Heat Shrink

[keithshapiro]

I'm not doing it, I've already decided. I just thought it looked neat and wondered if it was worth the work. I find that once I close the amps, I typically play them and never really go back and look at them but for the time they are open, I like to be prideful!

[brentm]

How about some bold colors, like hot pink, or yellow, or something that is cool under a black light. Throw some UV LEDs inside it and maybe a couple of portal windows. Like the one in my furnace so I know the pilot light is working. Kind of a shame to go through all that effort and just cover it up without some way to peek inside and see how bad ass it is

[diagrammatiks]

Is this worth doing?

No value added - it makes me think that the builder doesn't know what he's doing or why he's doing it.

Looking at the rest of the lead dress of that amp sure doesn't make me think the builder "didn't know what he was doing".

Would I go to all that extra work, just for show? NO! But, I certainly don't think it's an indication of much of anything other that possible anal retentiveness.

There's little reason for all the cable ties - just makes repairs that much more onerous. All the sharp right angles in the wire are unnecessary as well - and lead to earlier failure. It may look cool but it's not the best way to go.

I'd call it a "compulsive" build but your evaluation of "possible anal retentiveness" works too.

I think it's fairly obvious that you have very little knowledge about how quality tube equipment used to be built.

As for saything that actually clamping your cables down is a bad idea that makes repair harder...that's got to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

That guys build ending up looking like the picture. The wire ties were only to keep the wire in pace before he laced the entire amp.

[IMG:768:1024]http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt33 ... tiks/2.jpg[/img]

If this is anal retentive to you I would absolutely hate to see what you think is acceptable.

Maybe when you get a break from doing your easy repairs you can take a look at the nasa worksmanship standards and the jedec guidelines.

[Structo]

What I see sometimes on amp builds is where the builder is so hung up on appearances that he will bend wires at a right angles and group some wires together that shouldn't be together.
Remember that wires can induct voltage into another wire especially when ran in a tight parallel group.

The old PTP amps that used laced wiring bundles may or may not be noisy from it, but most often the wires are grouped where there won't be any crosstalk.

When I was a kid they called that tubing spaghetti.
It was a kind of lacquered cloth tubing that was cut to size and used to insulate bare leads of components.

[Plexibreath]

In the first instance it doesn't make sense because it's leads over a board. But in the Bad Cat example it's understandable to keep the point-to-point leads from making contact.

[greekie]

It looks fantastic, but may be a b*tch to service.

I go for the middle route - if it works, is stable and easy to work on, it's all good.

That means that I combine PCB with eyelets and turrets in some cases. But so be it - best sound and lowest noise, as well as being a respectable build is my focus - not purity in technique.

[ayan]

To me an amp like that would be a piece of cake to service. It might be difficult to make it look as good as it did originally, if you have to replace some iron, for example. But other than that, I don't see how working on that amp wouldn't be cake compared to working on a contemporary Fender, Marshall or Boogie. I know those ARE a bitch to work on, and that's not even considering that the PCB they use are flimsy and the traces can easily lift.

Cheers,

Gil

It looks fantastic, but may be a b*tch to service.

I go for the middle route - if it works, is stable and easy to work on, it's all good.

That means that I combine PCB with eyelets and turrets in some cases. But so be it - best sound and lowest noise, as well as being a respectable build is my focus - not purity in technique.

[talbany]

To me an amp like that would be a piece of cake to service. It might be difficult to make it look as good as it did originally, if you have to replace some iron, for example. But other than that, I don't see how working on that amp wouldn't be cake compared to working on a contemporary Fender, Marshall or Boogie. I know those ARE a bitch to work on, and that's not even considering that the PCB they use are flimsy and the traces can easily lift.

Cheers,

Gil

Oh yeah!! Compared to the newer Marshall's and Boogie man amps the PTP stuff is money to troubleshoot and repair.. The layout might not be left to right but if you stare at it for a minute you can figure them out rather quickly!!

Tony

(fixed for you Tony , Structo )

[talbany]

Tom
Thanks for the fix..Funny I am on the road doing some posting on my iPhone.. I have giant hands so typing is a bitch and when I don't have my glasses can hardly see the screen .. A recipe for a real mess..

Tony

[headstack]

It's nice to see some really killer shaping out on those amps folks!

For the folks concerned about service issues with laced bundles...

Not to worry!

Once you do your signal tracing, if you need to replace a length of wire, you can either snip the lacing you need to, or tie a length of pulling floss to the wire being removed.

Pull the wire, leave the floss behind to thread and pull the new wire into the bundle and everything stays nice and neat.

When doing bends in component leads or wire, I like to use a pair of round nosed pliers.

These allow you to make a good sized radius at the bend every time, which will keep you from building any "hot spots" into your design.

A nice radiused bend is always better than a hard right angle.

For making bundles, my favorite has always been flat waxed lacing
floss.

I figure if all those little old ladies used it to shape out the harnesses in so much great vintage gear, that still works beautifully today, it's good enough for me!

[diagrammatiks]

It's nice to see some really killer shaping out on those amps folks!

For the folks concerned about service issues with laced bundles...

Not to worry!

Once you do your signal tracing, if you need to replace a length of wire, you can either snip the lacing you need to, or tie a length of pulling floss to the wire being removed.

Pull the wire, leave the floss behind to thread and pull the new wire into the bundle and everything stays nice and neat.

When doing bends in component leads or wire, I like to use a pair of round nosed pliers.

These allow you to make a good sized radius at the bend every time, which will keep you from building any "hot spots" into your design.

A nice radiused bend is always better than a hard right angle.

For making bundles, my favorite has always been flat waxed lacing
floss.

I figure if all those little old ladies used it to shape out the harnesses in so much great vintage gear, that still works beautifully today, it's good enough for me!

clapclap. Looks like you've actually got some experience with real old time tube gear.

I don't know why it became the norm to think that wires should just be laying around everywhere...

Probably people looking at too many fender pictures on the internet.

It's interesting, I was looking at pictures of old selmers, wems, voxs etc and those early british amps were almost always wired better then what was being built in the states.

[headstack]

It's nice to see some really killer shaping out on those amps folks!

For the folks concerned about service issues with laced bundles...

Not to worry!

Once you do your signal tracing, if you need to replace a length of wire, you can either snip the lacing you need to, or tie a length of pulling floss to the wire being removed.

Pull the wire, leave the floss behind to thread and pull the new wire into the bundle and everything stays nice and neat.

When doing bends in component leads or wire, I like to use a pair of round nosed pliers.

These allow you to make a good sized radius at the bend every time, which will keep you from building any "hot spots" into your design.

A nice radiused bend is always better than a hard right angle.

For making bundles, my favorite has always been flat waxed lacing
floss.

I figure if all those little old ladies used it to shape out the harnesses in so much great vintage gear, that still works beautifully today, it's good enough for me!

clapclap. Looks like you've actually got some experience with real old time tube gear.

I don't know why it became the norm to think that wires should just be laying around everywhere...

Probably people looking at too many fender pictures on the internet.

It's interesting, I was looking at pictures of old selmers, wems, voxs etc and those early british amps were almost always wired better then what was being built in the states.

I hope I am wrong, but it seemed to me that sloppiness worked it's way into certain equipment as pride in workmanship waned.

I will admit a bit of rectal retentiveness when I open something and the first thing I find myself doing while looking over the build/circuit, is straightening up all the components.

Ya know, all the caps need to stand bolt upright, should not be touching, spaghetti can sometimes be reshaped, etc.

It's certainly nicer to trace things in a tidy build and I cut my teeth building and maintaining recording studios where neatness saved a lot of headaches.

[Structo]

I was taught when servicing certain devices such as a tuned circuit in a radio not to straighten any caps or coils as it can change the tuning.

Tempting as it is, not a good thing to do in a RF or other tuned circuit.

[SoundPerf]

I was taught when servicing certain devices such as a tuned circuit in a radio not to straighten any caps or coils as it can change the tuning.

Tempting as it is, not a good thing to do in a RF or other tuned circuit.

Yeah, this has always been my understanding too. And believe me, I love to staighten components and find myself doing it without thinking sometimes.

When I was doing R&D testing of gigabit ethernet designs, we would make sure all leads were trimmed as much as possible on the test boards to eliminate any ringing.