Tube Amp Archive

Just got my copy, thought I would share incase anyone else is interested. Designing tube preamps for guitar and bass is now out of print and being sold for way too much. Looks like a lot of repeated material from previous books but compiled into one volume specific to guitar amps. https://valvewizar...

When i'm using a thin aluminum chassis I add some wide stainless steel washers reinforce the transformer bolts on both sides. You can buy washers with a flat side, but I just use some vice grips and a belt sander to make my own for clearance on laydown transformers.

Is this all around a bad idea or an acceptable solution to avoid potential PCB damage and cold solder joints? I think it’s kinda sloppy, but if done properly will save time and money. It does create potential for making the old solder joint cold if he doesn’t heatsync the leads. I don’t think mesa ...

trans former? Yes. Hammond organ in series with another means the power supply (TF) of one hammond organ and another section of another, or the same, organ for the rest of the amp. I don't recognize the black chassis. I guess all the shorthand we use makes it seem like it's common practice to abbre...

Looks like the top set screw was overtightened. I would just flatten and reuse the original or cut a new part, brass is easy to work. If there's enough slack, you might get away with pulling the wires out another inch.

Sounds like you have enough experience to do the job successfully and there isn't too much permanent damage you can do, assuming you're careful and use a dim bulb tester to turn it on the first time. One thing that comes to mind which I see fairly often: use the correct size screwdriver to tighten s...

Not entirely sure what you are asking but i'll take a stab. I decided to prioritize 6V6s to get closer to a Deluxe Reverb feel If you are shooting for deluxe reverb, you might want to change the amp to fixed bias instead of cathode biased. This would require changing the master volume and finding ro...

In case anyone else has struggled with storing a partly used tube of silicone, my go to methods for the past few years are: Stretch a piece of electrical tape over the opening then screw the cap back on, making sure you didn't trap any air inside. Or, if you don't have electrical tape, squeeze out s...

I've repaired a lot of amps where a lead snapped from a cap due to vibration. No need to goop an amp as heavily as they do in some factories, but a dab of silicone really helps with any remotely heavy components that don't have much of their own support. I will also note, silicone isn't a replacemen...

Nice work, Mig amps can be tricky and some of the parts are a bit fragile. It looks like you missed the bias caps and a cathode bypass cap. I would also recommend adding some silicone to the radials with longer leads. Sometimes the leads can snap after a while if they aren't supported.

I would just put all of your measurements into a Mouser search and see what comes up, you might get lucky. Probably easier to find a male and female part with the same pitch and replace both. Hard to tell if it's JST or Molex or something else. Connector kits on ebay/amazon are relatively inexpensive.

I meant wacky design more in the physical construction. PCBs are a stacked triangle sandwich on each tube with components spanning between two boards, chassis is a weird flip top floating on some rubber grommets for vibration damping. Was a real pain to get out of the cabinet. Attenuator using a cus...

Pretty sure I have gut shots if that would be helpful. Has been a few years since I worked on one of these so I don't remember much. It's a pretty wacky design, if this is the tone king i'm thinking of.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/shieldwire.php?clickkey=6369 It's pretty spendy but this stuff is great. It's thin and flexible (the 22awg is not much thicker than my regular hookup wire), cuts relatively easy, and the braid doesn't feel weird and crumbly like some of the mil spec ptf...

The newer Hakko stuff with composite tips are very flexible and very light, so much nicer than the old ceramic tips. Going back to the old FX888 feels chunky and cumbersome after getting used to the newer one. Thermal recovery is WAY better and you can even hot swap tips. Admittedly I don't change t...