What a Difference a Valve Makes

Got a Mullard ECC83 off Mr. Foxen to try in the Blackstar HT-DistX he traded me. It doesn't "completely open up the EQ" as I've seen claimed on the interwebz about replacing the valves in the HT pedals (a pox on over exaggeration), but it does make the gain sound nicer which is a big plus.

Now follows some gutshots and notes.


Fuck your warranties.

The immediately obvious thing when taking the boards out of the HT-DistX is that they're generic. Theoretically this means the pedal is very, very moddable. In practice it appears no bugger has even bothered and schematics are pretty much hen's teeth, so that's something to ponder for another time.




As on the other board there is a lot of space other components, including two more switches. Shown is the stock Sovtek valve




I had wanted to get the pot values as they would be the most immediately useful mod I could potentially make, but there are no values visible. I doubt these are particularly great pots, which makes it even more of a pain. L-R: Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, 'Infinite* Shaping Feature**', Level.

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*Not actually infinite.
**Possibly as in 'it's not a bug, it's a...' as I haven't found the point where it does anything awesome.

Retrovibe RVT-40

Well, it works perfectly! The sound is so much clearer and definitely a bit more Rick-like when I have the settings right.

Can't wait to test it at band volume.

I may do a recording at some point.

Bass Build - Part Zero

Well... it's been a while.

Scored a cheapish bass neck on eBay and luckily was able to offset the cost against selling something else so do not have to actually spent any money on it. Going to make a start on my bass build.

Only thing I'm not sure about is that the body will be made from multiple bits of plywood, but it is Grade A stock so hopefully should be okay. As it's a first build it's more about the learning process anyway. Second build (if this one doesn't put me off forever) will be made from proper wood.

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.

Prepare for Battle!

As you will have noticed I don't update this very often. The thing is that fixing up guitars is expensive and as I've not yet taken on any serious paid work for other people I don't have the money to just go out and buy stuff to put in my current projects.

Something that's not expensive though is making battle jackets, and I thought I might as well start posting about mine. I've resisted for many years, but I figure that at 33 years of age I can be as much of a cliché as I like because damn it I'm doing it knowing it's a cliché.

Flying V Bass Body

Further to previous posting I have now received the Flying V bass body. It's in pretty good nick overall, and seems to be made from a decent, solid hardwood (Not sure what type. Looks mahoganyish).



The previous owner has already had a go at removing the existing finish, which will make it a bit easier for me to strip the remainder and get some decent laquer on.

This project is likely to cost a bit, as cheap aftermarket bass soapbar pickups and non-Fender-style necks don't really exist so it's most likely that I'll be going with Seymour Duncan or maybe Kent Armstrong for the pickups and unless a better alternative presents itself Warmoth for the neck. Seeing as how everything else is going to have to be a more expensive option I might as well get a Hipshot bridge as well. And then this'll become my main bass so I can damn well get my money's worth from it!

Boss PH-2 Super Phaser - Gain Mod

Just did a simpified version of the gain mod from this site. The plan there is to remove the 27k resistor at R79 the PH-2 comes with and then do a switching thing between that and a 15k resistor (basically, lower resistance value means more volume), but really I cannot think of a reason why I'd need to switch between usable volume and really noticable drop in volume, so I went for the 'usable volume' option only, by doing a straight swap of the two resistors.

The picture isn't great as I still cannot find my camera, and my smartphone doesn't have a macro function that I can find, but helpfully the new resistor is bright blue and about twice the size of all the existing ones so it does stick out a bit.



Just did a quick test and it works a treat, now there is no volume drop at all when the phaser is switched on. I'd call that a win really.

Fender Jag-Stang & Boss PH-2 Super Phaser

Righto, I have a Fender Jag-Stang in bits that I want to really do something special with.

It's gonna be a quite a big project, as it'll have a complete refin on the body (including addition of tummy and forearm contours whilst it's naked), new scratchplate, new electronics (including different controls), new pickups and I'll be immobilising the bridge.

One thing that strikes me is that I rather like the look of matching headstocks on Fender-style instruments, so I'm considering it with this project. But I'm also wary of obliterating the 'Fender Jag-Stang' decal because even with keeping the serial number it may adversely affect the value should I decide to sell it on... I mean, yes by that point very little of what's on the guitar will be original anyway but people do get quite worked up over having the 'right' name.

Something to think on, and any comments on the matter are gratefully recieved.


In other news I'll be replacing the gain resistor in my Boss PH-2 Super Phaser at some point during the next couple of days as it needs a bit more oomph when I'm actually using it; when you;re into playing loud psychedelic doom stuff a pedal that actually drops the volume when switched on isn't that useful.

Retrovibe RV4 Coil Split

At some point I'm planning to do a coil split on my Retrovibe RV4 so I can get ALL THE TONES from it.

The question is which method to use for achieving this?

The most obvious is to buy a couple of push/pull pots and use those (plus another one for series/parallel switching). The problem with that is that it costs money and I'm currently an unemployed bum.

The next two options are probably better as I can do them with stuff I have about the house.

First is to utilise one or both tone controls to this end, providing me with a variable coil split on one or both pickups (and either one master tone control, or no tone control) which is better as I can then minutely adjust the perfect sound, instead of the simple one-or-both that straight forward switching offers.

Second (and probably vastly more unusual) is to have, basically, four volume controls; one for each coil. I know this is possible as there are diagrams for using such a set up with single pickup passive MM-style basses. I have no idea whatsoever whether this would be at all worth it, but it'd be an interesting experiment nonetheless.

Columbus EB-3 Switch Replacement

Put the new switch in my Columbus EB-3 today.

Works a treat, actually being able to properly switch pickups makes a lot of difference and the bridge pickup comes through a lot more, suggesting dodgy contact in the original switch (but then it was nearly 40 years old so not surprising really). Also my best soldering job yet, big thanks to Mr. Foxen for the solder recommendation... lead solder really does flow a hell of a lot better.

Next on the list is buggering about with coil splits on the Retrovibe RV4. Have heard that using one of the tone pots as a variable split for the neck pickup and wiring the other as master tone works a treat so I'll have a go at that as it means spending no money (which is good as I'm unemployed. Again.)

Lestelepaulcaster

Having thought about the design of the guitar me and FiL are going to build I'm leaning heavily in the direction of a Les Paul/Telecaster hybrid... something similar to the Fano Alt de Facto SP6.

I've been mulling the idea around in my brain for a little while and after going to look for it online to see if anyone else had done something similar it not only turned out that they had, but that it actually works.

The major difference between the Fano and my idea is that I'm intending to have a 25.5" scale and a Tele-style headstock (mostly because I get on better with 6-in-a-line tuners). Materials are still a bit of an unknown, apart from knowing that FiL can source maple for the neck. Not sure exactly how I plan on doing the controls yet, but I suspect I'll go down the route of each pickup having its own volume and tone pots for maximum versatility.

I'm feeling rather excited by this.

Let the planning commence...

Spoke to my father-in-law this morning... not only is he happy to help me out with building a guitar, but he reckons he can source the wood for it as well.

WIN.

Harley Benton GA5 head - Power up and begin troubleshooting

So, with the chassis back in the box (probably unneccessary, but I did it anyway) I took the amp upstairs, plugged it into my 4x12, switched it on and... nothing. Not a jot. Not even a hiss or hum.

I know it's not a problem with the speaker cable or cab, as I tested them using my Peavey Road Master head just now and they work fine. So what other possible issues could there be?

I don't think it's the EL84 (power amp valve) as that was glowing quite happily when I looked in the back of the head. No idea if the 12AX7 was glowing as it's in a metal tube thing so obviously I can't see it. Next power-on test will be chassis out, valves uncovered so I can see them both. In the mean time I'm going to have a closer look at all the connections within the amp and double double check that nothing's loose or broken. Also going to bodge some means of keeping that in-line fuse thingy closed in case that's a problem.

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.

Project Weekend! - Columbus EB-3

Well, the gunky, dusty, stickery bass I got free is now a shinyclean bass I got free.

I removed the damaged old nut (which I meant to photograph but forgot) and then I thoroughly cleaned everything that looked like it needed a clean (which was most of it). I started with some synthetic wire wool which took all the dirt/rust of the frets, bridge and pickups. After that I scraped the stickers off and removed the gunk with WD-40, then I gave everything a quick wipedown with a clean cloth to remove all dust and residue. Next I gave the body, headstock and back of the neck a polish with some handy furniture polish I had in the cupboard (not completely ideal but this isn't a show instrument and I'm not going to go out in this heat just to get some 'proper' guitar polish) and rubbed some lemon oil into the fretboard to make it all nice. Then I used the cloth to give the metal bits a quick buff.

After everything was shiny I installed the new brass nut with a little PVA to hold it as it's a little narrower than the original so isn't a snug fit. Once the glue was dry I restrung it using the strings it came with and trimmed the excess wire the previous owner had left on them to make it all a bit neater. Finally I added the new strap buttons, moving the one that originally would have gone on the neck to the bass side horn.

Project Weekend!

Due to minor injuries (not mine) I will not be having my planned weekend of running around some woods with a rubber sword pretending to be an elf... so this weekend becomes Project Weekend! Yay!

I plan to have both the Swift LP and Columbus EB-3 in working order by Sunday night. Whether this actually happens probably depends on how hot the weather is, but I full intend to at least have a go at it.

Columbus EB-3 Copy - First Impressions

Well, I had a bit of a play with the bass before I started taking bits off for clean up.

First impressions are good. The finish is translucent (and pretty bashed about, but it is 40-odd years old), which means obvious plywood is obvious, but overall the quality of the materials and workmanship isn't at all bad and the neck appears to have been carved from a single piece rather than two as is common on cheaper necks with angled headstocks. The fretboard is nice and smooth, all the (quite small, considering I'm used to medium jumbos) frets are in good nick and the binding is very well done. The bridge is some weird floating thingy that seems to be a hybrid of the old Gibson 2-point bridges and the original Danelectro bridges and the strings are bent almost at right angles between the bit where the ball ends anchor (which is quite sturdily fixed to the body) and the bridge itself. Oh, and it turns out the 'saddle' isn't fixed to the bridge and has been stamped out of some cheap, thin metal.

It's pretty comfortable to play sat on my knee (the guy kept the strap buttons, so I presume they must've been expensive ones for strap locks or something) and despite the deeeeeep neck pocket upper fret access isn't too much of a pain (though keeping this once I've put new strap buttons on it will necessitate relocating the one that was on the neck). Plugged in it gives a good sound... with the neck pickup. The bridge pickup is, frankly, useless on its own and sucks a lot of tone out of the thing when both are on. Don't know if this is because it's a rubbish pickup or if it just needs bringing closer to the strings, I'll find out when I've cleaned it up and put the strings back on! The volume and tone pots are not at all scratchy and all seem to work fine. Might replace the caps though, they've got those cheapo green ones at the moment. The switch is on its last legs, it has a lot of side-to-side movement and no longer 'clicks' when used so that'll need replacing too.

Next week I'll be doing the full clean up and replacing the nut as the current one is seriously damaged and I just happen to have a brass one lying around because of a parts order where I first got the wrong stuff, but then got the right stuff but was allowed to keep the wrong stuff. Win.

Early 70s Columbus Jazz Bass

Tomorrow I'm picking up a freebie Jazz Bass copy by Columbus.

Edit: turned out to be a 60s EB-3 copy... see next post for more details.

Columbus were a brand that ran from the late 60s to the early 80s and were put together in the Ibanez factory a Japanese factory that may or may not have been one of the ones also used by Ibanez. Not seen many pics of them, but with any luck it'll be a tobacco burst with bound fretboard and block inlays. Because that looks nice.

Will probably do the 'usual' mods on this... so swapping out the electronics, and possibly the pickups as well.

I'll post pictures tomorrow evening.

Quickie - Danelectro Fabtone

My first ever pedal was a Danelectro Fabtone, and I still have it. When I was 19 it was the best thing ever. At 30 it was a horrible hissy gain monster I never used. I took out the diodes D4 & D5 and capacitor C2 and the gain became a bit more controllable but the pedal was still very noisy.

Recently though I found this video which suggests putting an LED in the place of the D5. I've just done this and the extraneous noise is all gone!

B.Y.O.C Confidence Booster - Finished

Added the battery clip and jack sockets to the Confidence Booster this evening.

It works perfectly.

The rig I tested it with was Ibanez EX140 modded with IronGear Platinum 90 in the neck position and overwound Rolling Mill in the bridge (volume 10, tone 10), into a Peavey Roadmaster 160w valve head (lead channel: Pre 5, Pump 4, Post 1) and Hayden 4x12 cab. With the guitar going straight into the amp the sound was very quiet and clean. With the Confidence Booster plugged in and the trim pot turned all the way up I got a lovely crunch overdrive from the amp. This is actually a very good bit of kit.

Next stage is to buy an enclosure, an A100k pot and DC power adaptor socket, and salvage the switch and LED from the EHX Memory Boy I broke.

I am very pleased with myself.