Li'l Dawg hand-wired tweed

AlohaJoe

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I read about Li'l Dawg amps on another forum last spring, did some homework, called Jim and ordered one. http://www.littledawgamps.com/index.htm

Mine is called a Champster Special (bigger OT and a 12" Alnico spkr). I had Jim add a tone control & standby. Man, what a sweet amp. It purrs. It screams. The notes seem to jump out of it... its the most alive amp I've ever played through. His prices have increased a bit since I got mine, but the amps he makes are at least on a par with Victoria at less than 1/2 the price. The reviews (I haven't written one yet) on Harmony Central are 10, 10, 10 and 10. Awesome!

In addition, Jim is as nice a guy as I've ever dealt with, and is more than happy to talk on the phone. I believe he's actually into the amps more than the money, and how rare is that these days? Imagine ordering a hand made, hand-wired tube amp and being able to call up and chat with the guy who is building it! He's happy to do some custom tweaking too.

I've had mine now for long enough to get to know it, and it's become a "pry it from my cold dead fingers" piece of gear. I just wanted to share this with the forum.

If you have any interest, you can check out the HC reviews here:
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/brand/Li'l+Dawg
 

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Wasn't that what Clapton played in the studio around Layla era? A Fender Champ with a 12" speaker?
 

capnjuan

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Hi AJ and congratulations on your new amp! Welcome to the world of small-ball. Fact is you only need one power tube to get to tone heaven; that's why small amps like the Champ, Gibson GA1 / GA5 / GA8, Silvertone 1471 / 1481 and others that populate the single-ended world won't go away and why SE models are the back-bone of the DIY world. I noticed on the builders web page the following: "There are two different versions of the Champster available, the standard model has an 8 watt 4 ohm output transformer and the "Champster Special" has a 12 watt 8 ohm output transformer if you need to have the extra power. You can also run both models with a 6L6GC using a 5AR4/GZ34 too."

At the risk of sounding like I'm second-guessing somebody who's making cool stuff, it would be useful to know that both the 8 watt / 6V6 / 5Y3 model and the 12 watt / 6L6 / 5AR4 models are running the same power transformer. A single 6V6 pulls .5 amps through its heater circuit. By contrast, a 6L6 pulls .9 amps through its heater circuit or about twice as much current. This differential is the reason people ought not to stuff 6L6s into 6V6 amps. The heater current draw is irrespective of the wattage out; and the builder is sensibly up-sizing the output transformers to take that into consideration but he doesn't mention a beefed-up power transformer for the 6L6/12 watt model.

One reason that 4 ohm speakers / amps seem loud for their size/rating is that the speaker's 4 ohm voice coil indirectly acts as the 'load' on the output tube. Since that load is smaller than a conventional 8 ohm load, all things being equal, the result is more loudness from a 4 ohm speaker. By way of analogy, a player will score better at 18 holes of golf with only one brick in his pocket than he will with another brick in a different pocket. Besides tone, the use of a 4 ohm speaker is another reason for the enduring popularity of the Champ and was also exploited by Silvertone in its 1472/1482 (twin 6V6) models that were factory-fitted with 4 ohm speakers.

Again, congrats and, at the risk of veering this, what's the scoop these days on the moused-up Princeton? Best; CJ
 

AlohaJoe

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capnjuan said:
At the risk of sounding like I'm second-guessing somebody who's making cool stuff, it would be useful to know that both the 8 watt / 6V6 / 5Y3 model and the 12 watt / 6L6 / 5AR4 models are running the same power transformer.
Again, congrats and, at the risk of veering this, what's the scoop these days on the moused-up Princeton? Best; CJ
My Champster is the "Special", and I seem to remember Jim saying that the PT was a little beefier. The electronics end of this stuff is all pretty new to me so I really appreciate your input.

The Princeton is all cleaned up and looking good. I ordered some new parts from Mojo (keeping all the old ones though), the upper back panel & feet were missing, handle & chassis straps were badly rusted and the reverb bag was really nasty! The new bag from Mojo is thinner (no lining) so I'm not thrilled with that and may try to re-scrub the old one.

It turned out that the speaker I was going to re-cone was a 12" on a 10" baffle. :shock: Dumb! I ended up getting 10" Emi Legend 1058 on a trade, so now I'm re-assembling. I thought about getting the old spkr reconed and getting a new 12" baffle but decided to stick with a 10".

The electronics were unaffected fortunately, so now it's off to the tech for a general tuneup and routine maintenance.

It's taking longer than I expected... the weather has been crap and my wife isn't crazy about bringing it in the house yet, but when I do it'll get the cat sniff test. :lol:

I ended up with an extra pair of 8" chassis straps (came in sets of 4) if anybody needs them.
 

capnjuan

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As Walter Broes has instructed us many times, it's the efficiency of the speaker to transform signal to sound that makes it seem 'loud' and not necessarily power or diameter. Seems like you have it going on pretty good and I look forward to your contrasting the the Doggie with the Princeton! CJ
 

fungusyoung

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These are just killer amps. Congratulations! My guitar tech (Rob DiStefano in NJ) has raved about these for ages.
 

bek

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I'm very interested in this, as I have been considering one of Jim's amps for awhile, plus I was very pleasantly surprised by a Kustom 36 I played (just a little) locally. It was extremely versatile, and I just have a hard time believing one of Jim's amps, without a drive or master control, can give full tones without being turned up pretty well. Input?
 

AlohaJoe

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bek said:
I'm very interested in this, as I have been considering one of Jim's amps for awhile, plus I was very pleasantly surprised by a Kustom 36 I played (just a little) locally. It was extremely versatile, and I just have a hard time believing one of Jim's amps, without a drive or master control, can give full tones without being turned up pretty well. Input?
I'm no amp expert but I do love the sound of this thing... it seems to put out what I put in (that's not always a good thing :lol: ). I do have to crank it past the "bedroom level" to drive it though, if that's the sound you're going for. The only amp I've had with a master vol was a Blues Jr that could get nice saturation at lower levels. After speaker and tube upgrades I liked it well enough but I always wanted a hand wired tweed so I sold Jr to buy the Dawg. I wish I could have kept them both, they're entirely different animals.

The Kustom might be more versatile as the Dawg is a one trick pony, but it does that trick better than anything else I've played. Jim offers bigger units with more power if you want louder but clean, or an attenuator or a pre-amp of some sort might also be an option.

Capn Juan and Default come to mind as LTGers who might better advise you on these issues. Plenty of other folks here too that have way more amp experience than I do.
 

bek

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Thanks for the reply. No, I don't want louder, I just want some drive at lower volumes, but I guess that's what pedals are for.
 

AlohaJoe

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bek said:
Thanks for the reply. No, I don't want louder, I just want some drive at lower volumes, but I guess that's what pedals are for.
The Li'l Dawg loves my Boss Blues Driver. I think it's a decent pedal but it does add some noise. I'm thinking about getting it modded a bit to clean it up if I can find a good place to do it.
 

cjd-player

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bek said:
Thanks for the reply. No, I don't want louder, I just want some drive at lower volumes, but I guess that's what pedals are for.

Yes that will sort of work, but a power attenuator will allow you that wonderful powder tube drive at lower volume, not just preamp/pedal distortion.
 

bek

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I'm just always trying to reduce clutter and signal complications. I prefer an amp and cord, but it can be hard to get things right. I've never used an attenuator, and I've heard some people think they alter tone, too. Maybe I'll just replace the speaker in my Cube 30 and just use what I've got. Sometimes I get tired of chasing tone. It seems like I manage to find a tone I like in every rig.
 

AlohaJoe

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bek said:
I've never used an attenuator, and I've heard some people think they alter tone, too.
Here's some info that may help: Attenuator FAQ http://www.amptone.com/powerattenuatorfaq.htm

I have a Cube 30 and I like it... it's a good practice amp, some of the models sound good and it's very versatile, but I doubt if a speaker change will get you where you want to go. You might check out the Blues Jr, you see them on CL in the $300 range but a speaker (and tube) change in those is mandatory. Master vol, tube sound, plenty of volume for most applications and once you get a decent speaker and tubes in there they sound pretty darn good! If I'd had more $ when I got the Dawg I'd have kept mine.
 

bek

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I should just email Jim and see what happens....I don't really need another amp, but nothing is really like a tube amp.
 

BluesDan

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AlohaJoe said:
bek said:
Thanks for the reply. No, I don't want louder, I just want some drive at lower volumes, but I guess that's what pedals are for.
The Li'l Dawg loves my Boss Blues Driver. I think it's a decent pedal but it does add some noise. I'm thinking about getting it modded a bit to clean it up if I can find a good place to do it.

Send it to Robert Keeley. You won't regret it.
Link:
http://www.robertkeeley.com/product.php?id=14
 

AlohaJoe

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You could call him too... he's easy to talk to and loves to chat about amps. I don't know where you are in CA, but he's just outside Sacramento.
 

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bek said:
I'm just always trying to reduce clutter and signal complications. I prefer an amp and cord, but it can be hard to get things right. I've never used an attenuator, and I've heard some people think they alter tone, too. Maybe I'll just replace the speaker in my Cube 30 and just use what I've got. Sometimes I get tired of chasing tone. It seems like I manage to find a tone I like in every rig.
You could pm Jahn. He uses an attenuator and it sounds pretty danged good to me.
 

cjd-player

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I use a Weber Mass 100 attenuator and love it. It lets me "dime" the master volume on my 50-Watt amp and still play at a reasonable stage volume for our church band.

Here is more info on attenuators .. scroll down some to the attenuators section.

http://www.eurotubes.com/euro-weber.htm

Do attenuators change the tone? Yes to some degree because you are not pushing the speaker as hard, and are not physically moving as much air with the speaker. So it sounds different than with the amp blasting at ear-damaging levels. But the tone is so, so, so much better than turning down the master volume. You get power tube breakup at a reasonable volume. Sounds good to me. :D :D :D YMMV
 
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