Gecko II: a P1-eXtreme build

For information about the P1-eXtreme, see the AX84TM site. This build was based on a kit supplied by Doberman Music Products, LLC. Chris and Melissa Hurley are great to work with and even resolved an issue with my order before I realized I had a problem. I had Chris punch the chassis form me and supply the eyelet board as well.

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The front panel.

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The back panel.

Instead of the three output jacks specified in the plans, I used a single output jack and an impedance selector switch. I also added a bias-adjust control and test probes. The bias-control pot is a Vishay 1K/2W unit paralleled with two 1K/2W fixed resistors, giving, roughly, 330 ohms of adjustment range.

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Looking into the back panel.

This is pretty much a basic kit from Chris. I also added the clean/dirty option with a footswitch. Instead of the normal 1.5K/1K for clean/dirty resistors, I used 1.5K/820, per Phil's suggestion for a bit more grit. The Sprague coupling caps aren't standard either. I've been wanting to hear how the Spragues sound, so I used them here.

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Looking into the front panel.

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A closer look at the board.

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A PDF document containing a scan of the Doberman board and a layout for the board. Note, I had to add an eyelet to get this layout to work.

I finally got some time to work on the cabinet for this amp. It is made from oak with a purple-heart and paduck front plate. These two shots are of the unfinished work. It still needs a fair bit of smoothing before it is ready for a little finishing oil.

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A left-front shot of the unfinished cabinet. Still a lot of work to go. The oak is el cheapo built-up stock one can buy from the local home-improvement stores. I wish I'd could have sprung for quarter-sawn oak, but that was some serious money.

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If you look closely, you can see that the purple heart and paduck are laminated onto a 0.75 inch piece of poplar. This gives the screws through the backer cleats something to bit into besides show wood.

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Here is a shot of the finished cabinet. I put a leather handle on it and added rubber feet after this shot was taken. Learning how to work the camera wouldn't hurt either.