Blues Jr. Ribbon cables & input jack questions

[ctcpete]

I was doing some mods on my Blues junior this weekend and I had the V1 (far right) ribbon cable separate from the upper PWA. Had a heck of a time restripping and resoldering the six connection points but I got it done.

I looked around for replacement cables on the net, one site lists them but they are not available.

Would it not be better to just get rid of all the ribbon cables and install wire connections? Every time I work on this amp, those cables get stressed. I've also had to move them around to resolve oscillation problems. I see the cloth covered wire on the net, is this the stuff to use and if so what gauge? Is this a good idea in general?

One more problem: I had installed a switchcraft input jack some time ago, it came with low noise cable already installed on it. The inner conductor is plastic coated and has some kind of cloth wrapped around the inner wire. This connector came off the solder point, it's tiny and probably got jostled. I was unable to restrip this inner conductor, any recommended alternate types of cable to use or any tricks in restriping the inner cloth wrapped wire? I considered burning the cloth off at one point.

Thaks much in advance.

[ctcpete]

Question too long winded?

Sorry if my 1st question was too long.

Real briefly, is there any advantages to replacing the ribbon cables on my Blues Jr with #20 cotton braid stranded copper wire? had to resolder a ribbon cable and it was "challenging". If yes, is # 20 a good weight choice?

Thanks, Pete

[pontiacpete]

IMO, 20gauge wire would work fine enough and if you solder them, well it serve better than those connector it came with.

[ctcpete]

Blues Jr..Will replace the ribbon cables..Cloth Covered or Regular ?

Getting my parts order together, kind of a newbie. I will replace the damaged/ re soldered V1 Ribbon cable and at least the V3 phase invertor cable (have had some oscillating on decay problems in the past). I measured the old ribbon connector wires, they appear to be 20Gauge braided (measured around .030" with a micrometer).

Any benefit in replacing V2 (I think it is the tone stack boost signal) and or the power tube connectors as well?

Should I use the cloth covered wire available on the net?

Thanks much






http://www.schematicheaven.com/fenderamps/blues_jr.pdf

[pontiacpete]

"Any benefit in replacing V2 (I think it is the tone stack boost signal) and or the power tube connectors as well?"

if the tube is bad, change it. If you are putting together a parts list and don't have any 12ax7s around, I would get a couple. I can't imagine that the original tube in that amp(if they are) would be of any great quality,

"Should I use the cloth covered wire available on the net? "

I don't know if cloth is any better, I happened to use cloth. Got several spools of it from AES, also have the other stuff, plastic or vinyl,which I haven't used much. I like solid core also.
Maybe some others can help out with their preferences.

[ctcpete]

[QUOTE=pontiacpete;163043]"Any benefit in replacing V2 (I think it is the tone stack boost signal) and or the power tube connectors as well?"

if the tube is bad, change it. If you are putting together a parts list and don't have any 12ax7s around, I would get a couple. I can't imagine that the original tube in that amp(if they are) would be of any great quality,

Thanks pontiacpete, actually I was asking about replacing the V2 and or power tube ribbon cables with wire connections. Any benefits to be had? I'm leaning towards only replacing the 3 pre amp ribbon cables.

[Steve Conner]

Wire is wire. Different kinds of wire don't sound different. Use whatever you find easiest to work with. I prefer ordinary PVC insulated stranded hookup wire, I find cloth and Teflon insulation a pain in the butt.

If the connectors are giving you trouble, by all means replace them with solder joints. But if they're not giving trouble, why bother?

If that jack had "low noise cable" on it, that mysterious "cloth" inside is probably a conductive plastic layer. You have to cut that back to stop it shorting out the signal, a sharp craft knife will do the job.

If you find wire stripping challenging, maybe you ought to practice on some scrap wire, until you can do it reliably without nicking the conductor. That's what makes it break later on.

Everyone has different wire cutting and stripping tools that they prefer, my personal favourites are the Ideal T-Stripper, a good quality pair of diagonal cutters and a craft knife.

[ctcpete]

Thanks for the advise Steve. I ordered regular pvc stranded wire. I found my problem with stripping the low noise cable (Mogami 2330). I had been using an Xacto blade which I'm usually pretty good with but this stuff was just too small, my only strippers where the electrician's type. I went and got myself a small gauge wire stripper and it is now a breeze.

I think I'll replace all 3 pre amp ribbon cables.

Thanks again, Pete