Cabinet for Champ and Build for Carmen Ghia

Long time since I last posted. I finally decided to put the Champ 5E1 in a head cabinet. I cut the 1"x10" boards with the intent to rabbet the joints, but I learned I cut them too short for that. Butt joint it is then. I hope to put a 3/8" routed edge on before adding a faceplate and finish.



Since I built the Champ using an old Soviet ammo can for a chassis, there were no flanges for mounting the chassis to anything. I had to cut flanges from joist/deck hardware, then notch the bottom lip of the chassis so it sits flush, before riveting the flanges on.


After ordering parts from TUBESANDMORE, I began modifying the Hammond chassis. I've mounted input and output jacks, Alpha pots, 110vac neon pilot light, switch, fuse holder, wire bridges (I think that is what they are called.) and power cord. The CG schematic is below.
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Repairing the Champ and Preparing for the Carment Ghia

I haven't updated this blog in months. At Christmas, I received some vintage tube gear from my father-in-law and some parts from another Hammond organ from my father. This has revived my tube amp work. I have finally replaced a resistor in the Fender 5E1 (Champ) clone I built. This resistor reduced my 6.3v secondary tap to 5v for the heater filament in the 5Y3 retifier. I believe the the rating on this heater is 2 amps so the resistor was taking a beating beyond its rating. This is visible in the first photo. I replaced it with the three resistors as configured in the second photo.


The Hammond organ parts donated by my dad were the two speakers, reverb tank, and the crossover visible in the third photo. All of this came out of a solid-state 1975 Hammond 9822J "Dolphin". These parts, along with the Hammond AO-35 amp, should produce a nice combo amp or possibly separate head and speaker cabinet. I haven't decided this yet. The Cleveland amp producer "Dr. Z" build his business by converting the Hammond AO-35 into amps he called the "Carmen Ghia". I hope to mimmick his circuit as best I can. The challenge will be working the reverb into the design, since the Carmen Ghia schematics I have don't have reverb in them.


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