50w Plexi mods

Swapping out speakers in cab -OR- putting a hammer though your Line6 Spider? Tell us about it.
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Greg_L
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Greg_L »

Farview wrote: Fri May 05, 2017 7:00 pm What happens if you turn the bright channel all the way off? Do you still get sound?

On my mod, one channel would actually feed the other. If you turned either one down all the way, you would get nothing. You could vary the amount and color of the gain by adjusting the two channels against each other.
The bright input/channel works as it normally would. The normal input/channel needs the bright volume feeding it before it will go full mental.

So I used the amp tonight. It worked flawlessly, though I'm not 100% crazy about the sound. It's not bad, but man is it thick. Most people would normally like that, but for me, anything over 5 on the bass and it was just too thick. And I had to almost dime the treble. None of that is that big a deal, but it's something I might want to look into on the tone stack or bypass caps in the gain stages. On the plus side, like I said, it performed beautifully and good lord did it cut through a very loud live mix without having to be crazy loud. It was like a hammer hitting you in the chest, and even or roadie guy commented on how "wild" it sounded but was still very clear. Great job Greg! :lollers2: :coolstorybro:
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rayc
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by rayc »

ALMOST where you want to be. congrats.
Will you be playing any Motley Crew or Poison?
Sorry, that was cruel of me.
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Bubba »

Excellent work, Greg. :)
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Greg_L »

rayc wrote: Sat May 06, 2017 6:23 am ALMOST where you want to be. congrats.
Will you be playing any Motley Crew or Poison?
Sorry, that was cruel of me.
Haha, no, I won't, but I could if I wanted to. :lollers2: :minernuggs:

I'm mostly just happy it all worked and didn't blow up.

In related news, my bandmate blew up his Splawn last night. Well, he just got it, and it blew up immediately with the flip of the on switch. Lol. It didn't even get to make a guitar sound. Flipped it on, poof. Let the smoke out. :confused:
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einstein magoo
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by einstein magoo »

Fuses too big on the Splawn?
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Greg_L »

einstein magoo wrote: Sat May 06, 2017 11:30 am Fuses too big on the Splawn?
I think it got dropped in shipping. The big giant heavy power transformer is cockeyed in the chassis. No way a 3 grand Splawn left the factory with a crooked transformer like that. That could have maybe pulled something loose, or broken inside the power tranny. Just a guess. I don't really know.
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Greg_L »

Greg_L wrote: Fri May 05, 2017 10:37 am Here's one I found yesterday. This seems like it would be ideal. But I'd need to sit and trace out how this diagram translates to what I have on my PCB..
1959RR1wireswitch.jpg
I'm really thinking this is definitely the way to go. I get it now. I've traced it out and I can do this without messing with the PCB at all. :coolstorybro:

So I need a single or dual 1 meg DPDT pot. No problem.
A set-screw Marshall knob.
A couple resistors which I probably already have.
Shielded wire that I already have.
Maybe a .0022uf cap.

That's less than $10 in parts.
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Minerman »

Sorry I haven't been here much lately, I do drop in every day, but I'm still bummed out over my losing my 'lil sidekick...

The clip sounds great man, that's basically the tone I chased for quite a while at HR...After you pointed me in the right direction, I ended up with the Chupa...

It's got that "kerrang" & "bonk" that stands out...Pretty fuckin' cool Greg, I gotta say you do pretty good work on shit like that, very impressive!!!

Regarding the Splawn blowing up, I hope your buddy has a warranty/guarantee on that motherfucker...Holy shit man, I would've had a seizure over that...
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Greg_L »

Minerman wrote: Sat May 06, 2017 5:06 pm Sorry I haven't been here much lately, I do drop in every day, but I'm still bummed out over my losing my 'lil sidekick...

The clip sounds great man, that's basically the tone I chased for quite a while at HR...After you pointed me in the right direction, I ended up with the Chupa...

It's got that "kerrang" & "bonk" that stands out...Pretty fuckin' cool Greg, I gotta say you do pretty good work on shit like that, very impressive!!!
Thanks miner. You'd love this thing like this. Oh man it is like Dokken over here. Lol. But this push/pull switchable version I've found should be even better and totally reversible. I ordered the pot today, so as soon as it gets here I'm digging back in.
Regarding the Splawn blowing up, I hope your buddy has a warranty/guarantee on that motherfucker...Holy shit man, I would've had a seizure over that...
He bought it used like 3 months ago and just turned it on last night. He's pretty much screwed on it. It sucks. Steamboat Amps here in Houston is gonna fix it.
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Minerman »

Greg_L wrote: Sat May 06, 2017 8:46 pm Thanks miner. You'd love this thing like this. Oh man it is like Dokken over here. Lol. But this push/pull switchable version I've found should be even better and totally reversible. I ordered the pot today, so as soon as it gets here I'm digging back in.
The way you're gonna fix that amp will make it kinda like the Ceriatone amps dude, that's pretty cool... :minernuggs:
Greg_L wrote: Sat May 06, 2017 8:46 pm He bought it used like 3 months ago and just turned it on last night. He's pretty much screwed on it. It sucks. Steamboat Amps here in Houston is gonna fix it.
Man that really sucks, on the bright side it can be fixed, but still...
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by ocnor »

Greg_L wrote: Sat May 06, 2017 8:46 pmHe bought it used like 3 months ago and just turned it on last night.
HUH? What kind of loon would buy a Splawn and wait 3 months to fire it up? I would have had that thing plugged in before the delivery driver had gotten back to his truck.
Another toy that helped destroy the elder race of man..forget about your silly whim it doesn't fit the plan.
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Greg_L »

ocnor wrote: Sun May 07, 2017 6:38 pm

HUH? What kind of loon would buy a Splawn and wait 3 months to fire it up? I would have had that thing plugged in before the delivery driver had gotten back to his truck.
It was a backup amp to his backup amp. I agree he should have tested it immediately, but hey, shit happens. It was never gonna be his main amp anyway.
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Bubba »

A three grand amp as a backup to a backup, untested.

:cuckoo:
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Greg_L »

Bubba wrote: Sun May 07, 2017 7:27 pm A three grand amp as a backup to a backup, untested.

:cuckoo:
It speaks to the power of the mighty JCM 800. He has one. And when you have an 800, other amps don't matter so much. :coolstorybro:
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Greg_L »

Okay, if anyone gives half a fuck anymore...

I did another tweak to my cascaded gain mod. Instead of hardwiring it to the board...which I never really liked...it worked but it left me feeling sketchy. I installed a 1 meg push/pull DPDT pot to make it switchable. So now the amp works in the bright channel inputs as normal, the normal channel works like normal, and the normal channel inputs go mega-gain with the vol knob pulled out and both volumes dialed up.

Push/Pull pot on Vol 2.
Image


Pot all wired up...
Image


Shielded wire direct from pot terminal to grid of V1b gain stage.
Image


Disclaimer - this is not my creation! I just copied the specs and info provided to me by an amp modder that created this tweak himself. It works! I'm still working out the hows and whys, but it does work great. Next up will be juggling some cap/resistor values for fine tuning. Clips to come soon....
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Bubba »

I wouldn't have the balls. :D
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Greg_L »

Bubba wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 3:23 pm I wouldn't have the balls. :D
I wouldn't either without clear instructions. I couldn't just go in there and know what to do. I'm working on that though...

It's really not that hard. It does take patience and good soldering skills though. All of this stuff is tiny and fragile and cramped and one misplaced blob of solder touching something it shouldn't and kaboom!

I went really slow and planned out the process. I routed everything, prepped my wires, and mocked it all up before putting heat to anything. No problem, really.
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Tadpui »

Looking great! Did I miss the sound clips? I've been bad about digging into the tone thread lately...
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Greg_L »

Tadpui wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 4:21 pm Looking great! Did I miss the sound clips? I've been bad about digging into the tone thread lately...
Thanks. I haven't done any real clips yet. There's one quickie test clip earlier in this thread, but it's not very good.
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Re: 50w Plexi mods

Post by Minerman »

Pretty cool Greg....Not sure I'd even attempt anything like that, my soldering skills are ok, but my hands aren't as steady as they once were, to put it mildly...


That's some nice, clean looking work dude... :minernuggs:
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