OK. Just managed to pry my way into the transformer covers to the point where I could see the leads of the thermal fuse we all thought was going to be open (it was). Hung a 1 ohm fusible across there just in case the primary had got shorted turns (although it read ~ 350 ohms) and fired the unit up. It all worked ok. For future reference in case anyone else needs to sort out a replacement tranny for one of these, the secondaries are as follows :-
Yellow - Yellow 10v Red - Black - Red 24v -0 -24v
Average draw on yellow winding was around 15mA and on the red winding was around 20mA. Now to see if I can find something suitable to replace them with ...
Ah, OK. This unit has a permanently attached mains cable (line power cord), and internal PSU ... Looks to be quite a sophisticated multi-effect unit, which I believe still commands a good second hand price.
The GT series were very popular for those who had the money. The ME series were less money and less well built but offered 24 bit sound processing and amp COSM. I recently sold my GT6 for $250 after owning it for a few years. I lost a little money but that's expected with depreciation and newer models like the GT8. I found a Peavey Tube Fex at a garage sale for $100. Needed a 3.3 volt nicad which was toast and made the unit reboot continually. Having 24 bit sound processing plus two active 12AX7 preamp tubes and a host of other features the GT6 didn't gave me reason the sell the GT6. The Tube Fex was a $900.00 retail unit back when it hit the market in the mid 80's. The difference in sound between the Tube Fex and the GT6 is remarkable. Real tube distortion always wins over its digital approximation.
Yes indeed. I'm not a great lover of digital effects - period. However, I guess that they have their place, and one amp that I saw a while back, although I can't remember what it was now, had like a 20 way switch in the built-in digital effects unit, and it purported to simulate the sound of many famous amps via that switch. I was told that it did a pretty fair job, but without being a muso, able to properly play a guitar, I've really no idea whether it was actually good, bad, or indifferent ...
I worked on a Vox Valvetronix AD30 that had some presets. Silicone out, tube front end if memory serves. Maybe that was what you saw? It wasn't a 'horrible' sounding amp but I wouldn't play through one. Roland also makes one call the Cube. I'm sure there are others like Line 6 and maybe Behringer.
I use a Waller 2x12 100 DSP combo. MOSFET chip output, 90 volt rails. Plug the Tube Fex into the effects return bypassing the amps tone circuits which by the way are all active, not passive. It's the best SS amp I've ever played even with no externals, it has built in DSP (chorus,delay) and a master V with foot switch for all. Sure beats lugging the 45 Kilo, 70's Twin around. The Waller weighs in at half that.
I need to mod my Twin to tap between the tone stack and phase inverter so I can insert the Tube Fex. I don't care to stack it into the front end of the Twin 4 tubes behind the outputs. I keep the Twin at home these days to keep my chops up until the next gig comes around. People are just too busy to go out and play these days. And it's almost too much work for what little it does pay if you're looking at it like that. Myself, I just like to play and if you carried my stuff in and out I might do it for free.
On a completely different subject, I don't suppose you happen to have the schematic and wiring diagram for a 3 pickup 5 way switched Strat, with a built in preamp do you ? Shop that I do a lot of work for sent it up to me today to have a look at for them. When you turn the volume control on the instrument up, the internal preamp starts to oscillate violently. It is unaffected by the pickup switch position. The guy in the shop has fitted a new volume control to it, but at this point, until I can talk to him when they re-open tomorrow, I'm unclear as to whether he was trying to cure this problem by changing the pot, or whether the problem has occured as a result of changing the pot for some other reason. The case of the pot has a soldered ground lead, which connects to the cases of the two tone pots. The 'groundy' tag of the volume pot has a single wire going back to the internal preamp board. If you ground this tag (and hence the wire) to the pot case, the instability goes away, and the guitar seems to work ok. Power to the preamp is still switched correctly by jacking into the output connector. The only thing I would say is that the output seems a bit 'thin' when the selector switch is set to middle pickup only. Is this normal on a Strat ?
It depends on what aftermarket active pickup system it has. Seymour, EMG being the two I'm familiar with.
The middle pickup alone should be strong not thin. The thinness quality is a result of the combo of the middle and bridge pickup. Some even wire the two out of phase to get an even thinner tone.
Regardless you'll have to find out who made that system. Fender doesn't do it by default although you might be able to order one from the Fender Custom Shop like that.
Done a bit closer looking at this thing, and the model is an "Eric Clapton". I found the wiring diagram for it on Fender's site, and it is wired per production, so I guess that it's not been messed with. It also uses a strange tone control system which utilizes a dual gang pot which according to the lad in the shop, who understands these things, behaves like a normal tone control up to about half way, where there's a detent, and then after that, the preamp suddenly becomes significant, producing a 'boost' of around
25dB. That sounds like a potentially 'dangerous' amount of gain to shove in line on a lead guitar !! It is around about this middle setting where the preamp starts to hoot at around 500Hz, at a guess. The volume control has an effect on exactly where it starts. Unfortunately, although the preamp board isn't exactly 'complicated', it still has probably 40 or 50 components on it, a number of which are transistors. The instrument wiring diagram shows it only as a module. All of the pots (the regular tone, the 'odd' tone and the vol) connect back to the board. I've combed their site, and can't find a schematic for this board. I've experimented with additional decoupling caps etc, but nothing will make it unconditionally stable. We're gonna try Fender support on Monday to see if they have come across this problem, and know the fix for it, but if you have any thoughts, or have any buddies who know this instrument and may have come across this problem, I'm listening ... d;~}
Ah so this is a Blackie? Lace Gold Sensor pickups, TBX tone controls?
What year? That 25db boost was indicative of 1985 > but there were different configurations.
Look around
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maybe they have the preamp. I don't know who made the one in your guitar.
That 25DB boost was to make up for the loss of the gain of a neck humbucker on a Gibson SG and that 'Sunshine of Your Love' or signature 'woman tone' Eric was famous for. The Lace Sensor Strat pickups being a single pole structure didn't have the gain a bucker did.
Call the Fender Custom Shop if you can. If it was made there it will have a stamp or foil label on the inside indicating so.
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