The Goldeluxe 03 is the third build by StillAmp’d. Design with a classic Tweed circuit based on the Fender 5E3 Deluxe. Speakers are vintage 60’s Jensen 6x9 with that great gold foil label - inspiring the name “Goldeluxe”. Housed in a 1940’s wooden man’s roller skate box, the Goldeluxe features original handle and hardware. Precision cutouts for two Jensen 6x9 speakers with classic oxblood grill cloth. The back panel is cutout for open back sound and cooling. Great tone with good headroom, but can breakup very well.
The Cabinet
It is always a challenge to fit the largest speaker possible in these rather small vintage boxes. The Goldeluxe was that largest cabinet to date and yet it was not possible to fit a 10” speaker. I opted for two 6x9 speakers rather than an 8” with the idea that the pair would move more air volume thereby creating a bigger sound. And this plan paid off in a big way. Somewhat reminiscent of the Gretsch gentleman amp but with the drive of the Fender Deluxe. This guy really can bring exceptional tone at huge volume levels.
The control panel was laid out true to form as the original deluxe with two inputs per channel, a separate volume control for each channel and a shared tone control, finished off with a golden pilot jewel and an on/off switch. The panel was laid out on the cabinet and then pilot holes drilled through the wood into the chassis for perfect alignment.
Another challenge was how to cut the speaker openings so that it would be period correct as if this was made in the ‘40s. I settled on a symmetrical sloping design with rounded corners.
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The cabinet top needed to be reinforced at the opening to support lifting the rather heavy amp without deforming (first picture below). To remedy this a color matched strip was added that overlapped the seam opening. A perfect reinforcement (2nd picture below).
The Chassis and Circuit
Classic 5E3 circuit features dual channel 12ax7 preamp, 12ax7 phase inverter and 6V6 output tubes in push pull configuration. The channels can be patched together to run both channels simultaneously. External speaker cabinet can be connected for even more volume and depth.
The power supply filter is constructed as shown below.
