Chienmortbb

Tweeters do not hiss. Amps do.

Good spot and of course the Vynyl covering will weigh less than the "carpet". I hope. Still it is easier to cut weight there than off my waistline. 14-15 stone now to get the 14 lbs off.

I have been thinking about weight.This bit is boring so skip to the end if you are easily bored. Am I the only one that has put on some during lockdown? I digress, The After Eight was fairly heavy for its size and adding a Neo speaker will not help. The 35W 8R Sica speaker is a real lightweight at 0.9Kg (2lbs). The P-Audio Neo E8-200N weighs 1.5Kg (3.3 lbs). A gain of 0.6Kg or well over 1lb. As the ICEPower 50ASX2 has an inbuilt SMPS (switch mode power supply), that helps as it means that the transformer could be removed. The transformer weighs approx 700g (1.5lbs) wheras the ICEPower module weighs 180G. So we pull back 520 grams meaning we are still down 80 grams. . Of course the old amp module also had an aluminium heatsink plus all the components except the power switch and mains input, that weighs 300 grams and includes the pots and sockets that are also on the new amp. I estimate that the PCB is approximately the same weight as the ones I have installed and the the aluminium heatsink weighs approx. half the 300 grams or 150 grams. So my build will be about 70 grams lighter or 2.5 ozs. I will not be selling my truss just yet. Of course I could have rebuilt the cabinet......... but some of the weight will be in that chassis that made it easier to build. Its a small cab so probably the weight saving would be negligible.

I gave that up after burning my nose!

I tghink myou can only judge the quality of a cabinet or anything after a while. These cabs are made in the USA so are OEM and probably not absolutely built to the same standards as Darglass's own products. They may be better but my point is that we cannot be sure. As for the Super Compact being "flat tonally", some people would prefer that.

OK I fell for it. Send it to me and I will look at it. I will PM you. Do you have the circuit diagram/schematic? If I get it working I will send it back to you.

Sorting out my own perf board is a nightmare, someone else's is a no go for me, Sorry.

Like most things installing the LED was more involved than I thought. However it is in now. Usually the LED would be run at 20mA but that would mean the LED would run at a brightness. I find high brightness blue LEDs too bright so I am running it at 10mA. However I may swap it for an Red/Green/Blue LED so that I can show when the mute is on. The hole near the LED is where the mute/standby switch will be, once it arrives. I I have decided to keep the headphone socket as a headphone socket and will install an XLR at the back. I tried drilling the hole out to 10mm. I tried to ream out the hole to 24mm but it was going to take hours and was really hurting my hand. So I took the plunge and ordered a 25mm Q Max cutter. Q Max cutter.

Well someone put the jinx on me. The element on my 40 year old Antex CS18 iron had gone open circuit. Nothing is built to last these days 😁. Of course the iron is still made so a new element on its way. I am back to using my 45 year old 15W Antex for a while. That works well for larger stuff like pots and speaker tags, but I would not do that on small electronic components, they are likely to overheat. I would also tin the solder tag/pot first but you must use fresh solder.

OK I installed the Brightness switch and circuit last night and was surprised to find I liked it. I should say that all the subjective testing is being done with either headphones or a PA cab at the moment and I might change my opinion once the amp and cab are reunited.

One of the good things that a project like this does is teach you things you had never considered. Like using the LM35 as outlined above. Once you go above the 50ASX2 to the 125ASX2 or 250ASX2 you have a heatsink to attach the temperature sensor to. I think maybe I should have used the 125ASX2 module I have for this project but jumping from 15-100W seemed enough. Until I reassemble the whole thing, I really won't know although the original idea was just to create a practice amp.

Nice idea but there is no heatsink on the ASX50 but I will use that for the ASX125 module I have. I used to have a 200watt GK combo with the ASX50 in it. that had a fan running all the time.

I tried the fan today and as mentioned earlier it was electrically noisy. So three options, eihter a dedicated regulator for the fan, OR a 230V fan or suck it and see. I have chosen option 3 fior the time being with some small tweeks for the convection cooling. Next up is to wire in the Bright switch and the power LED. I need to order a switch for the Mute Switch.

I looked at that and it makes sense. More parts to order....

I should perhaps clarify, there is nothing wrong per se with temperature controlled irons. My worry is that people set an iron for the melting point of the solder being used. That is a recipe for a disaster as the iron cools immediately it touches solder and the work. Then the solder either does not melt OR does not melt fully. That joint would not be reliable. Although it is counterintuitive, a cold iron is more dangerous than a hot one. Also a cold iron can easily cause components to overheat as they are in contact for longer.

I am going to go against the flow here. This is in two parts. 1. For years at work I used Wellers and they are great. However the magnetic temperature control was not as reliable as I would have liked. I also dis not find the handle comfortable. One day we employed a new wireman and he only used Antex irons and I have used them ever since. Antex is a British company and their technique for heating the iron is very efficient , the bit surrounds the element meaning my 18 watt* has never let me down and my 15W** can do most jobs. The 15W outpeforms most cheap 30W irons. Seems like wattage is no indicator of performance. Now where have I heard that before. I just ordered a new handle to the 15W. It is 40 years old and although the new handle has been redesigned, it fits the old element. For a brginner, *https://www.esr.co.uk/shop/contents/en-uk/p32302_Antex_CS_18W_230V_Soldering_iron_PVC_cable___plug.html I would resist temperature controlled irons (although I have one) as I tend to spend more time playing with them than actually soldering. 2. Some tips for soldering: Use as big an iron as you need. My 18 watt with a 3mm tip has never let me down. Make sure the tip is suitable for the job, the bigger the tip the more heat is can transfer quickly. A 50 watt iron with a 1mm tip will not solder onto the case of a big pot. Incidently, I never solder to pots, I know the guitar industry has since the 50's but it is still bad practice. Always clean the tip before every use. Tip cleaners are OK but a good wet sponge is still the best way in my opinion. Atfer cleaning, "tin" the tip by applying a little solder to it. Not a blob. Move both the iron and the solder to the work towards the work. The solder should only touch the iron/work as they come together. Take the solder and iron away as soon as the solder liquifies. If you are doing several joints in quick succession and not putting the iron into its holder, there is no need to tin the tip every time. Some people will tell you not to blow the hot joint (no puns please) as it causes a dry joint (cold joint in the USA). I don't believe this and blowing does push the fumes away if you have no fume extraction. Before putting the iron into the holder (did I say that a holder is a must), wipe the tip again with the sponge. Any questions please ask.

If its really cheap I might put a class d amp in it lol. If its the one at £199 it looks a little dear to me.

I love dowels.

Screw it then take the screws out when glue is dry and dowel the holes?

Too many demands on my time at the moment but I have made progress. I Finished wiring the amp, including re-installing the original board and converting it to BTL. It is all working I’ve played through for a couple of hours through a PA cab. It sounds good but I am biased. I’ve decided to put a switch in where the DEP Switch was. The original preamp design had a bright switch and I have decided to incorporate this. You can see the red switch between two of the pots on the photo below. Other things to do are to add the auxiliary input. You can see the upturned white capacitor wire-tied to the red one, that will form the auxiliary input in place of the effects return. I am not using effects send and return on this build. To use an auxiliary input requires the front panel to be drilled and there is space next to the instrument input. I am also considering whether to install an dedicated headphone out rather than bridging the DI out( currently labelled Headphone. more later.

Why do you want to do it? You may find that the pickups are not ideal for "passifying" and it might cost you close to £200 in the end to get where you want to get to.

Protection from Pesky Englishmen?

The switch arrived and of course I originally installed it the wrong way round. After 20 minutes I managed to get it out and change it around. The original switch was stuck with silicon to ensure it did not move, I don't have any of that so used some UHU. I will update when the UHU is dry. I also decided to take the balanced Headphone/DI output from the output of the pre-amp, before the master volume rather than the EFX Send. This is so is is after the EFX return/aux input.

Plus After 80. 8" 100W combo built in an Ashdown After Eight chassis and cab.