I may have flipped my top!

[Maude]

This build might take a while as I'm not really sure what I'm doing but the three main points I'm aiming for, in reverse order are, something that looks good, something that sounds good and last, but certainly not least, not to die! Oh yeah, and if I do you can all blame @rubis as it was his B15 build thread that got my idle mind thinking. 😉

The back story; I was having a clear out and found an old Dynacord amp with the front and back plates and all the knobs missing at the bottom of a chest. It had been given to me years ago and I'd pulled it apart to give it a clean as, from memory, something was noisy. The stripped parts had long since been thrown out and the newly discovered amp was about to go to the tip. At the last minute I thought I'll just put it to one side as it's an old valve amp and who knows, it could be alright. 

In my shed/workshop I also have my old home built (rediculous) bass rig, a bi-amped set up with a pair of 15" celestions as the bottom end that is just in the way and will most likely never be used again due to size, a pre-amp/crossover, stereo graphic EQ and stereo power amp in a rack with a 2x10 for the high end and two 1x15s for the bottom, it used to have a 4x12 for the high end but that's just silly, right? 😁

Anyway it has virtually no resale value but has to go. So I have this gear in the way when I read Rubis' thread about his Ampeg-esque cab build a light bulb came on. I've always loved the Ashdown Drophead with the Little Bastard head, and the classic Ampeg fliptop, in fact any fliptop but have absolutely no use for one so could never justify buying one just because they're pretty. 

Then it dawns on me, I have an old valve amp and some lovely sounding celestions. I give the amp the once over inside and all seems OK and plug it into one of the 15" cabs, plug in a Precision and it sounds pretty good, albeit at low volume. So my mind's made up, I'm going to build a fliptop and re-house the amps internals to have the cool (or should that be hot?) bits on display and put it all in a new cabinet, it will hopefully be a nice combo to keep that doesn't take up much storage and won't cost very much, mainly just my time. 

The amp is a Dynacord Imperator which manages 80watts by putting 750volts through it's pair of EL34 valves, which would normally only produce 50watts. The amp query thread is here if anyone's interested, 

This is what I started with, 

and after some careful de-soldering, chassis cutting and most importantly labelling wires, this is where I'm at. 

I'm planning to build something along the lines of the classic look of the exposed transformers at either end with the valves in the middle all above a housing with the controls on. I'm no electrician, but I'm not stupid either, but as long as everything is wired back to where it came from, what can go wrong. It's only 750 volts after all. 🤪

Both the amp and speaker, from quick research, seem to be early 70s so it's nice to pair them being a similar vintage.

Anyway enough rambling, I just thought if I start this thread then I'll have more incentive to carry on, I'm in no hurry so this may take a while though. 

Edited November 24, 2019 by Maude

[rubis]

What a great project, I love following stuff like this, enjoy yourself Maude, and keep us updated when you can!

 

[Maude]

I've been ordering bits and pieces and stripping the old cabs for parts. I'm going to try and get most of the parts together and make a proper start on this over Christmas as I've got a couple of weeks off. I've got some stainless steel sheet and some aluminium 10mm hole mesh on order, and I've been sawing up plywood in preparation for making the head casing, which I've decided I don't like doing after the summers mishap. 

The cab and head are going to be plywood which I'm going to stain and lacquer so I'll be looking for tips on dyes and inks soon. I've sort of got a plan in my head for how this'll look but it might change as the build progresses. 

As I've got a pair of the celestions I may as well build a matching extension cab, a single 2x15 valve combo might be a bit heavy. 😂

No pictures for a mo as it's all very boring at this point. 

🙂