Guitar Nerds Anonymous

No worries, anytime! My mate here gets stuff out of Stratosphere all the time and has nothing but good stuff to say about them.

Cool!

5w Epiphone Valve Jr

That's such a cool looking lil amp. What's inside?

Just replaced whatever skimpy strings my Danelectro Baritone came fitted with with a set of 24-84 bass vi strings and what a difference! I'm an idiot I didn't do it sooner...

PRS Custom 22 has just gone in for a fret level and setup too (expecting it to be a little bit spendy sadly but needed doing) so I'm excited to have that back and finally finished!

Guitar auction today here:

https://auctions.gardinerhoulgate.co.uk/

Guitars were yesterday, equipment today

There's one of those Epiphone amps on eBay now, with the same disclaimer about a hum. I made a cheeky offer but was declined, thankfully, as I've got no space for it.

Johnny Marr going full Nigel Tufnell.

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/johnny-marr-fender-spirit-strat

Saw that the other day, thought it was a joke!!

Demo video please! 😉

What does it sound like?

Not too shabby, quite clean. Single Sovtek 12AX7 and EL84. Generic ceramic 8” speaker.

Very simple innards. I’m going to tidy up the wiring - the wires weren’t twisted together during assembly, which doesn’t help with the hum, and there are a bunch of extra power cables and fuse holders for different input voltages that can be safely removed. At some point I’ll probably upgrade the capacitors and other components.

The speaker will be swapped out for something with an AlNiCo magnet. I’m just trying to decide if I replace it with an 8” Jensen P8R in situ, or build a new cabinet from pine to give it a 10” or 12”.

Still can’t quite believe I picked this up for the price of a budget pedal.

@>>>>>>

It sounds slightly boxy and crunchy, but in a nice way. More mids and highs (it’s a small speaker), but not unpleasant.

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Due to redundancy I had to put all my mustang build on hold by nearly a year. A new job has reintroduced me to this beaut. Finished buff and polish last night.

Next month I’ll buy the wiring loom then I can put her together.

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That's sweet! Looks like it might be an easy candidate for a turret board conversion too - play around with some fancy caps and stuff maybe?

Maybe, although I’m happy enough soldering to a PCB. I’m definitely going to do some of the mods that sort out the hum, extend valve life, 4/8 ohm speaker output switch etc. You can also put in a master volume pot, and a Princeton-style tone control.

4/8 ohm speaker output switch etc

Is changing output impedance a big job on valve heads? My Hiwatt is 16/8 but I'd find 8/4 more useful with modern bass cabs.
I've got one of those series/parallel switch boxes to make 2 x 8ohm cabs 16ohm load but I've never used(trusted) it. Also all the 8x10 cabs are 4ohm in mono...

It depends on whether the output transformer has the wiring for it - in my amp, there’s an unused 8 ohm output wire (see photo) that can be brought into use. I’m going to route the 4 ohm and the 8 ohm outputs to a switch so that the appropriate output can be selected. Whether there are other ways to do it, short of changing the output transformer, I don’t know.

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I finally got a chance to see @rickster in concert last night, with Siobhán Parr, which was most excellent.

Good to see you Oli, and @owl too!

Great to meet you and was blown away by your set with Siobhan - your playing was great and her voice is something very special. Look forward to seeing you guys again soon.

Wicked. When's your next gig Rixta? Now we're all allowed out to play again we should hold a nerdmeet at one. I promise not to talk during the solos.

Morning of tedious fault-finding here after my new setup started to misbehave. Long story short, the SG bridge pickup has stopped working (hoping just a dodgy solder joint) and I had a duff patch cable. I went though the entire signal chain and tested everything in turn. Of course the culprit was the very last one in line...

Thinking about it now, of course it was, because by the time i'd got to that point in putting the board together, I was down to the crappy old thin, moulded cover cables that have been knocking about in the bottom of a drawer for twenty years. Duh.

Just ordered a few more so I've got some decent spares. Not cheap these days are they?

Found the dry joint in the SG and fixed it… then realised neither of the tone pots were working. Found more broken solder joints and fixed them. The whole loom looks pretty desiccated and fragile tbh. I guess 1999 is knocking on the door of “vintage” these days. *feels very old.

Also, last post today I promise, I’m pretty sure I’m gonnna order a Nobels ODR-1. I want a full frequency overdrive that goes good low gain sounds without a big mid boost. It seems to fit the bill. Lots of love for it. Cheap too. Any better or more fun alternatives in the £100 range?

There’s the MXR Sugar Drive here for £100:

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/180202321934008--mxr-m294-sugar-drive

It’s yet another Klone though, which I’m not sure is what you want. Tbh I think the ODR-1 is like the Rat, there are fancier clones and versions but the original still does the thing perfectly well and that’s why they’re still being made.

If it were me, I’d be looking at the MXR Timmy. I also like the Hudson Broadcast, although it’s a different sound.

Top tips ta! I ordered the Nobels already but really like the sound of the Broadcast as well. Might pick one up after pay day.