Turret board kits for a DRRI

[Quencho092]

I was getting a little bit worried about PCB's being delicate and was wondering if anybody made a pre-loaded turret board for a DRRI?

If it costs 200 bucks I still paid less than having somebody handwire me one from scratch, since i got mine for 720, so no real worries price wise, this would just be something I'd like to do in the long run.

Or where can i get a blank turret board for an actual deluxe reverb and wire it up myself? It'd be like a little project I could do once my warranty is up.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

The PCB in reissue Fender amps is pretty good IMO...

I was getting a little bit worried about PCB's being delicate and was wondering if anybody made a pre-loaded turret board for a DRRI?

If it costs 200 bucks I still paid less than having somebody handwire me one from scratch, since i got mine for 720, so no real worries price wise, this would just be something I'd like to do in the long run.

Or where can i get a blank turret board for an actual deluxe reverb and wire it up myself? It'd be like a little project I could do once my warranty is up.

 

[Curly]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

please get $30 worth of tubes and play it for a while before you decide to do this

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

please get $30 worth of tubes and play it for a while before you decide to do this

+1

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

It's just a worst case scenario thing. I would HATE to butcher a perfectly good amp, but I keep hearing PCB's are so delicate and that it's bad to have the tubes mounted on the board that it would be nice to know that there's a good plan B route if the sh!t hits the fan.

I DO NOT believe that PTP sounds better than PCB- I'd take a PCB because it's less expensive than having a 'boutique rebuild' and sounds just as good. I just worry that after a few years the Florida heat and humidity might take its toll on the PCB.

Anybody here extensively gig or own a fender RI for a long time without issues with the board?

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

Maybe you should get one of Lew's brother Bruce's mission amps kits to use as a backup. They look like a fairly straight forward amp kit. http://www.missionamps.com/ and can be had for $350. See what you think.

The reviews on HC are very good, and apparently that's what got Scott_F starting on his Franklin amp mission.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

First, the power tubes are NOT mounted to the PCB (somebosy correct me if I am wrong) only the preamp tubes, and amp makers have been doing that for years and more years...IMO you are getting worked up for no reason.

I am NOT saying that a PCB amp is as sturdy as a PTP...just so you know, I dropped my twin reverb a few months back...it rolled down a full flight of concrete stairs, and at that moment I was very happy that it was not a PCB amp, but IMO that is a pretty extreme event!

I think you'll be fine with the amp as is...

It's just a worst case scenario thing. I would HATE to butcher a perfectly good amp, but I keep hearing PCB's are so delicate and that it's bad to have the tubes mounted on the board that it would be nice to know that there's a good plan B route if the sh!t hits the fan.

I DO NOT believe that PTP sounds better than PCB- I'd take a PCB because it's less expensive than having a 'boutique rebuild' and sounds just as good. I just worry that after a few years the Florida heat and humidity might take its toll on the PCB.

Anybody here extensively gig or own a fender RI for a long time without issues with the board?

 

[Curly]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

JUST PLAY THE DARN THING, DAMMIT!!!!!

honestly, you just got a pretty darn good amp, and you're already considering changing the board????

doesn't make much sense to me ... but then, I've only had mine since '94 - what do I know?

I'm not convinced a turret board would be that much of an improvement, especially for the amount of work involved

quit worrying about nothing, and save your money

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

JUST PLAY THE DARN THING, DAMMIT!!!!!

honestly, you just got a pretty darn good amp, and you're already considering changing the board????

doesn't make much sense to me ... but then, I've only had mine since '94 - what do I know?

I'm not convinced a turret board would be that much of an improvement, especially for the amount of work involved

quit worrying about nothing, and save your money

+1...Uh, again

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

JUST PLAY THE DARN THING, DAMMIT!!!!!

honestly, you just got a pretty darn good amp, and you're already considering changing the board????

doesn't make much sense to me ... but then, I've only had mine since '94 - what do I know?

I'm not convinced a turret board would be that much of an improvement, especially for the amount of work involved

quit worrying about nothing, and save your money

+100

Heck yes, after I rewired my strat this afternoon I played the damn amp until my brother was ready to strangle me! I play it within reasonable sanity limits in my house.

Tomorrow me and the DRRI have a date for a little backyard show with the band.

(The amp currently in my posession was the GC floor model from 2002 and has a few problems with the standby switch arcing and a loud hiss from the reverb when the knob is past 4. It was obviously abused by contstant power ups and shut downs and the tubes will be due for replacement soon.)

I had GC order me a new one and I'll be picking it up next week.

 

[Curly]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

actually, I think mine had the same two problems, but I had it fixed rather than getting a different one, because I plugged it in, and it sounded good, and I'm funny like that

 

[Curly]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

and BTW, I don't these amps are any more money now than what I paid 10 years ago!!!

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

how did you fix the problems, Curly? I'm curious! If the new one has the same issues or develops them, I'd like to know how to fix it, or at least what to watch out for.

The amp does sound amazing! It just has a captivatingly smooth tone, and with a touch of reverb I was hooked. It's just a dream to play with my strat.... :32:

 

[Curly]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

how did you fix the problems, Curly?

It was new, so I let Fender fix it on the warranty.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

Oh! Thanks anyway!

How does that warranty work? I know it's 5 years, but where can one take it to get it fixed?

 

[Curly]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

How does that warranty work? I know it's 5 years, but where can one take it to get it fixed?

I think I just went through the dealer, which was GC.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

I'm getting more familiar with the gain stages and how the amp reacts, how does the reverb affect the gain?

I think I heard if from Lew, that the reverb recovery tube acts like a 2nd gain stage. I have alot of preamp tubes laying around my house (Sovtek LPS, a bunch of unwanted 12ax7wa's, JJ ECC83S, EH's, a Westinghouse, and a 5751-my emergency headroom tube. What would be a good tube to slap into the reverb recovery slot out of the one's I listed?

 

[Curly]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

half of the reverb tube drives the reverb, and half is in the gain stage

actually, trying different tubes in the first slot instead would affect the tone more

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Turret board kits for a DRRI

If you don't use the normal channel, completely remove the preamptube in v1 and see if you like the gain boost on the reverb channel.

play it until it breaks. if it's out of warranty, get a board and rewire it with better components. There are a lot of folks that love putting the Hoffman replacement boards into the reissue amps and swear they can hear the tone get a lot better.

Have fun with it...

on the subject of mission amps and such, I highly recommend Bruce's kits. They are awesome. Good learning experience. It is what got me into all this. Then once addicted, I read and read every last thing I found and still find on the net regarding amps. I'm hopeless. But, the internet is awesome for education.