Watkins Dominator Project

[Spongebob]

My Dominator project has moved on a little since my last post. The chassis, designed and built by Chris U, has been fitted and reproduction control knobs made. It sounds great, just like the original.

I'm very pleased with the way the contol knobs look as they are identical to the original. The attached photo shows a set of which 2 are originals, the other 4 are new ones.

This test cabinet is actually made from MDF as I wanted to prove the design before commiting to expensive Birch Ply. 3 more prototype cabinets will be made from plywood in the next few weeks.

Spongebob

[zaphod_phil]

I was just wondering yesterday, how this project was going. Great to see the progress! Those knobs really look the business.

Could I offer you a gallery folder on 18watt.com for your pictures of the Dominator? It would be wonderful to have this for posterity, and an honour for 18watt.com.

[ReverendD]

Looks awesome. I always wondered what that V cab sounded like, does it disperse the sound as much as it looks like it would? Great job.

Regards,

Rev. D.

[justinm]

I'm not a big fan of 10s because they seem very directional to me. The Dominator cab has always interested me because if it's potential to solve this problem- IE get the 10s to disperse there sound.


Are the speakers really wired in series?
Was this intentional, or a stop-gap to get the thing going with parts you had laying around?

Everything looks GREAT!

Justin

[conger]

Amazing looking. I bet that cabinet was not easy to make.

Also did you make the control knobs?

[Spongebob]

Could I offer you a gallery folder on 18watt.com for your pictures of the Dominator?

Yes I would be happy to post pictures in a gallery - but you'll have to tell me how I do it

Spongebob

[Spongebob]

I always wondered what that V cab sounded like, does it disperse the sound as much as it looks like it would?

Charlie Watkins designed it that way to disperse sound, but according to the comments in his history text, was never convinced it really did.

Thanks for the kind comments.

Spongebob

[Spongebob]

Are the speakers really wired in series?
Was this intentional, or a stop-gap to get the thing going with parts you had laying around?

Justin

Chris U though it would be best to use the 16 Ohm tap on OT, so they are 2 x 8 Ohm Celestion G10 Vintage wired in series. On the next one I'll try 2 x 16 Ohm in parallel on the 8 Ohm tap.

Thanks for the kind comments.

Spongebob

[Spongebob]

I bet that cabinet was not easy to make.

Also did you make the control knobs?

The cabinet is very difficult to make with all the strange angles, you have to keep your wits about you. If Phil sets up a gallery I'll post photos of the process.

The original knobs, by luck, were cast resin, not injection moulded. So from the originals I took a rubber mould and cast the reproductions. Sounds easy but getting the color right and casting without air bubbles is not easy. The resin had to be mixed then placed in a vacuum chamber to suck out the air bubbles. The resin was poured then put back in the chamber under pressure this time to shrink any remaining bubbles.

A punch tools was made for the brass inserts then hand domed concave on a jewellers doming block. The only deviation is that the grub screws are now a larger metric thread for greater strenght, but the grub hole is the original size as it is fitted with a hex head (allen key) - not a slot head.

I can make these knobs available as replacments for Watkins amp or Copicat owners or anybody who wants a vintage look. But they can't be as cheap as a Chicken head knob because they are all hand made and finished.

Thanks for the kind comments.

Spongebob

[zaphod_phil]

Yes I would be happy to post pictures in a gallery - but you'll have to tell me how I do it

If Phil sets up a gallery I'll post photos of the process.

All done now. You now have your own album in the Gallery section! Just click on the Gallery link on the left. You will see your album near the top of the page. Then click on that to go into the album. Click on the appropriate links, such as "Add Photo" "Add Photos", etc. It's all pretty self-explanatory. Your permissions have been set up so you can do pretty much whatever you want inside your album.

[Spongebob]

All done now. You now have your own album in the Gallery section!

Thanks for that, I've posted a few photos I have of the test cabinet during construction.

I have a batch of Watkins Songbird cabinets to finish for Charlie, as soon as they are done I'll start on the next 3 prototype Dominator cabinets and photograph each stage. That'll be a lot of photo's

Spongebob

[zaphod_phil]

Keep the 'photos coming. They all look great.

BTW, I'd like to encourage you to upload bigger picture files. Our gallery software has a neat way of handling them.

[Spongebob]

My gallery shots were those I'd reduced to 25% for emailing, I'll post future photo's at full size.

I hope to make a start on the next 3 cabinets today, so I'll post photo's as I go along.

[Badfinger]

Spongebob, just got caught up on all the pics in your gallery, very cool, and very helpfull, got some good ideas, thanks!

You are doing a great job on that amp.

[Ned_B]

Any plans to accept orders soon?

[Spongebob]

Any plans to accept orders soon?

Sorry for the delay in answering your message - just back from a vacation.

We aren't taking orders for these yet as we don't even know what they cost to build. Also as this is a non commercial site it would be inappropriate to solicit for orders. However perhaps I won't get into too much trouble if I mention you can contact me on info@britamps.co.uk to talk about any interest in the project.

I have today added some pictures to my gallery showing the control panel transfer process. I know some members have been interested in that subject.

Spongebob

[WaZaK]

as this is a non commercial site ....

Uh? Well, it's maybe not Walmart, but a significant number of community members are definitely commercial!
You could surely post in classifieds when you have something members may be interested in. Mind you, admin might ask for a discount: I sense that Paphod Zhil (mentioning no names) may have a fondness for the old Dom! Lolol.
Thanks for the new pictures, btw.

[Spongebob]

Oh! OK then, I'll clarify the state of play regarding marketing the Dom.

We are not ready to take orders yet, but anybody interested in owning one can write to me on info@britamps.co.uk to register their interest -without commitment.

As soon as they are added a serial number is assigned to that person, so the sooner registered, the lower the serial number. As we all know, low serial numbers are of greater future value and with a maximum of just 100 being produced, all hand signed by Charlie Watkins, they are set to be collectors items.

Potential buyers on the register will also be informed of progress on a regular basis.

We aim to set the price of the re-issue to be the same relative price as the original Dominator 50 years ago. Based on an unskilled wage we calculated how many weeks it would take to buy one in 1959 at 39 GBPounds. Given a worker on a minimum wage today and the same amount of weeks , the price would be around 1200 GBP inc UK tax. So that's the target price we're trying to acheive - and with so many custom made parts, it ain't easy.

Premium upgrades such as alnico speakers and maybe colour choices are also planned.

Any comments on price or specification will be appreciated.

[WaZaK]

the price would be around 1200 GBP inc UK tax.

I can see why it's a tricky target: at that price ($1933) it's $400 less than the discount price for a RI 1974 combo in N America .........

It would make the Dom an interesting proposition even if one was not an ampophile!

PS. Would it be VAT exempt for a non-EEC export? Just a thought.

[Spongebob]

the price would be around 1200 GBP inc UK tax.

I can see why it's a tricky target: at that price ($1933) it's $400 less than the discount price for a RI 1974 combo in N America .........

It would make the Dom an interesting proposition even if one was not an ampophile!

PS. Would it be VAT exempt for a non-EEC export? Just a thought.

Sales outside Europe would be tax free making it 1044 GBP or 1678.44 USD at todays exchange rate. You may have to pay a local tax or duty to the carrier.

This would be for the standard model with Celestion G10's. For the Tayden/ELAC clones with alnico motors it would have to be a higher price.

A few weeks ago I took the test Dom to John Beer, a UK specialist tech/guitarist for WEM products. He's worked on very many original Dom's and knows how they should sound. You can read he's independant report on this link http://www.amp-fix.com/Watkins%20Domina ... eissue.htm