How To Tube Amp Safety

How To - Tube Amp Safety

How to safely work on your tube amp. There is a lot of information on the internet. This is exactly what I do every time I work on any amp, even solid state amps. I want to enjoy the amp after I work on it, not go to the hospital, or worse...

This is the most important information you will ever learn about working on your tube amp! Please take this seriously and all will be well. Summary of the steps as outlined in the video below...

  1. REMOVE the POWER plug from the WALL!
  2. Check the fuse - ALWAYS use a fuse with the correct rating!

KILLER Guitar Cabinet

Killer Guitar Cabinet

Here's a 'trick' guitar cabinet idea I came up with. The drawing gives the general dimensions and such, but I leave it up to you as to how you get there (construction techniques, etc.).

We built a prototype of this cabinet, hooked it up to Scotty's Epiphone Valve Jr. head (5W RMS), using two older Eminence 12" speakers, those old guys with the square magnet structures. We just kinda threw it together out of 3/4" MDF, just to get an idea what it would sound like. We weren't disappointed! This thing has some serious bottom-end to it, and that was one of the main design goals. It's also very efficient, blowing out some very serious volume levels with a 5-Watt amp driving it.

The theory behind this cab is based on the 'tapered quarter-wave tube' idea, and has elements of the horn-loading principle working for it, as well. The 'tapered tube' is tuned to about 72 Hz, which will cover the low-end of 'drop D' tuning on guitar. This really bucks up the bottom and increases efficiency down in your lower registers.

Fernandes Sustainer Power Mod

Fernandes Sustainer Power Mod

I was wondering if I could power my Fernandes Dragonfly Pro sustainer with a standard DC power adapter. I have a box full of 9vdc adapters. I chose a "center-pin-negative" power adapter from my box and tested the voltage and verified polarity.

Fernandes Battery Connector Adapter

I cut the connector from the power adapter. I happened to have a spare battery connector sitting around which I used for this test. Using the following diagram, I soldered the connections, taped the bare connections so they wouldn't short together or against anything else.

To test the adapter, I snapped the battery connectors together (neg to pos and pos to neg) which reverses the polarity, and plugged the instrument cable in to the guitar's output jack. The LED lit up nice and bright, so I braved turning the amp on... After the tube filaments heated up, I was pleasantly surprised that my Fernandes Dragonfly Pro was operating perfectly on the new 9vdc power adapter. No more changing batteries in my guitar!

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