After many months, my 5E3 build is complete. It is my first amp build, my first "Fender" amp and my first non-EL84 power tube amp. It is quite the mutt for components. I used a ceriatone head chassis and the Triode Electronics 5E3 transformer/ component kit. Coupling caps are all Sozo vintage. I didn't care for the eyelet board that came with the kit (purely cosmetics) so I made my own turret boards adding a split cathode and coupling cap mod.
   I know everyone says to build an amp stock and then mod it afterwards but after months of reading about everyone else’s experiences I decided on three mods.
1) I split the cathodes on the 12AY7
2) I used the 6G3 "brownface" volume/tone mod, and
3) I used .022uf coupling caps that have a .033uf cap in parallel on a switch so all coupling caps can be switched from .022uf to .055uf (but not the PI cap)
   So after one false start (I had two swapped wires on the phase inverter ) I fired this baby up on Monday and it is just awesome!  Everything works perfectly with no hum! It has quite a wide palette of tone and I'm sure I'll be toying with it for the next few weeks.
   Here are a couple of pics:







And if you have a lot of time on your hands you can check out all the photos (89!) of the build here:
http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k272/grod915/5E3%20Project%20Pics/

 
That's an awesome built.


The most elaborate 5E3 I've seen so far.



So what's the settings you like the most and what speaker are you using with that baby.
 

Well, being a "Vox" guy, it's no surprise that I prefer the bright/instrument channel. This amp does not react the way I understand an unmodified 5E3's controls would. The mods seem to separate the amp into two discreet channels with very little interaction between them so it's just a matter of setting the volume to "just before the wife yells" and the tone to taste which for me is right around "7" on both knobs. This is also right around where this amp starts to break up, another huge departure from the "stock" 5E3 which is legendary for it's very early breakup. I think the controls react in a more predictable manner for most players with these mods. I've only been playing my telecaster through the amp so I left all of the coupling caps at the .055uf (+ Bass) setting. I have an Epiphone Flying V project guitar (way too many projects) that I hope will make good use of the .022uf settings when it is finally finished.
       Oh yeah, the speakers! Celestion greenbacks in (one of) my Vox cabs. I'm hoping to build a dedicated 2x12 cab for this amp using a pair of Weber signature alnicos I've got laying around.

I also use a Greenback speaker with my 5E3  ... and I have the volume/tone mod from Bruce as well, so I have a pretty good idea how your amp sounds like 
I like to jump channels for a little fuller sound.

...and also,...my amp loves a tele too
 

Wow! Great minds think alike or what? Both mcinku and I used the same mod/speaker(s), and lightice, look what I just got from Nik last month-


That's the 5F4 head chassis! I was quite shocked when I received it as it was not the beautifully powder coated chassis on the website like my 5E3. I wrote Nik and he said he was not powder coating anything anymore because too many boneheads customers couldn't figure out that powder coat is non conductive and they build their amps with no ground! Talk about the few ruining it for everybody else. Any way lightice, check with Nik first because if the chassis you're ordering is not powder coated you will need to order a faceplate. Sadly for me, Nik has not made up any rear plates for the 5F4 head chassis as of yet.

When I bought my 5E3 my friend went for 5F4.
5F4 will provide more headroom and it's a bit tricky amp to dial in the tone... interactive tone controls here as well
...once dialed in properly it's a very cool amp.


Here's a few gut pictures I took at the time...