Chienmortbb

To be fair there is not much in making a good cable. You can choose the best cable, connectors and be the best solderer on earth. The problem with mass produced cables. Even the best brand names, such as Fender, make crap cables as they are made of cheap components in the far east. As a rule of thumb, if you cannot undo the connectors to inspect the solderin,g and you do not recognise the make of the connectors, leave them alone. My biggest reason to ignore a cable would normally be masses of heatshink. It is usually hiding something.

Are the lables special?

How did you put the labels on? I have tried that in the past and found it hard to get them correctly positioned and you only get one chance.

Sorry for tghe long delays but another bout of non-Covid infections have held things up. As you could see from the last picture above, it turned my world upside down. I have drilled the fixing holes for the D Type XLR or Speakon. I realise that I need a male XLR for DI out. The cutout for a Neutrik or equivalent D size connector is 23.9mm and I assumed a 25mm hole would be fine, it is, but only just . The 24mm cutters are harder to find and more expensive byt I am happy with the result with the 25mm. The Phantom Power protection parts have arrived together with the new soldering iron element. Now I have the Qmax cutter, ever piece of sheet metal should be nervous. I realised after I cut bthe hole that I used the cutter the wrong way around. Although it cuts a very clean hole, there is a slightly raised edge to the hole on this side although the inside hole is as smooth anything. I am considering whether to convert the speaker jack to a speakon or leave it as is and wire the switched output to a speakon on the back, next to the XLR. I am never convinced by switching jacks but they do make life easy. Incidently I will spray the panel to obscure all disturbed or obsolete information. To be fair to Ashdown I will also take off all branding. I am realising that although I was keen to avoid feature creep, it has crept in all the same. Next cosmetic question, which knobs. Photos of the avaible choices to follow.

Stag prgrammer, that takes me back.

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.