Soldano SLO Mini 30 Watt Killer Amp
I have never gotten excited about ANY solid state amp. Ever. Until now. The new Soldano SLO Mini 30. It’s a solid state 30 watt unit the actually replicates the sound of the iconic Soldano SLO-100 tube amp which is arguably one of the most well known amps ever created. Unfortunately for most of us it’s also one of the most expensive at around $4000.00. Well now you can get the SLO sound for $249.00. You might be thinking “but it’s solid state” so how can it possibly sound like a SLO-100? Check out the video below. Be sure to watch till the end because there is an interview with Mike Soldano himself talking about the creation of the SLO Mini 30.
The Soldano SLO Mini 30 Watt amp will blow you away. GUARANTEED!
Specs
• Inspired by the legendary Super Lead Overdrive (SLO-100) amplifier
• 30-watt power section ideal for most applications
• Familiar control layout with gain, master, 3-band EQ and presence
• Normal/Deep voicing select switch
• Crunch/Overdrive mode select switch
• Onboard effects loop
• Iconic Soldano look
• Universal 24V power supply
• Dimensions: 9.5” (w) x 6.25” (d) x 5.25” (h)
• Weight: 4 lbs.
Here’s a great video putting the Soldano SLO-Mini 30 through it’s paces. At the the 10:00 minute mark is a great interview with Mike Soldano himself about this amps design.
Leslie West Mountain of Tone Pickup
When it comes to electric guitars, it’s common knowledge that the single most impactful change you can make is the pickups. There are other changes you can make as well that can change the flavor of your tone, but pickups will produce the most drastic change.
This post is focused on humbucker pickups. For years I’ve been chasing that perfect tone. I’ve tried so many pickups it’s ridiculous. I finally found what works for me. When Dean Guitars was developing the Leslie West Signature series guitars, Leslie insisted on a unique pickup to set them apart from everything else available. Dean stepped up to the plate and developed the “Leslie West Mountain of Tone” (MOT) pickup. When I got my first LW Signature guitar I was blown away at the amazing tone I was getting.
But why is this thing so different? The answer is that it captures Leslie’s signature tone as heard on his classic songs like “Mississippi Queen” and “Theme for an Imaginary Western” to name just two. He got this tone from using old Les Paul Juniors equipped with a hot wound P90 pickup. The problem with P90s is that they are a single coil design. Single coils produce a 60 cycle hum.
For his signature guitar Leslie said it must be a single pickup guitar that produced that hot P90 tone without the “hum” and the only way to kill that “hum” is with a “humbucker” design. Dean Guitars pickup designer Pat Baker found a way to make this happen. To my knowledge he has never divulged any details as to how he did it. He won’t even say what type of wire he uses to wind them. But what he came up with is a smokin’ hot pickup that got the seal of approval from the big man himself
The Leslie West Mountain of Tone pickup sounds AMAZING. Here are the specs and a sound clip for you to check out.
These are available direct from Dean, also Amazon, and there’s a bunch of em for sale on Reverb.com. All are available at a price that won’t break the bank.
Position: Bridge / G-Spaced
Bobbin/Cvr Color: Satin Nickel, Gold. No cover styles Black/Black, Black/Cream
Cable: Single Conductor
Magnet: Alnico 5
DC Resistance: 16.57K
the BEST Guitar Tuners Ever
Over the past 20 yrs. it’s safe to say I’ve used every brand of guitar tuners made. Grover, Schaller, Sperzel, Gotoh, Planet Waves, Musiclily etc. And to be honest most of them are really good tuners. But when I tried Sperzel it was my first time using locking tuners. I loved them so much that I can’t ever go back to regular tuners ever again. So when I bought my first Dean Leslie West Signature guitar in 2017 it came with Grover Rotomatics, I ordered a set of Hipshot locking tuners for the first time and was amazed. Now not only will I only use locking tuners but I will only use Hipshot locking tuners (I now have them on all 4 of my Leslie West Models). Here’s why: the first thing I noticed was the overall quality which is second to none. They were super easy to install and they look fantastic. The locking mechanism works flawlessly, and they have an 18:1 gear ratio which I found awesome. The industry standard is 14:1. The 18:1 ratio allows me to really get an accurate tuning far beyond anything else I’ve ever used. Others use 12:1, 15:1 and some offer 18:1. There are several other ratios in use but when you add it all up the Hipshots come out on top for me at least. They also come in sealed or open gear. I’ve always used sealed tuners before but I decided to give the open gear style a try and I love em No real reason for that except they look cool. Hipshot also has replacement buttons in every popular shape and finish (see image below). So you can change the look of your axe without buying a whole new set of tuners And one more thing, their customer service is great. I decided to change the buttons on all of mine to the half moon shape so it would be closer to the Grovers that came on my guitars from the factory. I removed the standard Hipshot buttons on one of them. In between the button and the tuner body there is a nylon washer and a metal washer. The metal washers are tiny. I placed them in a sort of aluminum pie pan looking thing on my workbench. I replaced all the nylon washers first then I did a really stupid thing. I tossed a screwdriver on the bench which hit the edge of the pie pan which flipped up in the air sending all of those tiny metal washers everywhere. I only found one of them so I guess the rest went into another dimension. So I emailed Hipshot and told them what I had done and asked If I could buy some replacements. They emailed me back the very same day and said “give us your address and we’ll send you some. How many do you need?” Being that I had 3 more guitars to go I said “12” just to be safe. 5 days later I received a little ziplock baggie with way more than I asked for. Now you may think “what’s the big deal”, well the big deal is this: these washers are very specialized and you ain’t gonna find them in a hardware store, I know because I looked. Plus they just sent them to me at no charge. No postage or anything. When I get customer support like that it makes me loyal to the brand. They were great. So in the world of guitar tuners everybody will have their favorites, but you owe it to yourself to give Hipshot a try. You’ll be glad you did.
click to enlarge
Dean Leslie West Signature Model
My Leslie West collection
Leslie West gained fame the world over during his 30-plus year career as one of the most innovative and influential musicians in the history of rock music. He is most noted for his role as leader of the explosive hard rock trio, Mountain, which was named by VH-1 as one of the Top 100 Hard Rock Groups of all time. With Mountain, he climbed the heights of rock stardom on the strength of a unique, signature guitar sound and classic songs such as “Mississippi Queen”, “Never In My Life” and “Theme From An Imaginary Western”,and Nantucket Sleighride which are still staples of rock radio to this day. Leslie has earned the admiration of a long list of famous peers. During his career, he has recorded or played with a litany of rock icons including Billy Joel, Van Halen, The Who, Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix, to name just a few. In fact, Eddie Van Halen, Michael Schenker and Richie Sambora have all cited Leslie as an important influence on their own music.
I’ve been playing guitar since 1973 and Leslie West was my lifelong guitar hero. The first time I heard “Mississippi Queen” I knew at that moment I had to learn to play guitar. And my obsession with guitars has been with me my whole life. I’ve followed Leslie’s career non stop. From Mountain, to West Bruce and Lang and every incarnation along the way like The Leslie West Band and Leslie Wests Wild West Show. Every solo album as well. His sound is unmistakeable. When you hear it you KNOW it’s Leslie. Many people credit him with being the “FATHER OF HEAVY METAL”. A lot of guitarists cite him as a huge influence on their playing. Eddie Van Halen, Michael Schenker, Zakk Wylde, Peter Frampton, and Joe Satriani to name just a few. So when Dean Guitars released the Leslie West Signature Series it was a no brainer for me as I was already a loyal Dean user.
Sadly these are out of production now. There were a few available on Reverb but when Leslie passed away in Dec. they got snapped up real quick. A handful have popped back up on there at slightly inflated prices. Dean Guitars just announced the release of a new USA Leslie West Signature model. Apparently they were working on this one with Leslie when he passed away. Looks like they brought it out as a limited run in tribute. Unfortunately for me it’s well beyond what I can afford. I hope they eventually release an import version. If they do I’ll be first in line.
Here’s a link to a great interview with Leslie talking about his amps, his early Les Paul Juniors, and his Dean Signature guitars. Leslie West Vintage Guitar Magazine
40th Anniversary Woodstock only 10 made
Standard and Mississippi Queen
Classic White
Black w/LW logo
The new Leslie West Signature release (click to read about it on Premier Guitar)
Leslie West interviews talking about his signature guitars
Tributes to Leslie West
click to view Leslie West image gallery
I’ve been playing guitar since 1973 and Leslie West was my lifelong guitar hero. The first time I heard “Mississippi Queen” I knew at that moment I had to learn to play guitar. And my obsession with guitars has been with me my whole life. I’ve followed Leslie’s career non stop. From Mountain, to West Bruce and Lang and every incarnation along the way including every solo album. His sound is unmistakable. When you hear it you KNOW it’s Leslie. Many people credit him with being the “FATHER OF HEAVY METAL”. A lot of guitarists cite him as a huge influence on their playing. Eddie Van Halen, Michael Schenker, Zakk Wylde, Peter Frampton, and Joe Satriani to name just a few. When he lost his leg to diabetes I thought his career would be over but nope. He continued to record and perform from a wheelchair. He never let it stop him. The man was hardcore rock and roll through and through. RIP to the greatest guitarist that ever lived. He may be gone but his music will live forever.
My Leslie West Signature Guitars Collection
HOWARD STERN
JOE BONAMASSA
Rest In Peace my friend. Today is a very sad day for me and my family. Leslie was not only a hero of mine but a friend. He believed in me from the very beginning and always lent his support. He was the funniest guy you would ever meet but a consummate gentleman and one of the greatest rock guitarist ever. The first thing he ever said to me was Joey, all you got to do to be my favorite guitar player is fucking divide by two.. I never forgot that advice and cherish it to this day. He is a rock and roll hall of fame member with or without a statue nor ceremony. He just was and always will be. I will not get into that now. He is known best by the song “Mississippi Queen” but if you have a chance to put on Theme From An Imaginary Western “ today the sheer brilliance of that solo and composition is staggering. He made it look easy. It was not. A true one of a kind musician and man. I will miss him greatly.
DAVE DAVIES
I loved Leslie West and his guitar playing. Loved Mountain. Mississippi Queen. So American so cool. Mountain were the beginning of American heavy metal I thought.
WARREN HAYNES
RIP Leslie West I remember hearing Mountain, as a kid, for the first time. My first experience was either Mississippi Queen or Nantucket Sleighride—not sure which-—I was 10 or 11 years old. Mississippi Queen was on the radio a lot during that time period and my oldest brother had the Nantucket Sleighride album. It completely floored me. It was heavy. It was Melodic.It was soulful—but most of all, it was unique. Leslie’s voice, huge and powerful, juxtaposed against Felix’s voice which was soft and smooth and although Leslie was clearly the better singer, this variance from song to song kept your attention and painted a much wider picture than either one of those sides of their music would have done without the other. The songs matched the voice. Felix’s songs were sophisticated and melodically clever, where Leslie’s were just straight from the gut—barrelhouse blues re-imagined.
Leslie’s style as a guitar player was not only powerful but unique as well. He had warm, rich tone and a beautiful, wide vibrato that sounded like a human voice. That combined with his note selection and spacious phrasing really gave him that vocal-like quality that I’ve always personally been drawn to (as I’ve mentioned many times). His ability to choose the right notes and not overplay was in an odd way like a rock version of BB King. As I’ve also mentioned many times it was important to me, as a singer and a guitar player, to not only try to find my own voice as a guitarist but to have that voice match my singing voice. BB King was someone I often cited as an example and Leslie was a great example of that as well. He was quoted as saying (and I paraphrase) “I’m a big guy—I need a big sound.” And man did he ever have a big sound. I always knew what he meant by that statement. In addition to being a big guy, his voice was so massive that it would totally be strange (and possibly wrong) to have a normal, clean, polite guitar sound—hence that creamy tone that we all fell in love with.
Leslie and I met in the mid-nineties, shortly after the first Gov’t Mule record came out. As a new three-piece band that was making its mission to bring back the concept of the “power trio” we had made it no secret that we were influenced by Mountain. I was a fan of Leslie’s playing and singing, Matt was a fan of Corky’s drumming, and Woody was a big fan of Felix’s bass playing (and his beautiful distorted tone). But Woody, who was quite the guitar player himself, was also a huge fan of Leslie. One day in early 2000, out of the blue, I got a call from Leslie saying he loved what we were doing and that we should do something together. I informed him of our upcoming gig at Irving Plaza in New York City and invited him to come to rehearsal and join us for the gig. Upon walking into the rehearsal room it was obvious that he was one of those larger than life characters. We joked around a bit, told a few stories to break the ice, and then we launched into Mississippi Queen. Goddam!—That voice! I’m a loud singer by most standards, but when Leslie sang into my microphone it hurt my fucking ears. It was so fucking powerful and as captivating as the first time I had heard it 25 years before. That rehearsal led to a friendship. Leslie joined us for that show and several other times through the years including at the One For Woody concert after Allen Woody passed away. I joined Mountain on stage several times and made a guest appearance on their Masters Of War album. It was always an honor and a pleasure and we swapped a lot of stories through the years. One of the things he told me was that before he made his first solo album (called Mountain—with Felix Pappalardi as producer) he used to play a lot of notes—too many by his own account—and that Felix told him “I don’t want to hear you play anything you couldn’t sing.” He took it to heart and said it was the best advice anyone ever gave him and that it was the beginning of forging his legendary style. It’s nice to have friends like that, as Allen Woody would say, “in the trenches together.” I know there are some young guitar players out there playing a million notes that may not have listened to Leslie West. Do yourself a favor and check it out. You’ll be glad you did.
ROBBIE ROBERTSON
Leslie West playing that Les Paul Jr with that tone and tenacity really moved me. Blessing to his friends, fans and family. #LeslieWest
GEEZER BUTLER
Sad to hear of Leslie West’s passing. Such a lovely bloke. He was fantastic to us when Sabbath supported Mountain on our first US tour. He came to see us at Mohegan Sun, even though he was wheelchair bound. Mississippi Queen one of, if not the, greatest riff of all time. RIP pic.twitter.com/DZ3FLWeGpQ
NEAL SCHON
Wow. I’m very saddened to hear this terrible news. He was a major influence on my playing. God Bless you Brother..you are Soaring with Angels.
DAVID COVERDALE
R.I.P Leslie West…Yet another sad loss…I’ve never tired of listening to Mountain.
BRUCE KULICK
I am very saddened by the loss of one of my biggest guitar heroes, Leslie West. His music and guitar tone was always a huge influence on me. I saw him live many times, and Grand Funk played shows with Leslie on the same bill. That was so exciting for me. He will always be remembered as a HUGE rock guitar legend. Another tragic day in 2020.”
TOM MORELLO
Rest In Peace #LeslieWest. His guitar tone on “Mississippi Queen” is hands down the BADDEST guitar tone on record.
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PAUL STANLEY
Leslie’s tone could stop a rhino in a full charge. Mountain sound was massive. Leslie was a warm and lovely guy.”
ACE FREHLEY
I lost a dear friend yesterday, he was Leslie West the lead guitarist from “Mountain”…Probably best known for their hit “Mississippi Queen”…He was an amazing guitarist, and I was awaiting a call from him, since I did a remake of one of his songs on “Origins Vol. 2”…but now I’ll never get a chance to hear what he thought of the cover…It’s so sad, we’ve lost so many great guitar ??players this year…my prayers are with his family & friends during this holiday season! He was one of the great guitarists and a good friend over the years!!! He will be missed in the Rock & Roll Community! I’m sure he’s up in R&R Heaven w/all the other musicians we’ve lost!
PAT TRAVERS
Hey there. It’s been a few days since my friend, mentor, and source of much musical inspiration Leslie West passed on. I had a special connection with Leslie. We first met at Prairie Sun Recording Studios in Cotati CA, which I mentioned coincidentaly in my last post. I was recording an album there in 1993 and so was Leslie. How cool! My drummer at the time, Kevin Neal, played drums on Leslie’s sessions. Kevin didn’t know until last minute that he would be recording with Leslie due to the scheduled drummer having to cancel. He did a fantastic job. Leslie and I formed a bond over the week or so we were there at the studio that lasted over the decades. Giving Leslie a call was on my mind the last week or so and I regret not checking in on him. He could appear to be a gruff and grouchy guy to a lot of people but I figured out fairly quickly that was it just a front to try and disguise a very funny and sweet man. Leslie didn’t doll out compliments about other players very often but when he did, and it was you he was giving a nod to, it was like a blessing from the Pope. I’m going to miss Leslie West. He had enormous natural talent, feel, and a humongous helping of soul. Leslie West R.I.P.
PETER FRAMPTON
Leslie West was the very first US guitar player I met when Humble Pie opened for Mountain here. Leslie’s playing and sound had me glued watching everything he did. He was a sweetheart and an extremely funny man. I love you Leslie and will miss you dear friend. RIP
LITA FORD
One of the baddest, true hard-core rock and roll guitar warriors that ever lived! Never In My Life did I find a legend like you.
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Great musicians will never die. Rest in Peace Leslie West.
JOE SATRIANI
R.I.P. Leslie West. We had some great times together onstage and some legendary laughs everyday on tour. Thank you for all the great music. My deepest condolences to the West family.
NILS LOGREN
Rest In Peace, friend. Grin opened for Mountain and West, Bruce and Lang through early ‘70’s. Sweet, bad ass blues man. Got to play together first Rock n Roll Fantasy Camp. I’ll always remember his smile as he looked me in the eye, inspired and shared his gifts.
GLEN HUGHES
So very sad to hear that my dear friend Leslie West has passed away .
Leslie’s work with Mountain will be remembered by millions of Music Listeners.
A pioneer, both singing and guitar playing, was absolutely beyond.
Brothers for 5 decades .
Gab and I love and miss you .
May I suggest the album
Nantucket Sleigh Ride
MICHAEL AMOTT
Rest in Power #LeslieWest! I love his playing, singing and writing. A big influence on so many musicians, including myself. Leslie had THE SOUND in his hands. Was so cool to hang out with him at a NAMM dinner in ‘09, what a great friendly guy and phenomenal musician. R.I.P.
DEE SNIDER
His influence on HIP HOP (You heard me!) is undeniable. His song Long Red has been sampled on over 750 hip hop tracks including Jay-Z 99 Problems. What an incredible force he was! Love and prayers for you my friend.
New Laney Cub Super12 Combo Review
So after several years Laney Amplification has released a new version of the Cub 12R all tube amp called the Cub Super12. They’ve made a few changes which I will cover here.
First a disclaimer: This is a review of the changes in the new model as compared to the previous version. I have not had a “hands on” with the new. I do, however, own the previous version which is a great sounding amp. It goes from a bluesy grind to high gain with ease. I love this amp. It had the same 12″ “HH” Speaker as the new version but I never cared for. I tried different Celestions and Eminence units but the one that really did it was a Jensen MOD 12-35. It was a perfect match for this amp.
Generally the amp makers don’t use the best tubes in production models and that is true for Laney (at least in the amp I own). After trying many different tubes I found what sounds best to my ears. ElectroHarmonix 12AX7-HG preamp tubes and Mullard EL84 power tubes. But tube tone is subjective. So what sounds like a Harley Shovelhead going flat out on an open road to me may be fingernails on a blackboard to you so trial and error is the way to settle this one.
I have two previous articles on my amp that address two issues, the first being the material used for the cab (read here) with my solution found here and the second being the inherent hot transformer problem which is covered in 2 articles (read #1 here and #2 here). As to whether or not Laney corrected them in the new design I can only speculate but I would hope they did.
They changed the reverb circuit to one using the spring reverb algorithm from the Black Country Custom SECRETPATH pedal which is an incredible sounding pedal. The reverb in mine sounds pretty good but this new circuit must be great. They also added a “Boost” circuit which is a welcome feature.
The tube layout appears unchanged: 3 – 12AX7 preamp and 2 – EL84 power tubes in Class A/B configuration and it retains the dual wattage feature via 2 inputs: 15 watt and 1 watt. Many amps now feature switchable output power and Laney is no different. I can tell you from experience that there is virtually no difference in the tone between 1w and 15w but the volume is greatly reduced in 1w. By the way the 15w is HELLA LOUD so the 1w is great to have. I live in a duplex so I rarely even use the 15w, unless I’m certain my neighbors ain’t home.
As for the cab material, I have no idea. I can’t find any information on that anywhere but I will say this: my amps original cab was made of a material that looked liked pressed cardboard or possibly a material similar to Masonite house siding and it had no sharp edges. They were all contoured. But the new one looks like the sides MIGHT be plywood. Although all the other edges are contoured but that in itself doesn’t indicate what type of material was used.
The boost is footswitchable and there is also an FX loop.
All in all it looks like a quality amp. And as long as they didn’t mess with the overall tone of the amp it’s going to sound great.
So if you’re looking for an all tube combo you owe it to yourself to at least test drive one of these beauties. I think you’ll be impressed.
These are also available in a 10 watt all tube class A with foot switchable boost and an FX loop. the Cub Super10
The Super12 can also be had in a Head Only version called Cub Supertop.
visit Laney Amplification for more info
Laney Hot Transformer Updated
Amazon arrives
Now that I’ve been using the transformer cooling fan mod to control the transformer heat issue, and I know I’m keeping it, I figured I may as well go ahead and make the install a better and quieter one. So I ordered a couple of special PC case fans. Noise Blocker XM-1 Black Silent fans. Also got some black blade guards so I don’t stick my fingers in the blades (they don’t really hurt or anything but they will sure as hell startle the living shit out of you if you get a finger in there). The specs are:
Size: 40mm x 40mm x 10mm
Voltage: 12v
Start Voltage: 9v
Rated Speed: 2800 rpm
Air Flow: 2.9 CFM
Noise Level: 9.2 dB/A
Laid out and ready to assemble
They use a “Nano SLI” bearing. Sounds cool but I have no idea what it means, but I can tell you this much: These things are dead quiet and still move a good amount of air for such a small fan. And that is exactly what I wanted. As you can see by the images below, the temp took a good dip when I powered up the fans. The temps went from 81F with the amp off, to 104F at idle then back down to 94F with fans on. And it holds that temp even when playing. It fluctuated up to 96 but then went right back down again.
These are small and they look kinda cool too. Inside the 12v jack and off/on switch housing i added a Zalman Fan Mate speed control but I think it was unnecessary since the fans need min 9v to start and they’re silent at full speed. So I might redo the wiring and switch but that’s an incidental thing. All in all it was a good addition and well worth the effort.
Have you run into a similar situation? If so ,how did you handle it? Tell us about it in the comments below
Seismic Speaker Cab Becomes Cab For Laney Tube Combo
Laney Cub 12R gets a new home
conversion done
Ever since I found out the Laney was basically made of cardboard (read about it here) it’s been buggin the shit out of me. So I fixed it. It would take too long to build a custom amp cab from scratch so I decided to convert an existing one to fit the Laney. And I found a perfect cab to use: Seismic Luke-1x12TR. These are solid built cabs made from 1/2″ birch plywood. It was too deep for an amp cab so I reduced the depth by 6″ and it was as close to perfect as you can get. I was originally going to keep the factory orange Tolex but in the process of peeling it back to make the cuts it got a bit stretchy from the heat gun so it was all goofy looking. No problem. I had some snakeskin left from the Laney recover and removing the rest from the Laney was a breeze since the thing was cardboard it just 
pulled right off. After some clever cutting and fitting it was done. It turned out to be a little heavier than the original by about 2 pounds and it feels rock solid. The original Laney steel mesh back was a tricky fit because of the angled offset around the power cord and extension speaker jack, but I got it in there with a solid panel on the lower half and about 4″ of mesh above that. And I managed to keep my transformer cooling fans undisturbed. I rear-loaded the Celestion V-Type and I love it! I still have some fitting to do on the solid half panel but it’s minor. Now when I look at it I don’t see a cardboard shoe box, instead I see an honest to goodness for real amplifier. The thing is that it never sounded bad, in fact it sounded awesome but it sounds even better now. Warmer and fuller. But just knowing what was under the tolex created a mental thing that I just couldn’t get past no matter how hard I tried. The new box stands a little taller too and it just looks good. Actually the Seismic came with a Celestion G12L which I might use in the Laney amp cab as an extension speaker, I’m just not sure if the cardboard thing will bother me in that application too. We’ll see. All in all it was $80 and two days well spent.
First Time DIY Modding Tips
So you want to get into diy modding your own gear
You’ve probably seen the forum conversations of dudes talking about modding their own gear or even building some themselves (like stomp boxes) and you think you’d like to get into some of that diy modding stuff too but don’t know how to get started. If you’re experienced in electronics then you don’t really need this article because you already know how to get going. But if you DON”T have knowledge or experience this post might help.
First, let’s define diy modding as it relates to music gear. It’s simple, Do-It-Yourself modifications to a piece of your gear. It applies to repairs as well. Another term you’ll hear a lot is “hot rodding”. It’s all basically the same thing: making modifications to your gear to change the behavior or function hopefully for the better.
Aoyue 469
Ok, before you jump in there are a few things to be aware of. First, you can learn to do these things as long as you can learn to use the tools properly. Soldering irons are the single most used tool in the diy modding world when it comes to music gear. You absolutely must be able to competently solder. If you need to learn there are a shitload of good websites that will help you and videos on youtube will give you a visual. You could teach yourself while doing some actual modding but you’ll end up with a bunch of stuff that doesn’t work because of cold solder joints, solder bridges, and of course burnt components. Save yourself the heartache and learn to solder first.
Vero board or strip board
If you know nothing about electronic circuits and components you can still mod or build by simply paying attention on the DIY sites and reading the comments because you will learn a ton of useful info there. And of course you can use google to find information. You should learn how to read capacitor and resistor codes etc. There are a bunch of places with PDF downloadable capacitor charts and resistor color charts so you should get one or two. And you don’t have to read a schematic because most of these pedal builds are laid out for Vero board (or stripboard). And the layouts show you everything you need to know.
Once that’s out of the way you need a first project, preferably one that you can afford to screw up. Because no matter how well prepared you are there is a good chance your first build will fail. But that’s ok because it’s all part of the learning process so I suggest a simple stomp box, one with not a million components. The EarthQuaker Devices Speaker Cranker is a great first build. (I’ll link to it at the end of the article) It has minimal components and the layout is easy to follow. I came up with a neat trick to help a first time modder avoid some of the more aggravating things that come with learning this stuff and there’s a link to the article at the end of this one.
On the other hand, you may decide to start with your guitar and maybe change or rewire the pickups or volume and tone pots or the switch, and this is a good place to start. but until you get really good with a soldering iron just make sure to cover the guitar around the area your working on so you don’t drop any hot solder on it. Hot solder goes right through the finish.
As far as your amp goes you should hold off on that until you get really good at soldering and you have taken the time to learn about working around high voltages because tube amps have it and it can kill you if you don’t know what you’re doing. I’ll leave a link to some good info on amps and how to safely work on them.
Dental Picks are worth their weight in gold
The last thing is tools. You’re going to need them. I recommend a decent solder station or at the very least a decent iron. I like a station because they have adjustable temps and usually a solder dispenser. A great first solder station is the The Aoyue 469 soldering Station. It’s a complete unit for about $35. Of course there are various hand tools also like small wire cutters, pliers, drill and drill bits, dental pick etc. I suggest you grab a couple sets of locking forceps. These things are a lifesaver when soldering in a tight space. Keeps you from burning your fingers with the iron. That really hurts.
So if you’re good with all that’s been said you should give it a go. It’s fun, it’s challenging and it will give you a real sense of accomplishment every time you plug in a newly built stomp box, crank up the guitar, slam a power chord and Holy Shit the freakin’ thing works! And that NEVER gets old.
Links:
Amplifier tech Aiken
Guitar FX Layouts Speaker Cranker Layout
Previous Article with tips for first timers
Soldering Stations Aoyue Weller
Download a capacitor chart Capacitor and resistor charts
Cub 12R Gets a Celestion V Type
Heard some demo clips of the Celestion V Type 8Ω speaker and really like what I heard. In the demos it sounded like a good cross section of a Vintage 30 and a Greenback and maybe something
else as well. So at the price they are going for on Amazon I grabbed one. $97.00 and got it same day delivery for free (if you’re going to buy online it’s the only way to go). Yanked out the old and tossed in the new. It sounds good. Not quite great but good. It just sounds a tad stiff but that should soften up after it’s broken in. I’ll update after that happens. It has a pretty even response across the entire spectrum and the breakup is smooth and the Celestion V Type
has just enough high end chime for my taste. It really seems to like my EQD Crimson Drive overdrive too. And the mids are juicy enough to produce a sweet “honey” element that I really dig. Power rating is 70 watts and Sensitivity is 98dB so it’s not as loud as it’s kin which bothers me not in the slightest. All in all it’s just a really good speaker that works across multiple styles and is a perfect fit for the Laney. I’d give it 8 out of 10 stars but that may change after break-in. As always YMMV.
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