Hello to everyone,
This is my first post here a the SD forum and I thought that maybe i would relate some gear soul searching info to anyone interested.
My quest for the most affordable PAF tone brought me to a set of SD 59's about 2 years ago. A gold covered BB1 quickly joined the fold and the mods and swaps insued. I went from both 59's, to a 59 in the bridge w/ BB1 in the neck, to BB1 in the bridge and SD 59N in the neck slot, now to my final configuration: BB1 with cover off and nickel slugs in the neck and 59 bridge. I swapped out the A5 in the 59 w/ the A2 from in BB1 and put the A5 in the BB1. They both sound great in my Epi LP standard. I tried so many different PIO caps before finally settling on Sprague vitamin Q's. (.010 in the neck, .033 in the bridge, Linear taper volumes @500K, Audio taper tones @500K, braid wire, switchcraft 3-way, and enclosed switchcraft jack.) No covers on either of them.
Recently, after much research I purchased a Bugera V5 for the new apartment i was moving into, because it had the 3 way attenuator, and was extremely dissapointed. I quickly swapped out both the stock speaker( with a Weber Sig 8 alnico) and the tubes (JAN/Phillips 5751 pre, and Mulard re-issue EL-84 power.) and was still extremely upset with the lack of useable tone. Brightness was a serious issue even on the 5 watt setting. What was I to do..........
Enter 3 weeks worth of tireless Dallas Rangemaster clone building. Silicon, Germanium, 3-way voicing switches, you name it I tried it. Finally settled on
.010 output cap, .0068 input cap, and 2n3096 silcon for the transistor (had to use a 100K boost pot for some reason to get any serious drive out of it.) Brightened it right up and drives the hell out of this little amp. Put the stock speaker back in and wallah!!!!!!!!! A totally useful, motley crue of a guitar setup that nails any tone at any volume with ease.
Just goes to show you dont need thousands of dollars of gear to get where you need to be. If you can use a soldering iron and have a thirst for classic guitar tones, you can make it happen!!!!!!!!!
Any who needs info on the Bugera, my pickup mods, or the Rangemaster let me know!!!!!!1
Derek
This is my first post here a the SD forum and I thought that maybe i would relate some gear soul searching info to anyone interested.
My quest for the most affordable PAF tone brought me to a set of SD 59's about 2 years ago. A gold covered BB1 quickly joined the fold and the mods and swaps insued. I went from both 59's, to a 59 in the bridge w/ BB1 in the neck, to BB1 in the bridge and SD 59N in the neck slot, now to my final configuration: BB1 with cover off and nickel slugs in the neck and 59 bridge. I swapped out the A5 in the 59 w/ the A2 from in BB1 and put the A5 in the BB1. They both sound great in my Epi LP standard. I tried so many different PIO caps before finally settling on Sprague vitamin Q's. (.010 in the neck, .033 in the bridge, Linear taper volumes @500K, Audio taper tones @500K, braid wire, switchcraft 3-way, and enclosed switchcraft jack.) No covers on either of them.
Recently, after much research I purchased a Bugera V5 for the new apartment i was moving into, because it had the 3 way attenuator, and was extremely dissapointed. I quickly swapped out both the stock speaker( with a Weber Sig 8 alnico) and the tubes (JAN/Phillips 5751 pre, and Mulard re-issue EL-84 power.) and was still extremely upset with the lack of useable tone. Brightness was a serious issue even on the 5 watt setting. What was I to do..........
Enter 3 weeks worth of tireless Dallas Rangemaster clone building. Silicon, Germanium, 3-way voicing switches, you name it I tried it. Finally settled on
.010 output cap, .0068 input cap, and 2n3096 silcon for the transistor (had to use a 100K boost pot for some reason to get any serious drive out of it.) Brightened it right up and drives the hell out of this little amp. Put the stock speaker back in and wallah!!!!!!!!! A totally useful, motley crue of a guitar setup that nails any tone at any volume with ease.
Just goes to show you dont need thousands of dollars of gear to get where you need to be. If you can use a soldering iron and have a thirst for classic guitar tones, you can make it happen!!!!!!!!!
Any who needs info on the Bugera, my pickup mods, or the Rangemaster let me know!!!!!!1
Derek
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