pignose head coversion

[litterboxx]

I have a pignose g40v, only been turned on ONCE when I got it from musicians friend 4,5 odd years ago. I bought it to LEARN to mod on. Only my second tube amp ever. Life dropped a bomb on me haven't played since. I'm just now getting back to where I can play again due to finacial issues. My question is, has anybody converted this amp to a tube "up" head configuration? I would also like to do the smoother overdrive mod I've read about. After this long a time do I still need to worry about filter caps? Oh yeah,its been so long that what little I knew about electronics has evaporated. What I do have after this long a time is patience to do it safe and right with good advice. Anybody??

[UnklMickey]

hi Litterboxx,

welcome to GuitarNuts2.

with a screen-name like that, you won't even get respect from your cat.

if you are the extremely cautious type, you might want to run-up the amp slowly on a variac, with the tubes pulled.

but i wouldn't bother. the first 2 sections have 400v caps, stacked, with equalizing resistors, so each cap only sees a little over 200v.

IMHO, more important in the G40V, is a close inspection of the traces on the printed board in the power supply area.

they had a problem with some of the boards being poorly etched, and a "ghost" of metal remaining between the traces.

this will result in intermittent arcing, that will eventually cook your PT.

one of the internet tube amp Steves (Steve Ahola, or Steve Bench) had a write-up on Harmony Central, mentioning this fact.

i believe "the progenitor" has a mention of flipping a pig USD, and putting it in a head-only cabinet. (on the original GuitarNuts site.)

he has a few mods there as well.

IMHO, as a combo, the speaker really "vacuums".

replacing the chinese junk tubes with some JJs or NOS, is probably the next step in upgrades.

replacing the second 12AX7 with a 12AT7, seems to be common, to reduce the gain, but you might have some difficulty here. 12AT7s tend to have a high percentage of tubes being microphonic.

i hated the lack of bottom on mine, so i also removed C9 entirely, and was rather pleased with the results.

a metal player probably wouldn't be happy with mine, but the amp still has way more gain than a classic rocker, or bluesman would ever need.


cheers,

unk

[litterboxx]

Thanks unklmickey! I shall check the board for ghost traces. I have never even heard this amp yet, so no hurry now! I have read that the power transformer isn't up to smack anyway so anyone know of a good replacement for later?? I'm not brave enough myself (not yet anyway), but has anyone just totally rebuilt and upgraded one of these? P.S. my cats are in LOVE with me!! ;D

[ChrisK]

P.S. my cats are in LOVE with me!!

Oh yeah, fer sure.

Do you think that it might be because you feed and shelter them?


Check out www.allenamps.com

[litterboxx]

Cool site Chrisk, thanks much! I really appreciate input. Oh yeah my big fat Maine coon ( Queen Rosemary The Haughty ) says Ha,Ha, your a funny human!

[sumgai]

I love cats, but my wife tends to ignore them. I was kinda p.o.'ed the other day when I came home to find:

[UnklMickey]

Krushed Kitty!.............one of the coolest gags ever.

[litterboxx]

I know you guys are cool now!! I think cats are the coolest myself but ya got to have humor with 'em to! I know I've found a good place to talk, B.S., and learn! I don't mind a bit of humor and side talk in my" quest for knowledge", ( fancy huh?),so keep it all coming!! Yeah! All my purrin' critters say HI!!! ;D

[ChrisK]

"All human's must die!"


YEP!

Fer sure.


Ditto!

[sumgai]

Attention litterboxx,

Report to the Pets? thread ASAP!

That is all.


sumgai

[litterboxx]

Ok, OK, guys I guess I should be serious. Are there any other parts in this amp that would be wise to replace? I won't be playing live anymore but still I don't want a cronic crasher. This may be the last tube amp I'm ever able to own, so I would like to bullet proof as much as possible. Thanks guys!!

[ChrisK]

Depending on the B+ voltage, I might be tempted to modify it for 6V6's (my favorite small amp tubes).


40 tube watts out of a shoe box (whether or not there's a speaker therein) just don't seem right. 40 watts out implies aboot 150 to 200 watts in.

;D Maybe you could replace the speaker with a large cooling fan and also use it for a space heater in the winter ;D





No, seriously (about the fan for cooling). It might keep you from cooking the "snuff" out of things.