Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Rola is better known as an American speaker maker, but there was also Rola Australia, based in Melbourne, which made speakers, transformers, chokes, and other related items. They also produced speakers in the UK and NZ. As a local manufacturer of quality products, Rola Australia found its way into many Australian-made guitar amps. Their biggest … Read more
While I’m in the process of modding / rebuilding some Vox amps, I thought I might try the original Vox AC-4 from 1962, or at least a simplified version of it. Here’s a link to the full vintage Vox AC-4 schematic and amp details. Apart from the simplicity, I want to try something with an EF86 … Read more
This is the original Vox AC-4, not much like the current line-up at all, apart from the low wattage. Volume Tone, on/off Speed Foot switch for trem (vibrato) – no depth control 8″ 3ohm speaker made by Elac ~3.5 watts RMS EF86 preamp pentode EL84 power pentode EZ80 rectifier ECC81 for trem VINTAGE VOX AC-4 … Read more
Before I completely rip this Vox AC4 apart and rebuild the amp on tagboard, I thought I’d try swapping the output transformer (OT), just to see if it made any difference to the sound of the amp, as I’ve read conflicting views online. Cutting a very long post short – yes it did make a difference, … Read more
Yes, this is super nerdy and I may be the only person that will ever find it useful – I combined the specs from the Hammond 125SE series into one table, as I found it really annoying to check through individual datasheets. I recently installed one in a Vox AC4-C1 12 just to see if … Read more
I ended up selling this one before doing any work on it, as I decided that I have enough projects on the go right now, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to leave it stock, or mod it to suit my tastes. Better to leave a vintage amp like this as is… So if … Read more
Picked up this Greco TV-500 Les Paul Junior recently, and there’s not a massive amount of information out there, so I thought I should jot a few things down. I’m fairly sure it’s the same as the Ibanez 2343, given the relationship between the two brands – Greco for the domestic market in Japan, Ibanez … Read more
Unfortunate update. The person I was buying this off accidentally dumped it for scrap before I could pick it up… damn ——————————- If you’re wondering why I haven’t been posting vero layouts – I have been busy finishing some customer orders and researching a few things (not to mention life in general). I’m … Read more
Something of a classic, the Fender Blender is a monster octave fuzz. I’d be tempted to remove the Blend pot myself, as I don’t like fuzz pedals with clean blend. Probably advisable to add LEDs to the Tone boost switch too. Layout has been designed for a wide enclosure to accomodate the switching and 4 … Read more
There’s a few variations of this circuit, so I’d recommend reading through the Aion FX build docs or maybe just skip the vero all together and buy the board from them. The build docs also include LTspice simulations of the frequency response, so that saves me a bit of time plotting them out. I’ve labelled a … Read more