My 1971 Superlead is ALIVE!!!! Finally

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pages plexitone
Orange Master
Posts: 2123
Joined: Sat Mar 18, 2006 8:33 pm
Location: USA

Post by pages plexitone » Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:30 am

So I just wanted to shout!!!! YEAAAAAAAYYY!

Last spring my 1971 superlead was making all kinds of noises and try as I might to locate the source I couldn’t. I had replaced a bunch of the original components as they failed and it occurred to me I was troubleshooting it almost as much as playing it.

It really had no collector value as it was a hacked, wonder-mod special when I bought it. Most of the original mustard caps were leaky, the head case was in splinters (had to replace it with a Mojo). So I came to the conclusion that I should totally rebuilt it. I built a new Metro board, replaced all the jacks, filter caps, pots, tube sockets and fitted a modern output selector switch. I found a cool power cord strain relief locking grommet and I plugged up the extra holes in the back with panel fasteners.

I wired all the sockets/internal wiring with Teflon coated wire (pulled from the scraps of one of our labs)

I bought a plexi panel for the front and came up with a 67-68 transition circuit (well, sort of, typical split cathode arrangement but with .1 coupling caps, a .68 bypass cap etc).

The original iron PT and OT anyway were fine but I had to replace the choke with a MM a while ago.

Here’s the board before I cut everything out.

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Everything is pulled out (I even replaced the trannie wire grommets.

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I replaced the pretube sockets with NOS cinch and the output tube sockets with NOS Amphenol, courtesy George at Metro Amp.

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Here’s the back

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The new board is fitted

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New tubes

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After a quick voltage check out I fire her up

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The original paper tags are still in tact
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I kept all the original parts. I’m not sure why. But I did.

I think it sounds better than ever or maybe I haven’t heard it in so long I don’t remember how good it sounded when everything worked right!

Anyway, my player 1971 plexi is ALIVE : )
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-Joe

http://soundclick.com/blackvelvetelvis" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Purveyor of permanent hearing loss since 1978

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