Before my friend to rips the pcb circuit out of his amp...

[steve-o]

Hey all,
Okay, I'm just starting on this whole amp building kick. My friend took a look at my first build (in progress) and decided that he wanted to rip the circuit (which he is not entirely fond of) out of his Fender hotrod deluxe and build a new 6l6 circuit in the chassis. he wants to keep the reverb circuit, He likes his clean channel. He wants to (essentially) wire up his drive channel to sound exactly like the TS808 (compression and mid hump included). I told him that I was sure that was possible, but I would have no idea how difficult it would be to do.
Is he asking for a lot of frustration and is this even doable? I asked him why he wasn't satisfied just having his vintage 808 on the floor in pedal form. He said, "Well, as long as I'm going to have a channel switching amp, I may as well like both channels. Plus, all pedals give out after so many stomps..."
What should I tell him? My gut response is that he should start out with a simpler project (like I am)...
Thanks all!

[Darkbluemurder]

Check out www.blueguitar.org.

In the FTP archives there is a thread on improving the overdrive channel of the Hot Rod Deluxe. Maybe it is best to start there before ripping this thing apart.

Good luck!
Stephan

[steve-o]

Stephan,
Thanks alot for that link! I think this will kill 2 birds with 1 stone: It will help him out with the drive channel sound from his amp and also give him a feel for whether or not he's the kind of guy who wants to go around cannabalizing amps and then investing the time and effort in the hope of something better.
thanks again,
steve

[Funkalicousgroove]

Hot rod's don't make very good donor amps anyhow, the chassis is kind of chincy, the trannies are 2nd rate, and they are full of ribbon cable- you'd basically have to start over!!

[groovtubin]

Hey all,
Okay, I'm just starting on this whole amp building kick. My friend took a look at my first build (in progress) and decided that he wanted to rip the circuit (which he is not entirely fond of) out of his Fender hotrod deluxe and build a new 6l6 circuit in the chassis. he wants to keep the reverb circuit, He likes his clean channel. He wants to (essentially) wire up his drive channel to sound exactly like the TS808 (compression and mid hump included). I told him that I was sure that was possible, but I would have no idea how difficult it would be to do.
Is he asking for a lot of frustration and is this even doable? I asked him why he wasn't satisfied just having his vintage 808 on the floor in pedal form. He said, "Well, as long as I'm going to have a channel switching amp, I may as well like both channels. Plus, all pedals give out after so many stomps..."
What should I tell him? My gut response is that he should start out with a simpler project (like I am)...
Thanks all!

http://www.omegaamps.com/mods2.html, chek out the mod clips....

[dehughes]

Steve, what have you started?!?! IT IS SPREADING!!!

[steve-o]

Yeah, I just love the craftsmanship. It also gave me a great deal of pleasure to (gently) remove the tone-sucking parasite that was the "blues Jr. pcb circuit" from my chassis. As far as my friend goes, I think I'm going to recommend that he just do some of the mods recommended on the blue guitar website. And I'll help him with that, as he's new to soldering and buying parts, etc. I think he'll be pleased with the improvement.
thanks all, for your input
steve

[fred_farkel]

You might want to look into Omegas' amp mods for the hotrod deluxe before tearing apart you amp. I sent mine to Jim for the mod and what a difference. So much so, its going back for an update he's now doing, I just have to get it there between playing jobs, thats the hard part.
Jim, I'll be sending it in after this weekend for the update....thanks man! Warren