Ceriatone Forum

I'm seriously considering putting together a 2203 or 2204 clone.  Most likely, I'll pick up the board, chassis, and face plates from Ceriatone.  What are opinions on transformers for these amps?  Anyone have experience with Heyboer's and MM's, or anything else?

If I buy the board, chassis, and face plates from Ceriatone, are any off-board  parts included:  pots, filter caps, etc.  or do I need to pick those up separate?

Is there a reason that you're going to source other parts elsewhere?  If you're not used to sourcing parts, you'll inevitably forget something and have to place multiple orders, and it'll cost you more than getting a complete kit from Nik.  I think that you can buy a kit without trannies, and that'll include all of the rest of the parts.

As far as upgrades go, you could order Sozo or Mojo Dijon coupling caps (the Sozos can be had from Metro Amps, Turretboards.com; the Mojos are sold my Mojo Musical Supply), TAD or Sprague Electro caps (TAD can be had from Mojo, Sprague from a lot of places), F&T or JJ can caps, 1 watt carbon film resistors (available most places, it'll keep your noise floor lower than carbon comps), mil-spec pots (RV4 or Clarostat).  As far as transformers, I've been impressed with the Heyboer iron that I've worked with, and they can be had from multiple sources (Mojo sells a good set, Marstran have a good reputation, Metro).  Mercury has a good following, but will cost more than Heyboer for most types of iron.

I have tried Nik's transformers and they are great especially for the money! I used Mecury Mags for my last three builds and they sound really amazing but it is hard to say if they are better than Nik's because I changed so many components including caps, cap cans, resistors, wire, - everything! My amp sounds better that the stock kit I bought from Nik but it cost almost 2 times as much. Not sure if that helps! Check out my website and compare the clips between the "Rachelle prototype" (Nik's stock kit) and "Rachelle" (Mercury Mags and many mods).

http://www.joepopp.net/ (http://www.joepopp.net/)

I'm sourcing parts elsewhere for a couple of reasons.  The major one is the cost of shipping for anything heavy from Nik.  Head cases and transformers are heavy and easy to source in the US.  I was asking about the other off-board parts specifically because I wanted to make sure my BOM is complete before ordering.  (Honestly, I probably have all of the can caps, pots, etc. I'll need on my bench...but it never hurts to check.)  I am used to sourcing parts.  I'm a EE in real life, so it's part of the game.  I've even briefly contemplated winding my own transformers but this project would be a quick fix for a Marshall, so it'll wait until my next build.  If I end up doing this, I'll drag it along to the next MN builders get together and blow everyone's ears out. ;)


Thanks for the info.  I'm familiar with most of those, but will keep them in mind.  I'm really after an accurate clone of my old Marshall, just for the fun of it.  I'm short on time now, so one with a prepunched chassis and assembled board seems like a good way to go and a very good deal...though does feel a bit like cheating, to be honest!

I'll check your link when I'm home and have speakers available.  (I'm still skeptical of listening to anything over computer speakers for accuracy too, but it's better than nothing for certain!)  I'm really after something that gets as close to the original Marshall 100 W transformers as possible.  (I'd actually like to build a 50 W amp, but get the 100 W sound which I always associated with the transformers, though filtering and rectification could have a lot to do with that too.)  I have lots of experience with old Marshalls, but have never heard any of the various after market transformers. 

Where in MN are you from?  I'm toying with the idea of setting up a homebrewers get-together, but it's tough to find a good venue for it.  Plus it'll have to wait until I get my Weber Java kit up and running :) (I've got Mojo and TAD caps going in - it's pretty much just a Weber chassis and trannies.)

I'm in the Twin Cities.  If you're the same Weathered as over on Harmony-Central, than we've met at John's house last Spring/Summer.

Wow people even know each other :D :D

That's me.  Don't you have a SLO and a your P1ex?

Do you know when John is going to have another get together?  I've got another amp on the bench that I want to show off when it's done.  :)

I have the P1-Xish thing.  (I only say that so that no one builds a P1-X and expects it to sound just like mine.  The topology is the same, but I rebiased all three gain stages.)  I have a SLO, a Mesa .22+, and a Fender Champ.  The SLO is home from my rehearsal space because it's humming like crazy.  However, I can't track it down at home because all my cabs are still at the space...

I haven't heard from John since our last meeting.  I've been so busy with the new job, kids, my band, etc. that I really haven't done anything since for amps.  That's why the idea of starting with a prebuilt board and a prepunched chassis seems like practical idea, even if it does feel a bit like cheating to me.   I have painted two guitar bodies and 4 pedal chassis in anticipation of some time during the winter.