@gullywoots Thanks! I haven't made any vids of me playing guitar through it, but it sounds great with my Cigar Box Guitar. Actually, I think it sounds better with guitar than with harp. In fact, I basically only play guitar through it these days. I don't play it a lot, though because it gets really hot, especially if I crank it all the way up. I need to get a bigger heat sink for the chip amp, but I haven't gotten around to it yet!
@ovation05 Well, 1) I found a Tube RADIO, not a tube amp. 2) The thing wasn't working 3) I built a brand new amp, and used the housing to give it a retro stle 4) Did you actually listen to the way it sounds? It sounds damn good.
That last point is all that matters, really. Just because an amp uses tubes, does not mean is will sound good. Just because an amp is solid state, does not mean it will sound bad. It's the circuit design and the frequency tailoring that matter, not the components.
Yeah, I thought it was a bit small too, but I've run it for several hours, and it only gets warm to the touch... The chip has never gone into thermal shutdown either....
I'm going to change out the pre-amp on this eventually.... The prof tweed is kind of a one trick pony, and I'm getting a little tired of it now...
hey dude... I noticed that the bass might be pushed a little too hard. Too much bass before preamp distortion can be a bad thing. I could be wrong though!
Hmmm... I'll have to investigate this. You are certainly correct that too much bass distortion will "muddy" the tone. One of the mods I did was to lower the bass thrshold (not by much, but I definately lowered it). It's a common mod that folks do to fender guitar amps to "voice" them for harp. I'll stick an EQ pedal before the amp, fiddle with the input freqs., and see what happens. If need be, I'll raise the bass cutoff threshold on the first gain stage. Thanks for the comment!
And your blues playing sounds better since the last video too. ;)
Though if you don't mind me suggesting, I think you should work a lot more on your playing tone (not the circuit on your amp) and bends. That kind of stuff will definately make dramatic changes in your playing chops.
You've already built yourself some awesome firepower... get down to learning how to aim those guns if you know what I mean. :)
Thanks for the words of praise and encouragement! And thanks for noticing that i'm (slowly) improving in my playing. I definately feel your advice: I sorely need to get better at playing "tonally". I think I also need to get a little bit better at timing too... I am practicing though, at least 30 minutes a day, sometimes an hour or more! ;) I think I'm at the point where I need to start playing with others, so I better find some crappy guitar player who will put up with me!
One thing that helped me was that I made sure I focused on one thing at a time. I could be wrong about this but you can worry about the timing after you worked on your tonality.
Don't be too hard on yourself, you're definately doing something right otherwise you wouldn't be improving in the first place.
It's good that you practice daily. Just make sure you specifically work on certain things that we've already mentioned... one step at a time.
cool project! I'd love to see people's faces when you take that radio onstage. do you have any samples of guitar plugged into that amp?
gullywoots 1 year ago
@gullywoots Thanks! I haven't made any vids of me playing guitar through it, but it sounds great with my Cigar Box Guitar. Actually, I think it sounds better with guitar than with harp. In fact, I basically only play guitar through it these days. I don't play it a lot, though because it gets really hot, especially if I crank it all the way up. I need to get a bigger heat sink for the chip amp, but I haven't gotten around to it yet!
isaacullah 1 year ago
The amp is great, so bad you had to redord it with camera mic.
otofotobingoloto 1 year ago
@otofotobingoloto Thanks! Yeah, I should record it with a better mic... :)
isaacullah 1 year ago
I can't beleive you found a valve amp and replaced the guts with solid state. What were you thinking?
ovation05 1 year ago
@ovation05 Well, 1) I found a Tube RADIO, not a tube amp. 2) The thing wasn't working 3) I built a brand new amp, and used the housing to give it a retro stle 4) Did you actually listen to the way it sounds? It sounds damn good.
That last point is all that matters, really. Just because an amp uses tubes, does not mean is will sound good. Just because an amp is solid state, does not mean it will sound bad. It's the circuit design and the frequency tailoring that matter, not the components.
isaacullah 1 year ago
I think that the heatsink is a bit too small
tuomollo 2 years ago
Yeah, I thought it was a bit small too, but I've run it for several hours, and it only gets warm to the touch... The chip has never gone into thermal shutdown either....
I'm going to change out the pre-amp on this eventually.... The prof tweed is kind of a one trick pony, and I'm getting a little tired of it now...
isaacullah 2 years ago
very nice job for this rebuild amp , isaac !!!
fabzoundfactory 3 years ago
hey dude... I noticed that the bass might be pushed a little too hard. Too much bass before preamp distortion can be a bad thing. I could be wrong though!
harmonicazhin 3 years ago
Hmmm... I'll have to investigate this. You are certainly correct that too much bass distortion will "muddy" the tone. One of the mods I did was to lower the bass thrshold (not by much, but I definately lowered it). It's a common mod that folks do to fender guitar amps to "voice" them for harp. I'll stick an EQ pedal before the amp, fiddle with the input freqs., and see what happens. If need be, I'll raise the bass cutoff threshold on the first gain stage. Thanks for the comment!
isaacullah 3 years ago
Holy crap dude! THAT IS SO COOL!!!
Well done on the amp!
And your blues playing sounds better since the last video too. ;)
Though if you don't mind me suggesting, I think you should work a lot more on your playing tone (not the circuit on your amp) and bends. That kind of stuff will definately make dramatic changes in your playing chops.
You've already built yourself some awesome firepower... get down to learning how to aim those guns if you know what I mean. :)
I believe in you man!
harmonicazhin 3 years ago
Thanks for the words of praise and encouragement! And thanks for noticing that i'm (slowly) improving in my playing. I definately feel your advice: I sorely need to get better at playing "tonally". I think I also need to get a little bit better at timing too... I am practicing though, at least 30 minutes a day, sometimes an hour or more! ;) I think I'm at the point where I need to start playing with others, so I better find some crappy guitar player who will put up with me!
Cheers!
isaacullah 3 years ago
One thing that helped me was that I made sure I focused on one thing at a time. I could be wrong about this but you can worry about the timing after you worked on your tonality.
Don't be too hard on yourself, you're definately doing something right otherwise you wouldn't be improving in the first place.
It's good that you practice daily. Just make sure you specifically work on certain things that we've already mentioned... one step at a time.
All the best Isaac, and seriously I LOVE the amp!
harmonicazhin 3 years ago