JTM45 StewMac or Mojotone kit?

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Beebe
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JTM45 StewMac or Mojotone kit?

Post by Beebe » Wed Apr 14, 2021 9:35 am

Has anyone had the chance to compare these? Any advice on which way to go?

Also wondering if anyone has ordered an assembled amp from Mojotone? Is it ready to play? The cost of the assembled JTM45 from Mojotone is about the same as the unassembled kit from StewMac. I'd miss the experience, but a couple hundred bucks for all that labor seems like a pretty good deal (if it's solid work).

https://www.mojotone.com/kits/BritishAm ... fier-Kit_2

https://www.stewmac.com/kits-and-projec ... p-kit.html
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Re: JTM45 StewMac or Mojotone kit?

Post by CaptainCrunch » Wed Apr 14, 2021 10:25 am

Mojotone supplies kits and built amps to other companies - the Gibson Les Paul Jr. GA-5 amps from a couple years back were made by them. I wouldn't be shocked if the StewMac kit was sourced from them as well.

I personally dig the experience of building, but that's not the simplest circuit. With patience it's possible, of course, but there's a reason most people start with a Tweed Champ or Deluxe. And as for the quality of their work, it's top-notch. They're more of an amp manufacturer that happens to offer kits.

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Re: JTM45 StewMac or Mojotone kit?

Post by Beebe » Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:50 am

CaptainCrunch wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 10:25 am
Mojotone supplies kits and built amps to other companies - the Gibson Les Paul Jr. GA-5 amps from a couple years back were made by them. I wouldn't be shocked if the StewMac kit was sourced from them as well.

I personally dig the experience of building, but that's not the simplest circuit. With patience it's possible, of course, but there's a reason most people start with a Tweed Champ or Deluxe. And as for the quality of their work, it's top-notch. They're more of an amp manufacturer that happens to offer kits.
Awesome info. Thanks!
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Re: JTM45 StewMac or Mojotone kit?

Post by i love sharin foo » Sat Apr 17, 2021 1:33 pm

I built a Mojotone JTM45 before using Classic Tone trannies and a few other parts that I sourced myself. I set it up with KT66s. It was a real nice amp and sounded good. I used it mainly for bass but parted with it a couple years ago when I cleaned out my basement a bit. I’d not hesitate to buy another kit from them.
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Re: JTM45 StewMac or Mojotone kit?

Post by hulakatt » Mon Jan 17, 2022 4:47 pm

Did you ever get around to building a jtm45?

If not, I would recommend Triode Electronics and I would very highly recommend Valvestorm! I've built "Marshall" heads from both, a jtm50 from Triode and a jtm45 from Valvestorm, and both were incredible amps. I had built the jtm50 first but sold in a fit of unemployment. When I regained my career footing, I built the jtm45 to celebrate as I missed the jtm50 so much! The jtm50 was a solid beast but the jtm45 was much more manageable at lower settings.

If you do decide to go the Valvestorm path (great How-To directions BTW and they're downloadable for free), you get a choice of iron. I've used a couple of different manufacturers but I haven't used anything as good as the Heyboer transformers that Valvestorm gets made to their specs. I originally built the jtm45 with all Merren iron and had major issues compounded by a bad CS experience. Sold it all off and went for a full set of ClassicTone iron and had a few smaller issues. Ripped it all out again and put in a full set of the Valvestorm-spec Heyboer iron and I couldn't be happier!

I run mine through a stripped 1960a loaded with Scumback m75's.

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