Weber 6V30 Build

[ToneWitch]

This was built for a customer.

There are some things I’d like to point out that weber would not address with me through email. I have still yet to hear from them.

the chassis and cabinet are nice. Well the cabinet is nice-ish.

Problems:
The components -
Many of the components tested way out of tolerance mainly the caps. The resistors are fine. I replaced all caps with Mallory that tested out of tolerance.

The pots are the cheapest pots I have ever dealt with.

The pilot light arrived cracked and with the nut cross threaded on it.

The provided wiring was cloth style however, had no protection sleeve. I do not believe the wiring is rated for the voltage so I used my own known good wire.

The Chassis:
The output transformer cut outs were too small to facilitate the wiring (wiring would make contact with cutout. Had to drill holes and run wire through grommets.

The 2-part chassis connector holes are mis-aligned which makes it impossible to fit into the cabinet. I had to slot the holes in order to allow it to slide in.

The El84 valve holes were cut too small for the tube sockets. These had to be drilled out.

The Cabinet:
The built quality is ok. It looks nice but the box joints are loose.
Arrived without a back panel for output jacks. This is a head style unit. So now I have to make a panel. Also, no output jacks were provided.

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I brought these issues to Weber’s attention so they may mitigate more quality control of their product. Although, this isn’t a build for a novice I still feel some of the issues could easily be addressed by the company.

In Short:
I attempted to talk the customer into upgrading the components. But in an effort to save money they wanted to use what weber sent them. In total about 24hrs of build time.

Personally the Cabinet and chassis are decent. If you want a Vox AC30 I would use the cabinet and chassis they provide and source everything else.

once I get the output panel built I’ll post some finished pics. Here is a gut shot.

 

[South Park]

If everything would fit what fun would that be . The problem with kits is the better parts cost more and no one would buy them .

 

[Gunner64]

I bought a 6m45p kit complete with tubes and smallbox inclosure for $400 once because I thought it was a deal. My assesment was the same as yours, shit didn't fit. i also replaced the pots, jacks, wire ect.

Had a Goofy cap board like a fender, which is ok in a fender, but why use 25 caps on a board in a Marshall clone when you can use 3 multi cans?..silly. and if you used the s.s. rectifier option the stupid cap board would not fit in the chassis, like it was supposedly designed to do.. Not a very thought out kit imo. I changed the cap board to cans in the end.

I was in touch with them as well, they had no answer..'cept a shoulder shrug and what felt like they didn't want to admit there was a design flaw, which there is... or maybe because I didn't purchase direct from them idk.

There's a reason them kits are $300 cheaper than everyone elses. I won't fall for that again.

 

[Gunner64]

Don't get me wrong, I still think at $400 I gotta pretty decent deal with the tubes and headbox included, but if I would have paid list price I would have felt a bit duped.

 

[ToneWitch]

Just wanted to add:

it sounds absolutely amazing. Has a low noise floor and breaks the speakers up super nicely. I actually want to build one for myself now. I’ll just use sourced components and trannies. The tremolo is great.

I just want to add that you can not build this amp off the weber diagram. Multiple sections of the diagram are incorrect. Their schematic is also not helpful. Best to use a good known 1964 Vox Schematic.

 

[Spanngitter]

I did 2 Weber builds so far and all of them lacked in quality on the points mentioned above.
cheesy components (not all but the Caps, Pots and Jacks), holes do not fit, one kit was missing some parts (Caps, Screws), not funny when you order from the other side of that little pond.
Both had been JTM45 Clones and are for sure the last one's I built from this vendor, however they are the only one's providing an AC30 based Kit (which I am/was itching to build after a recent rush of several AC30s (66/74/77/78) comin' thru....) so i appreciate the report as it killed the desire.

 

[ToneWitch]

I did 2 Weber builds so far and all of them lacked in quality on the points mentioned above.
cheesy components (not all but the Caps, Pots and Jacks), holes do not fit, one kit was missing some parts (Caps, Screws), not funny when you order from the other side of that little pond.
Both had been JTM45 Clones and are for sure the last one's I built from this vendor, however they are the only one's providing an AC30 based Kit (which I am/was itching to build after a recent rush of several AC30s (66/74/77/78) comin' thru....) so i appreciate the report as it killed the desire.

The customer I built this for was blown away by the lack of quality control and he was very thankful I was able to manage over the issues.

I told him next time just get the chassis and Cabinet and it will be much easier for me to build like that. Instead of fishing through a grab bag of components. All my resistors and caps are organized and are of superb quality.

I will be building a custom 59’ Bassman for the same customer. This time he dropped off just the cabinet and chassis.

Although it was an absolute nightmare with their diagram and schematic and then also finding a legible Vox schematic I did prevail. Here it is just before delivering it to the customer.

 

[Scumback Speakers]

I've had two Weber kits (early 2004/2005)...JTM 45 kits. Much of what everyone else has said I experienced. I wound up replacing damn near everything with caps, ohm switch up to and including the output tranny since that also turned out to be DOA/defective.

At that point, I had a chassis, circuit board, PT and head cab...even some of the on/off switches were DOA.

Learned my lesson, although Ted Weber was extremely apologetic, he just called his people "Dumb $10 per hour parts pullers that can't read..." or something to that effect.

I've received over a dozen Metro 50 and 100w kits with no issues. Go figure, right?

 

[Gunner64]

Yea, But $10 an hour parts pullers didn't try put a Fender Style cap board in a Marshall style chassis.

All these problems with their kits makes me wonder if they ever ever built any of them before they had them available for purchase.