I am asked many times about the programs I’m using to design my amp layouts. So I thought of putting together a three part video tutorial about using Inkscape, a free vector based drawing program (for Win or Mac). I also made available the actual Inkscape amp layout drawing presented in these tutorials so you can use it as a blueprint starter template for your drawings. Please share your drawings! They are art!
Because the EF86 pentode is such a finicky tube but sounds so wicked (once you find the right one), I thought it might be worth showing the pain I’m going through (besides replacing Fallon with Leno), to keep things quiet:
This week’s video tip is about soldering the leads to the turret board to have a strong connection. The wire I am using is PVC insulated topcoat stranded wire (20 AWG).
The weekly tip on how to mount (solder) the copper buss wire to the front controls (potentiometers), and a jig. The buss wire can be found at any hardware shop and the one I’m using here is 14 AWG.
Softbox Spiderlight
Many of you are now familiar with my photography and video fixation lately. If not, watch my latest YouTube videos and you’ll understand (while there, hit Subscribe, I’ll love you for that!) After many make shift lighting improvisations including very hot 500 watt shop lights, clamp lights and what not, I came to the conclusion that it would be really nice to have a softbox which will project a really nice soft light with no harsh shadows on the subject. So I found Alex Campagna’s home made softbox blog post and I used it as an inspiration to build mine with a couple twists.
A quirky video on the art of soldering. It is an art – it really is! Enjoy:
The greatest space-eater on guitar pedal boards are the connection jacks.
Just take a look at your pedal board and imagine how much space you can free up if you can neatly align them next to each other as close as possible.
That’s exactly what I did with my guitar pedal board specially after purchasing the Pedaltrain Junior frame that’s quite small, so I had to rethink what pedal I REALLY need and need not. I like to travel light.
The patient is in the house. Before taking the scalpel and start the surgery, I thought of shooting a quick reference video for the newly receive out of the box Epiphone Valve Junior head. We will use this to compare the tone for each mod as we go along in our face lift journey.
I was particularly stunned on how dark this guitar amp sounds! In the video I have a Fender Telecaster (Mexican) that sounds crystal clear through my Gabriel V18 or V33 guitar amps. Bright, beautiful upper mids, etc. The overdrive was nevertheless EL-84-ish but without any definition or character or identity. i guess that’s what should be expected from a $150.00 (shipped) head, right?
The speaker cabinet has an AlNiCo Blue Celestion speaker , and has an open back. But even with this speaker the amp is simply too dark.
But the amp has potential. And we’ll discover that as we will start modding it. Stay tuned!
Wiring a tube guitar amplifier heater can be a pain in the rear. From twisting the leads to cancel out hum, to routing the 18 AWG wire the whole operation can be a hard animal to tame.
I’ll show you a couple tricks in this video on how you can do it. Enjoy this tutorial in 3 parts!
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