changing power light indicator

[johnnymorley]

ok, i want change the origional indicator light for a uv neon tube on my peavey classic which i'm modding. the origional light i took out says 125v 1/3w on it. however the only neon tubes i can seem to find are all the 12v type for cars. so my question is this: is it possibe to step down the voltage running to light so i can install a 12v one or am i dreaming? or is there a better/easier way?

thanks in advance, John.

[Enzo]

May I suggest you find 12v somehow and fire up your neon light and set it right by the amp chassis. We want to find out if the neon system throws off tons of noise before we commit to it, don't you think?

[Chuck H]

+1

Thank goodness those neon lamps at bars are usually at the bar or in the front or I could never play my strat in those places.

Chuck

[johnnymorley]

good point. what about leds?its purely a cosmetic thing just to backlight the amp as i've flipped all the bits that hang down on to a plate on top so i can convert it to a head. its having an open mesh so you can see the internals and i just wanted a blue glow to set it off. any ideas? if i bought a couple of blue jewels could i wire them together? i've found a web site that sells all diferent colour replacement jewels for fender amps but i'm not sure if they would be the same?

[trevorus]

I'd just use LED's. They are low draw, shouldn't add noise, won't break like neon tubes can. You can install an array of them in the amp case to give you your glow.

[johnnymorley]

ok so i'm going to go with the LED's but the input voltage is 125v so am i right in my calculation (as best i could find out) that if i use 10 LED's at 4v each at 20ma i'd need a resistor of 425ohm or the nearest value? this is doing my head in trying to work this stuff out lol

Cheers

[Enzo]

Why does it have to run on 120VAC? Just because the old one did?

It's a power indicator, so ANY power supply in the thing could be used. You have +/-15v supplies, and the somewhat higher voltages those dervice from. Run a few strings of LEDs across one or more of those.

[johnnymorley]

i would love to do that but havn't got a clue where to find the lower voltage sources i've got a multi meter but where do you start? sorry for all the questions, i just dont fancy electrocuting myself

[trevorus]

If you're not familiar with the power structure of the amp, I would consider having it modded by someone with more expereince on tube amps. The place to start is with the schematic if you can get a hold of it, and if you're not familiar with reading them, start studying and have this mod done by a professional.

[johnnymorley]

i've searched the net for the schem and i've only been able to find them for the classic 30 and 50 not just the origional 'classic' so if anyone has one or knows where i might get one that would be ace

[Enzo]

You can get ANY Peavey schematic from customer service at Peavey.


DO you have a Classic, a Classic VT, or a Classic VTX?