Well, your message in general is gonna really upset some of the boutique
amp artisans that frequent (and provide valuable input to) this list,
that's for sure. So buckle your seat belt. But your statement "For less
money & a Holmes mod you can have perfect tone" really cost you any
credibility because we all know where the tone comes from, right? (hint:
it ain't the equipment). It's cool that you're happy with your mods, and
Ron's a great engineer, but I just thought I'd correct that before the
masses get ahold of you :-)
Bill Hines
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "nickdeem" <nickdeem@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Or Why spend close to 2 thousand for a "boutique" harp amp? For less
money &
a Holmes mod you can have perfect tone!!! Once again Ron proved that he
really has that creative edge and as he told me on the phone the day I
bought a harp commander from him about 4 years ago "musicians compose
with
music I like to compose with circuits)... About a year ago I purchased
the
amp section of an early "silverface" Princeton (about 1967, it still had
the
original fender 2 prong ac cord) The tubes were OK but it really sounded
weak and lifeless...I emailed him one day with an idea I had to bring it
back to life as a harp / guitar Amp.I asked him if he could use the first
input as a guitar channel and then knock out the useless vibrato circuit
and
mod it as a second channel strictly for harp on the second input. The
results are truly amazing..the first input is for
guitar and it utilizes the volume bass and treble controls along with the
2
12ax7 tubes in the original preamp section..the second input is for the
harp.he made it very high impedance for a mike or a harp commander, he
knocked out the vibrato circuit completely.and made the speed and
intensity
pots volume and tone.since the 2 12ax7's were now being used for
Guitar,,,he
added another tube into the circuit he put an additional tube socket in
the
chassis and gave the harp channel a 12au7.he also rewired and recapped
the
chassis (its more like a deluxe now).and changed the tube biasing to
cathode
(he said it makes things more efficient and louder sounding even though
technically theres a few less watts) He emailed me photographs of before
and
after.Getting it back from him I must have looked over his workmanship
for
almost an hour.he really does one of the neatest soldering jobs you've
ever
seen.Plugging it in and putting it through a Legend 12" alnico has been
one
of my best playing experiences ever.Soundwise I always thought my main
harp
amp a Premier T-12R was perfect in the past But the harp side and the
guitar side on the princeton really sound "fat and juicy"...jt30 ,
controlled magnetic reluctance bullet, shure 545 all really "shine"
amazingly with very little feedback...that guitar channel has such a full
sound my Strat sings and my archtop sounds so warm and jazzy.. Before you
spend "the big bucks" Give Ron a call..
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Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l