Yeah, a few years ago my amp options were a hybrid Peavey amp and a Vox Pathfinder, and noticed (like Tommy pointed out) the RAT basically sounded the same through both. The tone knob past noon is key I think.Dudley wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 6:07 am THIS! Thank you! Dug out my Little Bear rat clone, and WOAH - totally usable, non-brittle, non-filtered-sounding gain!
Re: Solid state guitar amps
82I had a red-knob Fender Power Chorus from that era of the Deluxe 85 that was absolutely outstanding when it worked but apparently these had a major design flaw and the repair techs said yeah there's no fixing this thing & Fender just shrugged and washed their hands of the thing the very moment they came off warranty.
I posted this a long time ago but for a few years I made it work by completely bypassing the preamp stage and used a Metal Zone as a pre-amp. With the extended range of the tone controls it sounded shockingly good and even more surprisingly versatile than you might expect. Keep the gain back & out of the "fizz" area and boom. Used it hosting open mic. I'm not exaggerating when I say that more than a couple blues guys complimented me on the tone of the amp and left re-thinking their whole life when I showed them it was a 100% solid state amp & a boss pedal.
That amp had that awesome mid-range that was just super creamy & I imagine that the Fender Deluxe 85 had a very similar voicing.
Eventually it gave up the ghost entirely so I pulled the speakers and it went to go live at a farm in the country.
I posted this a long time ago but for a few years I made it work by completely bypassing the preamp stage and used a Metal Zone as a pre-amp. With the extended range of the tone controls it sounded shockingly good and even more surprisingly versatile than you might expect. Keep the gain back & out of the "fizz" area and boom. Used it hosting open mic. I'm not exaggerating when I say that more than a couple blues guys complimented me on the tone of the amp and left re-thinking their whole life when I showed them it was a 100% solid state amp & a boss pedal.
That amp had that awesome mid-range that was just super creamy & I imagine that the Fender Deluxe 85 had a very similar voicing.
Eventually it gave up the ghost entirely so I pulled the speakers and it went to go live at a farm in the country.
Re: Solid state guitar amps
83Super creamy mids! yessir! Also keeping the gain back and out of the fizz area is a great way to describe the knob tweaking voodoo.Garth wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 8:03 am I had a red-knob Fender Power Chorus from that era of the Deluxe 85 that was absolutely outstanding when it worked but apparently these had a major design flaw and the repair techs said yeah there's no fixing this thing & Fender just shrugged and washed their hands of the thing the very moment they came off warranty.
I posted this a long time ago but for a few years I made it work by completely bypassing the preamp stage and used a Metal Zone as a pre-amp. With the extended range of the tone controls it sounded shockingly good and even more surprisingly versatile than you might expect. Keep the gain back & out of the "fizz" area and boom. Used it hosting open mic. I'm not exaggerating when I say that more than a couple blues guys complimented me on the tone of the amp and left re-thinking their whole life when I showed them it was a 100% solid state amp & a boss pedal.
That amp had that awesome mid-range that was just super creamy & I imagine that the Fender Deluxe 85 had a very similar voicing.
Eventually it gave up the ghost entirely so I pulled the speakers and it went to go live at a farm in the country.
Great job keeping it Frankensteined alive for as long as you could despite corporate shillerrey. I asked Fender for a schematic and they told me I wasn't qualified to open it. Blasphemy! I got the schematic from my local amp repair shop. He took pride in being able to share it with me. At least your old speakers from it are still rockin!
Re: Solid state guitar amps
84I sold my Deluxe 85 to the singer/guitarist of my band in 1993. It broke a year later after he moved away for college. Knowing what I know now, I think it was a power transistor.PunchySunshine wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 12:06 pmSuper creamy mids! yessir! Also keeping the gain back and out of the fizz area is a great way to describe the knob tweaking voodoo.Garth wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 8:03 am I had a red-knob Fender Power Chorus from that era of the Deluxe 85 that was absolutely outstanding when it worked but apparently these had a major design flaw and the repair techs said yeah there's no fixing this thing & Fender just shrugged and washed their hands of the thing the very moment they came off warranty.
I posted this a long time ago but for a few years I made it work by completely bypassing the preamp stage and used a Metal Zone as a pre-amp. With the extended range of the tone controls it sounded shockingly good and even more surprisingly versatile than you might expect. Keep the gain back & out of the "fizz" area and boom. Used it hosting open mic. I'm not exaggerating when I say that more than a couple blues guys complimented me on the tone of the amp and left re-thinking their whole life when I showed them it was a 100% solid state amp & a boss pedal.
That amp had that awesome mid-range that was just super creamy & I imagine that the Fender Deluxe 85 had a very similar voicing.
Eventually it gave up the ghost entirely so I pulled the speakers and it went to go live at a farm in the country.
Great job keeping it Frankensteined alive for as long as you could despite corporate shillerrey. I asked Fender for a schematic and they told me I wasn't qualified to open it. Blasphemy! I got the schematic from my local amp repair shop. He took pride in being able to share it with me. At least your old speakers from it are still rockin!
As for Fender, they used to have the schematic available on an online service site. They took it down a while back. I think many people at these giant guitar companies are weird about giving out schematics to high voltage gear. It some places giving out a schematic to customer might imply that it is a safe and user-serviceable device. Some idiot probably sued them because they got hurt or broke something else when trying to do a home repair, so now avoiding the bullshit of dealing with dummies is more important than the small benefit of helping a few clever home repair-people.
Re: Solid state guitar amps
85Was just thinking of my first amplifier, a Samick LG-3 practice amp. I remember it sounding awesome, but that's 18 years ago at this point. All of my friends from that time will confirm that it was amazing. I do not recall what happened to it.
Re: Solid state guitar amps
86If someone is already inclined to open up their amplifier and work on it, you'd think that technical documents would, if anything, make that safer, right?benadrian wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 12:46 pm I think many people at these giant guitar companies are weird about giving out schematics to high voltage gear. It some places giving out a schematic to customer might imply that it is a safe and user-serviceable device. Some idiot probably sued them because they got hurt or broke something else when trying to do a home repair, so now avoiding the bullshit of dealing with dummies is more important than the small benefit of helping a few clever home repair-people.
DIY and die anyway.
Re: Solid state guitar amps
87Speaking as a reasonable human, yes.brownreasontolive wrote: Fri Apr 01, 2022 12:21 pmIf someone is already inclined to open up their amplifier and work on it, you'd think that technical documents would, if anything, make that safer, right?benadrian wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 12:46 pm I think many people at these giant guitar companies are weird about giving out schematics to high voltage gear. It some places giving out a schematic to customer might imply that it is a safe and user-serviceable device. Some idiot probably sued them because they got hurt or broke something else when trying to do a home repair, so now avoiding the bullshit of dealing with dummies is more important than the small benefit of helping a few clever home repair-people.
Speaking as a person who has worked for a major music company for 10+ years and spent the 10+ years before that building and repairing gear... there are a lot of idiots out there, and there are a lot of lawsuits out there. Giving out tech documents to the public can be seen (legally) as a statement that these are safe to be used by the public. If a 13 year old dummy tries to fix an amp and dies, and the parents can show that they goy a schematic directly from the company, it can go south really quickly.
I don't know what happened, but the company I work for was once sued because a guy was using a product with headphones and got into a state with a delay effect where it caused feedback. The claim was that it damaged his hearing. We still make products that can do delays with runaway oscillation and we still make products with headphone jacks, but there were many discussions at the company of if we had to change the behavior of our products to avoid shit like this.
Re: Solid state guitar amps
88A lot of idiots indeed! That story is particularity ludicrous.benadrian wrote: Fri Apr 01, 2022 12:33 pmSpeaking as a reasonable human, yes.brownreasontolive wrote: Fri Apr 01, 2022 12:21 pmIf someone is already inclined to open up their amplifier and work on it, you'd think that technical documents would, if anything, make that safer, right?benadrian wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 12:46 pm I think many people at these giant guitar companies are weird about giving out schematics to high voltage gear. It some places giving out a schematic to customer might imply that it is a safe and user-serviceable device. Some idiot probably sued them because they got hurt or broke something else when trying to do a home repair, so now avoiding the bullshit of dealing with dummies is more important than the small benefit of helping a few clever home repair-people.
Speaking as a person who has worked for a major music company for 10+ years and spent the 10+ years before that building and repairing gear... there are a lot of idiots out there, and there are a lot of lawsuits out there. Giving out tech documents to the public can be seen (legally) as a statement that these are safe to be used by the public. If a 13 year old dummy tries to fix an amp and dies, and the parents can show that they goy a schematic directly from the company, it can go south really quickly.
I don't know what happened, but the company I work for was once sued because a guy was using a product with headphones and got into a state with a delay effect where it caused feedback. The claim was that it damaged his hearing. We still make products that can do delays with runaway oscillation and we still make products with headphone jacks, but there were many discussions at the company of if we had to change the behavior of our products to avoid shit like this.
Like suing Ford because you were hit by a car.
DIY and die anyway.
Re: Solid state guitar amps
89The tractor company I worked for was sued in the early 80's by a user who removed the roll cage, then predictably rolled the thing and fucked himself up permanently. He won. The legal terminology was 'invitation to modify'. Oddly, the only industry exempted from this is the firearms industry.brownreasontolive wrote: Fri Apr 01, 2022 12:47 pm
A lot of idiots indeed! That story is particularity ludicrous.
Like suing Ford because you were hit by a car.
Re: Solid state guitar amps
90Legal protections aside, they are also in the business of making money, which they do by selling you a new amp when your old OOW amp dies.