Hfan Posted August 3, 2015 Posted August 3, 2015 With wire cutters of course.. Ughh and all those other wires just jumped out of their seats in terror. I am done with the damn PCB tube board...half of this bloody thing will be point to point or it will die with me trying.. Will my cool old Tweed Blues Jr live again or will it become an expensive speaker cabinet? Stay tuned for more on the fate of my much modded and tinkered with and abused at a PSP Tweed Blues Jr...may take a while ha ha.
schundog Posted August 4, 2015 Posted August 4, 2015 I'm notifying BillM of this Blasphemy immediately.... Nah, not really. Good luck man, you've got great big brass ones.
kbp810 Posted August 6, 2015 Posted August 6, 2015 Very doable Former super champ XD Former blues JR (wish I could find the post surgery gut shots for this one) Moral of the story... don't let kbp810 work on your PCB amps
smokedtires Posted August 6, 2015 Posted August 6, 2015 Was there a problem with the wirea or is this just a tinkering exercise? Never seen someone do this, pretty cool.
Gitfiddler Posted August 6, 2015 Posted August 6, 2015 Blues Jr.'s seem to be one of the most modified amps ever! Maybe its due to Fender's excellent concept for a great little grab-n-go amp, but severely compromised by internal bean counters. Just my 2 cents. Hfan~ Can't wait to see your final product.
Blunote Posted August 7, 2015 Posted August 7, 2015 I had one like Hfans. It had a problem with at least one of the ribbon cables coming loose or something like that. I do remember the tech saying it was pretty common on PCB amps -at least Blues Jr ones. That's just one more reason I prefer PTP amps over PCB ones. All these amp surgery threads are making me want to build my own. Stop it!
Hfan Posted August 9, 2015 Author Posted August 9, 2015 Well, I had the first go at it a week ago. Bought the kit from Hoffman amps : http://el34world.com/Hoffman/Blues_Junior_Tube_Board.htm I hadn't had it apart in a while so I had to re learn some of the disassembly etc. Also we were in the midst of a heat wave and my main work area is not air conditioned, so this was a kitchen table job with a limited time period of availability. My wife would not appreciate trhe table full of an amp carcass and parts and tools for several days. It involved a shoot load of de soldering soldering and tracing the traces on the original pcb board to recreate them on the new board connections. Also had some complications inherent with trying to solder around pcb board traces on two boards that are jammed up close together. Was running out of time and hurrying things up. Wound up doing much of the connections on the tube board with it semi in position which meant not the best visibilty or access..long story short, good new bad news. Good news is it worked, normal volume levels etc. Bad news is it sounds like a 70's fuzz box ha ha. So a few cuss words and put it in the corner for the night and cleaned up the kitchen. Within 24 hrs I realized several things that would have made it easier to do and would have ensured more accurate soldering. Pretty sure I have some "not optimum" solder connections on the pre amp tube sockets some where. Maybe a connection someplace that is going to the wrong place. Or two solder globs too big and or two close together. That's my theory anyway. I'm gonna give it another try but this time take my time with it on my work bench. Little by little. Really thought I could knock it out quick. Oh well, live and learn. I like this amp and all and as I said I've tinkered with it a bunch and have loved how it improved with each mod so I'm attached somehow. That said, I will never buy another pcb circuit amp. All my others are point to point except this one and any future amps will be as well.
Hfan Posted August 9, 2015 Author Posted August 9, 2015 Oh, and we have to suffer to play the blues right? Well, if this amp lives for me to play the blues on it, I expect some extra good licks from this burn I got on the soldering iron. Laid the edge of my arm down on the length of it. Was into about hour 8 or 10 with this thing, getting pissed and in a hurry and careless. In my last job I did lots of electro mechanical work and could almost solder blind folded..guess I'm rusty ha ha. Funny, it only hurt for a minute or two, poured some cold water on it and got right back to work. Here it is a week later. Out of focus to not upset the sensibilities of the weak stomached ha ha but you get the idea
Hfan Posted August 9, 2015 Author Posted August 9, 2015 Very doable Former super champ XD Former blues JR (wish I could find the post surgery gut shots for this one) Moral of the story... don't let kbp810 work on your PCB amps Hi Brian, I just should have shipped the whole thing to you. But then I would have missed all the fun. Good to hear from you here.
Hfan Posted September 19, 2015 Author Posted September 19, 2015 I'm sure you have all been waiting breathlessly for an update. Damn it's been a month and a half. Well..as I told my high school teachers.."you can't rush quality". Ripping apart the little monster BJr and burning myself, pulling my hair out that day etc etc was traumatic for me. I needed a rehab. So I went to a plan A and B Plan A was a little mod on my Nocaster added a cocked wah to position three to replace the dark tone there..that was iffy too..my quickly made up circuit was a dismal failure but a kind soul on the Tele forum helped me out. What a pleasure to work on a Tele circuit..two screws and you're there..you can swap in stuff in seconds . That restored my confidence somewhat but I still wasn't prepared to deal with the BJr yet. Plan B: Bear with me..I decided to scare the BJr. I brought home another amp to terrorize it and gave the new amp the BJr's outfit. I am I believe the first amateur amp tech to try this approach..give me points, if for nothing else, for originality. More to come..or if this is too crazy (no I'm not drunk) just say "shut up Pete" and I will... Or feel free to speculate and make comments...wise ass or useful..all are welcome. Hint: EL84 and no damn circuit boards!!!!
Hfan Posted September 20, 2015 Author Posted September 20, 2015 No speculation or comments..you guys are either in awe or ignoring me..used to that as a married man anyway. Here is a blues Jr cover covering an amp..not necessarily a Blues Jr though...it figures that it is a perfect fit for the one I brought home..a sign from above perhaps?
Hfan Posted September 21, 2015 Author Posted September 21, 2015 Well in the week after my failed BJr mod attempt while licking my wound, this popped up on CL. a loud 5W EL84 (or other pwr tubes may be used) Tweedish with Reverb from a well known boutique builder..and the cover fits.
schundog Posted September 21, 2015 Posted September 21, 2015 "Tell Him what he's won, Bob!!" "It's..... A NEW CARR!!" C'mon, ya tease, let's see that baby!!
JeffB Posted September 21, 2015 Posted September 21, 2015 That is brilliant! I gotta start making failed attempts at things so I can get cool new stuff.
duhvoodooman Posted September 21, 2015 Posted September 21, 2015 Lil' Svart box maybe? ^ This. Swart AST Pro. Nice amp!! Which speaker does it have in it? But don't let that Blues Jr. get the best of you. Now that that solder iron burn has faded to a scar (an amp builder's badge of honor!), dive back in! Probably would be a good idea to start by checking pin voltages on the tube sockets and checking vs. a Blues Junior annotated schematic. Heavy distortion like that is often an under-voltage problem. Looking through your soldering work with a magnifying glass would also be a good idea--only takes a single errant strand of wire to screw the pooch! I sold it a while back, but a used Blues Jr. that I picked up on eBay was one of my first amp-modding experiences. I did a boatload of the "BillM mods" on it, including replacing the stock OT with a 22W Heyboer unit, wiring in the unused half of the V2 preamp tube as a cathode follower, and converting the output tubes to octals. I remember nervously thinking "Well, there's no turning back now..." when I cut off the end of the tube-mounting circuit board with the two EL84 nonal sockets! After the mods, I ran a set of JJ 6V6S's in the amp, which sounded great. Much more open, Fender-y tone, and a much better low end. Posted a bunch of photos of the mods here: http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php/14948
Hfan Posted September 21, 2015 Author Posted September 21, 2015 "Tell Him what he's won, Bob!!" "It's..... A NEW CARR!!" C'mon, ya tease, let's see that baby!! And the lovely Vana White, the object of many young and old boys (and girls I bet) inappropriate thoughts and dreams points to door one..or was that a different show..?? Lil' Svart box maybe? Close but no ceegar..as spelling counts.. That is brilliant! I gotta start making failed attempts at things so I can get cool new stuff. Good to know I'm not the only one currently experiencing warped cognition. ^ This. Swart AST Pro. Nice amp!! Which speaker does it have in it? But don't let that Blues Jr. get the best of you. Now that that solder iron burn has faded to a scar (an amp builder's badge of honor!), dive back in! Probably would be a good idea to start by checking pin voltages on the tube sockets and checking vs. a Blues Junior annotated schematic. Heavy distortion like that is often an under-voltage problem. Looking through your soldering work with a magnifying glass would also be a good idea--only takes a single errant strand of wire to screw the pooch! I sold it a while back, but a used Blues Jr. that I picked up on eBay was one of my first amp-modding experiences. I did a boatload of the "BillM mods" on it, including replacing the stock OT with a 22W Heyboer unit, wiring in the unused half of the V2 preamp tube as a cathode follower, and converting the output tubes to octals. I remember nervously thinking "Well, there's no turning back now..." when I cut off the end of the tube-mounting circuit board with the two EL84 nonal sockets! After the mods, I ran a set of JJ 6V6S's in the amp, which sounded great. Much more open, Fender-y tone, and a much better low end. Posted a bunch of photos of the mods here: http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php/14948 Yes good advice..I should check voltages for sure. I was soldering with the pcbs pretty much in place..meaning very cramped access and poor visibility and I was out of time for the day . When I disassembled it again in good light holding just the two boards I could see some poor solder joints and some strands etc. I'll probably clean up the existing solder joints and put it together and see what happens.. I installed that Hayboer Xformer too and most of Bill's mods..I really like this amp and have the connection of working on it so much. I considered giving up and making it a speaker cabinet but I'm sticking with this..even if it takes me a long time..I have other amps. I'll check out that thread, thank you. After I get this to work (knock wood) I doubt I'll do any other mods though. At least for the foreseeable future.
Hfan Posted September 21, 2015 Author Posted September 21, 2015 OK enough..it's a minty Swart STR. From 2013 with the upgraded dark tweed and a Swart night light attenuator..bought for a great low price on CL. It has the 12" speaker that came stock..forget the name. It came up right after my mod attempt. It's pretty cool..very tweedy but with reverb, I've always loved tweed tones but wished for reverb more than once. Very loud for 5W, got to try it out in a church, the seller had the keys..was a member of the band there I believe. I placed it in a small closet face to face with the Blues Jr for two weeks in an experiment, with the Swart wearing the Fender cover.. ..maybe the Blues Jr will begin to behave itself now. Logical right? I may also leave the Blues Jr at curbside on garbage night..and retrieve it just as the truck pulls up..desperate times call for desperate measures and all that..
DetroitBlues Posted September 21, 2015 Posted September 21, 2015 Sounds like you have some nice amps regardless... I've always wondered why someone hasn't created the Blues Jr as a point to point amp. Seems entirely possible. Yet again, what do I know? Worse case, you can do exactly what Brian did above and gut the amp. Put in a 5E3 kit and call it a day...
Hfan Posted September 21, 2015 Author Posted September 21, 2015 Sounds like you have some nice amps regardless... I've always wondered why someone hasn't created the Blues Jr as a point to point amp. Seems entirely possible. Yet again, what do I know? Worse case, you can do exactly what Brian did above and gut the amp. Put in a 5E3 kit and call it a day... Eh.I have a Lil Dawg (another CL find) 25W 5E3 already..it's a monster at that wattage but came with an attenuating speaker. I can honestly say that I am done with amp buying..I'm really set. I actually want to sell my old Twin but couldn't really ship it. And the one I use the most by far is that old Traynor you sold me. Perfect for around the house.
DetroitBlues Posted September 22, 2015 Posted September 22, 2015 That Traynor is a good amp. Not that loud, but very lush and excellent blues tones.
Hfan Posted September 22, 2015 Author Posted September 22, 2015 That Traynor is a good amp. Not that loud, but very lush and excellent blues tones. It will get very loud with a little jump start aka an OD pedal. But yes the reverb is lush as is the overall tone.
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