As this was my first amp build ever, I decided to go with a kit build instead of having to source all of the parts myself. I chose to go with this kit from Mojotone, an amp supply store out of North Carolina. On the Mojotone website, they rate this amp a 4/5, meaning that the builder should know how tube amps work and all of the types of problems that can arise from tube amps. Me, having built some pedals, thought that I could completely handle this. While I was mostly right, there were a couple things I wish I had known, especially about build etiquette (neatness of build) As a result of this amp being my first, there were a few things I could have done neater, which could have saved me time when it got to the troubleshooting stage of the build. For information on that, check out my blog post on difficulties with the build.

Quality of components

This kit came with Mojotone transistors, carbon comp resistors, 715P series capacitors, and Mojotone pots. Overall, I was pretty impressed with the quality of components. Typically, I would use a hammond transformer. I haven't fully done research on the difference between hammond transformers and Mojotone transformers, so I am just going to assume that a Mojotone transformer is probably pretty high quality, given that I have had no problems with it. I also would normally use Alpha potentiometers, and I have no idea where Mojotone gets their potentiometers from. Again, because I have had no problem with these parts, I havent felt the need to switch them out for genuine alpha pots. Other than that, the chasis was extremely high quality, as well as the cab, faceplate and  rest of the hardware. My only two complaints with this kit is the speaker and the reverb RCA cables. The RCA cables aren't that big of a deal, but Mojotone sent me four RCA cable ends and two insulated cables and said have fun. Because of this, a lot of noise was induced into my reverb signal. Even though this was a $20 fix, I still found it a little annoying. At the time I bought this kit, the speaker was inculded in the kit, meaning I had to pay the extra $80 for OK quality Jensen C12Q speaker that came with the kit. While it is a great sounding speaker, I would have spent the extra money to get a Celestion G12-65 (like Mayer sometimes uses) or a JBL D120 Clone (like a webber Michigan, like I typically use), but I was locked into the speaker Mojotone chose. They have since fixed this problem and sell both the cabinet/head shell and speaker separately.

Customer Service

When I had problems with my amp during the bringup, I thought it was going to be me and the amp garage, but one email to Mojotone's customer support later and I knew I was in good hands. Andy Johnson answered all of my questions and helped my find the problem. If you are looking to do your first amp build, I would for sure go with a Mojotone kit just because of their excellent customer service. On top of that, they had posted videos on their youtube channel as primers to building the amp with some good tips. If I had to build my first amp over again, I would for sure go with a Mojotone build.

‍