I HAVE A TONE MONSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.................Wow!!!!!!!!!...........

THANKS TODD.....THANKS CHRIS......THANKS NIK..........THANKS GRAYDON

YES...... SCN needs to be hooked to ground.

Also, Graydon's picture had "0" and "CT" on the 6.3v feed... different than mine.

So I changed mine, to mirror his....

Before and After.....

FIXED!!!!!!!

Emailed Graydon at GDS... He set me strait....

Thanks, Craig

Todd,  I've noticed something before on the Ceriatone Layout that is on the PT...

By the 120v tap is 0 for ground and also "E" which goes to ground... what is "E"

On my GDS PT their is a tap mark "SCN" not sure what this is for either...

Pic's to follow

Thanks, Craig

Yeah, I took off the heat shrink insulation that I had on the diodes, to show them... I'll put the heat shrink back later...

The cap and resistor at the standby switch I took off... but I can't remember why I did that???

The pot next to the power switch is correct per the layout.... and speaking of layout, I did follow the 18watt layout March 2010... In fact before I started this build, got a big piece of cardboard. Did a "Blowup" of the layout and taped it to my cardboard.

Then got online and found a resistor chart to make sure I had the right "values" of resistors going to the right places.... Then taped each resistor and capacitor on the "Cardboard Blowup" before I ever soldered anything.

When I got ready for a certain resistor or capacitor I just removed it from the cardboard and solder it in.....

However.... I could have made a mistake... but I did double check all.

Got the "sleeve" of the output jacks grounded.... per the picture to follow.

Thanks, Craig

Sorry to say Guys....Still having same problems

After 90% resolder.... some did not need at the pots positions... Still same issue.

Have to turn volume all the way up to here the guitar... on both channels normal and TMB.

Took voltage readings... V6 is within specifications 272v at pin 1 and pin 6... all others are way over the top... hot.

Here are the others:

.....................Pin 1........................pin 6

v1................ 284 .......................330
v2................. 307 ...................... 337
v3................ 308 ....................... 356

....................pin 7 ........................ pin 9

v4................382......................... 379
v5................ 382....................... 379.

Here are more pic's...... Still think I have done something wrong on the power feed.

Are the Diodes pointed in the right direction?

Thanks, Craig

Thanks Nik....

Yeah I'm planning to drain the capacitor and start resoldering each pin.

Chris... the solder iron I was using when I first started was the major problem.

It was a cheap, piece of junk I had that was old. Had used it for for other projects around the House. Would not heat up. Thought I'd start with it.... see how it would work.... big mistake.

Went to HomeDepot and got a Weller 40watt... you can almost see the difference on the Pic's..... The good solder joints and clean and shinny... but their are some That I rushed.... made a mess...

But one thing I did not know is making the "hook" for each wire... makes sense.
I did "tin" each wire... but did not hook.

Thanks, Craig
 

Guys....

If I wanted to drain the voltage off the can capacitor...is that done by draining it to a good ground source?

That is... Running a wire from the B post to ground...

Is their any other place that would hold voltage... that would ned to be drained?

Thanks

More Pic's

Thought I'd show V1 thru V5.

It's pretty ugly..... Like I said before...I left plenty of slack from the board feeding the tubes and the pots.

FOUND IT!!!!!......OR PART OF THE PROBLEM.....

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT..... HOW COULD I HAVE DONE SOMETHING SO STUPID!!!!

POWER IS REVERSED.... I GOT MAIN AND NEUTRAL BACKWARDS AT THE POWER PLUG.

I'M EMBARRASSED 

I guess most people would not told this on themselves...

DimBuld is doing right now....
 
Also took off those resistor and cap at the stanby switch and resoldered.

No smells... no magic smoke.... no mushroom clouds...... So I went ahead and plugged all the tubes in..... Plugged in the Speaker..... Plugged in the guitar.

Still not quite normal...

It sounds as though it's half power.... both EL84'S are lit up.... one is brighter than  the other... But.... I am getting sound!!!

You are right Todd!!!! I did miss the ground at the speaker jacks....

And thanks for the Voltage Chart...just what I've been wanting. Now I have a reference to check by...because your right some of my connections are pretty bad. I left plenty of slack in the wire at V1 thru V6 and all the POTS, just in case.

THANKS TO BOTH YOU GUYS... YOU'VE BEEN A GREAT HELP.... CAN'T SAY IT ENOUGH

THANKS, Mule

PS.... I can post more pictures... if you like.

Thanks Todd for your input... Yeah the indicator light comes on...not  very bright.

I connected all the tubes just to see what I'd get... plugged in the speaker and guitar........ nothing..... The Power Transformer does not get hot or warm to the touch. So I've got a wrong connection or defective connection or my power transformer is defective.

I don't think the transformer is bad.... I think it's something I did...

If and when I figure it out... I'll let you guys know...

Sorry to be such a "newbe" .... still is fun ... how else can one learn?

Thanks, mule

Thanks Chris for your response....

Pictures... I'll try...we'll  see how it works.

No... the GDS Power Amp came to me with no instructions.

Thanks, mule

Got my 18Watt Kit from Nik back in May. Got it put together, no problem...I thought.
Did not have the funds to purchase tubes at the time ( tight budget at home )... Until last week. Got my tubes from TubeDepot.com... Downloaded a copy of there manual and read it. Wanted to see how there process of putting a 18Watt kit together, from start to finish. Followed their instruction in Chapter 8 on powering up the Amp, made a Dim Bulb Tester, and proceeded.

Their instruction is pretty much common sense...just going 1 step at a time. Adding tubes with each step, to see if you have voltage at certain spots.

As I started, with no tubes in the Amp and had a 40 watt bulb in the DimBuld tester. My bulb never powered up.... but my Indicator Light on the Amp did... knew that's not right... Went back and checked my DimBulb tester. It checked good.

So I went on and added the EZ81 power tube. Same thing... but my Power tube glowed very low as though it were at 1/2 or 1/3 power... no light on the dimbulb.

I checked the voltage at the "B" terminal of the can capacitor... 429 VDC... hmmm.  That seemed to be correct.

So with all that said... question is... Is it just simply a "Cold Solder" or would this indicate a incorrect connection of my GDS power transformer?

Should I use a lower wattage bulb for the dimbuld tester?

I Followed the Ceriatone 18 Watt TMB Layout March 2010... double checked and triple checked my connections per the drawing.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks, Mule3

Is the shielded wire that I've received with my kit for the V1 to all three input jacks?

Or, put in another way, There are 3 input paths coming from 3 input jacks feeding V1 at position 2 and position 7. Are they all supposed to be SHIELDED WIRE?

If not... where is the shielded wire to be used?

Thanks, Mule3

Thanks Wyatt....

by the way.... is it possible to post pictures here?