Tiny Bits Tedium

I would have never guessed that locating all the bits required would be so frustrating. Most of the larger parts are pretty easy to obtain, but some of these potentiometers and capacitors are out of production and/or very rare. 

I ordered most of the random chassis parts from AmpWares three weeks ago, and haven't heard anything. No shipment has arrived. No emails have been returned. I called today - I got a recording stating that the voice mailbox was full. But my credit card was already charged. We'll see how that one pans out. I am hoping Mr. AmpWares is just on vacation or something, because I had intended to purchase all the resistors and most of the capacitors from his site as well.

As for the vibrato intensity potentiometer, the schematic calls for a 25K ohm reverse audio taper. Apparently, this must be the most rare pot in the universe. I checked over a dozen other Fender schematics of amps that have vibrato circuits, and NO OTHER ONE to the best of my knowledge uses this pot. Most, at least after 1964ish, utilize a 50K ohm R.A. pot, and some of the older tweed models use a 3Meg or something. I suppose I could use a substitution, but the point of this exercise is to copy the Vibro Champ's schematic as closely as possible, since I am still learning electronics; if I stick to the Fender circuit, I'll have an easier time troubleshooting this prototype.

Another rare part seems to be a 2uF @ 25 volts electrolytic capacitor. I have found the other rare 25uF @ 25 volts el. cap (of which I'll need three) from Triode Electronics, and they also have a 10uF @ 25 volts cap which might have to suffice. I am waiting for a reply from the sales department.

Weber Speakers seems to be one of the most complete catalogs of electrical components for amps on the web, at least that I have seen so far. They make the exact multi-section electrolytic capacitor (filter cap) that the schematic calls for: 20uFx 20uF x 20uF x 20uF @ 450V. They even offer it in three varieties, the stock "twist-on" style, the screw-mount wafer base, and the screw-mount clamp. I think I'll order the clamp, as it seems to be the most rugged.

On a side note, I have been considering making this amp use a single 10" speaker rather than the dual 8" speakers I originally planned for. I guess we'll see how much money I can justify spending when I get to the baffle board-building stage.