The Last Bass Outpost

I start testing to see if I can be put on a transplant list Uwe when I give the Dr the okay. I have to get my head wrapped around the whole transplant ordeal/idea first.

Thank you for asking old friend.

Lost a good percentage of my lung function while I was hospitalized. I actually went in with bronchitis and only then did I find out I had a severe UTI. The bronchitis went to pneumonia then pulmonary edema and I was on a respirator for 3 weeks. (shit!!!) I have no idea where the UTI came from as I have not been active for a few years now, thank you blessed E.D.

When God gives me my omnipotent powers, I am going to cosmic zap E.D. all to hell!

On a side note, the Allis did not get right with a distributer cap and points change. I might have to have it start a band with me. It keeps really good 3/4 time with the miss. Muff, muff, muff Boom! I think it could replace a drummer.

just wanted to pop in and sy hello to the gang. had a bit of action here in Missouri and it is kind of leveling out. got up here for the grand kids birthdays and traveled to get my new tone ring vcab then never made it back to Texas.

had a hosp stay in Jan that lasted over a month and ended up losing most of my kidney function. I am on dialysis three times a week now so traveling is sort of out. I am moving back to Missouri and a good friend (Dale) my Marine buddy, is going for my things soon. I have most of my equipment in Pecos. lost abot 55 pounds in weight and feel good. had a small surgery on my arm to make the veins pop ouot so I can get this catheter in my chest out. had it in since Jan.

on my travels I dropped off my black Bassman head to get new blonde Tolex applied and have my mid 60's 2-12 cab restored and RA Wood speaker cabs. should be done now, talked to Rick last week. I have been trying to read the BOP but not a lot of computer time with everything going on. hope I get on a transplant list so any extra good kharma would be appreciated.

be well all of you and the best to all of you.

love ya all,

your bro,

CW (Sniper)

yaeh i know, no pics = ain't so but they will follow as soon as i get back to Texas. Rick done me such a grand job i left my 2-12 there for a redo and my amp cab for a re-tolex in blonde. i'm in Joplin for the time being and the 15" tone ring cab is safely tucked into the back of my van. 

doing more research on the Sunn 200S amp, i realized i need to know a little something about choke values in amplifiers. i found this article on the 300guitars.com site. it explains the choke usage very well and i thought i would pass it on.

"Chokes: What Are They? What Do They Do?A choke is an iron core inductor used in the power supply of a guitar amp as a filtering element. Looking a lot like a transformer a choke only has two leads coming from the housing. They are designed to block AC while passing DC. Their purpose in guitar amp filter supplies is to smooth out the ripple in the rectified DC.

In some guitar amplifiers a high wattage resistor is used instead of a choke. A resistor in place of a choke saves money and to a certain degree manufacturing time.  The drawbacks of using a resistor is there is more residual AC ripple in the power supply after rectification resulting in a little more background hum in your amp. One example is the 5E3 Fender tweed Deluxe. It does not have a choke in its filter supply. (Nor does the Bassman 10 amp have a choke filter. ... Sniper).

Chokes have ratings of voltage, DC current ( measured in milliamps), resistance (measured in ohms) and inductance (measured in Henries). A typical choke for a 50 watt guitar amp is rated for about 500 volts and 50 milliamps. The resistance measures in the 250 ohm range and inductance between 10 – 20 Henries. The inductance of the choke coupled with the capacitance of the filter capacitors determine the bass response of the amplifier. A larger inductance value choke will have a better bass response than a smaller value choke. An amplifier with a power supply choke will have a deeper, crisper bass response than one that uses a resistor instead of a choke.

To sum up in simple terms using a choke in the filter supply the result is less background hum and cleaner, better bass response. Using a resistor manufacturers save time and cost and there is a bit more background hum and a looser bass response."

as most of you know i am a junkie. my father owned an automotive salvage yard and thats where i get it from. i am always looking for something i can salvage or rebuild into what i want.

my present project is getting myself a 200S amp and none seems to be available at a decent price so i bought a salvageable Dynaco Mark 3 amp and am prceeding to build a 200S clone of sorts using the money i recieved from my little foray into the Weber kit experience. they had a sale on amp kits and the software on their site let me buy a 450$ amp kit for 170$. i could not pass that up but in all honestly i didn't know the software was screwed until i made the purchase. it turned out to be the wrong kit as their listing was wrong and i was thinking i was getting the four power tube 5e7 kit instead of the 5e8. this was the one i was selling and i made a few bucks on the resale. they have since repaired the glitch in the software and made the correction on the listing. i was just the lucky one who stumbled onto it.

but to continue with my post:

in researching the amp i found that a weak point in the mark 3 and probably in the 200S is the cap can. it seems as the voltage in the mark 3 surges to 600 volts when the amp is turned on. for 200S users this is usually not a problem if one used the standby switch diligently. if one does not it can be a problem as this overrides the capacity of the cap cans rating of 525 volts and brings an early demise to the can.

at one site i found a can that is rated for 550 volts with a 600 volt surge capacity. it has the correct MFD values in four caps inside one can.

http://www.dynakitparts.com/store/product.aspx?id=312

this cap can can be wired correctly for a 200S and one might keep it in mind for future reference if you have any problems with your amp. as the 200S is based on the mark 3 i thought i would pass this on.

edited for spelling

i was a young navy corpsman on duty in the OR USNH Camp LeJeune, NC when he walked. RIP Sir.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151177791286882&set=at.10150343646511882.397335.317724746881.632781710&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf

two years ago i had Curtis make me a choke and directed him towards the spool to use to make it. then i sent him a choke to use for a model when he wound the spools. now Rothstein is making a wiring loom (sorry i could not post a picture but photobucket is throwing a tantrum!) that looks and sounds like it may do the trick.

"1. The tone pot for the neck pickup is a push/pull that allows you to choose between traditional treble roll-off, vs. diode clipping (ala Jack Bruce). I found a particular type of Germanium diode that works extremely well. It sounds killer.

2. I'm using a choke bypass in the circuit. When I looked that original design it seemed to me that the choke is only supposed to be "live" in 1 of the 4 positions, but it seems like it is actually in the circuit more than it should be. So I tweaked a bit so the choke is 100% out of the circuit except in the 4th position.

As far as components, they are very old school featuring a Curtis Novak vintage reproduction hand wound choke, along with CTS pots, MOD paper-in-oil caps, carbon comp resistors, and vintage style cloth wire.

I will try to get some sound samples up within a week or so....stay tuned!!"

i think you beat me healed Doc. i'm still fighting a little patch but it is so good to have you back. i couldn't drive the Mustang i know you love it too much but maybe you could take momma to Fla anyway to DW in Orlando. you both could use a break from all that crap. i'm heading to my 45th reunion next month and then up to Peoria to pick up a new 15" tone ring cab. take care bro.