Johnny Danger
Senior Stratmaster
Ok, so I'll try to keep this brief. I've got a kit build Princeton Reverb that I have done a few things to. The main issue from day one has been blocking distortion. I honestly put this thing on like 4 and use it as a pedal amp all the time, so I have just been living with it. I got a new guitar with some higher output pickups (TV Jones Classic Plus Bridge) and it is really pushing the hell out of this thing.
I went back to the basic mods of the phase inverter grid stopper as well as grid and screen resistors on the power tubes. This took care of the majority of the nastiness.
However, I'm still chasing every last bit of it down. I have read where some people find the reverb driver getting pushed fairly early, even it's just passing a dry signal with the reverb all the way down. With the volume on 4 and the reverb pretty low at about 3-4, the TV Jones bridge pickup is already hitting edge of breakup and it's not a super pleasant breakup. The strats have none of these issues. With the reverb all the way down, I can push the volume to maybe 5 before it starts to hit edge of breakup.
So I understand that some people just add a lovely grid stop resistor to the reverb driver at V2 and this helps a lot. The problem is, I have zero idea where to place this 470k resistor. I thought I would just throw it in series between the eyelet board and pin 7 of V2, but this just seems to absolutely kill the entire signal. I thought at least the dry signal would pass through, but I'm getting nothing. I've soldered it in and out twice now. No signal with it in place, just fine without it.
So am I doing this wrong? Do I need to be placing the 470k resistor in place of the jumper between pins 7 and 2? And do I need to run the wire over to pin 2 instead of pin 7 similar to how the grid stoppers were done on the power tubes?
I'm just scratching my head here and at a bit of a loss. I hope all of the above makes sense.
I went back to the basic mods of the phase inverter grid stopper as well as grid and screen resistors on the power tubes. This took care of the majority of the nastiness.
However, I'm still chasing every last bit of it down. I have read where some people find the reverb driver getting pushed fairly early, even it's just passing a dry signal with the reverb all the way down. With the volume on 4 and the reverb pretty low at about 3-4, the TV Jones bridge pickup is already hitting edge of breakup and it's not a super pleasant breakup. The strats have none of these issues. With the reverb all the way down, I can push the volume to maybe 5 before it starts to hit edge of breakup.
So I understand that some people just add a lovely grid stop resistor to the reverb driver at V2 and this helps a lot. The problem is, I have zero idea where to place this 470k resistor. I thought I would just throw it in series between the eyelet board and pin 7 of V2, but this just seems to absolutely kill the entire signal. I thought at least the dry signal would pass through, but I'm getting nothing. I've soldered it in and out twice now. No signal with it in place, just fine without it.
So am I doing this wrong? Do I need to be placing the 470k resistor in place of the jumper between pins 7 and 2? And do I need to run the wire over to pin 2 instead of pin 7 similar to how the grid stoppers were done on the power tubes?
I'm just scratching my head here and at a bit of a loss. I hope all of the above makes sense.
