Paul Marossy

It would be very cool!

Oh yeah, I remember that now. I guess the part I was wondering about the most was how the sides turned out. Did you have apply sanding sealer to the sides of the headstock as well?

I was thinking that a white pearl finish might look cool. Notice I didn't say pearloid... Clear could be cool, too. Would you have the control cavities and stuff visible?

Anyone ever try this? Any tips on how to do it? I'm not sure if it's possible to pull that off, but I thought I would ask because the thought has crossed my mind...

You can get a decent new scope for around $500-1000. There's lot of them for sale on ebay (usually used). I also got a signal generator capable of producing sine, square and triangle waves from 1hZ to 1mHz for about $50. You can even make your own audio oscillator for probably $20. You can get tube testers, too.

Anyone ever do this? I'm just wondering what the best way to make one is. I don't have any tools to do this with except for a jigsaw, hacksaw and a Dremel Tool. Is there some kind of attachment I can get for the Dremel Tool that would sort of act like a router bit? I don't think that a cutting wheel is going to get me where I want to be. I used that little cutting wheel to cut some holes in my Matchless Spitfire clone chassis, and while it did a good job, it took a long time and it was a PITA. Took about three of those cutting wheels to cut two square holes... Probably a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade is the way to go. What do y'all think? Any second opinions?

In case you haven't figured this out yet, 51pF is not anywhere close to 56uF! If all you can get is a 56pF cap, that would be close enough. The 0.02uF cap is correct. If you can't find one, use a 0.022uF or (2) 0.01uF caps in parallel. A 100V 1uF cap would be fine. A bi-polar would would probably also work OK, but YMMV. EDIT: On the JRC4558D, you can also use a TL072, NE5532, NTE928M, KA358 or an OP275. You could even use an LM1458, but it may be a little noisier. About the Chandler Tube Driver at GGG, a lot of people have problems with noise with that circuit. I would build the Shaka Tube instead, it's not that different than the Tube Driver, a little simpler to build in fact. Everything you need to build one is at my site...

I'm not talking about medieval times... All music today is based on some kind of scale. A 1-4-5 progression wouldn't exist if there wasn't a scale to base it on. (OK, maybe it would, but people wouldn't know what to call it) I agree. I never said or meant to infer that that is the way to write. I don't write that way. But it helps me personally to know what I am playing and why I am playing it. There are quite a few scales that one could play over any one chord progression, all with a different feel. I think people that don't want to learn theory are only hurting themselves. I'm not saying that music is all academic, just that is important, IMO, that you know some theory. How would you know how to make a minor chord without theory? Or even why a minor chord is called a minor. Or even what composes the basic triad. Memorizing 5000 chord shapes is not the way I like to do things...

Oh, the Blue Magic is a great sounding circuit. I think it is similar to the TS, but it has its own flavor. I haven't done a side by side comparison, but I think I like them about the same at this point. That mid boost switch on the Blue Magic doesn't seem to do that much, but you can definitely see an affect on the signal when you are looking at it on a scope. I think it depends a lot on your rig and how you EQ it. I typically don't use a lot of mids.

Scales are what pretty much all music is based on. Knowing what scales to use over what chords is important if you really want to come up with some tasty stuff. And knowledge of scales will help you play in any key, Minor, Major, too. Just for the record, I never really wanted to learn other people's music as a rule. But, certain tunes will intrigue me enough to want to figure them out.

Glad to be of help.

Read the Guitar Amp Debug section at http://www.geofex.com If the solder joints are melting, there is a definite problem! Solder melts at around 360 to 620 deg. F, depending on the type. Those tubes are getting way, way too hot. I would suspect that the power tube bias is whacked, and your tubes are near death in this condition. Do the plates (grey things inside the tube) get red at all? That is a sure sign of a badly misbiased tube.

I am 100% self taught. My greatest tool for learning was a 4-track recorder. I could play stuff and then record a track over that and see how it sounded. Was a great tool. Now I use a multi-track recorder as a compositional tool. If you're getting frustrated, go onto something else. It just makes you more frustrated if you keep trying to get it when you're already frustrated. Know your limits. I don't know your level of playing, but I can't figure out stuff all the time, either. In fact probably 50% of the time. But, I am also tryiing to figure out stuff by Frank Gambale, Scott Henderson, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola and others. And just try to duplicate some sax lines sometime, they make it sound deceptively simple. Well, not for guitar! Sometimes setting your goal high is good, but only after you've conquered stuff that is easier than your goal. And some other things, the time that you practice is important. For me, the best time is 4:30-6:00AM. It's the only uninterrupted time that I have - got a 1 and 3 year old and a wife. If I try to do it at night, I am too toasted after work, can't concentrate, etc. And this might sound corny, but eat right, take care of yourself and get some sleep. Your mind will be sharper. Ear training takes time for most people. Don't let the process blow you out, bud.

That is a cool looking axe. At first I thought it was a Joe Satriani Ibanez. Maybe that's what inspired the whole thing?! I also personally think that "black chrome" looks killer.

Absolutely! Its always OK to go higher, but you never want to go lower than your power supply. In low voltage circuits like these, people generally use 16V caps. A fresh 9V battery puts out about 9.5V, so a 10V cap, which is next voltage range lower than 16V, is really pushin' it.

Ahh, yes. The good old pulldown resistor thing. Why didn't I think it that?! I guess it's not a stombox, that's why! Thanks. While I'm at at, I was thinking about that LM386 based feedback thing that Ansil came up with. I think that will need to have the circuit input grounded when the circuit is not in use, because I have a hunch it can sit there and oscillate with no input and somehow find its way into the signal path. I had a similar problem with my first Shaka Tube build...

As lovercraft says, I have built the GGG TS808 Tube Screamer. I like it quite a lot. Don't have any specific advice for you though. So, you have a solid state amp, huh? Here is some suggestions of things you could look into: PNP Neg Ground "Boutique Fuzz" (GGG) BSIAB I or BSIAB II (I am partial to the original version, I have a PCB layout for it at my site...) Blue Magic (GGG) Shaka Tube- I love this one! http://www.diyguitarist.com/DIYStompboxes/ST1590BB.htm AMZ Mini-Booster 3-Legged Dog (ROG) I'm not totally sure how these would sound with a SS amp, but my thinking is that if you set you amp so that it's loud and clean (if that's possible), then it probably won't sound too bad with a stompbox for the distortion. I think you probably want to avoid overdriving your amps' preamp as much as possible so you don't get a mushy tone due to preamp distortion added in there, too. This would be my approach. YMMV.

I designed the PCB for the onboard electronics for my "project guitar" last weekend. Got the PCB etched last night and populated it this morning (more like the middle of the night since I get up at 4:00AM nowadays - got young children). It measures about 3/4"x2" and has Tillman's little FET preamp and Ansil's feedback thinga-ma-jig on it, too. I am going to have it so that I can switch either one on or off. Which brings up a couple of questions: 1. I can just break the input to either circuit with a switch, but do I need to do anything else? I am concerned that I will get a popping noise when I flip the switch(es). 2. On the feedback thing Ansil designed, I assume that it only works on the pickup that it is attached to and only if it's active, correct? Any second opinions?

I designed the PCB for the onboard electronics last weekend. Got the PCB etched last night and populated it this morning (more like the middle of the night since I get up at 4:00AM now). It measures about 3/4"x2" and has Tillman's little FET preamp and Ansil's feedback thinga-ma-jig on it, too. I am going to have it so that I can switch either one on or off. BTW, I also ordered pickups, a Floyd Rose locking "tremolo", a neck, neck plate and tuners. I have to get started on that pickguard, too. I think I could do a two-piece Strat pickguard that wouldn't look too bad (I think). So far I am about $400 into this project. It's going to be worth it, though. I'll be updating the webpage tonight so y'all can see what I have cooked up do far. I'm having fun with this!

I would take the electrolytic cap rather than a ceramic, unless it was rated for 1KV...

Carvin is decent stuff.

Check out this page: http://www.muzique.com/lab/buffers.htm Maybe it will help you decide what you want. Tillman's circuit is basically a buffer/preamp circuit. You could put a trimpot at the output and essentially you have the same thing as the other circuits mentioned. I think that these little circuits would work fine, IMO.

This has been my experience. Digital FX units and modeling amps have their place, but a tube amp is in a league of its own.

If it were me, I would do an exhaust fan in the room, exhausting at the air at a minimum of a 5 minute air change. For a room 6'x6', a 70-100 CFM fan would do the trick. You can undercut the door to make sure that you are actually pulling new air into the room. As noted, you definitely would want an explosion proof fan motor. The fan could be remotely mounted, too.

Very nice work! It seems like it would be a bit of a challenge to get a good looking swirl...