I recently received this in depth review from Colin P who has built just about all of my Lamington amp designs!
It makes an interesting read as Colin has learnt a great deal about valve amps along the journey of building Lamington amps.
Hope you find it interesting as well!
“First Lamington build: 18W
As a first build the Lamington 18 watt amp is not something you want to be attempting with no help at all, especially if you have no experience with valve amps construction. I tried using only the schematic as a guide, and three knock-down re-builds later I bought the construction manual from Grant – So I can honestly say this is money well spent.
Although the finished amp has a little background hum (because of my sub-optimal tube placement) the result of following the manual’s wiring practices is a great clean sounding amp with loads of headroom and excellent overdrive tones. I opted for the 5/15 switch and it’s loud through a 1×12 cab with a Celestion vintage 30 – even at half volume on 5 watts. Tone control is smooth, and with the gain up high this amp is a screamer that compares very well to some of the big brands at a fraction of the cost.
I built the chassis in to a 9mm marine ply box using GutterGuard for the front grille, added red and green pilot lights to show the 5w and 10w options and added a blue LED strip for some bling.
I also had a local machine shop knock up the chassis out of a sheet of 1.5mm aluminium so it’s not a true Lamington because I didn’t source the chassis from K-Mart – And 150 coats of shellac always looks good on a decent slice of timber – Here’s a photo.:
Next Lamington build: Lamington Junior (2w)
I already had two Lamington amps done, and was looking for something smaller to use in my 3×3 music room when I saw the Lamington Junior design which became the subject of my 3rd Lamington build.
For this project I chose Grant’s point-to-point methodology which is much lower in cost, and it went without saying that I bought the build guide- Just to make sure everything was done right.
For the chassis I used a spare piece of 1.5mm aluminium sheet the same size as an A4 page, with a couple of extra pieces pop-riveted on to make the front and back panels – So it’s not strictly a true Lamington Junior either, but I will take the hit on that one..
Although it is a small amp it is also surprisingly loud, and sounds great through both my 1X12 Eminence and Celestion cabs. Tone control is also very precise, and cranked up this amp sounds fantastic with my Les Paul and my Strat. It’s a bit small for gigs but it’s an excellent practice and studio amp and it’s easy to build – even if you do the metalwork from scratch like I did.
This one has the power switch to drop the output to 1w – and from my experience there is not a whole lot of difference – They are both loud…
After construction and checking of all the wiring, component values etc the amp came up first time with no issues and I can honestly associate that with Grant’s build guide which is very easy to work with.
In case I haven’t said it before: “Be sure to buy the build guide” – It’s money well spent and it takes the hassle factor out of the equation when you are trying to figure out why things are not working, especially if you are new to tube amp construction..
Here is my Lamington Junior – Bling and all…
Another Lamington build: Lamington Lite (10w)
I knew I was going to enjoy the Junior but I also wanted something a little larger that I could use for small gatherings where a PA was not necessary, so I started a Lamington Lite build just as I was finishing off the Junior. Using the same point-to-point technique as Grant’s other designs this amp also worked off the bat and I have to say that it has become one of my all-time favorites.
It is simple to set up, the big clean tones are magical, and the overdriven sound is way too good for an amp that costs just a couple of hundred dollars to build. I bought a second set of tubes just in case, so if anyone has spare pair of Halogen transformers I want them !!
The chassis is made out of another piece of scrap aluminium with sides riveted on, and the halogen transformers came out of a friend’s roof – So it cost almost nothing to construct, and it’s not much bigger than the junior.
The thing I like most about this amp is the clean headroom which is crystal clear– it needs to be well up on the volume dial before it starts to break up so if you are looking for a great little amp that doesn’t cost a bomb this is the one to go for.
I also built mine in to a marine ply box with a billion coats of shellac for a mirror finish (about standard these days), but with this one I opted for a quilted maple veneer on the front panel instead of the LED bling. There is also a panel on the back but I have allowed for airflow so it does not get too hot inside..
For reference here’s a gaggle of Lamingtons on top of an Eminence Legend 1×12″
