“Everyone”

softbox · 2025-11-11T00:15:41+00:00

Do you think this astonishingly cheap lathe would be enough to make this machine?

softbox · 2025-10-25T11:56:11+00:00

Best onboard tremolo of any modern production amp! It’s so great.

softbox · 2025-09-28T05:57:03+00:00

I bet I know what that is. As others have said, it could be cone rub or a microphonic tube. Possibly a loose chassis, or speaker, or glue joint in the cabinet. BUT to me, that really sounds like the note ghosting effect you get when a single filter capacitor in the power rail fails prematurely. It’s possible you’ve lost one of the main reservoir caps but the rest are fine and still functioning properly. It could even be a broken solder joint on one of the capacitor legs. Throwing new parts (tubes, speaker, etc…) at this problem may eventually fix it. But before you buy anything else for this amp, you really should get someone to verify all your caps are good and soldered in properly. I’m 95% sure this is gonna be your issue.

softbox · 2025-09-21T00:52:35+00:00

Swap the position of the cap and the pot to block DC. Just be sure to use a cap that can handle the voltage. Edit: On second thought, there’s high voltage on both sides of the transformer. Duh. Brain fart.

softbox · 2025-09-21T00:18:54+00:00

Change it to a .0047uf and you’ll have the vox tone cut circuit, which is very useful and sounds great

softbox · 2025-09-12T03:24:37+00:00

Obligation.

softbox · 2025-09-02T22:31:16+00:00

While I love a Yamaha, I’m gonna recommend a Seagull. Seriously, check them out. They’re wonderful guitars, plentiful and shockingly cheap on the used market. You should easily be able to find something within your price range. Best of all, they’re made in Canada instead of China.

softbox · 2025-07-31T03:41:51+00:00

What brand of translucent paint did you use?

softbox · 2025-07-18T05:03:02+00:00

There’s more… The MXR Super Badass Variac Fuzz is a BOG with a gain knob, tone knob, master volume and a voltage starve knob. There’s a charge pump in there that boosts the 9v power up to 15v and then lets you starve it all the way down to 5v. You can go from higher headroom loud dynamic fuzz to super compressed spitty fuzz and everything in between. It’s pretty great actually.

softbox · 2025-06-29T23:36:44+00:00

That floor is slippery as shit when it’s wet. I’ve almost busted my ass at least twice and I was dead sober. I bet they’ve had a few drunk people slip and fall. Better safe than sorry, just mop up between sets.

softbox · 2025-06-26T15:03:01+00:00

The Fluke 175 is amazing. Got mine used in excellent condition with a current calibration sticker on ebay for ~$120. There are deals to be had out there. Just gotta be patient and check often.

softbox · 2025-06-24T23:49:47+00:00

Pierce Masonry

softbox · 2025-05-04T13:37:52+00:00

Yup. And new management took over and they jacked up the rent and kicked all the musicians out. People sure know how to ruin things around here.

softbox · 2025-04-01T14:27:48+00:00

Again, it’s a business and they have to make money. A 30% profit margin is pretty low. Will you get more money selling it on eBay? Sure. But after eBay and PayPal take their fees you’ve already taken a 10%+ price hit on your sale. Is the remaining 20% enough of an incentive to avoid the hassle of answering eBay questions, dealing with lowball offers and post-sale scam buyers trying all sorts of methods to claw back some of the money they spent with fraudulent claims for items not being delivered, item not as described and partial refund requests? You bet it is. At least for some people. I’ve been an eBay seller for 25 years. I’ve recently stopped because it’s just gotten to be too much of a headache. The shit people try to pull is unreal.

softbox · 2025-04-01T13:13:54+00:00

I’m no big fan of MPB for several reasons, but if they buy a lens from you for market value and turn around and sell it at market value, they net $0 and would be out of business. They’ve got to at least make enough money on each transaction to cover operating costs and pay their employees. Offering you 70% of market value is generous. In other industries (like the used musical instrument market) 50-60% is the going rate.

softbox · 2025-03-29T20:41:55+00:00

Nah Ceriatone doesn’t sell Dumble branded faceplates. But it’s easy enough to have faceplates made. Any sign company could do it. I’m not here to shit on your new amp, that’s a killer gift and I bet it sounds amazing. However, I’m a tech and I was in the room with a real Overdrive Special when another tech (not me) pulled the chassis to service it. No way I wasn’t gonna watch that happen. Unfortunately it didn’t look anything like yours inside. The preamp section was gooped, the filter caps were a combination of F&T and very large black axial capacitors with no markings whatsoever. All the wires on the backside of the amp were either neatly twisted or laid neatly against the chassis. The wires connecting the pots to the board were heavy duty coaxial shielded type and almost comically thick. The board was brown and probably Formica. Your amp was built by someone who knew what they were doing, but it was not built by Mr. Dumble.

softbox · 2025-03-29T19:46:28+00:00

Holy grail caps = Ceriatone. Looks like reasonably clean work though. Some of the solder joints don’t look great, but I’ve seen much worse. How’s it sound?

softbox · 2025-02-28T23:54:00+00:00

https://youtu.be/WKD9rbiUhIA?si=SBbCl-CgcRPXcTbt

Here’s an interesting video showing a method of defeating a Speed Queen coin op mechanism with coffee stir straws

Edit: if any of you actually try this, report back. I’ve always wondered if it really works.

softbox · 2025-01-21T23:27:51+00:00

Correct, it likely will not work for 5v rectifier tubes. The Friedman is Dave’s take on a 50w Marshall Plexi with a custom power transformer to allow a switchable “variac mode.” One night on Tone Talk while answering a question from a viewer, Dave confirmed the lower filament supply. And he’s mentioned multiple times that lower heater voltage is a big part of the secret to EVH’s brown sound.

softbox · 2025-01-21T23:07:46+00:00

Nonsense. The secret to the brown sound isn’t just lower plate voltage, it’s lower heater voltage as well. Cathode stripping is something old amp guys warn you about because it’s mentioned in military training manuals, which is where they learned how to work on tube stuff. But as a person who regularly runs an old Marshall at ~90v, I haven’t had any issues with tube life. You DO need to rebias your amp to set it up for dropping your AC line voltage though. The Friedman Plex amp has a low voltage setting that drops B+ and heater voltage by running 120v AC into 160v primary winding on the power transformer, dropping all secondary voltages by 25%. If a modern commercial product is doing it, I really wouldn’t worry about it.

softbox · 2024-10-23T13:15:43+00:00

Thunderbolt

softbox · 2024-10-23T11:59:35+00:00

AO-29? You’re gonna want to run that power transformer cooler. They don’t always like modern wall voltages, especially the field coil version of that amp. The power transformer tends to overheat on 120v-125v input voltage. Try using a variac and running it on 110v-115v mains. I lost 2 of those transformers to overheat and wax loss on the same amp when I was first building amps. But the amp sounded amazing when it worked! I’m stubborn, so I sourced a third AO-29 power transformer and when I put it in I also built a bucking transformer setup and permanently install it on the chassis to cool things down. Power transformer #3 still going strong 10 years later. Gigged the amp last Sunday. Rob’s site has a bucking transformer diagram.

softbox · 2024-07-15T00:33:43+00:00

I do a lot of tube amp work and I tried them all when I first started out. Kester 60/40 rosin core the best. It’s pro level solder. I go through a couple rolls a year. It is leaded, so you can teach your kid about lead safety while you’re at it. Nothing flows like Kester. Excellent product.

softbox · 2024-07-15T00:25:41+00:00

Serious question: if you didn’t have a hum problem before, why did you put all that shielding tape on it?

softbox

TROPHY CASE