I noticed something today

[selloutrr]

I'm gearing up to start my express build. I know it's old news for the rest of you but for me it's been year in the making. I've been cruising over all the pics I can get my hands and eyes on trying to get prep'd for the under taking.

I was looking over the undocumented Express pics and noticed something odd. I've seen the inside of a dozen authentic KF Express builds. no matter what parts where used all the % bands of the resistors went the same direction, toward the tube sockets. He was pretty OCD about that, from what i've read and personally seen.
What strikes me as odd... I noticed that one of the resistors was not following this rule in the Undocumented Express... who do you think built it? I'm doubting it was KF.

[geetarpicker]

Perhaps Ken simply did it because Fender did it back in the day. I just checked my '64 Blackface Deluxe amps and yes, all % bands are towards the tubes too. Most likely they were done that way by Fender simply to appear more organized, I agree it does look better all lined up... Maybe in the amp in question Ken simply missed it and didn't want to bother pulling it back out to switch it. Ken wasn't perfect, especially as his health declined. In my original (Orphan Annie) Ken wired the screen resistors incorrectly, putting the wire on the wrong end of each resistor which effectively bypassed the screen resistors entirely. I ran it this way for about a year until I noticed it and mentioned it to Ken. He said, ooops better move the wires! Theoretically it was harder on tubes that way, but I guess with the low B+ it still worked out just fine. I think my amp was still wired that way by the time it was on the Guitar Player Soundpage recording in '90 (of "Sundown", also on my CD), so alot of folks heard a wreck for the 1st time that had a wire or two totally out of place.

[Gaz]

Great story

[funkmeblue]

and remember that so called undocumented express was a 2nd....a "reject"

[geetarpicker]

Mine is a 2nd too! Originally it had some intermitent noise issues, and Ken tweaked around on it and thought he had it fixed. That said, because he pulled and resoldered some things he stamped it as a "2nd" and sold it at a cut rate price that being $850, down from the normal $1200 price at the time. Later the noise returned but by that time Ken had other amps with similar noises and tracked it down to a bad batch of power transformers. Seems they had bad soldering on the filament leads which led to noise issues that initially were hard to track down. Ken then got in a replacement batch of PTs (with corrected soldering) and send me one and it immediately smoked! Whoops... Ken had requested they up their soldering quality but at the same time requested heavier filament leads. That request backfired on this 2nd batch as (at least on mine) as the thicker leads proved to not fit too well under the end bells and in my case caused a short on the filament leads. Seems the manufacture crammed them on tightly not realizing the possible issues... So back to the drawing board and yet a 3rd batch (and possibly more not including Ken's initial R&D to get the basic design down copying the original Stancor design) with better soldering, thicker filament leads, AND slightly larger end bells to clear the thicker wires. Ken then sent one of these PTs and all has been well now for over 20 years.


Ooops, back to the topic being the resistor orientation. That said, I'd love to know if anyone has ever figured out specifically what brand and model resistors Ken actually used in the original amps on the preamp board?

[martin manning]

I usually orient all resistors the same way so it's easier to read the values. I suspect that's why Fender did it too. Probably made the QC inspection go quicker with less chance of an escape.

[selloutrr]

I'll talk to dennis Kager of Sundown Technologies. I've noticed similarities in the parts used in his early point to point builds.

I'd assume the resistor brand is the same that Ampeg used.
Probably an Ohmite product or Vishay product. Most of these are manufactured at the same plant and marketed under multiple brand names.

Resistor brands

KOA
Meritek
RGA
RCD
SEI
Piher
Takman
Royal
Xicon
Jaro
Mepco / Electra
Ohmite little devil / demon / rebel
Allen Bradley
Vishay
Holco
Rohm
Panasonic
Radio Shack

[Super_Reverb]

I'm gearing up to start my express build. I know it's old news for the rest of you but for me it's been year in the making. I've been cruising over all the pics I can get my hands and eyes on trying to get prep'd for the under taking.

I was looking over the undocumented Express pics and noticed something odd. I've seen the inside of a dozen authentic KF Express builds. no matter what parts where used all the % bands of the resistors went the same direction, toward the tube sockets. He was pretty OCD about that, from what i've read and personally seen.
What strikes me as odd... I noticed that one of the resistors was not following this rule in the Undocumented Express... who do you think built it? I'm doubting it was KF.

It's like the photo on the cover of Abbey Road, where Paul's left leg is out, but the others have their right leg out. It's a sign, a cosine, code, an enigma, perhaps a revelation?


rob

[selloutrr]

I'm gearing up to start my express build. I know it's old news for the rest of you but for me it's been year in the making. I've been cruising over all the pics I can get my hands and eyes on trying to get prep'd for the under taking.

I was looking over the undocumented Express pics and noticed something odd. I've seen the inside of a dozen authentic KF Express builds. no matter what parts where used all the % bands of the resistors went the same direction, toward the tube sockets. He was pretty OCD about that, from what i've read and personally seen.
What strikes me as odd... I noticed that one of the resistors was not following this rule in the Undocumented Express... who do you think built it? I'm doubting it was KF.

It's like the photo on the cover of Abbey Road, where Paul's left leg is out, but the others have their right leg out. It's a sign, a cosine, code, an enigma, perhaps a revelation?


rob

If Paul out lives Ringo you can claim it predicted the future as Paul being the last living beatle. If so.. I bet a lot more people will be crossing that street left leg first.

I wasn't thinking quiet that far out of the box. a bit closer to home.. Did KF actually build it or it is a very well laid out clone? or a 3rd party hired out build.

[hairyandy]

Definitely built by KF.

Andy

[statorvane]

It's like the photo on the cover of Abbey Road, where Paul's left leg is out, but the others have their right leg out. It's a sign, a cosine, code, an enigma, perhaps a revelation?

Simple really. Paul was left handed, the others were right handed.

Great album BTW.

[jon]

I'm gearing up to start my express build. I know it's old news for the rest of you but for me it's been year in the making. I've been cruising over all the pics I can get my hands and eyes on trying to get prep'd for the under taking.

I was looking over the undocumented Express pics and noticed something odd. I've seen the inside of a dozen authentic KF Express builds. no matter what parts where used all the % bands of the resistors went the same direction, toward the tube sockets. He was pretty OCD about that, from what i've read and personally seen.
What strikes me as odd... I noticed that one of the resistors was not following this rule in the Undocumented Express... who do you think built it? I'm doubting it was KF.

It's like the photo on the cover of Abbey Road, where Paul's left leg is out, but the others have their right leg out. It's a sign, a cosine, code, an enigma, perhaps a revelation?


rob

That's because Paul died in '65 and it was an imposter

[Gibsonman63]

So Paul is dead and Elvis is alive?

[Lonely Raven]

It's like the photo on the cover of Abbey Road, where Paul's left leg is out, but the others have their right leg out. It's a sign, a cosine, code, an enigma, perhaps a revelation?

Simple really. Paul was left handed, the others were right handed.

Great album BTW.

I was going to say that, but logic has no place in this thread!

[dorrisant]

I switched to Dale 1% resistors for my preamps... They are much easier to read with the values printed right on the side. I try to line them up so they can all be read from one orientation (as well as anything else that will fall in line). I started doing this because it looked better... Anal. I quickly found out that you can't beat this technique when it comes to later troubleshooting. Same for the stripe coded resistors... you usually read them from the same end. Of course I put them in backwards sometimes, but if it works... Don't touch it, right? Then I think... Well, if I modify the amp later, then I will change it... Maybe...

Tony