Slew of Fender Tweed Delux clone pwr tranny options

Hello,

I am thinking about building a Fender Tweed Deluxe 5E3 clone and see various options for power trannies. One famous vendor has about a dozen different 5E3 PTs e.g., 290, 335, 350 and 380 secondary voltages, and various types of fluxes, gaps and cores. I know there are some heavy-hitting transformer gurus here, so what are the differences with all these?

I have a friend with a Jan '57 Deluxe and measured 385 on the PT secondary with the 5Y3 pulled (running 120-121 VAC on the primary). His amp sounds great as it is. So maybe I would go with the 380 VAC version.

But what about the flux/gap/core options? Staggered gap? Standard/lower flux? Tuned core? Also, would going lower on the B+ secondary give me a "browner" sound at lower volumes? If not, why would one go 290 on the secondary vs. 380? Maybe running with 6K6 instead of 6V6?

Any thoughts much appreciated.

Chris

tuned core?
for an audio xfmr, maybe.
the higher B+ will tighten up the sound, so if play Hawaii lap steel, or bass guitar, you want clean tone, so high B+, even though don the ho is dead, and there is no work for lap steel anymore,

softer tone with the lower B+. think Neil.

5y3 vs other rectifiers, the different sag curves due to plate resistance, try thenm all til you get what your looking for, why not? they plug right in, no solder, may as well take advantage of this.

the interactive tone controls, thats the diff on those older fenders.
mostly.

Hey CJ, I was hoping you would chime in! Good to hear from ya again! :thumb:

Who the heck plays lap here in Hawaii anymore. Let me rephrase that: Who the heck plays lap steel here in Hawaii anymore? There's no grass shacks left in this town anymore. And I'm a youngun, so I dig the sound of that ol' time R&R... :green:

So I guess MM trannies (as shown in the link) are a lot of hype, then?

I intend to go with the 5Y3 as I like sag.

I may go with the 350-0-350 option...

New manufacture 5Y3's have less voltage drop than the old ones. I didn't test the sag under varying load, but I do know they don't drop as much voltage initially.

Don't worry, I have enough NOS 5Y3s to last my lifetime. I stay away from the new stuff. In the '90s, lots o' Ruskie/Chinese 5AR4s were rebranded 5Y3s... :roll:

>>>don the ho is dead, and there is no work for lap steel anymore,

What, no Don Ho imitators or tribute bands??? I guess he wasn't Elvis, but gee! I'd think there must be one or two impersonators...

I think that you should probably look at Weber's transformers first. Lots more economical and probably as good as the originals.

Peace!
Charlie

Kendrick likes to make stuff close to original, also.
Easier than tracking down a "pull".