Fan O' Zakk

It wouldn't be a blown fuse, since that would remove ALL load from the circuit... Offhand, it's an odd problem. I'd start by verifying that the adaptor itself is functioning correctly. A multimeter will confirm that. From there...I dunno if you wanna open the thing up to start digging, but I'd at least give it a glance-over to see if anything looks to be shorting/suffering from heat damage on the inside... Good luck man, let us know what happens!

Well, I'd thought up the technique for masking, and it seemed to make sense in my head, but I wanted to make sure it worked in reality, as well...I was painting another guitar at the time, and I just had a new lid handy...so I figured "what the heck" PM me if you wanna hear about how the bullseye lid affair got REALLY interesting!

GHS ZW sig boomers... Love the heavy low end...and GHS makes great stings, IMO. Oh, and on acoustics, I use John Pearse Medium and almost-lights...

Since there seems to be a bit of confusion and interest in spraying guitars, here's a quickie little tutorial...thanks to www.blacklabelsociety.net for the pics! 1. Strip all hardware off guitar. Do whatever prep work to the finish of the guitar you desire...Mask neck, sides, and back of guitar. Now, from here, you can either mask the top of the guitar off with several strips of wide masking tape (use the green painters tape...NOT the delicate green, though), or else you can lay down a single sheet of a sticky mask, as in the first picture... 2. Prepare a centering block. This must fit into the bridge pickup cavity without any wiggling, and from there, mark a hole in the exact center of that cavity. Use a standard compass and pencil to trace out the rings...for exact spacing, refer to pictures...using features such as the toggles, pots, pickup, etc., it should be easy to get these precise... http://www.blacklabelsociety.net/gear/gumby/gumby-prep.jpg 3. Now it's time to cut the mask. Put a #1 exacto pencil knife into the compass, turning the blade perpendicular to the compass. Put the pin end into the block, and use the pencil marks as a guide, holding the razor knife down low and guiding it along...be sure to not press to hard, as deep marks in the guitar's top will make the rings look terrible! Also, try to keep the blade's cutting tip perpendicular to the guitar's top! That'll help ensure clean and easy cuts! 4. Mask off the binding, 'cause you don't wanna include that in your rings! 5. Paint time! Shoot the rings, and then lift off the mask right away! If you did it right, you'll have something like the next picture...if not...well, that's not good. Do any touchup work needed by hand, then clear coat that fiddle! http://www.blacklabelsociety.net/gear/gumb...mby-painted.jpg It's probably a good idea to do a dry run on something else to get the feel for doing the masking on this guitar, which is easily the hardest thing to do...I used a toilet seat...that led to...interesting...things happening. Anyhow, hope this was helpful... -Kev

It's not a good idea for two reasons...One, it's impossible to lay down the rings perfectly, so you won't get a good, even mask to use... Two, because of their adhesive properties, you won't get a clean line when you peel the decal/mask off. Three, the paint, under some circumstances, will start to dissolve the vinyl, which can lead to...problems... Like I said, the only good way to do this is the right way. Mask off the whole guitar's top, cut out the rings, and use it as a mask from there... You saved it on the last comment. YES, the rings are perfectly round. it's the curvature of the carved top on a LP that makes them appear otherwise.

...And back to the topic at hand, I'm gonna be making a replica of the Goldie LP once I get the rest of my workload cleared up... Change binding from multi-ply to solid, strip and paint body to gold, add in black rings. Refret to 6100 Dunlops...Already got the EMG's, so all I need to do is change the truss rod cover, and I'm golden!

this is somenthing that ai am considering happening, since they already got PRS in a lawsuit for using the name and design of "singlecut" That's why the PRS singlecut as well as the Tremonti SE were pulled from the shelfs until the lawsuit is done. But then again it will be Gibson doing it, Zakk is to "nice" to do that to his fans(who else will want a bullseye on a LP than a ZW fan!) This is getting a little tiring, not to mention off topic, but Zakk doesn't have a problem with FANS enjoying the bullseye design. He'd never say or think a bad thing about a FAN who did that. The problem is a MERCHANT making money off of him. That's a totally different thing. I just want to point out that the guy selling those decals is stiffing Zakk on every purchase.

My apologies. I've edited my post. You can bet that the second the Gibson CS produces a Zakk Guitar, it's trademarked. And that is a FACT. It'd be a lot easier to just tape and mask it off the old-school way...

Got an Epi LP Custom last december... Turns out it was one of the rare maple neck customs...and I still haven't figured out if the fingerboard is ebony or heavily dyed rosewood...my spidey senses tell me it's ebony... lol

Painted bullseyes? Yeah, I've done a few in my day... I can walk you through the process, if you'd like... Oh, and PLEASE don't use that edit ebay decals. He's profiting from Zakk, without permission or royalties...

Um...what??

If you have the know-how and are willing to modify your pickup, it can be done. Firstly, know that a humbucker is simply two single-coils wired up in series, with one "flipped" in wiring sequence from the other. This is what cancels the hum. So, we have 2 single coils. Each single coil has two wires: A start, and a finish. In standard humbucker configuration, the two finish wires are connected, and the two starts serve as the two main wires leading from the pickup. The ground is typically attached to the metal base upon which the pickup is mounted. The only difference between a 2-conductor and a 4-conductor pickup is two finish leads. In a two, they're connected, and concealed within the humbucker. In a four, the two finish wires exit the pickup, and go to the switching/control area, as they're needed. To convert a 2-conductor to a 4, disassemble the pickup, cut the wire connecting the two coils, then attach longer wires onto each. Re-assemble the whole works, so that you now have 4 wires, plus the fifth ground. Done. From there, you have the option of doing all kinds of fun switching configurations...enjoy!

If you can dig up all the special specs on the speakers, you'll be able to make a decent sounding setup. But without knowing the specific amount of airspace each speaker will require in it's box, you will be unable to optimize their performance.

Just another thought...if your multimeter is set either too low or too high in the ohm scale, it can also register ohm loads as "0"

In place of the resistor, in this diagram, imagine a filter cap. I can't explain exactly why you do it, but I've always been taught that. 4 diodes always. I've seen either two diodes on each side of the secondary, in series, or else set into a full-bridge configuration, as above. Your concept is correct, in that it limits the two-way AC current flow to one way, and by each end of the PT's secondary being 180* out of phase with the other side, it fills in the "gaps" and creates a DC current flow. As was stated above, silicone diodes aren't a direct replacement for tube rectifiers, for two reasons. One, the voltage drop is significantly less, and two, you DO NEED to add in a standby switch. Most circuits that run a tube rectifier don't need one, because the rectifier tube itself brings the current up slowly, and cathodes are not stripped. Now, I can't explain offhand why 4 diodes are used, I just know that in every amp I've seen, that's how it's been. It might be a noise filtering feature, it might be a safety feature, it could be a lot of things...but don't you think that if it weren't necessary, they wouldn't do it??

My 100-watt tube amp (Which I have down-tuned to around 80) will rarely see master volume level above 2. He could gig easily with that amp, it's plenty useable at home at low volumes...Honestly, one of these mid-wattage amps is a great thing! Allows for a helluva lot more versatility than a 10 or a 15, same goes for a 50 or 100!

Some diode configurations, depending upon the voltage produced across each half of the secondary, even used the center taps! Still needed 4 diodes in that case, though...

Um...wouldn't a full-bridge rectifier be 4 diodes?? And if you're replacing an amp's tube rectifier with diodes, keep in mind that the voltages seen after the rectifier WILL be different, sometimes by a large margin!

1. Screwdriver --> short the capacitors to the ground. Quick, simple, makes for interesting sparks. On the bad side, the capacitors WILL "regrow" some of their voltage... 2. Switch that runs the capacitors directly to the cathode resistor on one of the preamp tubes. This drains the caps off a bit more gently, and is a helluva lot safer. Uses existing resistors, and will require only 2 wires and a switch. Prevents "regrowth" voltage from becoming an issue. Just remember to turn the switch to the "open" position next time before you power up! -Kev

If you're doing this in Class A, with a pair of EL84's in push-pull config... Might hit about 10 watts clean, 25 is my best guess for total power... Great project...hope it works out well!! I'm desiging a custom gothic amp for someone as we speak as well...

I build a 100-watt tube amp over the period of January-June of this year... Firstly, you should have a decent knowledge of electronics; soldering, reading circuit diagrams, and safety wiring are all essentials here. Also, I dunno what part of the world you're living in, but you're gonna wanna be a bit careful...if your country runs 220 or whatever volts, be CAREFUL. Nobody's died in North America from a tube amp, as far as I know, but in Jolly ol' England, that might be a different story...I've taken 447 vDC from my amp during the build process, and lemme tell you, it ain't good times! Also, make sure you've got a good range of tools handy...if you're indeed doing this from scratch, get a good chassis made from aluminum, it's easier to work with! Buy a good bi-metal hole saw set, a couple of step bits, a GOOD solder iron (can't stress this enough!) and get ready for some major squinting! lol Gimme a shout if you need any more info! -Kev

No. The standard Watt is the same, irregardless of how it's made. Keep in mind, watts are measured AFTER the secondary of the output transformer. The meters have no way of knowing what made the power. It's all the same.

Yes and no...Tubes are capable of distorting earlier, and in a more linear sense than SS electronics. Further, that distortion is harmonic in nature, which sounds GOOD to our ears, as opposed to the massive clipping that an overdriven SS amp will produce. Tubes overdrive to produce a very nice, smooth waveform, with slightly flattened peaks and valleys. Solidstate overdrives into a very square wave shape. Tubes don't really "make" anything sound louder...it just seems that way to our ears, based upon the type of distortion produced.

There's a bit of a way around that...sort of. Use a standard preamp section, and from there, split your signal into 2 quads of EL34's. From there, you can either set each quad into it's own output tranny, and then re-couple the signal on the secondary side, before the output to the speakers... OR Wire up the two output trannies in series so that you've literally got a primary and secondary of twice the resistance of a single tranny... That's my best guess...

I played an olllld Harmonic Acoustic with frets what were pretty much square-profiled... Dunno if that has any bearings on electric guitars, though...