Re: Anyone try any of those Bill M Blues Junior mods?

Meat Plow wrote:

On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 10:08:16 -0700, RichCI wrote:


After reading through his web site a bit, I'm getting the urge to
tinker with my amp.

Are any of them more worthwhile than others?

What sort of skill level do you recommend? I've never messed with a
guitar amp, but I feel pretty comfortable with a soldering iron
outside of messing with circuit boards.

http://home.comcast.net/~machrone/bluesjunior.htm


You'll need a proper sized work area with good lighting. Good soldering
skills too. Practice soldering, unsoldering, jumpering, cutting traces
etc... on a junk pc board. If you can follow directions you've got what it
takes.


All good advice.

Don't underestimate the value of a QUALITY soldering iron. I learned on a weller solder station. After moving out of my parent's home, I then used a cheapie Radio Shack iron for years. Small children and church people had to be kept at a reasonable distance, due to my language. Then I broke down and bought this guy: http://www.hmcelectronics.com/cgi-bin/scripts/query.cgi?query=936ESD Well worth the investment! I love this iron. The quality of my work improved, night and day. This thing has a temperature preset, it heats up FAST, and holds temperature well.

My latest "why didn't I do that years ago?": http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250091958121

In the last year or so I added an old oscilloscope bought off ebay for dirt (local pickup) and a decent audio generator. I bought a good VTVM of a guy a couple years back. Still using a couple of cheapo multi-meters, but they function fine. I'll find a decent price on a nice Fluke in a pawn shop or ebay, one of these days.

A hobby guy can build a decent bench for cheap, if he shops around and picks things up as bargains come up.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: valve junior hype?
    ... valve junior amp is all about. ... My soldering is vastly improved with my ... I have messed up traces using the old POS Radio Shack ... because it doesn't heat the joint quickly enough, ...
    (alt.guitar.amps)
  • Re: New rig
    ... >> pliers and soldering iron, you'll become more familiar with exactly how ... >> amp construction. ... If the kit ... has only a schematic or even just a schematic and layout diagram, ...
    (alt.guitar.amps)
  • Re: Follow up to 1/8 in jack
    ... dif type and plugging into my onboard pre amp via 1/8. ... western on order but of course it comes with a 1/4 inch female end pin ... If I bought an adapter that was 1/4 male to 1/8 ... you have some good soldering skills and are used to dealing with small ...
    (rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic)
  • Re: Follow up to 1/8 in jack
    ... dif type and plugging into my onboard pre amp via 1/8. ... western on order but of course it comes with a 1/4 inch female end pin ... If I bought an adapter that was 1/4 male to 1/8 ... you have some good soldering skills and are used to dealing with small ...
    (rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic)
  • Re: The Great Strip-X Substitute Hunt, Part 2
    ... soldering iron and leave the little solder blob on the iron and apply ... it to the end of the wire. ... ends of the fine copper wire from all the threading-through ...
    (rec.radio.amateur.homebrew)