Pots Talk | Vox AC30 Hand Wired Pt 2
Вставка
- Опубліковано 26 бер 2024
- No, not all pots are the same, and size is far from the only difference.
Also, I hate delayed gratification.
Watch part one if you missed it:
• The Mods Begin | Vox A...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
These are things I get asked about a lot :
Amp Tech Gear Used :
Hakko FX-951 soldering station
Weller SPG 80L soldering iron (chassis work)
Rigol DS1054Z digital oscilloscope
Thsinde 18B+ digital multimeters
Kester 60/40 solder
Techspray #4 No-Clean Desoldering Braid
Below are things that make this channel possible that people don’t usually think about. If any of these companies want to send me new and wonderful toys, I’m open to that. I can’t take free stuff when it comes to the amps I review, etc, but for the stuff below, bribe away!
Microphones/Audio Equipment :
Guitar Amps : Royer R-10 Hot Rod and/or Shure SM57 (noted in videos)
Voiceover Bench : sE Audio sE8 (small diaphragm condenser)
Voiceover Streaming : Shure SM57 with shockmount and windscreen
Voiceover Mic Arms : Elgato Wave Mic arms
Guitar Mic Stand : Gator Frameworks short weighted base stand with boom
Mic Cables and Guitar Cables : Mogami/Neutrik
Mic pre : MOTU M2
DAW : Logic Pro X on MacBook Pro 16 running Sonoma 14
Plugins : No effects other than level matching/normalization unless a recording
specifically has reverb etc added in post (rare, various Waves plugins)
Monitors : Yamaha HS7s
Monitor Stands : Gator Frameworks Desktop Clamp-On Stands
Monitor Isolation Mounts : IsoAcoustics Iso-Puck Minis
Headphones : Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (main)
Headphones : Sony MDR-7506 (alternate)
Video Equipment :
Camera : Sony ZVE-10 with SmallRig Cage (main)
Lens : Sigma f2.8 18-50mm (main)
Lens : Sony ZVE10 kit lens (rarely used)
B Camera : Apple iPhone 13 Pro (rarely used)
Tripod : SmallRig 71” with SmallRig Fluid Video Head
Streaming Mount : Elgato Master Mount S with SmallRig Ballhead
Bench Light : SmallRig RC 120D
Bench Light Diffusor : SmallRig Lantern Softbox
Bench C-Stands (light and overhead camera) : Neewer Pro SS Heavy Duty
Streaming Light : SmallRig RC 120B
Streaming Diffusor : SmallRig Parabolic Softbox
Streaming Light Mount : SmallRig 148CM Wall Mount Boom with Triangle Base
Various Other Lights : Neewer LED Panels with Neewer Softboxes
Video Software :
Davinci Resolve 18
Paul Leeming LUTs
Adobe Illustrator 28
Adobe Photoshop 25
Ecamm Live (streaming software)
![Lp. Последняя Реальность #107 РОДНОЙ ДОМ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IK3QKzKUlHM/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you for explaining the difference between pots.
Thanks so much for making me look up and learn a heap more about pot taper. For decades I have known about log vs lin pots, and how the ear's response is more log, but now I know there is more to it. :-) I cannot believe they make pots that are just two straight lines to "approximate" a log curve.
I've finally remembered who your voice reminds me of."Adam West"!
You nailed it!
“pure ….. West” 🦇
Agreed!
Holy Bat Crap, you're right.
I have the handwired ac15 I need the master to evaluate and redo all the suspect things and bring closer to jmi specs. Man what talent you have,a skill most techs don’t have, I trust everything you say and do. Thanks for sharing!!!
Love these videos! Bought an AC15 based on your advice, thanks a million, I'm loving the amp
Excellent informative episode. Thanks for posting.
That's a beautiful looking amp inside and out.
Wow, lots to learn. Great video.
Thank you sir, looks great!
1... WOW, what a georgeous layout awesome work too!
2.... Thank you for the awesome lesson on POTS...
3... My Jazz Reverb Deluxe Re-Issue (Oh yes, I've been watching your eps, yes I am aware of the caps) THE POTS on it are SO smooth, one needs only breathe on them and they'd move.. So I put some rubber O-Rings under the knobs, acted as a nice shim to level things off and offered a slight amount of resistance that made them so much better...
4 Lastly, on that same amp, The re-issue, it had a bad reverb, would cut out suddenly and then intermittent. I took in under warranty, they changed the tank, but I noticed what I think is a TYCO relay on the board, and those relays have a bad reputation with me, we used them on very expensive tyre truers to switch and fail regularly... Is it a relay and could it be the fault. (note: I had no gripe with fender, I bought a Roland RV-6 reverb/delay and have no intention of using an analog tank. Would be nice to rectify when I get around to changing the caps over.
Potentiometer brands I used to see in older test equipment and military gear included Centralab, Clarostat, Allen-Bradley of course, and in really old equipment (especially antique radios), IRC , International Resistance Corporation (a great name, in my opinion). As far as i know, none of these brands made it into our modetn age, not even as "legacy" or "zombie" brands for parts sourced from overseas. BTW, if I remember correctly, CTS stands, or stood, for Chicago Telegraph Supply (or Telephone Supply).
Glad to hear your bad back is loosening up it's grip on you.
I used to have one of those upside down hanging tables, best thing ever!
Someone should start a volume and tone knob replacement company and call it “Pot Heads”
Excellent! Thank you
Amplification artistry .
i like those pec pots suhr uses
"Talkin' 'bout a revolution....." 😉
Thankz 4 Tha Nfo. Live wield N Prosper
Have you try bourns pot? I have use with guitar, it quite nice.
Love this, I have the AC15HW by reducing the filtering to JMI specs what kind of sonic difference would I expect? Also are Matchless filtered similar to JMI or are they more like the HW?
Lyle, do you use any Bourns pots? I have some audio 250s in my Strat and am really happy with the taper.
The mute switch might make slightly more sense as an "off/on" switch. "Mute" being up, "On" being down. Which is the same "up" as the master volume as it rotates from 10 to 5. Less volume = clockwise/"up", no volume = off/"up".
So that if you were turning master down and bumped the switch, the result would be in the same direction. Similarly if you were turning up and were muted, bumping the switch would result in volume appearing.
No chance to going to turn down, bumping switch and unmuting instead.
Hard to say. Just noticed that it's counter to the direct you turn volume down from max.
The printed labels on the panel say Master and Bypass so I wired it so that Bypass = Mute. Otherwise it would be confusing.
@@PsionicAudio Ahh labels make sense then.
When I first seen the title I thought it was Pot Talk. Sorry wrong channel.
Will you elevate that cathode bias resistor to get a little air flow under it, and get some distance between it and the bypass cap next to it?
Hi Lyle, lovin the work, just wondering if there is a reason the thread on the switches (mute) are so high from the face plate. My guess is for tight securing from the underside? I hate replacing end pin barrel jacks on acoustics with the lonnnnng thread to get the desired length poking out for the securing nut and strap lug.
The factory is lazy. If I had three extras nuts that fit I would remount them flush. But it’s not worth replacing them.
When will then, be now?
I don't think I've ever heard you comment on Bourns pots. Any opinion on those vs Alpha or CTS? I see that CE Distribution has a decent selection of them.
👍👍
Could you tell me which Alpha 24 mm pots were used and were they used on all pots?
1 meg audio taper 24 mm alpha?
Sorry for the ignorance. I’m having problems with the pots already fairly brand new amp.
Question about Rectifier tubes. I was told by a tech years ago that rectifier tubes either work or they don't. He said that they generally do not go bad gradually like output tubes or signal tubes. Is this true? Thanks always enjoy your videos.
Thanks Tony. They usually fail abruptly, even spectacularly. But sometimes they sputter and act up a bit for a while first. But it’s never a subtle decline.
@ PsionicAudio Sorry for the unrelated question but trying to get the final word, CE Cap Cans for Princeton reverbs? Yes or no, I'm reading dissenting info on their quality. I have one in now and the amp hums, no clue how old it is though. Also what about building and installing a small board for filter caps? Overkill or bad idea? Thanks!
Personally in my PR build, I soldered two terminal strips directly to chassis (you could drill holes and use hardware to mount them instead...but I wouldn't unless I didn't have a good chassis iron) and installed F&T axial caps. Then installed a large metal "hole plug" to seal up the canister void, and bent the hole plug's claws out of the way to avoid touching the terminals. I can try to make a quick video on my channel showing it but hopefully that made sense.
And that's because of the cost vs reliability of the CE canisters. I don't trust em much, compared to F&T. Buy if you can design a board for those nice short Vishay radial caps (similar to the SNK Ampeg V4 one)...more power to ya! Or for axials or whatever fits!
I have heard that if you smoke the pots, everything sounds better...🙃
Thank you for the pot talk. I have noticed that with CTS pots. 0-10% is dead. I just bought a MOJO vintage taper. Is it all CTS? And Alpha has a better 0-10%? That is needed for a volume pot. :)
Mojotone Vintage taper are made by CTS to MJ’s spec but don’t have any of the issues the regular CTS pots have. And yes, Alpha has a better 10% taper than CTS.
I have used every “made for guitar vintage hoodoo” CTS pot of 10, 20 & 30% taper on the market. Yes, 0 to 1 is dead on them all. For some inexplicable reason, CTS doesn’t make the conductive track on the wafer reach an extra ~1.5mm.
The best 0-1 performance pots are 24mm Alpha.
The feel and taper on CTS pots is more important to me in a guitar though. So, CTS guitar specific pots for guitar and 24mm Alpha pots for amps it is
Thank you. Yes I have a few MJ CTS in my guitars, but I will try an Alpha for volume so I can get rid of the dead 0-1.
Lyle, re: low-torque pots for strat volume knob: my ultra strat volume I swear you could blow on it to turn the knob. I'd like to keep the innards original. Any hacks that might tighten the turn, even just a bit?
@@jasonweidner3274you could probably stack nylon washers (or some type of rubber) between the bottom of knob and guitar body / pickguard to increase the friction to your liking. Some mechanical solution like that
Thanks for the content, try not to push your back too hard.
do you like linear tapers for the master volume?
Ugh. No.
@@PsionicAudio I've heard it solves the volume jump issues? I'm guessing that's not true or has some other drawback, perhaps you can explain briefly or include it in a video
I was hoping that this was the AC30 that the Gearpage guy has been waiting for but I guess it isn't?
That amp has been done and boxed up for months. I’d have shipped it long ago if he would communicate like an adult. That thread is not reflective of reality.
I would make customers sign a disclaimer that they don't have a GearPage account before touching their amps or instruments. A bunch of cry-bullies and hall monitors waiting for a pile-on at the slightest thing. Most of them have zero musical ability as well, and reckon the next Tubescreamer clone will somehow give them the musicianship that their raw talent provide.
@@PsionicAudioSo you are teaching him manners by keeping his amp? Seems odd.
It is rather irritating that you have to spend the extra money for hw version, and then you have spend more money to fix the issues that they have.
This a good reason to seek out a good original AC30 and repair what's needed instead.
@@mistermac56Or pay someone who is qualified, experienced & trustworthy to build one from scratch. I can often build 3,4,5 or in the case of Dumble amps 15 or 20 amps for the price of one used amp.
@@mistermac56, I don't know if I can agree with you on this. I'm a retired electronics tech with experience on both tube and solid-state amps (both hifi gear and guitar amps); I've never actually worked on an AC30 but I've watched plenty of online techs repair/rebuild them; the construction of 60's/70's AC30's is quite a mess, not to mention that there were numerous running changes and revisions to the circuits, different transformers and parts, and any given AC30 is likely to not match the published schematics. Almost certainly, any vintage AC30 is likely to have had several techs work on them, with varying degrees of skill or success, and so at this point you can't predict what you're going to find inside of them. This amp looks to be cleanly built, and the turret board is much larger than the tagboard used in vintage AC30'S, and everything is spaced out better so that access for repair and modification is much easier. Yes it sucks that the modern reissue AC30 didn't get it right considering how much the amp costs, but I don't know that it would be any different in price to buy a vintage AC30 and then have it repaired to the point where it will be reliable or even roadworthy. The only other factor is that a vintage AC30 will likely hold its value better than a reissue will ---- But repairing a vintage AC30 to the point where it's reliable and sounds right might in some people's eyes decrease its resale value. The handwired reissue Probably loses 20 to 30% of its value as soon as you take it home but any further maintenance or mods, if done neatly, will not be likely to further lower it's resale value.