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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 3:23 pm
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Bluer Monkey wrote:
bluesky636 wrote:
if you need help, you know where to come. :wink:
    It arrived today.
      I've been looking at every "How To Solder" video I can find.

    Image

      So far so good. I successfully unwrapped it. No problems to report. ... Stay tuned. :lol:

    Cheers!
    BM


That's an excellent start. :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 5:36 am
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In regards to your Blues Jr. amp,...or any other amp,for that matter,...once in a while a lemon will come off the line no matter how well it's built. That applies to anything and everything built by human hands,...but I have to wonder about possibility of substandard components as was mentioned earlier. I found it strange that when you took your amp back to the dealer and the salesman plugged it in,the reverb began working again when you said "guess what happened". Someone in QC may have also missed something,too!
Might have been a "bad run" off the line,too! Look at the auto industry,...heck,even they have a "bad run" of certain model lines from time to time and that particular model has a bunch of recalls as a result.

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 9:27 am
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For a 15-25 watt amp? Silverface Deluxe Reverb. Still affordable, handwired, and easily fixable. the nice thing about the older Fender amps is that they are very easy to work on compared to the current amps from just about any manufacturer - parts are also plentiful.

While I can't speak for a lot of other non-Fender brands, I can heartily endorse Dr. Z. These guys are the real deal; I own a Mini Z and visited their shop in Cleveland 2 years ago. Each amp is handwired and handbuilt. Multiple options on wattage and tone available, and they are built the way Fenders used to be - almost indestructable. Had the most fun watching the QC guy smack the finished amp with a rubber mallet for 10 minutes while on... While I'm done this year buying amps (the tremolux & the Bogen PA), my next acquisition will be a MAZ 18 or 38.

Other option for slightly more power would be a Tremolux.

Good luck with the kit, and happy hunting.

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 5:46 pm
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nedorama wrote:
For a 15-25 watt amp? Silverface Deluxe Reverb. Still affordable, handwired, and easily fixable. the nice thing about the older Fender amps is that they are very easy to work on compared to the current amps from just about any manufacturer - parts are also plentiful. ... Good luck with the kit, and happy hunting.
    Thanks, nedorama. I'm keeping my eyes open for a vintage FDR because as much as I would like to build my own, I think it will be a long, long while. :lol:

    As for Bill's excellent suggestion of starting small with a guitar a pedal, I decided to take a further step backward and start even smaller with the Vellerman Metronome Kit.

    Image

    Today I installed all six resistors. I "think" it's okay but then again I'm not sure and don't know if there's any way of testing. Perhaps someone will chime in and let me know how things look.

    Image

    Cheers!
    BM

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 6:02 pm
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Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
Bluer Monkey wrote:
nedorama wrote:
As for Bill's excellent suggestion of starting small with a guitar a pedal, I decided to take a further step backward and start even smaller with the Vellerman Metronome Kit.

Image

Today I installed all six resistors. I "think" it's okay but then again I'm not sure and don't know if there's any way of testing. Perhaps someone will chime in and let me know how things look.

Image

Cheers!
BM
[/list]


Well, your soldering looks good. :D

Otherwise its hard to tell from looking at the back of the board. I did look up the assembly manual and it is pretty straight forward. Just take your time and follow the directions carefully.

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 6:45 pm
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Bluer Monkey wrote:
bluesky636 wrote:
if you need help, you know where to come. :wink:
    It arrived today.
      I've been looking at every "How To Solder" video I can find.

    Image

      So far so good. I successfully unwrapped it. No problems to report. ... Stay tuned. :lol:

    Cheers!
    BM



BYOC makes some great kits. I've built a bunch without a hitch. Just take your time and triple check e everything. I've built two British Blues Overdrive pedals, one modded for my Strat and one for everything else, a Digital Reverb, a Confidence Boost that I built into a pedal, and a ABY switcher box. They all sound great. Good luck with your build. BYOC has a forum and tons of reference material.

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:13 am
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bluesky636 wrote:
Well, your soldering looks good. :D Otherwise its hard to tell from looking at the back of the board. I did look up the assembly manual and it is pretty straight forward. Just take your time and follow the directions carefully.
63supro wrote:
BYOC makes some great kits. I've built a bunch without a hitch. Just take your time and triple check e everything. I've built two British Blues Overdrive pedals, one modded for my Strat and one for everything else, a Digital Reverb, a Confidence Boost that I built into a pedal, and a ABY switcher box. They all sound great. Good luck with your build. BYOC has a forum and tons of reference material.
    Hey guys, thanks for the encouraging words!

    As far as differences go, the greatest has to be between theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. I've read lots of articles, watched dozens of You Tube Videos, and can say with certainty that I understand, in theory, how to make a proper solder joint. Yet when the soldering iron is in one hand and the solder in the other, things don't always look as they did on the YTV. :lol:

    A friend who knows a lot more than I do about electronics told me that although he's confident I will one day be able to build an amp from a kit, I do not have the proper equipment nor do I posses the knowledge required to diagnose problems and make repairs. I jokingly replied that it would be built correctly so it would not need repair, but he does make a valid point. Anyhow, no worries. I enjoy the journey as much as the arrival so I'm in no hurry.

    ... We continue now with step 2: Installing the Diode. Here we need to watch the polarity.

    Cheers!
    BM

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 6:03 pm
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Only three more steps to go (10, 11, 12) but I'm stuck on Step 10.

Here is what it's supposed to look like:
    Image

Here is what mine looks like so far.
    Image

It's not pretty... :lol:
Image

I'm on step 10 but not sure how to attach the speaker. What I have in the kit looks a lot different from the stock photo and also from the diagram. Do I simply attach two wires to the terminals (holes?) on the PCB?
    Image

Thanks & Cheers!
BM

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 8:49 pm
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Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
Bluer Monkey wrote:
Only three more steps to go (10, 11, 12) but I'm stuck on Step 10.

Here is what it's supposed to look like:
    Image

Here is what mine looks like so far.
    Image

It's not pretty... :lol:
Image

I'm on step 10 but not sure how to attach the speaker. What I have in the kit looks a lot different from the stock photo and also from the diagram. Do I simply attach two wires to the terminals (holes?) on the PCB?
    Image

Thanks & Cheers!
BM


For the speaker, you may be able to use the lead trimmings from the resistors or caps to connect between the speaker and PCB. I do that all the time for short jumpers.

BTW, I do notice that some of your resistors are oriented improperly. The gold tolerance band should always be on the side of the signal source in the circuit. If they are set in the opposite direction, the electron flow may be impacted.










































Just kidding! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:24 am
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bluesky636 wrote:
For the speaker, you may be able to use the lead trimmings from the resistors or caps to connect between the speaker and PCB. I do that all the time for short jumpers.
    Ah, ... now the diagram makes sense. Thanks. Bill.

bluesky636 also wrote:
BTW, I do notice that some of your resistors are oriented improperly. The gold tolerance band should always be on the side of the signal source in the circuit. If they are set in the opposite direction, the electron flow may be impacted. ...
    Okay, I'll be totally honest. You absolutely got me 100% hook, line, and sinker. :o

    "Oh s##@$!" I thought to myself. "Resistors have polarity!! How could I have missed that?"

    Cheers!
    BM

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:03 am
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Bluer Monkey wrote:
bluesky636 wrote:
For the speaker, you may be able to use the lead trimmings from the resistors or caps to connect between the speaker and PCB. I do that all the time for short jumpers.
    Ah, ... now the diagram makes sense. Thanks. Bill.

bluesky636 also wrote:
BTW, I do notice that some of your resistors are oriented improperly. The gold tolerance band should always be on the side of the signal source in the circuit. If they are set in the opposite direction, the electron flow may be impacted. ...
    Okay, I'll be totally honest. You absolutely got me 100% hook, line, and sinker. :o

    "Oh s##@$!" I thought to myself. "Resistors have polarity!! How could I have missed that?"

    Cheers!
    BM




:lol: :lol: Funny thing is I always have resistors going with the tolerance band facing to the right. I'm just anal like that. :lol: Just be careful you don't get solder "bridges" with two components solder touching where they shouldn't be. I have one of those big lighted magnifying glasses that I check everything with especially on smaller kits. :wink:
Velleman actually makes a little two or three watt amp. I built one into a case as a tiny practice amp.

Also there's a company called Oatley out of Australia that makes some pretty cool kits. I built one of their 5/10 watt tube amps that works extremely well and IMO sounds way better than any Squire practice amp. This thing is pretty loud too and takes pedals really well. It puts out 5 watts into an 8 ohm load and 10 watts into a 4 ohm load and uses a Raytheon JAN 6418 preamp tube and a LM1875T IC for the power section. It comes with it's own power supply too. Lots of fun. I drive my two Egnater 112 cabs with it with a Confidence Boost or a British Blues Overdrive and it sounds great. It has a real girthy bottom end to it. Oatley ships to the states too. It takes a couple of weeks but it gets here.

Once you start building this stuff, you're hooked. :lol:


http://secure.oatleyelectronics.com//pr ... 8f3be0405f

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:45 am
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63supro wrote:
... Just be careful you don't get solder "bridges" with two components solder touching where they shouldn't be. ...
    Hi Supro and thanks for the info on the amp kits.

    Unfortunately it's going to be a while before I even attempt building the pedal let alone an amp. Just finished putting together the metronome kit and we have total failure. No tic, no toc, no blinking light. Nothing but silence. :(

    Image

    Image

    Now in spite of the failure, I did learn a few things so the endeavor was not a waste of time.

    Thanks for your help guys. I think I'll do some more reading, experimenting, and hopefully one day start my own amp build thread. .... Okay, .... a pedal build thread first. :lol:

    Cheers!
    BM

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:59 am
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Bluer Monkey wrote:
63supro wrote:
... Just be careful you don't get solder "bridges" with two components solder touching where they shouldn't be. ...
    Hi Supro and thanks for the info on the amp kits.

    Unfortunately it's going to be a while before I even attempt building the pedal let alone an amp. Just finished putting together the metronome kit and we have total failure. No tic, no toc, no blinking light. Nothing but silence. :(

    Image

    Image

    Now in spite of the failure, I did learn a few things so the endeavor was not a waste of time.

    Thanks for your help guys. I think I'll do some more reading, experimenting, and hopefully one day start my own amp build thread. .... Okay, .... a pedal build thread first. :lol:

    Cheers!
    BM


Some of your solder joints look a little close to the others. If you don't have one, a desoldering iron is a great tool to have. Radio Shack has them pretty cheap.
Here's what I use
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2062731
Another thing could be too much heat on the IC or transistor.
Don't give up, try something else!

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 7:05 am
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Bluer Monkey wrote:
63supro wrote:
... Just be careful you don't get solder "bridges" with two components solder touching where they shouldn't be. ...
    Hi Supro and thanks for the info on the amp kits.

    Unfortunately it's going to be a while before I even attempt building the pedal let alone an amp. Just finished putting together the metronome kit and we have total failure. No tic, no toc, no blinking light. Nothing but silence. :(

    Image

    Image

    Now in spite of the failure, I did learn a few things so the endeavor was not a waste of time.

    Thanks for your help guys. I think I'll do some more reading, experimenting, and hopefully one day start my own amp build thread. .... Okay, .... a pedal build thread first. :lol:

    Cheers!
    BM


Some of your solder joints look a little close to the others. If you don't have one, a desoldering iron is a great tool to have. Radio Shack has them pretty cheap.
Here's what I use
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2062731
Another thing could be too much heat on the IC or transistor. Try touching up some of the joints. It still might work. Also check the polarity on the LED and the electrolytic cap. and be sure the IC's notch is facing the right direction.
Don't give up, try something else!

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Post subject: Re: FSR Blues Jr. Reverb DOA
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 3:38 pm
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Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
Bluer Monkey wrote:
bluesky636 also wrote:
BTW, I do notice that some of your resistors are oriented improperly. The gold tolerance band should always be on the side of the signal source in the circuit. If they are set in the opposite direction, the electron flow may be impacted. ...
    Okay, I'll be totally honest. You absolutely got me 100% hook, line, and sinker. :o

    "Oh s##@$!" I thought to myself. "Resistors have polarity!! How could I have missed that?"

    Cheers!
    BM


Sorry. Couldn't help myself. :lol: :lol: :lol:

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