Circuit Board Wiring

I now have all the parts. Lots of resistors and capacitors (see photo above). It is kind of amazing that all these little bits are going to become an amplifier.

Test-fitting all components has proven to be a good practice. The same applies with the electronic components to be soldered to the turret board. I bent the leads and test-fit each part before soldering. This helped me to possibly minimize future problems. 

One thing I was aware of when placing the components was the turret board mounting screws. I had to make sure these screwheads weren't obstructed by wiring or capacitors so that I can re-mount the board upon completion. That is why you see the strange bend in some of the capacitor and resistor leads (see red arrow in photo below).

Soldering the turret board went very smoothly. I quickly got the hang of it, and my solder joints kept improving each time. I like the way the turrets work as opposed to standard rivets: solder the component to the top of the turret, and solder the lead wire on the bottom of the turret (or backside of the board). I simply did some estimation as to how long each lead wire should be, hoping to err on the long side. I tried to assemble as much as possible before re-mounting the turret board to the chassis. 

By soldering most of the stuff OUTSIDE of the chassis, I have more room to move around and in turn can make better solder joints. Also, notice the notch I cut out of the turret board in order to make clearance for the 1/4" jacks of the footswitch and speaker (see photo below).

The original Vibro Champ has four (4) grounding points coming off the circuit board. Each is soldered directly to the steel chassis with a huge ugly glob of solder. I can't replicate this for a few reasons: 1) I can't solder to an aluminum chassis properly, and 2) I'm trying to keep things inside the chassis as neat and orderly as possible. Therefore, I opted to connect a short wire from each point to a common grounding lug and screw, mounted directly to the chassis (see photos below). When tested with a multimeter, each connection made a positive ground, and hopefully it will hold up just as well.

Unless I run out of cloth-covered wire (looks like I should have ordered 6 feet of each color), I should be able to get the rest of the chassis wired up in one or two more sessions.