Chip Mod for a Chinese N112 amp

[Ken Fox]

Owners of the Chinese N112 amps should be aware that these amps do not have plug in IC chip sockets. The preamp IC chips are soldered in

I modded one for a fellow steel player here in South Georgia. It took me about one hour to to remove the chassis, remove the preamp circuit board, de-solder five preamp IC chips, solder in five 8 pin DIP sockets and then load in the new Burr Brown chips

Not a job for anyone without proper tools and experience in electronic repair

Customer was very pleased with his new sound that was achieved with the upgrade


I am no longer taking any amps for repair via shipping
Too much damage has occurred from shippers as well as excessive shipping cost
Scheduled walk in repairs are still more than welcome

Thanks
Ken

[ajm]

Just a minor correction to Ken's post, which by the time I get done with this he'll probably have already fixed.

It should read:

"Not a job for anyone withOUT proper tools and experience in electronic repair."

[Ken Fox]

Thanks. I just spotted that.

[Dwight Lewis]

How can you tell if your NV112 is Chinese, what are the signs??

Dwight

[Ken Fox]

Just look at the back of the amp. Will say made in China

[Dave Mudgett]

The cosmetics are different - the new ones have white chickenhead knobs (OK, easy to replace), aluminum strips on the front right/left side, and the rear panel says "Designed and Engineered in USA Made in China".

My only issue, which was apparently started in later-production US-made amps, is the lack of chip sockets for the preamp IC chips. I am very thankful that my old Peavey amps have socketed IC chips. It's not just a matter of voluntary replacement. I have had preamp chips go bad, and with socketed chips, it's a simple 5-minute repair by almost anybody. Most people are gonna have to take or ship an amp with soldered-in chips to a tech to unsolder the old one(s) and install a chip socket using a hot-air soldering station or a pretty durned good temp-controllable traditional soldering station, which I think most people will need to deal with modern circuit boards.

[Ken Fox]

Thank, Dave. Spot on

One different thing I saw was the reverb cable no longer plugs into the bottom of the chassis. The wires run up inside the amp and the connector plugs onto the board now from the top side

I sat the amp in a vertical position to make chassis removal easier. I had to also take the reverb wire retainers off of the cabinet to allow getting the chassis out to work on.

All in all a very well built amp.

[Ken Fox]

Bump

[Jack Stoner]

FWIW. the latest NV112's now have a Celestion speaker, not the pictured Blue Marvel.

[chuck lemasters]

Ken
Do you still sell the chips for the mod?

Thanks
.C.

[Ken Fox]

Yes they are on my website

[chuck lemasters]

PM sent

[Ken Fox]

Bump