Re: Re: Wires in the Two-Stroke kit

[Robin]

The cloth insulated hookup wire can be used for everything in the amp, Fender did it that way for many years. I expect Andy has provided enough wire for the required leads. Various colored wire is great for keeping track of what goes where but is not required. 20ga wire is the preferred gauge for tube amp leads, expect for the heater circuit (6.3v) where 18g is preferred. What came with the kit will suffice. A couple of things to keep in mind when working with the wire leads: Be careful not to nick the wire when stripping the insulation away. Nicks will create a stress point that can weaken and break later (no fun to have to repair on an eyelet board) and keep the leads short.

The shielded cable is an “upgrade” to provide interference protection between the input jack and the preamp tube. The center lead connects from the tip lug of the input jack to pin 2 of V1. The 68k resistor can go on either end. Note that the braided shielding of the shielded cable goes only to ground and does not connect to the inner lead. The shielding should connect to ground on only one end (trim the other end short and tape it or use heat shrink tubing to keep it from touching anything). If both ends are grounded, it creates a ground loop and induces hum. Shielded cable can be used in other parts of the signal chain, but is not necessary in the Two Stroke.

Although the photo is not eyelet board construction, you can see how the shielded cable is used between the input jack and V1, also, the whole amp is wired with yellow cloth insulated hookup wire (expect the heater circuit which is a green twisted pair).

[attachment=59]wiringdetail.jpg[/attachment]

Sometimes it’s necessary to connect multiple wires in one eyelet hole, remember you can use both sides of the board and it should work out.
Study the photos posted in the photo section of the forum for some good (and maybe not so good) examples of how to do it. A web search of Fender amp chassis photos should provide a wealth of examples.