Tweet
Tips, Tweaks and Secretes for Tube Amp Hackers
"I have it in the back of my mind that this amp already has the most expensive components for putting together something that I would enjoy playing: speakers, cab, transformers, tubes, and a few other usable bits. I could probably even use the old chassis, with a new face plate for the new controls. It seems very doable."
Been there done that. Here are some of the issues you will deal with. Yes you have some good components.
Here is what for the most part won't work with an exception that I'll get to in the end. The tube sockets and any components mounted to the PC board are basically unusable due to the fact that, you will have to mount new tube sockets into the chassis. The other various electronic components will have short leads and unless you are experienced with component removal and clean up for salvage purposes it will be very frustrating to try to reuse most of the small parts. The pots will be questionable depending on the circuit design you settle on.
The exception to all of the above is when a tech has enough experience to be able to remove and reuse the parts on the PC board.
I've scrapped a couple amps and used various parts to build a couple of power amps. The process has worked well for me but I've also needed quite a bit of assistance and at times I've found people would encourage me to do something but then when it failed to work as suggested, the communication link went dead and I don't mean on the computer side. For the record that has not occurred on this forum.
If you decide to to do something like this believe me it is a substantial undertaking and I've got, as well as many other here, years of experience in the electronics trade so for myself there were far fewer challenges than for someone that may not know how to solder or identify components and make decent wire runs.
If it were me I would first borrow or come up with some pedals to try the power amp out with, by simply plugging into the Effects Return loop and see how it sounds with various emulators. Even an Amp Emulator box while solid state, would narrow down the search criteria. A good place to try this might be Guitar Center. You could bring the amp in and ask to try some pedals to plug in. For example some of the Bogner pedals or other tube amp emulators. While they won't be “Tube” circuits unless you specifically try one, it will give you an idea of what to expect and you won't have to Hack or spend money either to find out.
The power amp circuit is straight forward and it shouldn't be too complicated to cut the existing ties and remove the preamp circuit, rewire the power supply to the power amp and then you'd have a power amp up and running. I see also you are interested in determing some design criteria regarding the output transformer. Why? The power amp circuit used in this amp will work perfectly fine as is.
From there I would suggest finding a circuit like the Fender Band Master preamp and get some assistance with layout for what is known as a "Turret Board". Here is one source: FENDER BOARD PHOTOS Photos of several of our Fender board builds. Turret boards are very straight forward and easy to answer questions regarding debugging if something goes wrong. It may be great for droping into the existing chassis and then wiring the pots and other components to.
Be advised of this important detail. The voltages inside a tube amp are sufficient to kill you. If you don't have experience with circuits like this and soldering, be ready to take things slowly and seek plenty of advice from others along the way. There are many here that would be happy to help. Also secure some team members ahead of time so you know there will be follow through till the end.
There are several benefits to undertaking a project like this. In an age of limited employment opportunities this adds skills if you haven't already done work like this. While it can be frustrating it is very gratifying in the end to have a successful project completed.
There are lots of ways to do this. This is just one suggested path to the realm of Tube Amp Nirvana,
Silverfox.
"I have it in the back of my mind that this amp already has the most expensive components for putting together something that I would enjoy playing: speakers, cab, transformers, tubes, and a few other usable bits. I could probably even use the old chassis, with a new face plate for the new controls. It seems very doable."
Been there done that. Here are some of the issues you will deal with. Yes you have some good components.
Here is what for the most part won't work with an exception that I'll get to in the end. The tube sockets and any components mounted to the PC board are basically unusable due to the fact that, you will have to mount new tube sockets into the chassis. The other various electronic components will have short leads and unless you are experienced with component removal and clean up for salvage purposes it will be very frustrating to try to reuse most of the small parts. The pots will be questionable depending on the circuit design you settle on.
The exception to all of the above is when a tech has enough experience to be able to remove and reuse the parts on the PC board.
I've scrapped a couple amps and used various parts to build a couple of power amps. The process has worked well for me but I've also needed quite a bit of assistance and at times I've found people would encourage me to do something but then when it failed to work as suggested, the communication link went dead and I don't mean on the computer side. For the record that has not occurred on this forum.
If you decide to to do something like this believe me it is a substantial undertaking and I've got, as well as many other here, years of experience in the electronics trade so for myself there were far fewer challenges than for someone that may not know how to solder or identify components and make decent wire runs.
If it were me I would first borrow or come up with some pedals to try the power amp out with, by simply plugging into the Effects Return loop and see how it sounds with various emulators. Even an Amp Emulator box while solid state, would narrow down the search criteria. A good place to try this might be Guitar Center. You could bring the amp in and ask to try some pedals to plug in. For example some of the Bogner pedals or other tube amp emulators. While they won't be “Tube” circuits unless you specifically try one, it will give you an idea of what to expect and you won't have to Hack or spend money either to find out.
The power amp circuit is straight forward and it shouldn't be too complicated to cut the existing ties and remove the preamp circuit, rewire the power supply to the power amp and then you'd have a power amp up and running. I see also you are interested in determing some design criteria regarding the output transformer. Why? The power amp circuit used in this amp will work perfectly fine as is.
From there I would suggest finding a circuit like the Fender Band Master preamp and get some assistance with layout for what is known as a "Turret Board". Here is one source: FENDER BOARD PHOTOS Photos of several of our Fender board builds. Turret boards are very straight forward and easy to answer questions regarding debugging if something goes wrong. It may be great for droping into the existing chassis and then wiring the pots and other components to.
Be advised of this important detail. The voltages inside a tube amp are sufficient to kill you. If you don't have experience with circuits like this and soldering, be ready to take things slowly and seek plenty of advice from others along the way. There are many here that would be happy to help. Also secure some team members ahead of time so you know there will be follow through till the end.
There are several benefits to undertaking a project like this. In an age of limited employment opportunities this adds skills if you haven't already done work like this. While it can be frustrating it is very gratifying in the end to have a successful project completed.
There are lots of ways to do this. This is just one suggested path to the realm of Tube Amp Nirvana,
Silverfox.
Comment