Fender Hot Rod Deluxe switch

[Kekke466]

Hello,

I'm pretty new around here and I'm doing some modifications to my hot rod deluxe since it had the common static crackle problem.

Now I'm planning to put a 220pF cap on the Volume pot and a 330pF on the Drive pot to eliminate the 'muddy' tone and finally get a good tone out of this thing.

Now I've been thinking since I read on 'The Unofficial Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Owner's Guide' site that Fender used 47pF in vintage amps for their bright channels.

I want to make a combination of this with a flip switch. This way that you have on one stand the 47pF and in the other stand the 220pF and on the drive pot the 47pF - 330pF combo switch. Is it a safe idea to do this with a little flip switch SPDT and will this pop my speaker when switching? I read the voltages can run op to 500V?

Hope you can help me with the 'Cowabunga switch' to get some surfy sounds.

[52 Bill]

...Now I'm planning to put a 220pF cap on the Volume pot and a 330pF on the Drive pot to eliminate the 'muddy' tone and finally get a good tone out of this thing.

Now I've been thinking since I read on 'The Unofficial Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Owner's Guide' site that Fender used 47pF in vintage amps for their bright channels.

I want to make a combination of this with a flip switch. This way that you have on one stand the 47pF and in the other stand the 220pF and on the drive pot the 47pF - 330pF combo switch. Is it a safe idea to do this with a little flip switch SPDT and will this pop my speaker when switching? I read the voltages can run op to 500V?

There should be no voltage on the volume control terminals, other than the signal voltages. The 500Vdc should be blocked by the tone control caps, so a switch should not be a problem here.

[Kekke466]

Okay then I can start drilling those holes, but with testing yesterday I noticed some wires of the grey flat cables broke... Looks like I'm going to have to replace this with lose wires. Do you know if these flat cables are shielded and what voltage they carry?

thanks!

[Enzo]

Or just trim off a small amount of insulation in the remaining broken end of the ribbon and remount the ribbon.

No, the wires are not shielded. They carry whatever voltages are on the tubes they serve.

[Kekke466]

I worked out the flat cable problem, thanks. I just ran my amp with the wires for the capacitor switches on the Volume and Drive pot connected and it works great!
Really lives up the tonen I almost sold the amp...

Just one more question, I ran the wires now out of my amp and got a lot of hum. Should I shield the wires I run to the switches from the pots with the capacitors? Or would it be okay to just connect them with standard ones?
If I would shield them would it matter where I connect the shield then?

My guess is that it is inside a cage of Faraday right with all the shield tape?

[52 Bill]

Just one more question, I ran the wires now out of my amp and got a lot of hum. Should I shield the wires I run to the switches from the pots with the capacitors? Or would it be okay to just connect them with standard ones?
If I would shield them would it matter where I connect the shield then?

These wires do carry audio, so if they are long, shielding would be advisable. Ground the shielding at one end only, probably the volume control end, and run the wires away from the input jacks.

[bwdavis99]

Which caps sound better the 47pf or the 220/330pf?

I worked out the flat cable problem, thanks. I just ran my amp with the wires for the capacitor switches on the Volume and Drive pot connected and it works great!
Really lives up the tonen I almost sold the amp...

Just one more question, I ran the wires now out of my amp and got a lot of hum. Should I shield the wires I run to the switches from the pots with the capacitors? Or would it be okay to just connect them with standard ones?
If I would shield them would it matter where I connect the shield then?

My guess is that it is inside a cage of Faraday right with all the shield tape?

[Kekke466]

It really depends of what guitar and pick ups you use. I prefer the 220 - 330 pF on a stratocaster, it's really surf and high, really great for vintage lead. Heaven with a bit of reverb!

Amazing what this little mod can do. However I like 47pF better with my ES 335 (humbuckers). I put in a 3 stand switch so I can also disable them too. But I don't think I'm ever going back there . I do have to admit that when my signal is clean, the change isn't so big. But when I add some pedals and overdrive, it really makes a huge difference. Since I don't have any equalizer pedal, this does the trick for me.

I do know that you have to be extremely careful when you drill those holes in the frontplate, my drill blocked a lot of times out making the holes!
I'm going to shield the wires today though, I have the feeling I have a tiny bit more hum now. Specially on the switch with capacitors on the Drive pot and the wires are really really short...