I CAN'T RESIST!!!

filed under:guitar

I am really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really thinking about signing up for a Guitar Center credit card and picking up one of these with a cheap hardshell case.

I don't consider myself a Les Paul kind of player, but I tried one last week and I haven't been able to keep my mind off of it.

Must obsess now.

English Channel

Here's a picture of the English Channel that I finally finished.

It gets you real close to the sound of a Vox AC30 for about $1,000 cheaper.

The clean sound is like the early Beatles sound, but the dirty sound actually sounds more Marshall like than it should. I probably need to go inside and re-bias the transistors a little closer to the specified voltages.

It plays well with the 250, Phase 90 and my BYOC Delay but it hates my Distortion+ and Tremolo pedals. But this might be fixed with the re-biasing thing.

The boy kinda freaked on how close it sounds to a real Vox. He even hinted that he'd like one.

Maybe for a bday present.

Finally...

filed under:guitar, DIY and stompbox

For months I've been working on The English Channel from the good people at runoffgroove.com.

The English Channel is a FET pre-amp that is supposed to sound like the Vox AC30.

I started building mine way back in August or so. After assembling it over a weekend it didn't work. Yea!

That's not the entire truth. It did make a rather loud squeeling (for the record, it is not supposed to make a loud squeeling).

Not really wanting to pick up the soldering iron I let it sit.

And sit.

And sit.

It sat collecting dust until about 2 weeks ago when I became interested in the circuit's potential again. I took it to work to let a couple of engs look it over but they couldn't find the prob either.

So I let it sit.

Until last night. I went over the pcb with a volt meter for a billionth time. I re-re-re-biased the transistors again, plugged it in and it worked.

It worked. WTF? I have no real idea why it works, but it do.

It makes my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and Tele sound real close to an AC30 and a Tele. Real close.

The problems I had with the project are a reflection of my lack of skills and not any shortcomings of the circuit design.

In short, The English Channel fucking rox0rz your box0rz and while it can't replace a Vox AC30 it is about $2,000 cheaper.

We're supposed to get a new HP tomorrow so I'll post pics soon.