I love the tone of my relatively new LSS, but this is the second one. The first would just not work right. One channel, then the other (and each channel has three wattage settings: 5, 15, 0r 30! Apparently this is achieved not through choking or "braking" but by shutting down either 2 or 3 of the four EL84s (The ONLY tube for rock and roll 
) The replacement has been a joy except for the fuse that blew today, apparently taking the rectifier tube along. Replacing the fuse got the 30 watt setting working fine on both channels, but the 15 and 5 watt settings were dead, On this amp, the 15 and 5 watt settings utilize the tube 5Y3 rectifier, while switching to 30 watt mode on either channel switches to solid state rectification. This led me to believe the 5Y3 to be the culprit. Boogie agreed and is sending a replacement. Meanwhile, in my "tube/junk/broken glass and rusty miscellany box", I found an old US-made 5Y3 (RCA) and swapped it in: Bingo. 5, 15, and 30 watts on both channels, plenty of volume, almost no noise. Actually, it sounds better than the Boogie 5Y3. Objectively speaking, of course. I think it's a little springier, esp on the 5w setting. I know I keep going off about that 5w setting, but I have never heard anything so good. Drive at 3:00; Gain at 2-3:00; Treble 2:00; Mids 9:30; bass 1:00; presence 11:00; master 1-5:00 to taste. "Thicker" switched on, and Tele at 1/2-3/4 volume to taste. Better than sex. While I enjoy the glassy clean sound and massive headroom of the 30 w settings, I REALLY like the 5 watt settings, both clean and a little crunchy. Harmonic and sustain city. This amp is so versatile; I feel like I have a good vintage AC-15 and a Twin all in one box. My '52 Tele is my go-to guitar, but it's also fun to plug in my Epi Casino and crank up the 5w volume for some amazing and controllable feedback - and not just in "A". Get some of those pinch harmonics going a la Gibbons and you can drag that squeal out forever (a la Nigel). Alright, tubeheads. Just wanted to yap about tubes a bit and see how you all were; see if anyone else is having rectifier issues with their LSS. Or any EL84-based amp. I really want to build a small, wooden combo amp based on a single EL84 driving a 12" speaker and probably a 12AX7 pre. The wood is going to be ridiculous. I priced enough solid walnut for a tiny combo - size of a silverfaced Princeton or one of those old, first boogies. One tube, class "A", single ended. 12" Greenback or other high quality, low watt rated speaker. Anyway, just for the wood - 7/8" thick, jointed and planed on 2 sides; rough on the other 2…it was like over $100. Just for the wood. Thing is, I want the cabs a foot deep; 12" is the max width the dovetail jig will fit. Well, it shouldn't be expensive wood for my first attempt, anyway. Pine is fine. Porter-Cable sells an allegedly accurate dovetail jig system for a router, so I'm gonna invest the $140 on it and with the help of a nice Milwaukee router I have, such will the corners of my cabs be. Lest you think I'm dreaming, take a look at the couple of acoustics I've built: one an HD-28 copy, the other a 000 (also called OM size). Yup, until Gibson's '61 Hummingbird, or perhaps those monsters the Everly's played (J200's?), nobody did that flat top thang like a D-28. Email me at [email protected] if you want some sequential photos of those guitar builds. They came out pretty nice, but I will admit to a lot of woodworking in my life prior; went to a tech school for carpentry instead of normal high school. I run a 36 unit apartment building and live in a 2 BR with my wife, on-site. One of the many perks is my own shop. And making my own work hours, which are sporadic and few. My bosses live a hundred miles away, and if I TCB, they pay the bills I send them and let me run my own building. Their trust is a good thing; it makes me want to do a good job for them. Excellent bosses. It would be nice to have it at ground level, but hell, how many apartments come with a shop? I put my own stuff in: small table saw; bandsaw; bench belt/disk sander, Dremel; router; drill press. A planer would be nice, as would a scroll saw, and a nice big cast iron jointer...but I'm not complaining, just dreaming. Must…build…amp. And I must learn electronics. I've been reading a book by Ritchie…Fliegel, I think is his last name. I have never learned so much in just a few pages. Maybe the time was just right, but he really seems like a good teacher. It's called "Amps - the other half (or side) of rock & roll" Something like that. My wife is asleep and I don't want to wake her until I join her. The book is on my nightstand. You see the dilemma, and I hope you'll pardon my vagueness on poor Ritch.
Good night,
O. D. Dog
) The replacement has been a joy except for the fuse that blew today, apparently taking the rectifier tube along. Replacing the fuse got the 30 watt setting working fine on both channels, but the 15 and 5 watt settings were dead, On this amp, the 15 and 5 watt settings utilize the tube 5Y3 rectifier, while switching to 30 watt mode on either channel switches to solid state rectification. This led me to believe the 5Y3 to be the culprit. Boogie agreed and is sending a replacement. Meanwhile, in my "tube/junk/broken glass and rusty miscellany box", I found an old US-made 5Y3 (RCA) and swapped it in: Bingo. 5, 15, and 30 watts on both channels, plenty of volume, almost no noise. Actually, it sounds better than the Boogie 5Y3. Objectively speaking, of course. I think it's a little springier, esp on the 5w setting. I know I keep going off about that 5w setting, but I have never heard anything so good. Drive at 3:00; Gain at 2-3:00; Treble 2:00; Mids 9:30; bass 1:00; presence 11:00; master 1-5:00 to taste. "Thicker" switched on, and Tele at 1/2-3/4 volume to taste. Better than sex. While I enjoy the glassy clean sound and massive headroom of the 30 w settings, I REALLY like the 5 watt settings, both clean and a little crunchy. Harmonic and sustain city. This amp is so versatile; I feel like I have a good vintage AC-15 and a Twin all in one box. My '52 Tele is my go-to guitar, but it's also fun to plug in my Epi Casino and crank up the 5w volume for some amazing and controllable feedback - and not just in "A". Get some of those pinch harmonics going a la Gibbons and you can drag that squeal out forever (a la Nigel). Alright, tubeheads. Just wanted to yap about tubes a bit and see how you all were; see if anyone else is having rectifier issues with their LSS. Or any EL84-based amp. I really want to build a small, wooden combo amp based on a single EL84 driving a 12" speaker and probably a 12AX7 pre. The wood is going to be ridiculous. I priced enough solid walnut for a tiny combo - size of a silverfaced Princeton or one of those old, first boogies. One tube, class "A", single ended. 12" Greenback or other high quality, low watt rated speaker. Anyway, just for the wood - 7/8" thick, jointed and planed on 2 sides; rough on the other 2…it was like over $100. Just for the wood. Thing is, I want the cabs a foot deep; 12" is the max width the dovetail jig will fit. Well, it shouldn't be expensive wood for my first attempt, anyway. Pine is fine. Porter-Cable sells an allegedly accurate dovetail jig system for a router, so I'm gonna invest the $140 on it and with the help of a nice Milwaukee router I have, such will the corners of my cabs be. Lest you think I'm dreaming, take a look at the couple of acoustics I've built: one an HD-28 copy, the other a 000 (also called OM size). Yup, until Gibson's '61 Hummingbird, or perhaps those monsters the Everly's played (J200's?), nobody did that flat top thang like a D-28. Email me at [email protected] if you want some sequential photos of those guitar builds. They came out pretty nice, but I will admit to a lot of woodworking in my life prior; went to a tech school for carpentry instead of normal high school. I run a 36 unit apartment building and live in a 2 BR with my wife, on-site. One of the many perks is my own shop. And making my own work hours, which are sporadic and few. My bosses live a hundred miles away, and if I TCB, they pay the bills I send them and let me run my own building. Their trust is a good thing; it makes me want to do a good job for them. Excellent bosses. It would be nice to have it at ground level, but hell, how many apartments come with a shop? I put my own stuff in: small table saw; bandsaw; bench belt/disk sander, Dremel; router; drill press. A planer would be nice, as would a scroll saw, and a nice big cast iron jointer...but I'm not complaining, just dreaming. Must…build…amp. And I must learn electronics. I've been reading a book by Ritchie…Fliegel, I think is his last name. I have never learned so much in just a few pages. Maybe the time was just right, but he really seems like a good teacher. It's called "Amps - the other half (or side) of rock & roll" Something like that. My wife is asleep and I don't want to wake her until I join her. The book is on my nightstand. You see the dilemma, and I hope you'll pardon my vagueness on poor Ritch.Good night,
O. D. Dog
