ROBERTLATHAM1

hello guys! well im back i have a harmony h535/silvertone 1484 as they are almost identical to one another. i knock it over while looking at the wiring and busted one of the 6L6GC. not knowing the tube glass had been jared loose from the base i turned the amp on. guess what? FLAME_OUT! the damn tube poped and flashed very bright flames out. it was a sylvania i went and bought a new duet (mesa boogie)and replaced the old tubes but now all tubes glow and you can hear the normal power hiss or hum throught the speakers but no signal comming out from the guitar. i have checked all the obviouse (loose wires burnt looking components ect.) everything looks good but no sound HELP! HELP ! p.s. i have a sheamatic if this might help in diagnostics.

i own an rp-3 pedal and have had to make and tie in new foot switches for it, but would not let it go for anything! i think for the money to replace it with something compairable today it is a great unit. the closest thing i have found to it as far as versatality, tone quality, and user interface is the TC electronics processor which is actually a rack mount unit that is much more costly and difficult to setup.

hey guys im re-finishing a late 50's model truetone f-hole. the problem i have is the stock finish besides being very worn is that it was stained way to heavy. after some light sanding i discovered the spruce top has what i call really cool flamed grain lines that where hidden by the excesive amount of stain aplied by the factory! so i have now been faced with finding a very deep blood red stain or mixing my own. anyone have any advice? thanx guys/gals

Not a bad call. One could make a power board that had those safety outlets that are used in bathrooms and such. I'm no expert in electrical but it may be cheap insurance. (Still theres no replacement for checking the outlets before hand) ← this will work only if you have a ground at the outlet if there is no ground at the outlet. the g.f.c.i. (ground fault circuit interuputer) will fail the second you plug it in. the most ashured way to insure proper ground is to use a ground pig tail and make shure that that pig tail is grounded to either the receptical cover screw or directly to the electrical system grounding grid. i have pushed for ground rods to be a code requirement in stage area's! if you gig at places more than once it is worth the time and nominal cash to put a ground rod or independent grounded outlet system at the stage area. very easy to do! that would be all the wisdom this electricain can give you guys. know that ac low voltage i.e. 120v is very leathal as it is just enough voltage to cause your musles to consrict! not let go! it grabs you~! where higher voltages have enough potential to knock you away regarless of musle constriction

Here is what I made specifically for this purpose: http://www.diyguitarist.com/PDF_Files/LooperSchem.pdf IMO, an A/B box seems to be better suited for taking one guitar and switching between two amps or being used an an external bypass box. As in this diagram: http://www.diyguitarist.com/PDF_Files/ABY-Wiring.pdf HTH. ← lmao! you know i sat and thought aboout it after i started this post and came up with the same thing as your looper circuit, but useing a manual push button switch with 2 n.o contacts and 2 n.c. contacts and i think this is the way im gona go for now we will see how well it works lmao!

how do you get the two independent signals into the same input on the amp. i understand the chain to that point. guitar a\b box a b stompboxes processor amp but at this point my amp only has one input!

no joe the rp-3 digitech is a digital multi effects processor. i go from guitar to ts-9dx to marshall it sounds great but if i put the effects processor in at any point in front of the ts-9 or behind the ts-9 or in the effects loop my sound goes to the bone pile. if i use the rp-3 effects processor alone it sounds great but the two togather just sound like crap!

if you go to carlos santana page and click on the tech section. it gives you the recmmended string hights that i use on a jackson guitar and have really good results.

hey guys bought the ts-9dx still stock no mods yet. if i run it by itself guitar ts-9 amp it sounds great but if i put it in front or behind my rp-3 digitech it sounds like sh--! i dont know im thinking it might be something to do with the analog to digital signal process in the digitech and if im right about this what do i do to fix it!

ok guys here's is my next installment of ignorance! i am looking at purchaseing a tube screamer effects preamp. the only problem is i dont know which one to purchase. i like the tone andy timmons gets but have found nothing on the type of tube screamer he is useing. also once i do get this effects unit im not sure about levels and settings on the amp i.e. should i continue to use the 10db boost with the gain maxed out or should i cut the gain back or should i turn the boost off and just turn the gain to 11 lmao! (spinal tap reference) i am useing a marshall vs8100 out the effects loop into a digitech rp3>left rp3 chanel out into harmony 535 35watt all tube.> right rp3 chanel out back to effects return on marshall vs8100. harmony 535 into 4x 12 cab.> marshall 8100 into 4x12 cab.

well i was reading on alink that southpa attached (scrooll up) for the rig i use they say that the 5881's are better suited . i dont know but as i said before tubes are a mix and match thing until you find the combo you like. peace

southpa wow really great info there! i have been reading for over an hour now and cant get away from it! my brain in on tube overload lmao! i have decided to change my power tubes to the Sovtek 5881WXT as this tube , i think will acomodat my use more readily than the sylvainia that is presently in my power section. i am getting the feeling that the best tactic for finding tone i desire is to just plain expeiriment i.e buy many different tube packages then mix and match until i find what im after! thax again robert latham p.s. i donated today really love this site!

lovekraft yes i have foound a scheamatic but have not recieved it yet. the guy who has it does all the tweaks for the red stripes who use silvertone very closely related to the harmony. drak as for increasing the power for volume there is no need this amp is really loud. i was just under the impression that 2-6l6 produced 50watts no matter what. southpa it works great! no noise! but as for the valves needing replacement i dont know? if replaceing the tubes means more volume i dont know that my cabinet will handel any more lmao! im sure that replaceing them would improve the tone though so yes im planning to replace them but i have no idea of what to do other than replace with what came out with. as far as different tubes go ie 6l6 vs el34 and so on dont know the difference! thanks guys this site is really great and i need to read up on how to donate. would really like to contribute!

hello guys ! i just received the specs. on my 1968 harmony 535 head! wow! what a job it was finding anything on this head! anyways the specs state it has 7 tubes (4 dual purpose "what ever that means") 5 of the tubes are 12ax7"s and 2 of the tubes are 6L6GC's now i thought that two 6l6's made 50 watts but the specs state it is 35watts true power and over 75watts peak. is there different wattages to these 6l6 tubes? and if so can i get higher wattage tubes for the head with out damageing the unit?

lovekraft yeah it from what i understand is a late 50's to early 60's production date. it is totaly hand wired no board cicuits at all everything is original except for a monster cap on the ac line in. the tubes are 6-12ax7 RCA'S and 2- 6l6gc SYLVANIA'S. the RCA's appear to be original includeing metal shrouds over the tube. the sylvainia however look like new tube's. at any rate i use my marshall 8100 head on the tube chanel of course to pre amp into this head, as there is no gain control , only volume and tone. when doing this i was shocked at the tone and vibe of this head. i have always love jcm 800's tone, but this combo package(marshall 8100 pre-amp if you will harmony 535 head) gives me that tone plus the ability to produce some of thickest clean tones i have ever heard. if you could give me some insight on where i might find some tech data on harmony, silvertone or truetone amps as these where all basicaly manufactured alike it would help me tramendously. thank you robert latham

i just recently purchased a harmony 535 head it is all tube and pretty good sound but the pots are dirty and the sound goes from thick to thin never know which one your gonna get so if anyone know anything about these old heads please fill me in thanks.

hey guys well i went to the dallas guitar show this weekend and purchased a harmony 535 head . it has about 6-12ax7 and 2-6L6 valves. so now i must start with the questions. is this amp based on the same architecture as the marshall jmp? this amp has no gain control only two chanel's and volume for each. how do i put a gain pot in the pre-amp section? i would like to have control of the gain. you guys said to get a cheap chasis and start from there if i wanted to attemp to build something comparable to a marshall jmp or jcm800 ,being ignorant i hope this chasis will work for me. thanx , robert latham

hey guys i agree that 100 watts is way overkill for a practice amp. but i keep reading these comment about 15watt amps being way to loud for a practice amp. a 15 watt tube amp does get loud but the tone at those levels tends to (as i might say) float. much in the same way lifters do in a v-8 motor when too many rpms are reved. so if you do ever intend to play with a drummer i suggest at least a 30watt tube combo. this amp size amp will definitley get loud enough for a drummer and still maintain good tone and control through out the volume level. if you can afford it i suggest the new vox 30 really sweet amp!

lmao! yeah unfortunatley i have been an electrician for the better part of 20 years. i do have some electronic know how but very limited. i install whats know as plc's or computer controlers. very elemental stuff until you get to the processor section of the controler . thats when i yank the card and replace it. no component level stuff here lmao! but yes i think the iso trans concept will work. the power supply is not the one that goes with rp-3. it actualy is a tad bit too high of voltage but has not caused any prob for several years now. so i think i might just try to find a shielded pwer supply at the right voltage and amperage for the thing and see how that goes. poor man! poor toys lmao!

ha! yes i understand this iso transformer concept but the windings must be 1:1 or i could posably even make a little more gain here but this is not neccesary as the marshall has an effects level pot tied in with the loop cicuit anyways. would radio shack would carry a 1:1 iso transformer? thanx for the drawing it makes things much easier for people in my feild as electronics are a different animal than a lighting system or even a motor control center! so thanx again for your help!

inoulose i agree i have an 8100 valvestate head which is 100 watt and a 4x12 cab (which when loaded with crap speakers sounded like poop but jensen mod 50's cleared that prob up) anyways this amp is very loud amd i must say on five or six the drums are needing a p/a badly! as for the vintage tube tone i have tweeked with effects and got pretty close but its no replacement for true tube tone and vibe. all togather though i am pleased with the tone. the untrained ear would never know the difference.

WOW! OK OK WAIT! i am just a poor electrician here this is all greek to me you will have to excuse my ignorance, but if i could see some schematics i might better understand the lingo here. If what is being suggested involves internals of the marshall i want to be d--- sure i know what is going on before i make any mods. lmao! i know its prob the cheapest marshall product ever made but its my first and as i said before poor broke electrician here.

yes it is a digitech rp-3 multi effects processor and it has a ac power supply

hi guys its me again the jcm 800 jone's fool! im get a buzz when i run my effects through my effects loop on my marshall 8100 head. i dont get the noise going through the front end of the amp only through the loop any suggestions?

wow ok opened up a can of worms here lmao! i really like the brown sound i.e eddie vanhalen marshall years. but i dont know enough about electronics to know good from bad i hear hard wired amps over board amps , carbon filled caps over silica honestly i dont know the difference. all i do know is that i really like the jcm 800 sound and the new triple lead 2000 is pretty sweet too! but being apoor broke electrician i guess my dreams of ever haveing a jcm 800 are just that! boo hoo lmao!