supply voltage inside the amp, and Daniel’s PP-18 has just such a modification. Called VVR (or VCB) a MOSFET-based circuit developed by some amp gurus at www.hallamplification.com, it adds

“Who needs tolex —- boat varnish.”

“Please find attached pic of PP-18 build. As you can see I built it into a standard 1U 19 inch enclosure and used it mounted in a rack for around a year. Finally got around to properly finishing it just recently with the addition of the metal cabinet and logo. “Very pleased with the amp;

The P1800 was initially designed for EL84 power valves. But there are also some oddball alternatives that can – with a little tweaking – fit into the 9-pin socket instead of the EL84. Stephen Rattley opted for some 6CH6 valves, which need a small adaptor… “Hot input, together with all other elements of the amp

“Please see attached some photos of my lovely and lusty P1800. In addition to the Brimar 6CH6 output valves it also has a couple of Brimar ECC83 in the pre-amp. I’’m using 2×10 Eminence ‘Ramrod’ by way of speakers and the combination is very rich. “Obviously I am going to say it sounds great but

“I’ve been meaning to email you for ages. I absolutely love the P1800. So much so that my SE-5a is now redundant. So, I fear, is my JCM 800 combo. I built it into this old Selmer speaker cab, which was once part of a Selmer Lead 30 combo. “Whether it’s loud enough to gig

“I’ve completed the 2×12 cab to match the head cab that Chris made (And although I say it myself, I think I’ve given it a level of care and finesse that even he would be proud of!) “I can’t tell you how pleased I am with the whole project, so once again, thanks for an

“I plugged my strat and…wow !!! This little beast rocks ! I love all the sounds I get out of it, from crystal clean to devastating crunch with my Les Paul. And this thing is loud! “I’ll try it for a couple of hours on Friday evening at high level with my band, they’re gonna

“I originally found your site (highly recommended all over the internet- no doubt you are aware) a few years ago as a result of looking for an amplifier kit supplier. Having successfully built the SE-5A, I built my own chassis for the PP-18. Attached are some pictures in my homemade Fender style cabinet.”

“I’’d just like to say thanks so much for providing us with a great kit to make an amp that sounds fantastic. I managed to build the amp itself in a couple of weekends thanks to the very clear online build guide. Testing the high voltages was a bit scary but I got through it

“I did my final testing this afternoon. It all looked good and plugged the amp in to play soon after. I’m really pleased with the results, the amp sounds superb. I’ve currently got it plugged in to a Marshall 4×12 but will be making a more portable 2×12 when time allows. “I love the cleaner

“I made up your P1800 kit and it worked, wow! After listening blind to a bunch of speaker demos on Youtube, all the ones I liked had a slow attack heavy magnet etc, so alnico celestions which are really expensive and then a reasonable price Eminance Patriot at a third the cost. “So to the

“Well, I must say, this was one of the most enjoyable projects I’’ve ever done. I elected to get a cabinet built by a company called Sour Mash Guitar Cabs as they are in north Florida. They built a beautiful 18 watt 1×12 British style combo cab for the amp. I purchased a British-made Celestion

“I’m the guy who tried to shoehorn your P1800 into a WF-55 enclosure. I’m writing to tell you that the operation was a success. All in all it was a fun experience and not all that hard to do really. And now as the end result I also have a very useful and fun amp

“Finally I have finished the P1800 project. I love the flexibility of this amp. Thank you! Here are some photos you might like. The design matches a former cabinet-project. Unfortunately I had to make the headshell a bit wider due to the chassis dimensions.”

I often get asked when I’ll do a bass amplifier kit. For now it’s some time off, but some customers – like Antti – get good results from the 18W circuit. “A few years ago I built a model PP-18 and I modified it with 2W / 9W / 18W switchable output switch. This winter

“I recently finished your P1800 kit and it sounds great! Having only soldered some XLR cables in the past, I was an absolute beginner but the excellent step-by-step walkthrough made it a successful project. Nothing had to be redone and I didn’t get shocked! “To complete the package I ordered a 1974x style cab from