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Hansen Amplification

Where amplifiers are built to a standard not a price point.

 

 

Lizzy-1

“Three knobs, 25lbs and 13 watts of pure tone”

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Amplifiers:

Lizzy-1

Lizzy-2

The Boppa

Elvis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

Lizzy-1 is an all tube amplifier hand-built in the spirit of the Fender Narrow Panel Tweed Deluxe 5E3, one

 of the most recorded amps in history. 

 

·        Two channels with interactive volume controls and a shared tone control. (Note that 5E3 volume

      knobs go to “12”—that’s 2 louder than “10”!)

·        Cathode Bias – provides that sag and compression that feels so good.

·        Plenty of volume for practice and useable in most live set-ups with proper monitoring.

 

 

Mods from the original 5E3: (note mods #1-3 are required for safety and reliability).

 

1.  Standby switch instead of ground switch—allows filaments to pre-heat, which prolongs tube life.

 

2.  Three-prong grounded, long power cord—be safe—it doesn’t affect your tone.

 

3.  Screen Grid resistors: 470 ohm, 2 watt resistors help protect the power tubes by preventing excess
     current flow within the tubes (and potential thermal runaway).

 

4.  Choke instead of the 5K ohm power resistor: improves tone and feel of the amp, especially for rhythm work.

 

 

Construction Techniques:

 

Chassis: Weber high quality 16ga sheet steel, extra fine buffing, heavy nickel and chrome plating

 

Cabinet: Mojo Covered in Brown Tweed & Oxblood with Striped Grill Cloth, (H) 16" x (W) 20" x (D) 9 1/2".  Made just like the originals with 3/4” finger-jointed solid Pine.

 

Speaker:  Vintage Jensen P12Q for full mojo. Or a Weber 12A125A, replica of Chicago Jensen P12Q and other medium power AlNiCo 12's.

Specs: size=12", 11oz AlNiCo magnet, 30 watts, 1-1/4" voice coil, curved seam, ribbed cone.  Woody, reedy, early 60's Fender tone. Tight low end, detailed high end. Compressed and fattened at higher volumes. The Weber is recommended for gigging.

 

Circuit board material is electrical grade fiberglass or fiberglass laminate with hollow tubular turrents used for component mounting.  Point to point wiring used throughout entire amplifier.

 

Wire:  Mil Spec 600V, 200C Teflon insulated multi-strand hook-up wire is used in place of solid core cloth covered wire. (Occasionally a small piece or two of cloth wire will be used to

maintain mojo and appease the tweed gods.)

 

Coax:  RG-174 low noise coax used as required.

 

Hoffman grounding scheme implemented: Input jacks are isolated from the chassis to minimize stray ground

loops. The pot shells are ground via a bus wire connected to the jacks/preamp ground point.

 

Lead Dress:  Yes my lead dress does not follow some of the “picture perfect” examples where all wires are

bent at 90 degree angles etc.  I prefer “function over form.”  Lead lengths are kept to a minimum, while keeping

wires a proper distance away from each other and any components which could lead to hum, noise or parasitic

oscillations. 

 

Capacitors:  Sprague Orange Drop or Mallory 150 series coupling caps

          Sprague Atom power supply caps

 

Resistors:  Metal film, 1% resistors, (quiet, least drift)

        Carbon Film or Carbon Composition resistors used if desired to maintain that 50’s crackle.

 

Potentiometers:  Alpha or CTS pots

 

Switchcraft jacks

 

Carling switches

 

Ceramic tube sockets

 

Keps or nylon insert nuts—no parts to vibrate loose!

 

Tube compliment:

V1 –  12AY7

V2 – 12AX7

V3, V4 – 6V6

V5 – 5Y3GT

 

Note: all wattages are approximate