Guitar Gear Forum

This is my take on the AX-84 Firefly amp. I don't care for PCBs so I made a turret board from the schematic instead. I made a chassis to the same dimensions as a Hammond 1444-18 chassis which is 13.5" x 5" x 2" to fit in one of my existing cabinets. I added a dual bias switch so I could swap between 12AU7 and ECC99 power tubes easily. I know a lot of guys here have probably built this amp, but this is just my take on the Firefly.

All the rest of the build pics are at this link --->
http://s238.photobucket.com/user/Casey4 ... all&page=1



Turret board & layout





Folding the chassis to 13.5 x 5 x 2 (like a Hammond 1444-18)





Finished chassis





Power supply and brass faceplate






Stuffed turret board





Dual bias switch (12AU7 or ECC99)






Gut shot and Tweed cabinet

Dude, that thing looks tight. I am just starting to get my feet wet with modding amps. Gonna be a long time before I can build one - especially one from scratch like that. Very nice and very well done

Meelocheck wrote:Dude, that thing looks tight. I am just starting to get my feet wet with modding amps. Gonna be a long time before I can build one - especially one from scratch like that. Very nice and very well done

Thanks for the kind words.

For your first build a kit amp might be the way to go. A kit will give you the basic building skills with instructions and build your confidence level. Building an amp isn't as difficult as you might think.

For a decent kit at $215, check out the MOD 102 in my signature or in my other DIY thread, that would be a great first timer kit. . . . just a thought.

Yea, for 200$ bucks or so that seems like a pretty decent kit. I am in the middle of modding an Epiphone Valve Jr...Change this, tweak that, try this - it's kinda fun actually. I am really enjoying playing around with this thing. I may get into building a kit here shortly - maybe once I have an extra couple bucks kicking around.

Meelocheck wrote:Yea, for 200$ bucks or so that seems like a pretty decent kit. I am in the middle of modding an Epiphone Valve Jr...Change this, tweak that, try this - it's kinda fun actually. I am really enjoying playing around with this thing. I may get into building a kit here shortly - maybe once I have an extra couple bucks kicking around.

Looks like you are having a good time with that Jr. Tweaking and trouble shooting is a lot of fun. It's amazing how much control you can have over tha amps tone with just a few component changes.

oh wow. nice work. DAT insulation over the resistors

and i might be hitting up that kit...

Y0UNGBL00D wrote:and i might be hitting up that kit...

I think you'll be pleased with the amp you get from that kit. It has excellent illustrated instructions and has all you need to get a nice head type finished product. Just add a speaker cabinet.

Awesome ! Nice work !

fretless wrote:Awesome ! Nice work !

Thanx Sir!

How do you like it ? It's cool that all the Firefly info is still out there eve if the kits are no longer available . I have a kit , I did not build it but I love the thing ! My buddy made the shell a couple months ago

fretless,

That looks terrific! These are cool little amplifiers for bing so small at less than 1 watt with the 12AU7. I didn't realize that the PCB's were no longer available, that was a pretty popular amp project I wonder why they were discontinued.

That is a great looking cabinet, did you build that? A custom faceplate would top it off, although the graphics you have on the chassis look cool too.


EDIT:

I re-read your post and I see your buddy helped you with the head cabinet.

Casey4s wrote:fretless,

That looks terrific! These are cool little amplifiers for bing so small at less than 1 watt with the 12AU7. I didn't realize that the PCB's were no longer available, that was a pretty popular amp project I wonder why they were discontinued.

That is a great looking cabinet, did you build that? A custom faceplate would top it off, although the graphics you have on the chassis look cool too.


EDIT:

I re-read your post and I see your buddy helped you with the head cabinet.

Thanks man , yeah he did a killer job on that shell . These amps sound damn good too and don't suffer from that mosquito tone that many subwatt amps do .

this is my Firefly version, aka 'Lil Attitude'
this was my first tube amp, it was pretty simple to build,
here is a pic or link to the Lil Attitude

ironically I can build a tube amp but not post a pic. any suggestions ?

here is the link to a few pics of my Firefly, I named it Lil Attitude

what do you think

My Lil Attitude took me about a week and a half to build,
the output tube is from a 1959 RCA signal generator, it sounds amazing,
the 1/12 cab is temporary I'm going to build a 2/12 cab with a vintage 30 and a green back.



I'm going to install Doug's firezog line out circuit, and a foot switch to control the boost switch.

That looks badass!

This came out great. Very cool!