How do you know what a component does?

[Awake77]

Most of the mods involve swapping out resistors/caps with higher quality or different value - is finding out what each component does just a matter of experimentation?

How do you know which ones are in the audio signal path?

 

[okstrat]

I know because I've modded and built tube amps for years - and traced out the signal path on the modules. It always helps if you have an idea of what you want to do first and then know how part values/compositions will get you to that goal.

Just tossing parts in a module at random takes a lot longer and may or may not get a desired result. I've seen some scary 'mods' that made no sense and in a few cases had parts that didn't really belong there.

Whatever you do, take your time, do it right the first time, and be careful, because it's real easy to lift solder pads off of the PCBs if you use too much heat.

Pete

 

[Awake77]

Thanks for the reply Pete! I'm good with electronics and soldering but still very much a novice when it comes to amp building/mods. The board layouts look pretty easy to follow - but I dont really know how different values will affect the tone/feel/etc.

Can you recommend any good books/websites where I can start learning about this stuff?

Thanks!
A77

 

[paul525715]

For tube / valve theory there is a lot of information on homebrew websites, particularly the ax84 site. However, for simplicity (and for learning how it works), I really would suggest reading the section "triode gain stage" from http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/. It's the clearest information I've found and the maths and graphs make sense! If you want to see how altering tone stack caps and resistors will affect the sound of your amp, check out duncans tone stack modeller http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/

I hope this helps,

Paul

 

[okstrat]

I have the full set of Kevin O'Connor/London Power books, good stuff.

 

[paul525715]

I have the full set of Kevin O'Connor/London Power books, good stuff.

Agreed. The ultimate tone (the original vol 1) is a great read.

 

[Awake77]

Awesome guys thanks for the heads up!! I wont be able to pick up any new modules for a while, so it'll be fun trying to tweak the ones I have