The Steel Guitar Forum

With your Boss GE 7 try this. Turn the lowest slider all the way down. Turn the next one all the way up. Alternate like this for all the sliders except the volume. Start there and tweak to taste. It sounds crazy but it actually works. My dad showed me this one.

I didn't like the Ruetz mod. It took away the "ratness" of the Rat. It lowers the amount of treble boost in the first(?) gain stage which gives the effect of less distortion and extended low frequency response.

If you're a tweaker who likes to experiment with sounds, you'll love it. There are no reverbs, it's all echo and modulation effects, but it takes those effects to the nth degree with all the possibilities. I like the chorus, leslie and modulated echos effects, but you can also sound like a spaceship...

It definately can be done. The only issue is whether the transformer can supply the extra heater current, but that shouldn't be a problem if you're just adding a couple of 12ax7s. A Bassman style preamp would add three preamp tubes. If I'm not mistaken, aren't those Earth amps direct copies of old P...

A simple, easily reversible mod for these UL amps is to disable the negative feedback loop. The easiest way to do this is to locate the 100 ohm resistor in the feedback loop and short it to ground. This resistor is connected to one end of the master volume. You can use the bright switch to flip betw...

Alesis Nanoverb is a small 1/3 rack space unit thats not much bigger than a pedal and works great. Other possibilities, EH Holy Grail, Yamaha Magic Stomp, Zoom 505.

Sounds good. How much are they and where can I get one? Also, can anyone recommend a good in circuit transistor checker?

Mouser has some polyester film caps by Cornell Dubilier up to 10uf @100 or 250 VDC. Higher voltages available at smaller uf values.

Toroidal transformers are lighter but also more expensive. I'm not sure why the harmonics produced by switching power supplies are such a disadvantage. Conventional power supplies also produce a harmonic of 60 or 120 hz (depending on the type of rectification). Furthermore, the higher frequencies ge...

My condolences for the loss of your friend.

You can use a single 4 ohm or two 8 ohm speakers in parallel. If it's the later 135 watt model, you can also plug an additional 4 ohm load in the extension speaker jack.

The extension speaker jack in the 135 watt, ultralinear Twins is a little different. It's a switching jack that puts the extra speaker cab in series, not parallel with the internal speakers. So if the internal speakers are a 4 ohm load, adding a 4 ohm cab will give you a 8 ohm total. One way you can...

I've heard good reports of installing a 12" speaker in the 10" hole without cutting a larger hole. There is a little overhang, but not as much as you might think. Anyone have experiences with doing this?

I would like to see manufacturers go further with the lightweight concept, neodymium speakers, toroidal transformers, aluminum chassis, light but strong cabinetry. It would be expensive, but worth it.

Dave Rich

Lexicon uses a 9vac power supply. You might try them.

Does the Vegas have sockets for the op amps so you can just plug the new ones in?

Some other mods you can do are disable the negative feedback loop. The ultralinear out put is a sort of built in neg. feedback. The result is a livelier, looser sound. It will also be a little noisier and a little louder as well. Kevin O'Connor of London Power recomends converting at least one pair ...

One of the reasons the later silverfaces have more headroom is the higher plate voltages on the output tubes.

I may be wrong, but I don't think the 69 twins had the higher voltages yet.

Dave Rich

An A/B box would work.

This should make the pedal less bright and less volume. Your result seems contrary to what I would have thought.

Make sure your meter is set to ohms. Measuring tip to tip, and sleave to sleave,you should get not more than a couple of ohms. i.e. zero ohms would be a perfect conductor. Also measure tip to sleave as that could indicate a short. The meter should read infinity or OL (open lead). If you're touching ...

If the amp is 25 years old and has never had a cap job, and it's humming. I'd say it definately needs new caps.