Vox Technical Manual Proofreader Needed

[R.G.]

I have wrapped up the first in a series of technical repair manuals for the Thomas Vox amplifier series. This one is on the footswitches for the whole Thomas Vox line, how to fix them or build a replacement for a missing one.

I know how prone I am to making clerical errors when typing, so I need a proofreader. Proofreader needs to know Thomas Vox amps at least moderately well, have some technical/electronics skills, and be willing to ruthlessly mark up mistakes of omission and commission. You don't have to know the technical insides in great detail (that's what the book is for) but you do have to be able to read schematics and be familiar with fixing an amplifier. I'd dearly love it if you have some amp-tech experience.

You get a free, autographed copy of the first error-free(r) printed edition to go with your ruthlessly-marked-up editorial copy.

PM me if you're up for it. I just need one... :lol:

[loudthud]

What is the size of the job? Number of pages etc.

[R.G.]

It's 34 pages, more or less, with lots of pictures... I'm testing whether the publisher can print and deliver them in good order as well as whether I can actually type stuff out that native speakers of US English can understand - which is by no means certain.

[loudthud]

One of the main reasons I started posting on this board was to practice my technical writing skills. BTW, I noticed you have never given anybody a "like". I try to give 'em any time someone posts what I would have said or has a valuable insite on what is causing a problem.

There are three pdf's on your site that might need proofreading:
2/16/15 Work in progress: Preliminary board documentation for Vox Cambridge/Berkeley/Pacemaker/Pathfinder
11/9/14 Work in progress: Preliminary documentation for Vox guitars' onboard effects
7/29/14 Work in progress: Preliminary board documentation for Vox Beatle/Guardsman/etc repair parts.

I tried downloading the first one and it looked like it was downloading but then I got a blank page. Doesn't seem like there is anyway to save the file once it's loaded. Maybe the "save target as" trick?

[R.G.]

BTW, I noticed you have never given anybody a "like". I try to give 'em any time someone posts what I would have said or has a valuable insite on what is causing a problem.

I'm an old-school old fa... er, person. I never got into the whole social media gestalt that "likes" are a subset of. I do tend to tell people that I think their stuff is good, that they did a good job, things like that in replies to their posts. I suppose I could can that reply and just click "like", but never got into the habit.

There are three pdf's on your site that might need proofreading:
...

I tried downloading the first one and it looked like it was downloading but then I got a blank page. Doesn't seem like there is anyway to save the file once it's loaded. Maybe the "save target as" trick?

I'll go take a look. They're just PDFs. Maybe the hosting is doing something odd.

[R.G.]

I have enough volunteers. Many thanks!! Reading my turgid prose by real humans will probably improve it dramatically!

[R.G.]

There are three pdf's on your site that might need proofreading:
...
I tried downloading the first one and it looked like it was downloading but then I got a blank page. Doesn't seem like there is anyway to save the file once it's loaded. Maybe the "save target as" trick?

I suspect it's an issue with browsers, frames, and rendering.

I just went over and clicked on the links at geofex. All three appeared in the active frame of the page. I use Firefox, which has an internal javascript pdf renderer. This offers me a button to download the file after it appears in the browser frame. Clicking on this, in all three cases the pdf appeared in my downloads folder and were then openable by Nitro (which is what I'm using at the moment for pdf reading). Foxit reader also presented them properly.

Try the "save target as" trick. I don't know why it's not working on your browser.

[52 Bill]

Gee R.G. 34 pages to explain footswitches?

Let's see single button, double button, triple button, 4 button w/3 lights and 5 button w/4 lights. All with variations on the plugs and switch types (momentary and sustained).

Are you covering how to die cast the shells? How about switches for the different FX units like the oil can and tape echoes and the percussion box?

[R.G.]

You know my writing style by now - never use one word when twenty will do.
What took some of the pages was a lot of full- and half-page drawings of shells and schematics. There's also a fair amount of explaining the connections inside the amp, what with RCA connectors, mono and stereo phone connectors and DIN connector, lights/no lights, and two different ways the lights are powered, what switch unit goes on what model, which are cross-compatible, which are not and why.

Then there's lights replacement, how to use LEDs instead of the non-available incandescent indicators that Thomas used, and two different sets of mechanical sketches for making one through five switches in both cast Hammond boxes and in a variant I haven't seen before, rectangular aluminum tubing extrusion, as well as dimensions, etc.

You're entirely right - people who build their own amps don't need all this and probably only need a couple of pages of schematics. The crowd here won't need explanation of where to drill the holes and which box to use. But I was trying to help out the average Joe who owns a Guardsman or Beatle and has no footswitch at all, or worse yet, the wrong one, one that plugs in but doesn't work in that model.

I did mention die casting aluminum shells, and did it to warn people that it's dangerous.

[52 Bill]

But I was trying to help out the average Joe who owns a Guardsman or Beatle and has no footswitch at all, or worse yet, the wrong one, one that plugs in but doesn't work in that model.

That's a very good point.

I've built replacements for my own amps and repaired original ones, but I have never looked at all of the possible versions of switches and which ones would work in which amps. A lot of the amps had the 6 pin DIN sockets, but I have never bothered to see if say a three button R/T/M from a later Cambridge Reverb used the same function pins as a four button/one light switch from a Buckingham.

As for lights, I leave the original lens assembly in position and cut off the backside with the bulb, leaving a hollow tube to insert a new lamp or an led.

When I went to high school we had a working sand cast foundry that poured aluminum, brass and cast iron. There were a couple of seniors that were making copies of Vox Tone Bender cases. I still have my high school Tone Bender clone in my collection.

[R.G.]

I've built replacements for my own amps and repaired original ones, but I have never looked at all of the possible versions of switches and which ones would work in which amps. A lot of the amps had the 6 pin DIN sockets, but I have never bothered to see if say a three button R/T/M from a later Cambridge Reverb used the same function pins as a four button/one light switch from a Buckingham.

It gets very confusing. Thomas had two models of the Pathfinder, Pacemaker, Cambridge, and Berkeley II. Only one of the Berkeley II as far as I've found; and four each of the Buckingham, Viscount, Royal Guardsman and Beatle. The Cambridge/Berkeley II used three out of the five possible possible switch positions in the five-position sand casting housing.

The V11n1 amps (Buckingham, Viscount, Guardsman, Beatle) use four of the positions, with no lights, until late in the manufacturing run when they put one light on the distortion as a field upgrade to previous amps and cut the one-light into production. The internal amplifier power to the lights is different from the later one-light and four-light amps.

The V11n2 series of those four names used the one-light, and so did the final series of the V11n3 amps, except for the V1143 Beatle. That one used a five-switch, four-lights setup in the same five-position casting.

As for lights, I leave the original lens assembly in position and cut off the backside with the bulb, leaving a hollow tube to insert a new lamp or an led.

Hey! I'd dearly love to have a couple of photos of that. Wanna be listed in the contributors in the manual?

When I went to high school we had a working sand cast foundry that poured aluminum, brass and cast iron. There were a couple of seniors that were making copies of Vox Tone Bender cases. I still have my high school Tone Bender clone in my collection.

I have cast lead, zinc and aluminum before, but only in trivial cases. I'm not about to advise Joe Guitarist to melt metals in his kitchen.

I've come very close to doing lost-wax or lost-foam casting of aluminum a couple of times, but always backed off, as I'd have to set up the whole mess from zero, and that's a process that you don't want to get wrong. Molten metal in your shoe is forever.

[Enzo]

In another industry, we were using lead as a soft metal for some sort of machine base - like a coaster for the feet of your washing machine or something. The guys took an old saucepan, put it on the stove and melted lead into it. had a nice pot of molten lead going. they decided we needed more lead in the pot, so they dropped in a wad of fresh cold lead to add to the contents. it bumped. Fortunately no one was hit by flying lead. Who knew molten lead could bump? More dangerous than it looked.


If you don't know what it means to bump, if you microwave a container of water, it can superheat to above boiling. Then any small disturbance - like dipping in a spoon or dropping in tea leaves - causes it instantly erupt into violent boiling. That is bumping.


And RG, you go right ahead and continue to be thorough. As soon as you omit some detail as a "Oh, they already know THAT", that is exactly what someone will write in to ask about.

[g1]

There are three pdf's on your site that might need proofreading:
2/16/15 Work in progress: Preliminary board documentation for Vox Cambridge/Berkeley/Pacemaker/Pathfinder
11/9/14 Work in progress: Preliminary documentation for Vox guitars' onboard effects
7/29/14 Work in progress: Preliminary board documentation for Vox Beatle/Guardsman/etc repair parts.

I tried downloading the first one and it looked like it was downloading but then I got a blank page. Doesn't seem like there is anyway to save the file once it's loaded. Maybe the "save target as" trick?

Those links are duds, so I'm reposting them to work directly from here. They are working for me.

http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/Th...ard-prelim.pdf

http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/Th...20FX%20MBs.pdf

http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/Th...umentation.pdf

[R.G.]

In another industry, we were using lead as a soft metal for some sort of machine base - like a coaster for the feet of your washing machine or something... Who knew molten lead could bump? More dangerous than it looked.

I suspect the fresh, cold lead had some water in or on it. This is a huge danger in any molten metal process. Unless you pre-heat any additions to drive off even adsorbed water vapor (or paint vapor, or organics) the sudden immersion into molten metal flash-boils the water and you get a steam explosion on the spot. Very, very dangerous. That was only one of the issues that made me decide several times not to do metal casting. I know how, read about it in great detail, even have some experience casting type metal back in my teens. It's still too dangerous for me.

It could have been superheating, but there is an awfully big range between the melting and boiling point of lead. Generally superheat flashing is where the metal is heated slightly above boiling and has molecules with enough energy to vaporize already. But it could have been. I'd have taken one look at a saucepot of molten lead and been behind at least one wall immediately.

And RG, you go right ahead and continue to be thorough. As soon as you omit some detail as a "Oh, they already know THAT", that is exactly what someone will write in to ask about.

Yeah. The real reason I got into this never-ending task was to try to get people to fix, not junk, Thomas Organ amps. To do that, they need to be able to repair them or find a tech that will take it. Techs *might* be talked into repairing Thomas Vox amps if they had both a PCB that side stepped all the messing internally.

OK, did that. The first adopters needed hand-holding to fix the rest of the amp, too, so they could tell the preamps worked. Wrote up a chapter "Fixing the rest of the amp" for the PCB documentation.

Expanded that into "The Vox Owner's Safety Net", a (currently...) 180 page book on the Thomas Vox line, basic circuits, how they work, what to look at, where to meter, etc.. That went well over 250 pages when I started including all the schematics.

Split the per-model info into 20-30 page "repair supplements" per model so that someone starting from scratch won't have to buy a 300-400 page tome, but could get just the "Safety Net" for general Vox explanations, and a supplement or two for their amps in particular.

I'm only now getting ahead enough to start releasing booklets. I figured the footswitches story was a good place to try out the printing and publishing path, so I started there. There's only a modicum of real, hard-core techie stuff to be said, but I really want to get into the groove of a generalized tech reading this and saying to himself "hey, that's how that works. That's not too hard..."

Those links are duds, so I'm reposting them to work directly from here. They are working for me.

Yeah, all those first links have the domain name "music-electronics-forum/...", so none of them point to geofex.

[Enzo]

Superheating only referred to the boiling water to explain the example. I didn't mean to imply the lead was at its boiling point, just that the pot bumped like the water might. I suspect your analysis of adsorbed moisture is correct as the cause. The fact it happens being more important than the why.