BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

It's alive!! It's alive!!
The Cobraluxe 5e3 head


These projects just seem to take forever!
Of course It's modded, just a little...
Split cathodes on V1 with different voicings, switchable fixed/cathode bias w/test points & bias pot on the back panel, Brimar power, & Mullard GZ32 recto, screen resistors, & Big Iron! Cleen to scream...
I guess for the truly traditional, it's not really a 5e3 anymore, but I'm cool with it!

It looks HOT!

I like purple tolex

I always wanted to build an amp. I made some out of tube record players and tube organs when I was a kid that sounded decent, but never took it further....

Cool! I admire anyone who can put something like that together. What does 5e3 mean?

Eskimo_Joe wrote:Cool! I admire anyone who can put something like that together. What does 5e3 mean?

5e3 is the designation for the Fender Tweed Deluxe type of amp circuit, which when constructed correctly and with good components, can be a DEVASTATINGLY good low-medium volume amp....

Thanks! It's sounding really good, although one of the speakers in the 2x12 is new, & needs to be pounded for awhile to break in. It's a little hard, strident, & spikey right now. I'm on it! The mic channel (split cathode) is basically what the inst channel is on the original, & voiced so it's still very traditional & vintage sounding. The other split cathode channel is voiced more modern in a sorta Wreckish way, & here's where the clean to scream thing with the guitar volume really happens, a huge plus! The big iron & 5v4 has made it tighter & punchier, with a little more headroom, not so smeared and flabby in the lows, & it's got better range on the volume dials. In fixed bias mode it tightens up even more, sorta like a BF Deluxe without the farty lows, not as much highs, & the mid scoop. It's more dynamic & touch sensitive. The cleans are much better than a real 5e3, & easier to dial in. The grindy OD tones are totally cool, with a sort of harder revved up british flavor. I haven't tried pedals yet, but I'm hoping it takes pedals well. It's kinda like a southern rockabilly redneck that lives in Ipswich, & likes to have tea every day at the same time!

That looks brilliant!

Is it based on any of the known 5e3 kits that are around? I'm only asking because I'm looking at a couple of the kits myself
in the hope that one day I'll get round to building an amp.

It's is a Ceriatone 5e3 head kit... Alot closer to Melbourne than Milwaukee, so you could get this kit for much less in shipping costs than I paid. I still thought it was a good value! I'd get the head cab locally. I went with the head cuz there is much more room in the head chassis than in the traditional tweed combo chassis, & it's a big plus when you want to do significant mods... Now I have a killer little halfstack! Here's a pic of the 2x12 offset slant cab I'm running it through, with a Scumback M75-LHDC, and a WGS Green Beret.

Yeah cool, that's the kit I was interested in, and you're right the shipping wont be too bad for me.

Did you substitute many of the parts with your own selections? Just wondering what the supplied parts are like,
especially the output transformer.

i LOVE that purple 2x12 cab -- that amp looks GREAT, and i bet it sounds good too.

i would love to build an amp someday, i sure did mod and "italian engineer" some amps when i was a kid, because i could not afford a good one....

nice work on that one!!!!

Did you substitute many of the parts with your own selections? Just wondering what the supplied parts are like,
especially the output transformer.

All stock parts except for Sozo caps instead of the supplied Orange Drops, & 2 NOS paper in oil caps in the phase inverter, on the recommendation of an amp tech that knows his stuff. The trannies are beefy, extra stout, & they're physically larger & heavier than any stock 5e3 trannies I've ever seen! The power trannie has plenty of juice for mods, can easily handle running 6L6GC's or 5881's for power tubes right outa the gate. The output trannie already has taps for 4 and 8 ohms to accomodate those power tubes too. From what I understand, Nik at Ceriatone sources his trannies from somewhere in the pacific rim, prolly China, but who cares, if they're durable, built well, sound good, & can save some coin on the kit prices... I wouldn't say that the output trannie sounds dead nuts on to 50 year old vintage 5e3 OT, but I would say that it sounds good!