FIXED - Carlsbro PA 60

So, that Carlsbro PA 60 I took on from Mr. Foxen all that time ago is finally all fixed.

I got a big new resistor to replace the one that was smoking, wired everything up, put the valves in and tested it with the nearest convenient cab, which was a Peavey Deuce VT combo.

It crackled like Rice Krispies while Snap and Pop are on their hols. That was a shit metaphor but I'm keeping it, okay?

Anyway, fast forward past the eating lunch and doing the weekly shop and I lug the chassis upstairs to test it with my Orange OBC 115. And it appears that the thing actually works. Pots are a bit scratchy, but that's no biggie. It has a nice, warm clean sound and does not appear to drive the preamp by itself so that would need a booster. I ran my Retrovibe RVT-40 into it via my Nine of Swords Burial at Sea and it sounds pretty good running fuzz. I think with the right booster and right fuzz this amp could doom pretty hard.

Once it's been all cleaned up it will be put up for sale.

Things are afoot...

So, it appears to be all go here at Atomic Tangerine.

Not only am I soon to take on my second non-personal guitar upgrade, but I've taken on a project from Mr. Foxen.

The guitar upgrade is a simple electronics and pickups replacement for a dude who wants a bit more punch and versatility from his Epiphone SG. Pickups will come from IronGear.

The project from Mr. Foxen is a Carlsbro PA 60. Basically a 60 watt all valve amp head originally intended for PA use. Pretty much a win-win situation as I get to do more learning and Foxen gets more of his to-do pile finished.

Peavey Road Master - It's Alive!!

I have finally fixed my Peavey Road Master. Following the diagnosis a while back I have got the resistors that I needed, and replaced them (along with putting smaller LEDs in the front panel so they don't catch so easily.










And Eric the Destroyer is back in action! After all that it was a couple of duff resistors. Less than 50p's worth of parts. Feel kind of silly that it's taken this long to sort a simple problem, but I am quite new at this, plus I get the good feelings that go with having sorted the issue.

Doubleplusgood is that I can take Eric to band practice next weekend.

Peavey Roadmaster - Welp...

So, that possible solution wasn't any sort of solution.

Which leads me to the bit I'd been putting off, getting out the multimeter and painstakingly testing all the resistors.

A long time and a lot of mumbling, headscratching, and messaging Mr. Foxen on Facebook I have identified two resistors that I get no reading from, and one that is about twice the value that shows on the schematic.

This puts the potential cost of fixing the problem into the dizzying heights of about £1.50.

I really hope this is the fix I need, otherwise it's time to get experts involved.

Peavey Roadmaster - The Saga Continues

Had the lid off the Roadmaster again yesterday. Cleaned the hell out of everything I thought needed cleaning. Refreshed all the solder joints. Lugged it back upstairs, plugged it in and... still fizzy, crappy overdrive on the lead channel.

Bah.

BUT!

It appears there might be a solution.

Turns out the effects loop might be causing a problem, as even though I never use it, it's still gonna get dirty and corroded and because of the way these things are wired that might cause signal loss. So as soon as the house is awake and caffeinated I will begin diagnosis and, hopefully, I might be able to fix this problem without taking the damn thing apart again.

Effects Loops: a Problem Waiting to Happen on Diabolical Devices

Eric's Got Some Brand New Caps

Having sent my Peavey Road Master head off to Oli for general diagnosis, I now have him back along with some new capacitors. After establishing that the big filter caps weren't going to ELECTROCUTE ME TO DEATH I began unplugging and de-soldering so I could whip the boards out and replace the caps.



The de-soldering was something of a pain in the arse, not only because a lot of the stuff I de-soldered had no reason not to be some kind of plug connection, but because two of the wires I de-soldered had actually been a plug connection until the mysterious Mr. Previous Owners made something inside the amp explode and then made a bit of a pig's ear of fixing it. There are lovely scorch marks on various bits of the power board.

Anyway, with that done there was some rather more expected de-soldering to get the original caps off and then the new ones were soldered into place.





Eric himself remains in bits as it's quarter to eleven at night so I won't be able to test him anyway. Hopefully I'll be able to to that before Christmas.

Harley Benton GA5 head

Wow... turns out it's been nearly a month since I last updated this blog. That's mostly due to the fact I haven't really done any project stuff in that time. Which is lame as I still have that Swift LP copy to finish off.

Anyway, today I went to Bristol and picked up a non-working Harley Benton GA5 head for £10. The GA5 is basically an Epiphone Valve Junior with a tone control added and with the "Valve Junior" scraped off the PCB. I've had a look inside and can see no obvious problems (exploded components, loose wires, etc.) so tomorrow will power it up and see if it makes a noise. When I originally took the back off I noticed some kind of broken plastic thingy containing a fuse coming out of one of the transformers and thought that might be the problem but looking inside the wire doesn't connect to anything so I assme it's a bit of generic construction and whether it gets connected to anything depends on other factors (I suspect it'll be something to do with the country it's going to be used in).

Anyway, here are some pictures. It's not a bad looking little amp really. I've called it Bert.









Quite pleased with this really... needs a whole bunch of work doing; even if it did work some of the components probably aren't as good as they could be and I'm not sure I'm keen on all those floating resistors.

Peavey Roadmaster Gut Shots

Today I added some handles to my Peavey Roadmaster head to make the thing a bit easier to carry (there were three handles originally but a previous owner decided to remove the ones at either end of the top for some reason. I can only assume he was a really strong guy), and while I had it out I decided to take some photographs of the insides.





I love how those PCBs look. Modern parallel track boards just don't have that same flowing aesthetic.