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Larryz

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Posts posted by Larryz

    Taking a break

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    Best wishes for a speedy recovery Kuru! We will be missing you and looking forward to your return to the forum! Maybe you could invest in a lap top? Anyway good luck with the foot operation and keep us posted when you can! Sincerely, Larryz :thu:

    NAD! - oops I did it again, twice

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    Kuru, sounds like you saved up enough to buy that Boss Katana 50 mk2! Great price at $239 with all the stuff it does...and, it only weighs 25lbs. Fast in and out with lots of great reviews. I'll be looking forward to your review in a couple of days! :thu:

     

    I have a Roland Street Cube EX4 (aka: EX50). Roland makes a great little amp/pa that runs on batteries or plugged in with 3 power selections. It gets more use than any of my other amps and weighs in a 16lbs. My best guitar amp is the Fender Deluxe Tonemaster that weighs in at 23lbs. I can pack both amps if I get serious LoL! :cool:

    NAD! - oops I did it again, twice

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    Kuru, It's a very cool find when a new power supply for $14 costs twice as much as the amp! Glad it all worked fine when you got her soldered up. Pawn shop shopping sound like fun. The wife likes visiting the thrift stores so I'll have her call me if she sees guitars/amps/etc., on her future trips. :thu:

    Yamaha Silent Guitar?

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    I run GHS "Roller Wounds" 10-50's pure nickel on all my guitars acoustic and electric. Running electric strings on an acoustic with light 10's quiets them down considerably. You won't hold your own when jamming with other acoustic players as you will not have enough volume IMHO. But, I seldom play my acoustics unplugged and when plugged in, they sound just fine and I can crank them up. I take my Roland EX4 battery amp with me when jamming with acoustic friends so I can turn up my volume just enough to keep up and not overpower them. It's not as quiet as a "silent guitar" but it allows me to keep the same string gauge and not have my fingers turn black like the bronze strings do. My nylons are quiet enough unplugged too, so I use them the same way. The only time I play unplugged and run silent run deep is when the wife is sleeping LoL!

     

    If you have a guitar RABid that you would not consider selling, that is what I call a Keeper (even if it's silent). :thu:

    Well I dunnit Fender Super Champ X2

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    DBM Good review! Sounds like the new amp is a keeper. Sounding better than the Blues Jr. from the get-go is a good thing right out of the box. The tone can only get better and having your experience with your prior SC will make the tweaking, tube and speaker changes go quickly. We'll be standing by! :thu:

    Well I dunnit Fender Super Champ X2

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    I would run it stock for about a week and then start tweaking just to make sure it's in good shape and no return is needed. But, I know how anxious you are to get started! Since you are familiar with the amp and how to get back to stock factory settings, you may as well start having some tweaking fun today! I know what you mean about playing when the wifey is out of the home! I always gravitate to the 112 65 Deluxe with a little verb for the sweet spot. So I just bought the Deluxe Tonemaster and it stays stuck on the Fender Deluxe 112 modeling that way LoL! Keep us posted and let us know how she sounds! :thu:

    Small amp, huge cab?

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    +1 on having a tube checker Kuru! I remember when we had to go to the nearest corner drug store to find a tube checker. My buddy has a real good stingy one that is way more accurate than the old dime store checkers. Hang on to that Hickok tester as it will be a collector's item some day. You can probably pickup some old throw away amps cheap or even free, check the tubes and put them back up for sale! :cool:

     

    +1 Mark on crafting your sound and mic'ing it to the PA instead of a DI to the board.. You still have to go out in the audience to hear what they hear as some engineers may tweak your sound for you a little LoL! :cool:

    Small amp, huge cab?

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    Thanks gents. I realize both 50 and 100 are impractical, which is probably why there are so many for sale used during COVID. I was just using those two numbers for reference. I always wear ear protection and I have an isobox for recording. This 4x12 is just to stand in front of and be bathed by distortion. I got it for $25, otherwise there would have been no justification to buy it.

     

    Glad to hear you are protecting those ears Zeronyne! You can't beat the amount of fun you will get out of that $25 bucks! Such a deal! If you can pickup a 50 or 100 watt head for cheap, you'll be way ahead of the game...I like about 25 tube watts with some reverb and like I say, go for the best sounding amp you can find. You can always turn the volume down if you need to. Good hunting and keep us posted when you find that amp! :thu:

    Small amp, huge cab?

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    I'm doing the same thing you are Kuru: "not arguing so much as stating my own experiences". I still use and have all of the amps I mentioned except the Twin. The guitars I use make a huge difference with lots of variables using the exact same amp at the same settings, speaker, caps, transformer, etc., i.e., removing all amp variables. I'm moving away from tubes just like you are but more for the weight of the amp than that of the tubers letting me down. I have tried different tubes and pretty much came back to using the Fender red Groove Tubes. My amps have always been re-biased when changing the matched power tubes (and knock on wood) they have always been dependable and roadworthy. The Hot Rod 410 DeVille is old and made in the USA and it was well worn when I bought it from a pro player who was selling it used. I put a few miles on it. Nothing worked harder than my Twin Reverb back in the day riding to gigs in the back of my 77 Chevy Step-side 4x4 which road like a buckboard over country roads in the middle of the night(s) LoL. I had to check the tubes each trip going and coming to be sure the 4 6L6 tubes were still in their sockets LoL! The little 12AX7's seldom came loose. I wish I still had that amp with the twin JBL's but it was just too heavy. I agree with your points and appreciate your experiences. :cool:

    Small amp, huge cab?

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    My Fender Twin put out 85 watts and would blow the doors off any Fender Deluxe at 22 watts and sounds about 5 times as loud LoL! I never ran the volume past 4 in any large venue or outdoor gig on the Twin. For me it's more about protecting your ears in a basement no matter how many watts you're running. My new Fender Deluxe SS amp is 100 watts to simulate the 22 tube watts of the original (according to Fender). It has an output power switch that allows me to choose between 0.2, 0.5, 1, 5, 12 and 22 watts. I play it in a bedroom 99% of the time and it is always on 1 watt and the volume level set at 3 1/2...you can always adjust the guitar volume too, depending on the pups, pedals, etc., that you are using.

     

    For me, the biggest issue when choosing an amp, speakers, cabs, etc., is based upon weight as I have a bad back. My 2 tubers run 55lbs and 40lbs and put out 50 watts and 40watts. You can't really do the math that way when choosing between 100 watts and 50 watts as there are many 15 watt tube amps that weigh in at 40lbs. I prefer the 112 amps and really like the lighter neodymium Jensen N-12K speaker that came with my Deluxe tone master amp weighing in at 24lbs. Picking the best sounding amp between the 100 and 50 and any other watt amp that will run the speaker cab, would be a primary concern along with what the amp and cab will be used for. I have a little SS Z 112 100 watt amp that warns users to insure that any extension speaker hooked up to it's output jack, is rated for 100 watts? Don't ask me how to figure it out wattage wise, so I just don't hook up an extension speaker LoL! My little Roland EX4 Street Cube (10, 25, 50 watt) amp/PA at 16lbs gets the most travel use these days! Number one rule for me is: Protect Your Ears! :cool:

    Way OT: Would appreciate some good thoughts . . .

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    Thanks for keeping us in the loop Winston and so far it sounds like great news! I'll keep your information in mind as I may need cataract surgery in a few years. It looks like you won't have to go with the pirate look LoL! I wear glasses when I'm outside to keep some of the dirt and pollen from reaching my eyes. When I'm mowing, edging and blowing grass and weeds outside or spraying, I wear a pair of shooting glasses which look cool and protect my eyes which can be found cheap at gun stores. Anyway best wishes and let us know if those eye drops do the trick! :cool:

    Small amp, huge cab?

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    If I had to choose between a 50 watt and a 100 tube watt amp head to play in the basement, I would go with a 25 LoL! 50 watts will be all you need for an outdoor or indoor venue, but it can be turned down to play with in the basement. Assuming you are going to take it out for large venue gigs, I would go with the 50. If playing normal size venue gigs and for playing in the basement, I would go with a 25. :cool:

    Ash the world turns...

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    I think the audio taper pots will solve the worry problem as they have a much better gradual sweep over linear taper pots. In my last mod I learned the difference between the two and used audio taper on my 2 volume pots and my two tone pots. I could really hear the difference when rolling off the tones a little. Way more control over the bleed off that could be picked up by ear, instead of a wide linear sweep that just didn't work for me. A good quality orange drop cap will also help. With a tiny bit of solder, the lugs on the switch should be easy to change without the alligator clips and you can go back and add a little more solder if needed after the test(s). The heat issues are more involved with changing pot grounds. The pot lugs will be the same as the switch lugs for ease of changing as they don't need to be heated up as much. The 3/6 switch might take a little playing around with to get it right. I've never used one so I'm wishing you the best of luck on the 1st try! :thu:

    Ash the world turns...

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    I like the 50's LP wiring for Tele shown in the article as it looks pretty easy to do. I also like your idea of trial and error while the parts are in place to see if it will work as predicted with your 3/6 switch. The switch will probably be the trial and error portion on the bench while having an amp plugged in before final install. The big issue will be not having to heat up and re-solder the 2 grounds on the volume and the 1 ground on the tone pots. You're lucky you are doing the wiring using good quality and thicker gauge wire. Most imports (like my main guitar) use cheap thin wire on the grounds for some reason (i.e. cut costs I guess?).

     

    If you don't like the LP wiring, I think the most it will cost is a couple of pots +/-. They can be re-heated about 3 times (counting the 1st time) but I'm sure you won't have that problem. Keep the hits coming! :thu:

    Ash the world turns...

    in Guitar Forum

    Posted

    The SPC is out- as much as I dig what that li'l unit can do, there's no simple way to achieve a 'hard-bypass' option- EMG has informed me politely that they can't/won't do that, as any such switching makes an unavoidable loud POP; I don't want that, or any overcomplicated extra switches of ANY kind here. And as-is, even when rolled all the way off, there's enough of a buffering intact that it will likely NOT get on well with some vintage-style pedalry such as fuzzes and octave-fuzzes and treble-boosters, S0O0O0O0O... NO0O0O0O0.

     

    Any suggestions of interesting one-knob ONLY affairs that are completely compatible with such antique-ish stomps would be welcome!

     

    I vaguely recall a passive tone-pot that had a number of step-detents that rolled-off increasing amounts of treble, while leaving midrange intact... ?

     

    Maybe just a good quality tone-pot and cap would be plenty... But, I do like trick circuits and hardware, and this axe is a Hot Rod project, for sure!

     

    For some reason I thought you were giving up the SPC and the 3/6 FreeWay switch (i.e. as the "any overcomplicated extra switches"). Glad to hear you are keeping the 3/6 and working with the phase/series/parallel/etc. concept. The blending idea came from my old Tele days when I seldom used the tone knob. I could change treble and bass and mid just by my picking location with the 3 way in the middle position just using the volume. If you had given up the 3/6 then I think the blend pot in the middle position of the 3 way would have been cool (sans tone pot or using the 3 pot plate if you still wanted one)...it would be cheap enough to try a blend pot before doing any final wiring just to see if it would work...I like the 50's wiring concept in the article too! Keep us posted! :cool:

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