Tone is everything and when you find it nothing is the same again.
My Dogs Bollocks is all the things that might help you get your tone or put a smile on your face.
Don't know what tone is, then this page is just a load of BOLLOCKS.
You can now follow My Dog's Bollocks on Twatter.... https://twitter.com/KeithJayJohns
Showing posts with label Repairs and Mods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Repairs and Mods. Show all posts
I have always sent my amps to a tech to have them retubed and biased....its not only a pain but its also expensive....But then I got my Egnater Renegade that has biasing probe points at the back and I wondered why if biasing was so easy don't all amps come with easy biasing set up points....Biasing seems very straight forward with the right know how and a multimeter and yet also a bit of a black art....
I started looking for something that would make the biasing process easy but strangely nothing is really out there....TAD "Tube Amp Doctor" make a biasing kit that only gives you one part of the equation....the Cathode Current....but you then need a multi meter to read the Plate Voltage....whats the point of the TAD kit if you have your multi meter out to read the PV you may as well read the CC while your at it....????....
Then I found this on Ebay....The BiasPro VI by AsharpFretworks....This not only gives you the PV but also at the flick of a switch the CC....all you then need to know is the Maximum Power Dissipation of your new tubes....that's easy with the internet....a bit of math....a twist of a screwdriver and your done....that all seems easy enough....
The BiasPro looks well made....all the lethal electrical power strays in the tube connecters plugged into your amp and sends Milli-Volts instead of the Volts to the Readout Module....this can only be a good thing as its these Volts that could kill you....and the reason why I don't want to mess with a multimeter in the internals of my tube amps....
"you will not see this video if you have signed up for this blogs email edition"
This video is a different kit from mine but made by the same guy....Ken Koga in Minnesota, USA
ps....I'm in the UK....the BiasPro was £73.00....Postage from the US was £14.24....and I should have paid a VAT/Duty/Handling Fee of £22.80....
....but for some reason I was never asked to pay the charge...."maybe someone at the Royal Mail reads this Blog"....gotta love the Royal Mail....So all in the BiasPro work's out at £115 here in the UK....and that's still cheaper than the TAD biasing kit that only does half the job....it was posted by Ken in the US on the 6th and I got it on the 13th here in the UK....
I'll have a play....bias some of my amps and tell you all how good the BiasPro VI is....k.j.
The Fender Contemporary Strats and Teles were the first Fender Japan models to be exported as Fender models. The previous Fender Japan models exported from Japan were all Fender Squier's. The Fender Contemporary models were manufactured from 1984 to 1987 by FujiGen Gakki and these guitars were designed to be Super Strats with humbucking pickups and Floyd Rose like tremolos made by Schaller. There was a lower priced Fender Contemporary Squier model produced as well. The Fender Contemporary Stratocaster and Telecaster models were part of the Fender Japan E series model range.
My favorite guitar for 25 years
My very first guitar, bought used in 1988
When CBS sold Fender to its current owners in 1984 minus the Fullerton California plant, there was a transitional period from 1985 to 1987 where a new factory was being built in Corona, California. During that time, parts and bodies were shipped to Japan for assembly. USA production was limited for 3 years.
The Project
Finally Fender started to realize in the late 80's that these guitars
and basses were the same if not better than the US guitars and basses
made in California, they were discontinued and manufacturing stopped all
together in the early 90's. These Made in Japan guitars really do play
better and sweeter and are just as good if not better than the USA
models of the same era....FACT.
My Fender System One Stratocaster Project....I had bought the red sparkle Strat a while back from ebay and had just not got round to starting it....It was in very good condition for it's age with the System One tremolo made by "Schaller of Germany" showing hardly any signs of ware....
It had a few parts missing....The guy I got it off wanted £900 for it when he first put it on ebay...."pissed"....I think I paid £170 including postage in the end with amazing sniping skills...."he was not happy"....took him ages to post it and I think he was hopping I would accept a refund...."remember kids....making a winning bid on ebay is a legally binding agreement for both parties"....suck it up bitches....
The original tremolo arm was missing....two intonation screws and two of the three steel string pads in the string lock were also missing. All the parts are readily available from ebay but you can obtain genuine parts from Kahler Parts or Wammi World....both run by John Cecchini....always a pleasure to deal with and when on the one time he did send the wrong part....the replacement turned up in less than a week and considering it was coming from the US of A, was amazing...."Big, BIG Thank You John....
The Schaller System One tremolo, like a Floyd Rose just will not work without the stringlock....
The tremolo was stripped down to bits, cleaned and put back together with beeswax cream....
considering its age the tremolo look barely used
The site that has the most information on the System One Tremolo and Fender in general is StratConnection....PapaTom knows his stuff when it comes to Fender Made in Japan....His site is full of useful information and he sell's some truly wonderful vintage guitars....his used System One Tremolos and Parts are also first class and compared to ebay show hardly any signs of use considering the age of the System One stuff....Then again if you have a System One Fender you will probably already know about StratConnection....PapaTom pretty much has the whole internet to himself with the hard to find new and used parts....
This Made in Japan Strat dates from 1985/86....The Tele is one of the first Made in Japan Fenders in 1984.... The body of the Strat is going to be filled, re-routed "H/S/H" and re-finished in reliced "off white"....but that could change to "surf green"....k.j.
The rather cheap looking footswitch that comes with the EVR-C30 is actually on the inside very well put together....
All the solder joints were perfectly done....
I contacted John Kasha who gave me a few things to look for, everything checked out OK and the problem with my footswitch was a bad switch....
I just replaced the bad switch with one that I pulled out of a old Marshall footswitch I had and the Evil Robot is back up and working perfectly....no point in sending it back to Andertons....cheaper and faster to sort it out myself....funny thing is that I will probably stop using the footswitch altogether....or maybe mod another one up to work a little better...?....WTF....k.j.
The footswitch has stopped working....it's stuck on channel A....so the cheapness is more than skin deep....I think Andertons are going to love me....
The other thing is when they say it gets hot....they mean HOT....but the little fan in this Class A amp is doing nothing....time for a mod I think....
I have turned the fan round, so instead of sucking air out of the combo....it's blowing air in.....
I have made up a temporary air duct out of card to channel the flow of air up and over the tubes to remove the heat better....it has worked really well....I had the amp on full blast today for about 6 hours and the amp chassis got nothing worse than warm....yesterday the chassis was alarmingly hot only after a couple of hours of being on....
Just as soon I get the air duct design right I'll make one out of wood, paint it matt black and post up the plans for it here if anybody wants it....
So far the Evil Robot sounds great....the Vibrato is really sweet sounding....and in 30watt mode with 4 6V6 tubes installed, this amp is loud....real F**king LOUD....more to come....k.j.
In the never ending search for more tone the things that we change the least are our tubes. Most of us never giving them a second thought, a blown tube is replaced with the same make and model that the amp came with....easy....but the difference between tubes can be as stark as night and day....sort of....
Changing Pre Amp and Power Amp Tubes is never going to make a Fender amp sound like a Marshall or visa versa but they can make your amp sound and play more to your liking....just remember that 90% of how your amp sounds is in its design, not it's tubes.
12AX7 - ECC83
There are lots of big names in the tube world, Sovtek, Electro-Harmonix, JJ Electronic, Tung-Sol, but not all manufacture tubes. GT and Ruby don't make their own tubes, they buy in and re-brand tubes with their own logo. GT have recently been bought by Fender who only use GT tubes in their amps, a good way of keeping your amp sounding it's best is to use nothing but GT tubes....But talk to a lot of Fender amp owners and Tung-Sol tubes seem to be the preferred choice.
The GT Guess Who Hall of Shame
Tung-Sol have masses of musicality, I'd call them tight and airy. Electro Harmonix are very similar to Tung-Sol but break up sooner for better blues and rock tones. JJ's on the other hand are huge in the bass department with hard mids and clean highs, great for Marshalls and Humbuckers. I have a pair of GT 7025 that were the best tubes I had ever played but they don’t sell them any more. They still sell a 7025 but it's not the same long plate version and they don’t sound the same.
Tube Names - Gain Factors
From the above chart you can see the gain values of each tube and that a 12AX7 “US Name” is the same tube as a ECC83 “European Name”. I have always thought the euro names were misleading in that the ECC81 has more gain than a ECC82, so where does the ECC83 get it's name, it should be a ECC80?. I have put the 5751 in the 12AX7 line as its very closely related to a AX7, it's more closely related to a AX7 than it is to a 12AT7 or a 12AU7.
Pre Amp Tubes
JJ ECC803 - Slovakian - a very high powered 12AX7 tube, extra bite and shimmer in the high frequencies.
Tung-Sol 12AX7 - Russian - very powerful, ultra low noise. tight, punchy, articulate, a very musical tube.
Electro Harmonix - 12AX7 - Russian - easy break up, aggressive, very low noise. probably the best tube in the world and one of the cheapest.
JJ 5751 – Slovakian – low powered 12AX7, very low noise. has bite and shimmer with a good low end.
JJ ECC82 - Slovakian - the lowest output tube you can get. In the pre amp it will reduce gain and give a warm, smooth and balanced EQ out put.
Sovtek 12AX7-LPS - Russian - surprisingly smooth across the EQ response - great for gain but prone to micro-phonics in combo amps.
Glass Tubes of Power Perfection
Power Amp Tubes
6V6 Power Tubes have a vintage tone giving an even mix of lows, mids and highs. they have a lower power out put compared to 6L6's
6L6 Power Tubes have a very nice mix of tone. they sound tighter and warmer than 6V6's. a 5881 is basically a low power 6L6....20watt rather than 30watt. A KT66 has a smoother tone with tight lows.
EL34 Power Tubes have a harsher tone with more bass response than 6L6 or 6V6 tubes, more like a classic Marshall sound. a KT77 tight mids with more open highs than a EL34
KT88 Power Tubes similar to a smaller EL84 in the mids, but with more lows and highs for a modern Marshall sound.
Yellow Jackets tube converters allow EL84 power tubes to be used in place of 6L6, EL34, 6V6. EL84's have a lower power out put compared to EL34's but use a small 9 pin design rather than the 8 pin design of 6V6, 6L6, EL34 and KT tubes.
Changing Power Tubes....all 8 pin power tubes can be changed for any other 8 pin tube, "some tubes missing pins" but will involve re-baising of most guitar amps and should only be done by qualified technician.
My Egnater Renegade has a very modern sounding lead channel that I have lowered the gain on with the aid of a 12AU7 for a vintage Marshall, AC-DC tone. My clean channel, I have emphasized the US Fender tone with a JJ ECC803s for some extra grit in the top end.
The tubes that I have in the Renegade at the moment for home use are......
“Channel 1”
V1 - Tung-Sol 12AU7 "has a gain factor of 20%, this reducers the gain in both channels"
V2 - JJ ECC803S “for some dirt in the top end” (this is now a Tung-Sol 12AX7 - sounds better)
“Channel 2”
V3 - JJ ECC83S "12AX7" (this is now a JJ ECC82 - sounds better)
V4 - JJ ECC83S "12AX7"
“FX Loop”
V5 - JJ 5751 "low powered 12AX7, for giving the FX Loop a bit more headroom"
“Phase Inverter”
V6 - Tung-Sol 12AX7
"with these tubes Channel 1 is clean with a hint of break up when pushed, Channel 2 is very Vintage Rock sounding"
POWER TUBES
6V6's in the 6L6 side to reduce the volume a very small amount for a US Tone.
EL34's in the EL34 for the British Tone.
"the Renegade has 2 channel assignable Master Volumes, so I use the 2 MV to give the 6V6 tubes a boost to keep up with the EL34's"
The valves that I have in the Renegade for gig use are......
“Channel 1”
V1 - JJ ECC83S
V2 - JJ ECC803S “for some dirt in the top end”
“Channel 2”
V3 - JJ ECC83S "12AX7"
V4 - JJ ECC82 "12AU7" "to reduce the Egnater's Modern Gain Tone...."
“FX Loop”
V5 - JJ 5751 "low powered 12AX7, for giving the FX Loop a bit more headroom"
“Phase Inverter”
V6 - Tung-Sol 12AX7...."I also use a Tung-Sol 12AU7 to drop the power output through the floor for home use"
POWER TUBES
6L6's in the US Tone Side.
E34L's in the EL34 side for the British Tone.
"These tubes give a very tight powerful tone, Channel 2 has reduced gain to keep it sounding Rock not Metal. The 12AV7 in the PI position will help to get sustain and dynamics at a lower volume for home use."
Power Tube Distortion....the holy grail of tone....actually comes from the Phase Inverter tube breaking up. Fitting an 12AU7 tube will cut a amps rated power to about half....but a 100watt amp is not twice as loud as a 50watt amp, it's more like 100watt and 75watt and it's the same with valves. Fitting a 5751 in a 100watt amp will make it sound like a 90watt amp and fitting a ECC82 will make the 100watt amp sound more like 40watts....what the AU7 does is give you more sustain and playing dynamics at a lower volume. The AU7 will start to break up sooner than a AX7 would....your amp will still be loud....DRUM KIT LOUD.
GT 7025 - Tung-Sol 12AX7 - JJ ECC803S
A word of warning....
12AU7 and 12AT7 tubes have Plate Currents of about 1 milliamps where the 12AT7 and 12AU7 both have Plate currents of 10 milliamps and will draw more current. Modern high quality resistors will cope with extra heat but....not all amps are built to the same standard.
I contacted Bruce Egnater about using a AU7 in the PI position and this is what he said....
"You won't harm your amp by trying the 12AU7. The issue is that the AU7 draws more current. The Renegade uses 1 watt MF resistors in the critical locations. The 12AU7 will cause more voltage drop (more heat) on those resistors but should be just fine. The fact that the Renegade does not have a post phase inverter master and does have negative feedback in the poweramp, the audible change with the AU7 will probably be minimal and will not reduce the volume if that is your goal."
JJ ECC81 - Ruby 12AT7
The best way to evaluate what tubes will sound best for you is to buy a few and play and swop . Check forums to see what other users of your amp are playing through but remember that how you play will also have an effect, if you play heavy handed you will make a valve break up sooner than a softer player would. I have found that some tubes don't play nice with other tubes, bottom end can simply drop away with some combinations of tubes. 12AT7/ECC81 tubes can be cold and un-musical when compared to the lower powered 12AU7/ECC82 in the same positions.
A good tip when you buy balanced tubes for the FX Loop or Phase Inverter....mark them with a red Sharpie marker pen....because once out of the box you'll never know which ones which.
Spot the Difference Competition
I think my amp does sound better for changing it's tubes for my heavy handed style of playing....but it has been a pain in the ass if I'm being honest....
Dan Erlewine is talking to Bil Kirchen in the latest Stew Mac vid and that got me thinking that it's about time I swopped round the controls on one of my Fender Telecaster's to be able to do some pedal steel volume swells like Bill....
If you have never heard of Bill Kirchen....shame on you....
Go over to his site billkirchen.com and click on Media and listen to some class telecaster tones while your reading my bollocks....
First off I had to route out the control caverty on my Mexican Telecaster....
Nothing is ever easy....
But I do like soldering up copper shielding....
So now the body will happily take the new control positions, time to do some rewiring....
The wiring on a telecaster is super simple....you can not go wrong....
I've said it before but I'll say it again....the best way to clean up a pot base is to cut the old solder off with a sharp blade, not with heat and a solder pump....too much heat will kill a pot the same as too much heat will kill a capacitor. While we are talking caps....I've used a .022 cap but a .047 cap will do just as good....the .022 is good if you never roll off all the top frequencies, its all about how much travel you like in your pot before you get to mud....if you like fast roll off go for the .047 cap, or if a slower roll off appeals a .022 cap fitted will let you control the bite of your tele more.
For the best twang I sand the bottoms of my tele bridges to make sure they are perfectly flat. I then stick three strips of copper tape on the very back end of the bridge. This helps to push the front of the bridge into the body as you screw it down. As you tighten the mounting screws the front of the bridge can lift up and away from the body causing micro-phonics to run away into feedback. You will always get micro-phonics with this kind of telecaster bridge, its part of the guitars charm but too much can be a problem....I also fill the bridge cavity with soft thin foam to push the base of the pickup into the mounting screw threads and keep things from vibrating....
While Bill Kirchen makes pedal steel swells look really easy, take it from me the volume control is still in the wrong position for all but massive handed guitarists. The pickup switch becomes too close to the tone pot when its in the neck position and gets in the way....Leo got it 98% right....
After all this hassle, time will tell if I keep the tele like this....lol....it does look kinda cool like this....k.j.
If your Egnater Footswitch has come with a hard wired cable...it will eventually crap out. Why they had to use 2 stereo jacks to plug it into the amp I will never know....when a easily bought everywhere midi cable would have worked so much better. I have posted this mod on the Egnater Forum but thought I'd post it hear as-well....
Mine broke in the cable near the footswitch so I had to mod it with a new detachable cable and a breakout box made from a Jacky D tin for coolness.
Anywho....if you go to my Photobucket page I've put up 25 photos that will clearly show how I've done it. The things you are going to need is 2x Chassis Socket, Din, 5p 180....that's a
female midi socket you can find off eBay. I used ones with a screw down locking ring but that was overkill....clearly. Midi cable of any length you think you'll use, a cheap 1 meter TRS cable to cut in half and use for the breakout box and a cool tin for the said breakout box.
It's another simple mod that shouldn't take too long....once done you'll never need to do it again....
I always hated using 9volt batteries in my pedals....they were a pain changing them and it gets real expensive when you forget to un-plug a string of pedals. I first used a Dunlop Brick, I remember having a couple of them, they had a habit of stopping working.
I was then given a Diago Power Station 9v daisy chain power supply. I still have it and it goes to gigs with me as a back up.
I have also made up some quick plug-in 9v and 18v battery snaps for emergencies.
I carry a couple of these to every gig....plug and play
But over the years have ended up with a lot of pedals that run better on 18v "OCD-Amp Eleven-Heartbreaker".
I then got myself a T-Rex Fuel Tank Chameleon that rather annoyingly has been less than reliable, the power LED has died twice, went from a cool green colour to a same as everything else blue and then it really died and had to be repaired. "lucky it came with a 3 year warranty".
collectors item in 50 years....rofl
For the last couple of years I've had a Voodoo Pedal Power 2 Plus that has powered all my pedals very happily with no problems.
5 year warranty with the Voodoo
The Power 2 Plus has a Auxiliary AC outlet that I have used to run both my Valvulator and my TC G-System through with no problems.
