Bought another SLO Clone...

[rstites]

Yeah, but they aren't accurate as far as the boards. Then again, I'm sure Ted doesn't want to get sued either. I'm tempted to just say "screw it" and make a set of SLO clone boards and start over from scratch. We'll see how it goes.

FYI, when I was playing through it, noise and all, it did sound really good. Reminded me of the clone I built, which was better to my ears than a hot rod but not quite up to SLO tones. For the $ though, I think it's a killer deal.

Pete

I didn't read through the schematics. Are they identical schematics? Do you burn your own boards? That's one thing I've never done and have been trying to figure out my best options for some.

I didn't realize you'd built a clone. I've been gone from around here for a while and hadn't caught that. How many SLO clones is that now for you? I've got the real deal and it's great. Part of me would love to build one for the fun of it. I'd guess that with a proven board it'd be much less prone to oscillation problems than trying to build something that high gain with a standard tag board.

[Twisteramps]

I bought a clone that a guy built - was so spot on it was scary. Other than transformers, it was about 99% there. Look in the classifieds for 'SLO Clone' and check out the pics.

Schematics look really close. I haven't gone over them with a fine tooth comb, but I was planning on modding it a bit once I had it working anyways.

Regarding the boards - I've made small ones for stompboxes, but not 'full size' ones. Really, it's not that different, just more acid bath and brighter exposure unit.

Thing about oscillation and noise on an amp is that the board does help, but every wire run can be problematic. Even if you use shielded wire, there are lots of weird rules to follow - like if wires cross to try to make them go at 90 degree angles and avoid parallel runs with signal and power lines, make the signal flow from one side to the other and never come back, keep grid runs short and plate runs long if you can, etc.

The amp I'm rebuilding worked fine, just had excess noise from bad grounds, not paying attention to wiring of heaters and a few other issues I'm still discovering. An SLO is a complex enough beast that even a minor error can be a real nightmare to go back and fix.

Pete

[rstites]

I saw the other clone discussion. I thought you meant you'd built one before from the ground up. I looked at the schematics and they're definitely close, but I didn't go through them in detail - too lazy. Still, the price is very right. What transformers do those come with?

Do you generate the mask on the computer first? I haven't done anything with a board since the days of using pens and little black stickies on the board (80s). My amps are PTP or turret board, but I've been thinking about a pedal and would like to board it (vs. perf board).

Thing about oscillation and noise on an amp is that the board does help, but every wire run can be problematic. Even if you use shielded wire, there are lots of weird rules to follow - like if wires cross to try to make them go at 90 degree angles and avoid parallel runs with signal and power lines, make the signal flow from one side to the other and never come back, keep grid runs short and plate runs long if you can, etc.

Good info. I know most of those, but hadn't heard about the grid runs, plate runs part.

[Twisteramps]

I saw the other clone discussion. I thought you meant you'd built one before from the ground up. I looked at the schematics and they're definitely close, but I didn't go through them in detail - too lazy. Still, the price is very right. What transformers do those come with?

Do you generate the mask on the computer first? I haven't done anything with a board since the days of using pens and little black stickies on the board (80s). My amps are PTP or turret board, but I've been thinking about a pedal and would like to board it (vs. perf board).



Good info. I know most of those, but hadn't heard about the grid runs, plate runs part.

They come with Weber transformers. Even if you wanted to upgrade the iron on the output side, it's still a pretty good deal. Basically what I do to make boards is to use presensitized material, and a transparency. I just print out the circuit board on paper, photocopy it on clear material at Kinko's or another copy place, then use it to 'burn' the board. I've heard of guys using press and peel too - it's stuff you iron directly on the copper clad board and then put it in the solution to be developed.

Pete