EHX Russian Big Muff - Part II - Gear Abuse

My second EHX Big Muff of the week and third this month! These must have an expiration date or something. Anyway, this was purchased online and when it arrived it (SURPRISE!) didn't work. It's battery connector had been "repaired" with scotch tape. Most of the pots were replacements that were incorrect values...  also...  It had been "wired" with hot glue.  I'll let you go back and read that sentence again. Hot. Glue. On the wires. There should be a government agency that steps in when this happens and removes gear from harms way.  I replaced all three damaged pots and mismatched knobs, and wired them up with good old fashioned solder. I also drilled through the case and installed a 9volt DC jack. The PCB board was intact, so it fired right up and sounds like a Muff should. Fuzzy!

EHX Russian Big Muff - Back From The Dead

This EHX Russian Big Muff had been relegated to the parts pile, but made for a good rainy day project. I completely replaced the cheap, floss thin ribbon wiring. Also added a true bypass switch, 9volt DC jack, and a fair amount of the snapped off components on the board.  I was as surprised as anyone to hear it roar back to life. "Built like a tank" was never more true. Best of all? It can be all yours! Check it out on my Reverb store.

Ampeg BA-115HP - There's No Keeping a Good Bass Amp Down

Here's a St. Louis made Ampeg BA115hp sitting beside its much bigger and much older brothers. A few cracked solder joints on the preamp board and a good cleaning were all that this old workhorse needed. Its owner bought it used around 8 years ago. I expect that in another 8 years I'll be cleaning it again. 200 watts of solid, portable, classic bass tone.

Arion Fat Chorus - Lordy, I hope there's tape

When Kevin purchased this "modified" Arion Fat-Chorus he wasn't counting on the mod mainly being a half-roll of electrical tape. Components were making contact in ways they shouldn't and much of the tape was starting to come apart. I cleaned up the soldering and insulated the mod with shrink tubing. After giving the main switch a good cleaning the pedal was fully operational and Fat as ever.

DigiTech Whammy - To Wham or not to Wham?

Casino Queen's DigiTech Whammy was passing clean signal just fine, but fell silent when the effect was engaged. We were lucky and the issue wasn't related to the chip or anything digital. A bad capacitor in the power section was preventing the pedal from powering up properly. The cap was replaced and Wham was restored!

Fender Bassman 70 - A Little Goes A Long Way

The customer had purchased this vintage Bassman 70 with plans to clean it up, and while it initially worked fine, once he got it home it would only produce noise. The source of the madness was a missing nut and washer on the bias control pot. Without the nut the pot was no longer making contact to the chassis/ground. One little bit of hardware had thrown off the whole amp. I locked down the pot and biased the new power tubes. I also gave the front panel pots a good cleaning. Some people don't care for Fender's ultra-linear amps, but this one had a nice solid clean tone that was exactly what the customer was looking for.

Custom Pedal Case - Traveling Light

The ladies in Whorechata cover a lot of musical ground. Everything from '70s classics to punk-rock to new wave to riot girl to grunge. Their rhythm guitar player needed a wide range of sounds  in a small footprint. The custom channel selector for her AC30tbx lets her change or stack channels as needed. The old DeArmond volume pedal now houses a Russian Big Muff clone. Once clicked on it lets her sweep from just a little fuzz to ALL THE FUZZ! Everything packs up neatly in a vintage aqua suitcase for traveling light.

Fender Super Reverb - Duct Tape and Happy Thoughts

As a childhood hero of mine once said, "it's not the years, it's the mileage." And this thing has seen some miles for sure. I rebuilt the crumbling foot switch RCA plugs, replaced the damaged reverb tank, and cleaned the road snot out of every imaginable hiding place. Of the 6 screws that are supposed to hold in the speaker baffle only one remained. Also missing was most of the cabinet hardware. It's tube sockets had been replaced previously with a different size and the original retainers weren't actually retaining anything but air. I installed new spring retainers and while I was in there corrected the dreaded Fender vibrato "tick." Lori and her gals in Whorechata should be good to go for another 100,000 miles or so.

Orange AD30 - Hot Glue and Plastic Bits

This AD30's AC filament lines are connected using little plastic tabs and a bunch of hot glue. Nothing says "I'm confident in my manufacturing process" like tons of glue just slathered everywhere. Jamie had a show in a week and half of her tubes refused to come up. I found the offending connector and hardwired the lines to the PCB (no glue needed!) If it hadn't been an emergency situation I may have just hardwired them all for good measure. 

Music Man HD130 - Rejuvenation

Things weren't working quite right, so Rian from These People Here decided it was time to spiff up his Music Man HD130. This particular amp started it's life with the older 12AX7 phase inverter. At some point in the 70s (remember those?) it was updated with the newer solid state drive board. Someone had replaced the power tubes and tried to bias it using the older method. With the solid state board installed you can spin the old bias pot like the wheel of a tall ship avoiding the Kraken and it won't make an ounce of difference. The tremolo effect needed some coaxing as well. We replaced the toasted EL34s with the correct 6CA7s, set the bias properly and the difference was immediatley noticeable. 130 watts of spacious, clean tone. Turns out it makes a surprisingly good bass amp too!