Yes, the Ceriatone "British Style" 18 watt is the Marshall 1974 circuit that was "borrowed” from the Watkins (WEM) Dominator circuit much like the JTM45 circuit was "borrowed" from the Fender Bassman. Pretty cool how the history of the old amps worked out.
      Anyways, here's a rundown of the different circuits:
18 watt - the "standard" circuit - 1 normal channel with a12ax7 pre-amp, 1 tremolo channel.
18 watt TMB - the same normal channel as above but the tremolo channel is replaced with a non-tremolo full tone stack channel hence TMB for Treble, Mid & Bass controls.
18 watt TMB EF86 - goes one step further and replaces the normal 12ax7 pre-amp channel with an EF86 tube pre-amp very similar to the very early Vox AC15.
   If you're serious about building an 18 watt amp I highly recommend signing up here: http://www.18watt.com/   The guys on there are a treasure trove of info specific to the 18 watters. Hope this helps and good luck!

+1000 on the AC50. If Nik offered this amp I would buy it in a heartbeat! I can't believe no one makes a clone of what seems like such a simple circuit. Maybe the 2 piece chassis' are too difficult to make?

Yes, all those things are included. Package 1 will include everything to build a complete working amp except the transformers, tubes and cab.
     I must add, Nik is the best customer service on the planet!

I'm going to build a 5E4-A with the chassis. Same circuit as the 5F4 but different transformers running 2 6V6's instead of 6L6's. I'm not a pro player so I really have no need for anything over 15-18 watts. (Although I do have a couple of AC30's kicking around to scare the neighbors.)
   I have the Plexi Lead Chassis from Nik and the size is very close.

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.

   Many people have modded the 5E3 with lower value coupling caps to eliminate what they call boomy/bassy response when using a humbucking guitar with a 5E3 Deluxe. The switches give you two options (.022uf & .055uf) for each coupling cap position so you can compensate by ear when switching between single coil & humbucking guitars


Just the Celestion greenbacks so far.


Not yet but I'm planning on building a Vox type trapazoid cab for it.(I told you I was a Vox guy!)

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.

  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/

Just offer it as a kit only. Your people would be happy and anyone who wants one bad enough could still have a real AC30 for less $$$!
      I really think you should consider offering an AC50 kit. It would be a great alternative to the Marshall kits and it is a much simpler circuit than the AC30!

Awsome. This is what i've done. The speaker output jacks, mains ground, power transformer grounds and first filter cap/power tube cathode resister & cap are all grounded at the corner of the power transformer. The volume/ tone control grounds I fed back to the input jacks and have just one ground off of the input jack attached to the first point on my ground buss. All circuit board grounds are attached further along the buss and the buss is terminated/attached to the chassis at the second filter cap. Thanks for the help, I feel much more confident about this now!
                                                                                                           Gerry

Hi all,
    I'm presently working on my first build, a 5E3 using a Ceriatone head chassis.
These chassis are powder coated.  Do I need to remove the coating for anything other than my ground points? (I’m using one ground at the transformer and a buss grounded at the second filter cap for everything else) Specifically, do I need to remove the coating for the pots, switches, input/output jacks etc.? The amp is nearing completion and I'm getting worried that I've made a mistake not removing the powder coating, especially at the pots. Thanks for any help.
                                                                                                  Gerry
Here's a bunch of pics : http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k272/grod915/5E3%20Project%20Pics/?albumview=slideshow

   +1!! Having nothing to do with the quality, it's just too darn expensive to ship heavy transformers half way 'round the world.

  Edit: I Emailed Nik about any forthcoming Vox amps. Nik says he is planning on releasing a full blown AC30 kit. I would definitely spring for the pack 2 kit on that one.

Early Fender "Tweed" Deluxe.
http://www.ampwares.com/amp.asp?id=56
A favorite of Niel Young. Also, there are many mods available for it on web.

I went with the 5E3 Deluxe, I'm just getting it together now. (Very slowly due to a hectic schedule) It's a simple amp (beginner friendly) and from what owners have written I understand you end up with a very nice amp.

That's it. Vox. Any Vox! An AC4,AC10,AC15,AC30,AC50,AC100,Tube Pathfinder, Pacemaker, Berkely/Cambridge....you get the idea.
Ceriatone now offers 18(EIGHTEEN!) Marshall type amps under the "British" header. Let's see....., how many Vox amps? Oh, none! Really -1 as I understand there used to be an AC30 kit but it was discontinued.
Why Nik? Did it not sell? Was the chassis too complicated? Did Dick Denny spit in your soup/ the Beatles beat you up when you were young?
        O.K., just kidding around, but seriously I can't believe Ceriatone does not offer one kit from one of the most famous amp manufacturers in the world! C'mon Nik. Throw us Vox guys a bone.

An AC50................

or a Berkeley............


or anything with reverb........(princeton)

Rant over, thanks for puttin' up with me.