The TNH Amp, 1.1

Continuing with the power tool introduction, this is his first chance with the router. The template that you see there is the Keller 1500 dovetail jig. This is my third of fourth project with it, so I am glad that I invested in it. I am also glad that it is holding up well. This is not really the best picture of Tyler routing (minimal dust spraying back), but it is the only one that I have with him wearing ear protection. I think the router is 90-105db, so this is a good idea. You can get fairly precise with this dovetail jig, but I don't choose to. I'll build the boxes for the cabinets, then mark lines to rip the front and back nice and even.

He did not do all of these cuts, but he did enough to get a feel for it. Here are all the pieces for an amplifier cabinet, and two speaker cabinets. I would like to have some kind of portable work bench, but as it is I just mount half my work to my table saw. Later on, I bet you'll see us using this for gluing, finishing, etc. Looking at all those pieces at once is sort of impressive - it's about an hour of work (setting up, clamping, etc.). Of course, by hand that would be a lot longer.

The cabinets were measured very well. I slapped them together dry to get a feel for size and note that the amp chassis slides very well. It will have a bit of paint and lacquer on it, and the cabinet will have a finish. I hope it isn't too tight! I'll check the other side first, and if it is then it can be opened up a tad with some judicious sanding. Note that the chassis is just a Hammond chassis (#1444-26). We'll drill that out down the road. I like that part too. Inside are various capacitors, resistors, potentiometers, and transformers. Might be a tube or two.

I slapped these together to get a feel for size. Also, because the lumber was slightly cupped, I thought this would straighten them out a little. It could get pretty messed up, but tapping the dovetails together would straighten anything. The cabinet on the left will be the 2x10 sealed speaker cabinet. I will probably keep it pretty deep, based on some calculations using data from the speaker company. On the right is Tyler's quarter stack. This will have an EL34-based tube amp on the top, and a 2x12 speaker cabinet. I am planning on trimming the front and back a little. This is 11.5", and we could lose an inch and a half, perhaps. They stand up just fine without glue. That's a pretty good test of the integrity of these joints. I will not use any screws to hold this together. The speaker cabinet will be strenghtened by the baffle on the front, which will be glued into a dado. On the back I'll incorporate a kick plate, and that will also help make it sturdy.

Here is a dry-fit of the dovetails. Note that the exposed ends are just proud of the joint. Those will get sanded, and all the corners will be rounded over as well. I am starting to get excited about this. Tyler's quarter stack will be up in his room by early October, I bet. Then the noise will begin. I am glad that he is putting as much sweat equity into this as I am - because a 14-year-old barely deserves something this nice otherwise!

I am a little embarassed to say that I never had the chance to play through a tube amp until early 2006. I was looking at Telecasters and the nice folks at the guitar store put me in a little room by myself. They showed me a bunch of complicated amps, and I plugged into a little Epiphone Valve Junior. I loved it. When the sales guy came back, he looked at me like I was crazy and plugged me into a very complicated amp. After he left, I went back to the simple 5-watt Epiphone amp! I had no idea.

--gh