My New Rig

[tunghaichuan]

Finally got around to completing my rig:

http://www.diycustomamps.com/images/rig_1.jpg

http://www.diycustomamps.com/images/rig_2.jpg

My Christmas present to myself was three new Boss BCB-30 pedal cases and PSA-120S adapters to house all the Boss pedals I've been picking up cheap of late. I was spending a ton of money on batteries, so I got the cases and power supplies. Plus the cases allow me to organize all the pedals. I did just have them in a box and would take out two or three to hook them up to an amp.

The first rig shows my two Blackheart Little Giant amps, one combo and one head and a ported RSA cab. The second rig is two totally stock Valve Junior heads atop two matched RSA cabs.

I've got a lot of pedals that basically do the same thing, namely OD and Distortion. I plan on getting a few modulation pedals, although the chorus, delay and reverb pedals suit me fine for right now. Both rigs are run in stereo from the RV-5 Reverb pedal, which sounds pretty good in stereo, very spacious.

The Blackheart amps sound much better than the Valve Juniors. The VJs are totally stock and probably need to be modified to sound better.

Anyway, a very versatile rig.

tung

 

[Blaze]

Nice pedal case Tung !

I guess we can call you ''The Boss'' now ..:rotflmao:


Blazes

 

[Robert]

Wow that's a lot of Boss pedals!

 

[Algonquin]

Looks good Steve :AOK: Now where are you going to fit in the TU-2 ?

 

[duhvoodooman]

Dude!! Terrific, as far as it goes.....but where's the Triboost??? oke:

 

[marnold]

Are the Blackhearts totally stock then?

 

[tunghaichuan]

Looks good Steve :AOK: Now where are you going to fit in the TU-2 ?

The OD pedals have mostly the same sound, so I plan on swapping them out.

The OS-2 is a DS-1 and OD in one pedal with a knob to pan between the two sounds. The OD-2 is just a regular OD and boosted OD in one pedal. The SD-1 is just a regular OD. The MD-2 is a boosted DS-1. So there is a lot of overlap. I plan on doing a "modulation" board later.

A TU-2 is a good idea, thanks! :dude:

tung

 

[tunghaichuan]

Wow that's a lot of Boss pedals!

I've been collecting them for the last year or so. The local Guitar Center has had some killer deals on them. I think the most I've paid for one of them was $80 for the Reverb, but it is like a $160 pedal new. Most of them I've paid in the $20-$40 range. I hardly ever buy new Boss pedals, they depeciate too fast.

tung

 

[tunghaichuan]

Dude!! Terrific, as far as it goes.....but where's the Triboost??? oke:

That's my next project. I plan on building this project to power all the DOD pedals I've been finding cheap lately, plus a few others. The Chinese-made DOD pedals have the Boss style connector, but the older USA-made models have the 1/8" mono jack for power. I plan on using a high quality toroid PT.

tung

 

[tunghaichuan]

Are the Blackhearts totally stock then?

Completely. I've been kind of hesitant to do any mods as the PCBs are pretty fragile in those. They have pads on both sides of the boards and are hard to work on. The best choice is gut and rebuild using the chassis.

tung

 

[tunghaichuan]

Nice pedal case Tung !

I guess we can call you ''The Boss'' now ..:rotflmao:


Blazes

If you want

You can call me anything you want, just don't call me late for dinner. :rotflmao:

tung

 

[marnold]

Completely. I've been kind of hesitant to do any mods as the PCBs are pretty fragile in those. They have pads on both sides of the boards and are hard to work on. The best choice is gut and rebuild using the chassis.

At the risk of derailing this thread, does "fragile" mean just "hard to work on" or does it mean "quite likely to fail if subjected to any stress whatsoever."

 

[tunghaichuan]

At the risk of derailing this thread, does "fragile" mean just "hard to work on" or does it mean "quite likely to fail if subjected to any stress whatsoever."

The board substrate is pretty durable itself, but the pads look kind of iffy. There are pads on both sides of the board and each pad is soldered so you have to remove solder from each pad to get the component of the board. I doubt it would stand up to repeated modding. I don't believe the pads are plated-through holes.

The good news is that the circuit sounds pretty good as is, at least for what I want it for: plugging in a lot of pedals to get the sound.

EDIT: one more thing: the bolts holding the chassis to the cabinet are very fragile. I removed them using a 12V drill and the the threads stripped on every bolt. It didn't damage the nuts welded to the chassis, luckily enough. I got some stainless replacement bolts at Home Depot that are a lot better quality.

tung

 

[hubberjub]

I thought I had the biggest pedalboard on the forum. I'm affraid to say I'm experiencing a little pedal envy.

 

[luvmyshiner]

Tung, that is SWEET! I recently had to do a little research for a potential Christmas present for . . . ahem . . . someone. She's a big Cure fan and wanted to know what pedals Robert Smith used on the "Disintegration" album (oh, sorry, we don't say "albums" anymore). Anyway, I'm assuming he must have had an endorsement from Boss because they were all Boss pedals.

 

[markb]

It's hard to go wrong with a collection of Boss pedals. They really are just good reliable kit. I'm finding the ME-50 the ideal compromise between pedals and processors but for years I've used two or three Boss pedals in one of those handy little cases on the occasions I need more than "overdrive du jour".

 

[just strum]

I kicked the idea around in getting a Blackheart. Maybe after the New Year I can sneak one into the back room.

 

[sumitomo]

Tung I can see you are a man of distortion.Sumi

 

[luvmyshiner]

. . . a man of distortion . . .

SUMI! That could so be the name of a song dude.:beer:

 

[Kazz]

I kicked the idea around in getting a Blackheart. Maybe after the New Year I can sneak one into the back room.

Maybe you should call it the "black" room.....since it is filled with black guitars and you are contemplating a purchase of a "black"heart amp oke:

 

[sunvalleylaw]

That looks great Tung!

 

[Suhnton]

What are those Epiphone amps? I've never seen them before. They look amazing. I really like the fact that there are no tone controls.

 

[oldguy]

Nice looking setup, Tung.............do you have any trouble getting a screaming solo out of those amphs?

 

[tunghaichuan]

What are those Epiphone amps? I've never seen them before. They look amazing. I really like the fact that there are no tone controls.

The amps are Valve Juniors, possibly the most popular modding platform ever. The speakers cabs are RSA brand, never seen any others like them. They are copies of Mesa Boogie ported cabs. I have them loaded with Celestion G12M-70 "modern lead" speakers.

I don't really need tone controls with this rig, the tone can be altered with the pedals.

tung

 

[tunghaichuan]

Nice looking setup, Tung.............do you have any trouble getting a screaming solo out of those amphs?

:rotflmao:

Nope, no trouble at all

tung