Yeah, it's a weird history there. This G2000 is virtually identical to the earlier Plush P1000S, but wired with tag strips instead of eyelet board. Same chassis and front panel design and cabinet form factor. Just slightly different upholstery. The schematics are drawn in the same style as well, like the same engineer drew them by hand. Almost like these guys bought up all the surplus materials when Plush went under.

The Peavey copying stuff is hilarious to me. The balls on these fuckin' guys to straight-up copy the Peavey Standard and call it the Earth "Original." *chef's kiss*

I had the B2000/Super Bass. Unfortunately it was during my years of apartment living, so I didn't have the opportunity to crank it very often and ended up selling after 4 or 5 years. I would have held onto it a lot longer if it had come into my life a few years later. I thought it was fucking awesome. It was very rugged, aside from the aforementioned RCA auxiliary and record out jacks. But it always worked when I needed it, and the tuck 'n roll was very easy to clean and looked kind of cool sitting there, not just another black tolex rectangle. Love the company name, so "heavy" and industrial and 70's. Evokes bong smoke pouring from the windows of a bondo and primer patched van. I've had my eye out of the Earth Sound Research Graphic Fuzz for about 20 years. Maybe someday I'll find one for a reasonable price.

Nate Dort wrote: Tue Nov 08, 2022 9:53 pm The Peavey copying stuff is hilarious to me. The balls on these fuckin' guys to straight-up copy the Peavey Standard and call it the Earth "Original." *chef's kiss*

Those two extra knobs on the Peavey really make it more versatile though (master volume and mid shift).

Having your control legends die-cast as part of the face plate is A++ though

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Sat Oct 29, 2022 8:55 am Its kinda rad that they're making an amp of what seems like pretty good build quality for that price (~$1K new). Dumbles are kinda whatever to me but, per discussion in the Gear You Hate thread, would be very cool to see them making plexi or BF bassman clones of the same quality and price point.

I try to look at the new VHT with an open mind, but I also got a first-hand account from Steve Fryette about how thigs went crazy-sideways immediately after the sale.

Still, that sale kept Fryette alive, which is keeping all the classic VHT designs alive. I might just have to chalk it up to "business shit" while still feeling lucky that both companies seem to be going strong.

I took a chance on a $125 tall font Sovtek Small Stone from guitar center. Condition was listed as 'fair'. Upon receipt it was clear that there were some issues. The circuit was unmolested, but the rate pot had been replaced with an incorrect value that had a 6mm shaft. The original knob didn't fit the shaft, but someone tried anyway and broke the knob. The pieces were included. A 3PDT switch had been installed which I didn't realize at first. It looked original, the big collar was in place and the bubble cap had a thingy inside so that it popped onto the top of a standard foot switch. The main issue was that when engaging the effect there was a huge volume drop and loss of high end and both the foot switch and color switch popped loudly.

I ordered a 1M reverse log pot for the rate control and glued the knob back together with the grub screw in place. Carefully drilled out the knob so that it would fit on a 6mm shaft. Whoever did the switch must have googled a picture of "true bypass wiring" and made it up with the wires at hand. It turned out that the positive 9v lead for the LED was wired into the circuit where the 'effect in' would be in a true bypass diagram. Got it all sorted and it works like a dream. I'll replace the pot when it shows up. How can you not love the ruggedness of these first gen Sovtek builds?!

GK MB500:

Sold as "intermittent noise/volume drops." The fact that it turned on and passed any audio was a good sign that the ICEPower Class-D module in there wasn't blown.
Plugged it in and played it for about 15 minutes at low volume and it sounded fine. Everything works, except the mute switch which the PO completely removed for some reason. Bench tested it at 300W output into a 4 ohm dummy load. Ran fine for about 20 minutes, then the output dropped and got distorted. I poked around with the chopstick and it came back to life when I wiggled the main wiring harness. Unseated and seated all of the connectors and bench tested again for an hour at high power, occasionally wiggling the harnesses and flexing the boards a bit. No issues. Asking GK if they have a replacement mute switch so I can get this back to full functionality.

Squier Classic Vibe Mustang tuning stability issues.

I had no idea what a rabbit hole this would be. After installing a Mastery bridge and a Fender brand tremolo the tuning was still not stable. I had the springs on the bottom notch, farthest from the baseplate and the cigar down to where the wrap of the thicker strings was just clearing. So maximum spring tension. Even just after half an hour or so of tuning and testing I was starting to get metal shavings around the post holes on the baseplate. I read all the forums and watched some youtube vids and took everything apart again. Ran a file through the nut slots and made sure there was no binding. Comparing the components of the Squier and Fender vibratos, I noticed some things right away. The pivot points on the Squier posts were at a sharper angle with a larger flat "notch" space for the knife edge to rest on while the Fender had a taller, more gradual pivot taper with a tiny notch. They also have different threading and can only be used with their corresponding cigars. But speaking of knife edge, the Fender baseplate does not have one. At all. No countersinking or bevel to the post holes. Just a square edge. The Squier is beveled on the bottom side only.

I cleaned up the metal burrs from the Fender baseplate and smoothed the surface and set the tremolo back up with the spring on the middle notch of the post. At first I noticed the posts were really tight in the holes even though everything was lined up right. They were bound up somehow. I sort of popped one and it loosened and seemed like it was now seated correctly. Did this to both. Strung it back up (I'm using 11s) with the cigar slightly higher. Posts still aren't totally perpendicular to the guitar, the bottom of the posts are pulling closer to the bridge than the top, so my tension looks like it should be plenty. Put a few drops of Tri-Flow at the pivot points.

Things are better, but still not great. If I use a whammy bar and "bounce" it, the tuning comes back pretty good. If I use it without a bar and manipulate the cigar with my palm, which is the way I like to play, it doesn't do well. If I push toward the bridge, it stays flat, but even more so, if I pull back it stays way sharp.

The next thing I'm going to address is the knife edge. Some things I'm reading say that this is crucial, that it must be beveled top and bottom. So I'm going to do that and report back. If anyone has other advice I would love to hear it.

Tom Wanderer wrote: Thu Dec 22, 2022 8:17 am Squier Classic Vibe Mustang tuning stability issues.

If anyone has other advice I would love to hear it.

I've owned 4 vintage Mustangs. Here are the things I've learned and never had tuning issues, and I used the shit out of the trem. I also used to tune one of them AADGBE

1) 11-49s minimum. Looks like you are already doing this. 12s will work too. 13s are too heavy for the springs unless you are drop tuning.
2) There are several ways a person could string it, but I believe the correct way is to thread the strings through on the bridge side and wrap them under the "cigar". That's what I always did. I always used vintage Mustang bridges too set up for it to rock but be in tune in the middle. Using a Mastery (or any bridge that doesn't rock) on a Mustang wouldn't personally be my first choice due to the easy wide swing on the trem design.
3) I kept the "cigar" pretty low.
4) I don't think I ever tried the springs in different notches. They were all probably on whatever they came from at the factory.

I don't know if this is true of Chinese/Indonesian Squier Mustangs, but the springs on the Japanese Jazzmasters were lighter than the US and preferred one gauge lighter (10s). The Japanese trem on the Jaguar I had sucked, so I replaced it immediately with a US one. Also did that to my Japanese VI. Zero experience with asian made Mustang trems...

tommy wrote: Tue Dec 27, 2022 12:16 pm

Tom Wanderer wrote: Thu Dec 22, 2022 8:17 am Squier Classic Vibe Mustang tuning stability issues.

If anyone has other advice I would love to hear it.

I've owned 4 vintage Mustangs. Here are the things I've learned and never had tuning issues, and I used the shit out of the trem. I also used to tune one of them AADGBE

1) 11-49s minimum. Looks like you are already doing this. 12s will work too. 13s are too heavy for the springs unless you are drop tuning.
2) There are several ways a person could string it, but I believe the correct way is to thread the strings through on the bridge side and wrap them under the "cigar". That's what I always did. I always used vintage Mustang bridges too set up for it to rock but be in tune in the middle. Using a Mastery (or any bridge that doesn't rock) on a Mustang wouldn't personally be my first choice due to the easy wide swing on the trem design.
3) I kept the "cigar" pretty low.
4) I don't think I ever tried the springs in different notches. They were all probably on whatever they came from at the factory.

I don't know if this is true of Chinese/Indonesian Squier Mustangs, but the springs on the Japanese Jazzmasters were lighter than the US and preferred one gauge lighter (10s). The Japanese trem on the Jaguar I had sucked, so I replaced it immediately with a US one. Also did that to my Japanese VI. Zero experience with asian made Mustang trems...

Thanks for all the info, Tommy. I've got each one of your points covered with the exception of the rocking bridge. I've been picking it up at least once a day for the past 10 days or so and the tuning is more stable than it was. I guess there were a number of things to break in, and I was being a little over anxious. So tuning is better, but still not spot on. After manipulating the tailpiece with my palm it usually stays a bit sharp, but if I push it back toward the headstock it almost always goes back to being in tune. I've still got the rocking bridge and thimbles, so I might swap them back in next time I change strings just to see if that works better with the US tremolo. I'll report back eventually. These are such fun guitars to play.