Excellent timing! My Luigi board came in last week and my Mouser order is in the mail. Looking forward to this build and hoping you can find any snags and save the rest of us some heartache. 🍿👍
I have built one of these myself using the Rev D PCB. I am in process of shooting some videos of the finished amp and it's tone with different guitars. It is a very nice upgrade for a failing Hot Rod Deluxe or Blues Deluxe. I used the EVM12L speaker in mine and also built it with the HRM tone stack. Thanks for this video and spreading the knowledge. One tone tip for this build, I use a Keely Verb O Trem in the FX loop, gives you reverb and tremolo, plus the level knob can be used as a gain control to dial the amp output down a bit when needed..
So glad I found your channel. I’ve been pondering one of these conversions for a while and have a few different HRD candidates to choose from. I see a lot of pedal content too. Just what I needed to get into new territory. 👍
GRAY BENCH, It would be nice if you can show how to take a Hot Rod Deluxe and change the tone stack circuit into a Dumble Tone Stack and what other simple mods to get more of a dumble tone out of a hot Rod Deluxe circuit
I understand why it was impossible given where the amp started, but it’s a shame we won’t be able to compare the tones the amp produces pre and post transformation. Maybe borrow a working HRD when the work is done just for A/B?
I like this thought but it would be an apples to pears comparison. I say apples to pears because there's certain design one can't stray from to make a guitar amp. While there are certain decisions that change the character, tone, response, etc. it wouldn't matter since you're swapping out the original component board for something else. As others have stated, the transformer and speaker would indeed play a role, but unless Joe went to such lengths as to use the same transformer and same speaker, there is little to actually compare as it would contrast too much. It'd only make sense to do this if it were modification/component swaps that led you to a Dumble-like result.
@@PhotoBoothSoundDesign I guess I was just thinking that if you did all the swaps and then your apple still tasted like a pear you might wonder why people seemed to prefer pears in the first place.
Dumbles run 6L6 voltages on 6V6 tubes, right? Other mods as well for sure. I always liked how they sounded. Enjoy these opportunities while you can. I'm at the point where I have to get rid of amps and switch over my interests to something else.
I expect Alexander Dumble would say something about these PCBs and these amps creating his sound. Probably a grocery list of things. But I expect he'd have gone bonkers at not replacing the transformer and speaker. I guess it's a question of close does a person want to get. I'm anal enough I'd eventually have to replace those, and maybe some other things. I'd be curious to see how much of that Dumble magic a humble HRD can capture. Looking forward to part 2.
go all the way and swap that tonally challenged stock speaker to a celestion g 12 65 like robben ford uses. ive swapped the speaker in mine to an alnico cream but that's with the original pcb. enjoy!
Keep that HRD board! I had a simlar problem with the channel switching where it wouldnt switch or it would switch on its own, and I fixed it with $4 of 10 watt resistors. Edit: Seems like someone already hacked up the screen resistors :/
I'm just starting the video, so you may answer this. But how much of the Dumble effect, if you will, is some of his voodoo? I'm referring to his choice of components, especially certain types of caps or resistors in strategic locations? Also, he was really anal about making sure the component lead physically touched whatever connection it was soldered to, not just allowing the solder to make the connection. I've long been curious about this. I would have once been inclined to dismiss many of Dumble's ideas and practices. But as I've learned and gotten hands on more and more over the last fifteen years, I've experienced things that work in ways that EE's generally dismiss as nonsense. Just the other day I replaced a cap in a guitar and it most certainly altered the tone even (especially) with both pots (tele) wide open. I also had to replace a cap in the power section of a Rivera Quiana a few years ago. I replaced a high end film cap with a ceramic one. It "shouldn't" have made a difference. Especially being in the power section, according to conventional wisdom, but it *did*. It was unmistakable. I had and still have the hunch that Rivera put that specific type of cap in there for a reason, as any other type would have done. I've been playing guitar professionally for almost forty years. I've been working on my own gear almost that long, especially more and more since 2007. I have very good ears, and don't buy into snake oil, mojo voodoo and the like. But sometimes, the littlest things *will* change how something sounds, even when there's not a logical explanation for it. Curious what your take on this might be.
@@Loscha Why is that asking a question elicits a challenge from someone who is not the person who created the video? I was asking a sincere question, yet it is interpreted as hostile. People need to lighten up.
I watched part 3, part way through before deciding I should go back to the beginning. This looks like a very interesting project. Am I right in thinking that almost all of the original hardware (magnetics, speaker, pots etc.) will be re-purposed for the ODS? I have seen a few HRDs for sale locally, some very cheaply. I am giving some serious thought to doing an ODS conversion myself.
Those actually are not the screen resistors mounted on the board there, even though they are the same value at 470 ohms. Those resistors work with the adjacent diodes to drop down the high voltage to the 15 volts or whatever it takes to run the switching relays. That's why you're channel switching wasn't working. They were likely unsoldered because of the heat. Massively stupid design by Fender.
@@mobiesque3159 Made it through the entire video, thanks for asking. Wasn't sure if the pronounciation was "Luigi" or not, never heard of them, a short amount of research later, discovered it was indeed Luigi. Your rapier wit will serve you well in life....
Really enjoyed your videos .. though Luigi ‘s demo sounds nothing like your amp.. yours sounds like a fuzz pedal or a bad distortion pedal.. not smooth or warm at all..Having owned a real Dumble ODS and three dumble made cabinets.. gigged with it for 4 yrs ( yes I sold it in ‘00 for a lot ( though about 18 times less than todays asking prices) I also owned a ceriatone HRM ODS It wasn’t the same as my Dumble .. the HR mod made a difference not better-
