Renny’s “Big Iron” BBB-30

Some time around February 2019, my old school friend Renny got in touch, saying he’d like to pop over to see me and have a look at some amps. He was getting a bit weary of lugging his 3 channel Mesa Dual Rectifier around and wanted something a bit lighter, but with a load of gain & grunt.

Hand-wired BBB-30 "Big Iron" chassis, front end and switching
Hand-wired BBB-30 “Big Iron” chassis, front end and switching

I had some BBB-30 chassis pre-made – best to make them in bulk. Two of them were 30W “Big Iron” types, with over-size mains and output transformers in (those who don’t know don’t, and those who do, DOOOOM!), and one has a classic 70s style interleaved winding output transformer, and a lightweight German power transformer.

He went for the former. Cheeky! If you’ve ever tried a 70s Laney, then you’ll get the big iron thing. But, it needed a send-return loop

So, anyway, I serviced his Mesa & then nothing for a bit. Then early 2020 Renny came back, he’s raised the funds, found a buyer. And also he wanted a DI out for headphones.

Renny’s DI hack. He’ll get a new backplate if ever he can be bothered.

So, we were talking cabinets, and this and that, then he bought a Victory 2×12″ vertical. In white. Which is 45mm narrower than the standard cabinet. Ok, I can cut it by 15mm, but it’s going to be a squeeze. So we got onto Andy at F.A. Custom Cabinets, and this is what he came up with:

Renny’s BBB-30 “Big Iron” Stage Amp, on top of its Victory 2×12 Vertical