Why stranded wire???

[GVC66]

Newbie here. Hello everyone.

I have a 1987x with a serious hum issue. I bought it as a project and it did not disappoint in that department. My question is; why do I see most builds with stranded wire? It seems to me that it would be soooo much easier to keep the heaters segregated with some solid core goodness.

Amp hums without the guitar plugged in and the hum gets worse as things are turned up (EQ or volume). Am I right in thinking that I need to shorten the leads and re wire the heaters? I don't have pics yet, but, as a beginner I figure that if I think they look like tumbleweed then that is probably my issue.

Regards,
Glenn

[pops]

Most all the amps i have seen have solid wire except from the input jacks and lately that is shielded.

Your hum may be filter caps that are in need of replacing. I would look there first.

[Littlewyan]

How old is the amp? Also have you tried removing the pre amp valves one at a time to see if the hum stops? Perhaps try removing the Phase Inverter (V3) first. Like pops said it could be filter caps.

[Jana]

I can't recall ever working on a factory built amp that had solid wire (except for a buss wire). When stripping the insulation from solid wire, one nick in the wire and it will eventually break at that nick. Topcoat wire is the best of both worlds--it is stranded but it will stay in place when you bend it.

[M Fowler]

I agree 100% Jana.

[Jana]

Mark, Have you seen what's headed our way?

A Winter Storm Watch remains in effect from late Sunday night through late Monday night.

* Timing... late Sunday night through Monday night

* winds... north wind gusting to 50 mph. Blowing snow with visibilities below one quarter mile possible with whiteout conditions.

* Snow accumulations... there is still uncertainty with the amounts as the timing of rain changing over to snow and the exact track remains in flux. Snow accumulations of the 6 to 12 inches with localized amounts of more than 12 inches possible.

* Other impacts... extremely dangerous and difficult travel conditions possible

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A Winter Storm Watch means there is a potential for significant snow... sleet... or ice accumulations that may impact travel.
Continue to monitor the latest forecasts.

[M Fowler]

Hmm you better move back my way 44 today and tomorrow with 27 on Monday with 100% chance of snow winds at 27 mph then good again.

[pdf64]

50s and 60s amps tended to use solid core wire, eg BF Fenders.
My friend's DrZ EZG50 does also.
It does seem to make a neat lead dress much more practicable.
Pete

[GVC66]

I should have mentioned that this is a relatively modern replica. I ruled out the filter caps for that reason. If this guy was original I wouldn't have put a ppimv in it. The leads coming from v1 and v2 are wayyyy toooo looong. I will take a pick tm.

Hmmm, topcoat. Any suggestions on where to pick some up? Not sure how a nick in the wire would end in a fracture unless something else is not anchored to the chassis properly? I would imagine that even 22gauge solid core could take a 100 watt with the bass on 10.?.?

Sorry to hear that Minnesota. Hope the weather channel is wrong... But take cover in case.

[Jana]

http://valvestorm.com/Products

If you get the amp wiring bundle, you will have enough for two or three amps, maybe more depending on how neat you are with the wiring. You might want to get some extra black wire--that always seems to run out first.

We're used to it in Minnesota. It does slow down the mosquitos and wood ticks.

[Structo]

I like stranded Teflon wire.

It seems when you build an amp and the requisite tweaking that you tend to flex the wiring quite a bit.

I have found stranded wire works better.
Old story but, I was fine tuning a D'lite amp when stuff started going sideways.
Finally I found a wire that had fractured but was hidden by the insulation.

Very aggravating.

But also, high quality stranded wire can also break right where it is soldered, making it essentially a solid wire.

As was said, if you nick the wire in the stripping process, it can weaken the wire at the nick and can cause major problems.


It just takes practice/ experience to strip the ends of wires without damaging the conductor.

[David Root]

I used stranded 22ga teflon insulated wire until about 3 years ago, then I switched to solid 20 ga teflon. I much prefer the solid wire.

I use an auto sizing wire stripper with the teflon cartridge insert and it still nicks the wire very slightly. I've had no failures yet at all. I haven't played with the tensioning adjuster on the cartridge, maybe that will eliminate the nicking.

I try to solder over the nick.

[tictac]

For teflon solid copper I like to take some needle nose and squeeze the end of the wire till the teflon fractures. Then you can peel the insulation back to where you want it and trim the wire and insulation the way you want.

For teflon coated stranded I take my wire strippers and strip the insulation holding the strippers at an angle. If you do it right you'll strip the teflon off of only one side. Then you can grab the teflon insulation with needle nose and pull it back while holding the wire.

The reason to strip wire this way is you never nick the wire and the bare section of the wire can be as long or short as you want....

I've been stripping teflon this way for years cause I got tired of always nicking the wire....

TT

[GVC66]

I have been using 22 and 24 awg solid on my pedals since 2006. They take WAY more abuse than my amps and not only have they not failed but when I open them up all the right angles are still there. Regular ole lowes wire strippers. After this thread I am going to be nervous about nicks If you asked me yesterday I would have taken a hockey stick to my favorite fuzz and been confident that it would work fine afterwards.

[GVC66]

In the past I have cut extra length then pulled the insulation back by hand and clipped off the extra for insulating component leads. I suppose I could always push the remaining insulation back on leaving the necessary room for solder and no risk of nicks...