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starr36
Platinum Member
Canada
1172 Posts |
 Posted - 10/24/2008 : 07:41:45
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Yes ... another dumb late night idea ... just wondering if any of you
done stupid things like drop an amp or a guitar to render them useless
or ??? just out of plain 'not paying attention' ...
While I never threw a guitar into a lake at a "camp" gig, I did let my
explorer in case (HEAVY) smash against my AMP head ... it sheared the
CH1 and CH2 input volume knob shafts right off. As these are push-pull
switched... I had to get those babies from Mesa Boogie. There was a
tricky little capacitor in there that gives a treble cut (or bright if
you will) on CH1 and that was 'impossible' to desolder without
destroying and thus ... I now have a 'modded' Mark Iv with a slightly
different capacitor value. At first I was a bit miffed that the
control shaft was plastic .... but now I see the wisdom in that its
better for the chassis that the shafts just snap off, rather than the
control knobs bending the innards etc. Now lucky for me I can
handle a soldering iron for a job like this, but no doubt this
probably would have been $150 at the factory shop and you know, 3
weeks without the amp ... and I'd hate to think, ... an
'unauthorized' tube swap while your amp quietly watched 150 peices of
other peeps gear come and leave while it waited for service ...
So folks tell one, tell all of any annoying unplanned destruction of gear ....
that, er well, you kinda wish never happened .... write on bossheads write on!
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Edited by - starr36 on 10/24/2008 07:43:58 |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 10/24/2008 : 11:21:24
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http://www.bossarea.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5287
Read my tale of woe caused recently by two drunken muppets at a gig.. .....apart from this i've been pretty lucky apart from dropping the yamaha sg 2000s and breaking the top off the toggle switch,i had a digitech GSP 21 nicked one time if that counts but destructionwise i've been fairly lucky and i've been out since i was about 14 on and off gigging and very regularly(every weekend 2 or 3 gigs) in the last 10 years..... |
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verivorax
Platinum Member
Canada
1185 Posts |
Posted - 10/25/2008 : 15:30:58
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Do amp techs really steal tubes out of an amp while it's in repair?? Maybe just mark all your tubes with something obvious so you'll know if they've been swapped.
I didn't know those boogie pots were plastic-shafted.. I usually don't like that, and I thought Boogie just used flying leads for all their pots to save the board.
..I love MarkIV.. |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 10/25/2008 : 20:31:22
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quote:
Originally posted by verivorax
Do amp techs really steal tubes out of an amp while it's in repair?? Maybe just mark all your tubes with something obvious so you'll know if they've been swapped.
I didn't know those boogie pots were plastic-shafted.. I usually don't like that, and I thought Boogie just used flying leads for all their pots to save the board.
..I love MarkIV..
i was trading up an amp onetime in a shop in dublin and the 'tech'(i use that word loosely.. ) for some reason opened up the amp and took the output valves out,he dropped one on the ground which miraciously didn't break..but when re-installed obviously didn't work.... he then proceeded to tell me that"i don't think this amp is working properly...."... muppet..... but the worst case was i was getting some work done to my '67 coronado and i brought it to a couple of shops to get a quote on the stuff to be done,i left it into a an old established shop who gave me a good price.... when i went back a couple of days later to collect the guitar the man in the shop told me that a person had been in to collect it but didn't have a ticket so he wouldn't release it to him,but i knew there was something he wasn't telling me so i kept at him until he told me that the person concerned was out of a local music shop... he didn't know i had been in there getting a quote beforehand and that they had offered to buy the fender off me and got a bit agressive when i said no....i grew up in a rough part of town and can be fairly forceful when needed so they soon backed down when i put it up to them and i moved onto the other store.... it was lucky two of my mates were with me at the time i went to collect it 'cause i wanted to go back to the other shop to vent my displeasure in a more meaningful manner.... ( i was 18 at the time and sometimes i didn't think everything through. )......so while most techs/repairers are ok Starr 36 is right to be cautious.......this is part of the reason(along with some of the rip off prices in dublin) that i started learning to repair simple stuff myself..... |
Edited by - FRANZONI on 10/25/2008 20:34:15 |
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pawnshop_trash
Gold Member
USA
603 Posts |
Posted - 10/26/2008 : 05:14:35
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re: plastic shaft pots, I think that might just be endemic of the times. my early 1980s Boogie mk 2 combo has plastic pot shafts, as the knobs are held in placed by set screws. I've noticed that similar-era vintage effects pedals from DOD (pre-FX series) also have plastic shaft pots with knobs held in place by set screws. that said, I've seen metal-shaft pots get sheared off an amp as well.
but back to topic, does using the body of a guitar as an impromptu ashtray count? (no worries, it was a cheap plywood guitar, and I quit smoking a couple of years later.) |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 10/26/2008 : 11:01:18
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quote:
Originally posted by pawnshop_trash
re: plastic shaft pots, I think that might just be endemic of the times. my early 1980s Boogie mk 2 combo has plastic pot shafts, as the knobs are held in placed by set screws. I've noticed that similar-era vintage effects pedals from DOD (pre-FX series) also have plastic shaft pots with knobs held in place by set screws. that said, I've seen metal-shaft pots get sheared off an amp as well.
but back to topic, does using the body of a guitar as an impromptu ashtray count? (no worries, it was a cheap plywood guitar, and I quit smoking a couple of years later.)
Hi pawnshop_trash & guys
Is that a fancy new method to do some relic-ing?
Well at least it's original.
Regards Dr. Bob
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Edited by - Dr. Bob on 10/26/2008 11:02:32 |
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verivorax
Platinum Member
Canada
1185 Posts |
Posted - 10/26/2008 : 22:21:10
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re: plastic shaft pots
I used to work with a guy who tried to trade in his 100+lb Fender Super Twin (1972? 76?). As the guy in the shop was inspecting it for trade value, it toppled and fell on its face, breaking a rare and expensive plastic-shafted pot. The guy then refused to buy the amp, as it was now broken. Baffled and likely blinded by rage, my co-worker wheeled out his broken amp to discover his car was being towed..
God was pissing in his fate-jar that day!
That store suddenly closed sometime last year.. too bad, they often had vintage boss for sale! |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2008 : 08:44:52
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Hi verivorax
I think you & your friend, win the sad story of the week award.
Regards Dr. Bob |
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starr36
Platinum Member
Canada
1172 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2008 : 22:00:27
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I love the ashtray... that is just funny.
MORE STORIES!!! MORE! |
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starr36
Platinum Member
Canada
1172 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2008 : 22:07:40
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quote:
Originally posted by pawnshop_trash
re: plastic shaft pots, I think that might just be endemic of the times. my early 1980s Boogie mk 2 combo has plastic pot shafts, as the knobs are held in placed by set screws...
My MKIV is from about 1992, (it has the 4 jack effect loop, not the 3 jack one that was a later revision) and the replacement pots I bought from MB were *ALMOST* identical; just a slightly different colour and slightly different shape of the pot... tbh, i was amazed as to how close it was, but i was disappointed they were not *exactly* the same.
Because they were not identical, I fantasized about how I could drill a small hole in the middle of the broken shaft and put a threaded piece of metal (a tiny machine screw with the head cut off)and some 5-minute epoxy to 'repair' the white plastic shaft ... that fantasy ended as soon as it appeared in my mind. |
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pawnshop_trash
Gold Member
USA
603 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2008 : 15:52:13
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| as far as "careless" destruction goes, I think the ultimate would be taking your guitar off and casually dropping it on the floor at the end of a show (without even looking back at it)... I think it was Dave Navarro/Jane's Addiction who 'popularized' such abuse. |
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starr36
Platinum Member
Canada
1172 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2008 : 16:30:28
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| i also dropped my lp studio straight on its face when the strap gave away. notta mark. but scared me to death with momentary visions of snapped pegheads went thru my head. I am still thinking of a much cooler straplock system that works with factory buttons. I think most peeps HATE undoing screws to their brand new instruments. |
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pawnshop_trash
Gold Member
USA
603 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2008 : 18:01:36
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that's very scary about yr LP's fall, starr36! I'm with you about 'replacement' straplocks though... but have you seen these from Dunlop?
http://www.zzounds.com/item--DNP7007SI
they fit over your guitar strap and lock into place on a normal strap button. I have a couple of pair, and they work great (but would probably fail if you threw your guitar around your neck, like the band Cinderella(?) used to do). |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2008 : 23:50:27
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| i use a couple of rubber washers on one of my guitars to stop the strap coming off......works pretty well,but then i don't swing my guitar around my body........ |
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pedals 4 pv
Platinum Member
Canada
1351 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2008 : 21:32:13
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| My Dad told me that if you lean your guitar against the radio speakers the vibrations from the radio will travel through the guitar wood and improve the sound. I don't play the radio much at home so I leaned it against the television, thinking that would have the same effect. Now the high notes sound like Sarah Palin and the lows sound like Lou Dobbs. |
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Careless destruction ....
