Michael Drinnan’s Velocette conversion

“Well… I finished the amp, and as promised some photos. More by good luck than anything, the SE-5a was pretty much a plug-in replacement for my Velocette. The only thing I had to do to the SE-5a amp chassis was bring the IEC and fuse holder round the front (which is now the back). One valve is a bit close to the speaker, but I can’t see it causing a problem unless the chassis gets a really hard thump, hard enough to knock it forwards in the case. Might move it to the next valve socket one day if I’’ve nothing better to do.

“It worked first time, which is more a testament to the quality of the kit than my ability. I’’ve made up a few things in my time and I have to say, absolutely first-rate instructions. Oh yeah, and it sounds great as well. Lovely range of tones from very clean to overdriven. One of the gripes I had with the old amp was that you needed to play it very loud to get a decent overdriven sound out of it, coz it only had a single volume control.”