Fargen-santa cruz OD mod-anyone know about it or heard it?

[sidehatch]

Im a Fan of ben Fargin's amps from what I have heard online.

I have a friend with a pro reverb that similar to mine except his is a few years newer-a 76 I think. Its the last year before they went to the UL tranny from what i've heard.

I told my buddy(Greg) I'd ask you guy's opinion on this:
http://www.fargenamps.com/mods-santa-cr ... drive.html

Its $499 and he told him $100 extra for a MM tranny ( I think thats what he said and Fargen said he'd absolutely do it).

The reason he is wondering about this he loves my D channel that heisthl built on my slant 6 and wants that tone or close yet he loves the clean channel of his Pro reverb.

He's not worried about chopping his amp up cause he's an older guy and doesnt sell gear.

I'll also pm Heisthl and see what he says about what can be done to a pro reverb but we'd like to hear any info at all about this mod.

Ben told him that even though he adds a board and uses evey extra hole on the amp that its not a hack mod. He said it would be a pain but it could be undone.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

[David Root]

Sounds like an ODS to me, with modern carbon film and metallized polyester caps instead of the carbon comps that Dumble used. Nothing radical or new about that, you could do it yourself for a LOT less than $499!

[Structo]

Yeah, no kidding.

Sounds like a lot of money for one more stage.

[sidehatch]

thanks for all the suggestions. I'll do some research on here and see what I can find for a BF type circuit.

When I was looking for my own amp a year or so ago most folks tokd me that the resulst wouldnt be that great on a pro or a super reverb and that a Bassman would have a better result because of the iron. I knew Fuchs and a lot of guys used bassmans extensively.

heck, If I could learn how to do this mod I'd do it on my own pro.

I did look at the "D" mods on schematic heaven though I guess those aren't really gain mods and are more tone revoicings right?


Fargen talks like this is similar to Redplate did to my Carr.
Speaking iof Henry, He said he could do it for my buddy but his schedule is too tight now. I might just talk my buddy Gregg into waiting and get Henry to do it because I really dont know what you are getting for $500 and $600 if you add the MM OT!!

In the meantime Im reasearching just what can be done on a pro reverb as far as a rebuild.

I tried to talk him into buying the VVT head on here and using that with his amp but he wants to keep it in his pro.

Thanks again you guys!

[Structo]

I was looking at those mods and I'm not sure that would get you into the territory you want.

Too bad you don't have a little more experience because you could look at the ODS and D'Lite schematics here and just mod the first two stages to get you more into the D tone.

Have you considered building a amp kit?

A lot of first timers have successfully built amps from kits.

You learn a lot about a tube amp when you build one

You can do it with common tools and the only special tools you should have is a good soldering iron and a good digital multimeter.

I built the Brown Note D'Lite for my first tube amp build and it turned out awesome.
Not one to leave well enough alone, I have tweaked my amp quite a bit to get it closer to the "tone in my head" type of thing.

[sidehatch]

Hi Structo!

I am definitely going to get a kit asap.

As soon as I can free up a little extra cash I am going to get something to build and learn on.

I need to decide on what I should start with and that I'd actually use when I get finished.

I prtinted out the file you posted and Im learning all that stuff.

Hopefully soon I'll feel confident enough to takle that normal channel rebuild . That would be very gratifying and useful too! I want to do my own Pro reverb now that I have been reading about this.

Shane

[Structo]

A lot of times a very simple tube amp such as the Champ is recommended for a first build.

But unless you really want a small practice amp and would use it a lot, it may be throwing money down the drain.

So perhaps choose a circuit that you would enjoy playing after it's built.

Like a 18 watt or even the larger JTM 45 or Plexi 50 for Marshall types.

Metro sells some awesome kits for the Marshall fans.

If you think you would rather have a Fender type amp, the you should perhaps check out Allen amps.

Brown Note is the only seller I can think of that sells an amp in the D category.

If you enjoy working on stuff with your hands and have patience you could build any of the amps listed above.
Just take your time and don't rush anything.
It might take you three or four weeks if you just work an hour or so in the evening or when you have the time.
The main thing is to do it right and use good technique when building it.
There are scads of photos around to look at to see examples of good lead dress and wiring.

[sidehatch]

I've been looking on here for a few days now.

I remember seeing a thread when I first joined up about doing D gain mods on a fender.

Do you know where I should look?

If I could figure out how to use the normal channel to OD the vibrato's clean cahnnel that would be a great project for me.

I did find the stuff on schematic heaven but those seem just like revoicing mods instead of actual cascading gain mods.

I found a hot rod pro normal channel by steve ahola somewhere but dont know what that would sound like.

I was looking at those mods and I'm not sure that would get you into the territory you want.

Too bad you don't have a little more experience because you could look at the ODS and D'Lite schematics here and just mod the first two stages to get you more into the D tone.

Have you considered building a amp kit?

A lot of first timers have successfully built amps from kits.

You learn a lot about a tube amp when you build one

You can do it with common tools and the only special tools you should have is a good soldering iron and a good digital multimeter.

I built the Brown Note D'Lite for my first tube amp build and it turned out awesome.
Not one to leave well enough alone, I have tweaked my amp quite a bit to get it closer to the "tone in my head" type of thing.