Dave Meier Amplifiers

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Custom made Tube Amps & Speaker Cabs for Guitars by Dave Meier

Stageman 35

Pictures from my latest project - the Stageman 35: My own build of the original and famous early 90s MATCHLESS Clubman 35 amplifier with 6AT6 and 6SH7 tubes in the preamp section.

In the first design of the circuit I used AC heating for the 6SH7 but it was very hard to find a good tube with a minimum of microphonics and hum. Just for fun, I once hooked it up to a DC power supply and the hum was completly gone.

So I decided to build a simple DC power supply straight off the heater supply. The circuit was taken from Merlin Blencowe's book (great literature, btw), using Schottky diodes to get the highest voltage possible. With this mod, the amp's hum is greatly reduced to a reasonable amount and therefore, making the selection for 6SH7 tubes much easier, too.

The front plate was reversed engraved on a black/ transparent plastic. The letters were then backfilled with white paint leaving my trademark logo and pilot light transparent.

And last but definetly not least: The sound. I compared it to a friend's Clubman with the same tube layout. It's close to identical! The dynamics, tonal touch and drive/distortion characteristics are the same.

The Clubman is just incredible - truely one of the top ten amps ever!