mozart999uk

Thanks Silverhead.

Yeah a dry recording would be great,  I only have access to the V1 sounds (old variax model) so this is really a "is the upgrade to V2 (via a JTV purchase) worth it "

Was hoping someone with a JTV and V2 might be able to oblige...

Could anyone record me a snippet of them playing the solo from "get back" with the epiphone casino setting on V2.0 HD sounds?

Just want to see if it sounds better than the older V1 version.

Thanks :-)

Thanks for your reply. I'll see if I can recreate one of the Rick parts  with my 300 to compare.

I've attached a clip of me playing (badly) a bit of the getback solo with the "semi - position 4" (DI'd - no amp modelling) , to emulate the casino.

Does anyone fancy playing this on an HD model so I can compare?

Has anyone done / got a comparison of electric sounds (DI'd / clean) between the old 300 series and the newer HD?

I have a 300 and I'm a bit disappointed with the Rickenbackers (chime) and the Epiphone Casino (semi).

I have read that the HD sounds on electric are a bit better but can't find any examples.  I've found a few on you tube of the lesters and strat but they're all caked in distortion / FX..

Just curious if anyone has anything or could knock me up something quickly.....

Cbrillow - you're  a very helpful fella! :-)

15 hours ago, brue58ski said:

I had this issue and then used DeOxit D5. I must say, a small spritz of DeOxit on each piezo when I change my strings has kept it "running". When the strings are off, the DeOxit can get into the space between the piezo and the saddle. You are essentially doing the Alcohol thing but don't need the canned air. DeOxit is what all the "pro's use" Everywhere I've worked (I work with electronic stuff) there are cans of DeOxit always available.

I love deoxit. I use D5 for switches and connections and F5 for pots and faders.  My guitar tech used to use servisol in pots and faders.....they went proper scratchy after a while.  I found that F5 restored them a little after this. The lube in it I guess.... I do find with pots with nice physical resistance (lots of grease in them??) F5 does make them spin a bit too easily. That might be good for some people I guess but I used it on a few things (mixers, controllers etc) and was a bit disappointed :-(  Anywho, got my alcohol, compressed air and D5 ready for the Variax.  Let's see what happens. 

15 hours ago, psarkissian said:

Just don't get DeOxit on the guitar finish.

 

Why? What happens?  Is that the same with alcohol?

7 minutes ago, psarkissian said:

Same method with piezos. Alcohol on a cotton swab, let it drip onto the piezo and saddle, blow it out with canned air

on each piezo. Repeat as needed.

 

Ok thanks :-)

23 minutes ago, psarkissian said:

Here, up earlier, January 11, 2019. From a Knowledge Base post I prepped for the Admin,

and subsequent follow-up posts here.

 

I can't actually see a procedure. Am I missing something?

There's your article on how to clean pots but nothing about the piezos. I see your list of the ingredients but I can't see anywhere that tells me how to actually use them on the piezos.

Which part of the piezo do I clean with the alcohol?  All of it that is visible?  And do I generally spray the compressed air all around the bridge getting underneath etc?

4 minutes ago, psarkissian said:

" Do you have to remove the piezos to clean them?  " --- No, don't do that.

 

" Can you Just clean the visible bit when you take the strings off? " --- You could. But, using the method I posted earlier,

you don't need to take the strings off. I do this all the time when I service a Variax. Alcohol, cotton swab and canned air.

Work on the 300 electric as well.

 

Saddle acts as the chassis ground return. When dust and stuff gets in there, it can result in intermittent ground contact,

and intermittent signal.

 

Thanks. :-)  Where did you post the method.  I can't see it.....:-(

Do you have to remove the piezos to clean them?  Can you Just clean the visible bit when you take the strings off? Iso alcohol and a cotton bud?

Just plugged in my 300 electric and found that the G string was cutting out. Tapped the bridge a few times and it seems to have come back.....

On 9/17/2021 at 5:55 PM, westryder said:

 

On 9/25/2021 at 10:15 AM, westryder said:

I have already told you about my results a few messages earlier (about xps copy in a box). In that message I meant that I want to show it to cbrillow, because I made it with his help, but the  conversation with him via direct messages was suddenly lost and I had no chance to show what I have built.

Ah ok. Sorry. I misunderstood

17 minutes ago, westryder said:

It's good to have a direct contact. As we see, one changing in forum functionality - and contact is lost.

Sure, I will text you via email to show results of my project!

Please do come back here with your results. I'd be very interested.

I'll do the same :-)

6 minutes ago, cbrillow said:

I'd say that, unless there's a significant difference in what you're expecting to read and what you see,  you'll be in good shape.

 

My experience has been that the output of AC supplies, such as the ones for your XPS mini, is generally not that close to the rated value, and is  often a little higher. (not in your case, though...) More significantly, it usually goes into the first stage of an on-board power supply -- almost always into a full-wave or bridge rectifier to convert to pulsating DC, then filtered and regulated by a semiconductor device to create the actual operating DC.  The raw ac voltage from the transformer can also be somewhat dependent on the incoming voltage from your house wiring. Very unlikely to be a problem unless it's way out of whack.

 

Battery voltages are nominal, depending upon type and age. NiMHs are different from Alkalines and nicads. A tenth of a volt is not unusual to see, and it's certainly not a problem. Again, the first thing that an incoming voltage -- ac or dc -- sees is often a voltage conversion or regulation circuit. The actual operating range for consumer equipment is very likely to be + or - a volt or more. They have to account for sagging voltage from batteries before the performance starts to degrade or cut off entirely.

 

Good that it zeroes on your resistance ranges, but even it being off a minor amount there doesn't indicate a significant problem. 

 

I'm betting that it will be just fine to perform your testing!

 

Thanks so much again!   I'll press on and see what happens! :-)

Thanks so much for your encouragement.

On the subject of checking the boards, I'm wondering if my mastech multimeter is calibrated properly.

I tested the output of the XPS mini and it reads 8.2V.

Both my 12AC PSUs for the XPS mini show 10.3-10.5V AC 

A brand new AA duracell battery shows 1.60V.

I've tested it on various ohms settings and it shows zero when I touch the leads together.

Any thoughts?

31 minutes ago, cbrillow said:

Hello,

 

Hope you don't mind my 'butting in' on your conversation with westryder, but this is a topic in which I'm very interested. The board you've linked to looks like a good match for your project! It appears that it's very versatile in terms of both input and output voltages. The only thing I would be hesitant about would be if you were trying to use it near one of the limits of either the minimum or maximum input or output voltages. But you'd be using it comfortably in the middle of the range for both input and output, so it looks like a very good choice.

 

Good luck with your project - keep rocking!

Hi. Not at all. After all, it was your excellent post that started me on this journey!

So I guess, using it this way (9V AC to 9V DC) is more or less replicating the XPS mini itself.

Any reason that could be better or worse than the way you did it using a step up board? 

Thanks for the offer of help.  I'll let you know how I get on.  I've got my xps mini case so I'll fit the board in that :-) 

Just out of interest, I have the original 9v AC power supply that came with my XPS mini (and a spare).

Would something like this work to convert it to 9V DC?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254604767477?hash=item3b47a070f5:g:RrgAAOSwojdbMbjL

17 hours ago, westryder said:

I don't use a wireless system, so the box in a pedalboard was the best choice for me.

I guess you didn't understand my solution :) 

Yes I understood your solution :-)  

I'm deciding whether to place to board in the back of my guitar, or build a replacement xps mini like you have done.

 I've found that when I  power the guitar through the TRS cable (with my xps mini), wiggling  the jack in the socket in any way creates noise which is a pain as I'm doing a quite close and quiet recording project.   My xps mini is broken though (it "blows" and "pops" occasionally for a minute or two so that might be the cause.  Not sure. Have cleaned the sockets both ends with a burnisher and deoxit and tried a different cable and it still does it :-(

Thanks for all your help. I've noted the comment about the board I found not having a display and possibly not remembering the correct voltage step up after each power on.

I'll check that :-)

16 hours ago, westryder said:

Hello!

 

I have built a power box for Variax 300 using cbillow solution and it works fine. I use it to power a guitar via TRS cable. You can use any voltage boost board. I have not found exactly the same as used cbrillow, so I ordered an LTC1871 step-up board. Its dimensions are exactly 67x44 mm. I have attached a photo. I also have seen a board built on XL6009, I think it will work fine too.

You can just search for "dc-dc step up" and any will be okay if it boosts the voltage. They come in a variety of sizes including models without a screen (it's usually smaller).

 

I use a 2A smartphone charger, it works fine. So 2.1A DC will be okay.

Thanks Westryder :-)

That's an interesting way of doing it - rather than putting the board in the back of the guitar (think it would be a bit of a squeeze!) :-)

Oh - and you use a smarphone charger rather than a battery?  Oh that's very cool. Didn't know you could do that!

I've found this board one:   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283757806256?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item42114882b0:g:bhgAAOSwP0ZeLfG4&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAACkPYe5NmHp%2B2JMhMi7yxGiTJkPrKr5t53CooMSQt2orsSwcmzw5CLtzTE60FqHcnq2H0sUCa%2BU3XFDDRz6tLFvU0tSrPQsARBQu49EU4qJSSRjbwVitrKhL9Z4jzjbzQH547jHL8oq9bUWaddgXq28c2VzDKvUzKmilg2r4MZ6kQDOYmOqfYWVulQwMbTwVxfIQMi4nKyP3rmZBrdASpsItouIhBeTMCm4tNPs15LgmtqXa2EQ%2BA0R%2BGsc5UiL%2FPx88Kxll%2B28uL%2BiXcjLQ2CQqcehWikNY%2BlfKaOBi%2FO%2FVKSq5Amil3dNE93BHZBAe2eLC4Sbi6zwFU7MJsBL3msCfRv6%2F02mvf9ckExnzuEQEqDu74jHSlxYklgGDsN53BEEiW8Hd7z%2BQTVGYit%2BhBPIDFxMkMZpNIecteObThr2WmcgF6HEk2TUJKfXOFSO25m3dsyz5u1rbvHiw1PsWT41e%2FuYyMyXK5Gedx95VtGltZBiHdnA41StgY5cr8MEp%2FRccqnbrXa0P7DzYmWWCBU6lOGJqltw%2FlNl2r3uwa8ETnieaQ1QbB411biH%2BlwbdZ3UT%2B5%2ByNEDUJZvxJ8UUkJfRHoHPk%2BoBMI2ajqukjlE0oAP8L4X07GfNSe78TSLcko2Q%2Bf2ftHbcCCatQfNx9rmkZwM47dXwVLIvC27tefoydHp3aPBSC5OI73vvhKMbIV%2B0AjsU6aSa9Aorv8qjHH%2B7LK5o19YLo8RT%2F1D6bZLBQZdWCdQdrQwKTh%2BaPhV05%2BtDUgLlH1OZPq4ErtSMt8wIZkBt%2BG1eHr1qKwM14cx3Nti36Nqky47r2pPWTproVcuKKKMPqDWEOZpkh8FF1ks4bx7M1osFiTNxDaXe4BS9Du|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2334524

(sorry for the long link)  which looks small enough to fit in the back. Would save me having to source a box :-@)

10 minutes ago, psarkissian said:

Technically, that would be an unsupported modification. If it were to end up on my bench, any service repairs I would do for

that would be for anything else that didn't involve that board, since it's not our product. Though servicing that board looks pretty

straight forward, they wouldn't allow me to service that board.

 

Heard that they work okay. Never dealt with one those myself yet, except for a similar circuit on a bread board.

 

Any mods the alter any function of the guitar, would be an unsupported mod.

Just so that you are all aware.

 

Happy hunting. Rock-n-roll!!!

 

Thanks yeah I think you made that clear last year :-) Unfortunately my XPS mini can't be repaired in the UK and the battery life with the 6AA's is pretty poor so I'm stuck with finding workarounds :-(

On 5/21/2020 at 6:59 PM, cbrillow said:

Getting around a little better today, so I'm sending a picture of my Variax 600 solution for using a 5V power bank.  Note that I don't really use my 600 very much, and didn't create a permanent installation --  I just ran the cable with the USB connector through the dimple in the top of the cutout for the battery box.

 

This thing cost me $10.99 from Amazon.com DC-DC switching power converter  Works great, is on-board adjustable without needing a meter, and is simple to hook up, thanks to having screw terminal blocks for the input and output. (the blue boxes on the left & right sides of the picture)

 

I have a power bank that clips onto my strap. Also note that I used a 9V battery clip so that the board plugs in just as if it were the battery pack, and that I have the output set at 8.8Vdc, which works great. 

 

 

 

Appreciate this is an old thread....

Trying to build c brillows solution using a 5V powerpack in the UK

Can't seem to get his exact model of step up board.....all the ones I've found are too big for the battery compartment.

Also, what current powerpack do I need?  Will 2.1A be enough?

Can anyone post a link to a step up board that will fit (UK based)....the battery compartment is roughly 67mmx48mm

I'd like to replace the jack sockets on my xps mini 

I'm looking at these 

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/jack-plugs-sockets/1438935

Do they look right?   The measurements seem almost there - maybe a mm out here and there

On 10/3/2020 at 6:12 AM, Mincer said:

My regular XPS started doing the exact same thing with my Acoustic Variax. Dead quiet with batteries. Did you ever find a solution?

Unfortunately not. :-(  I've just ended up using batteries.

Thanks  It's fine on batteries so I'll use those for now.  Unfortunately those service centres are a long long way away from where I live so I'll have to keep them as a last resort

Thanks. Yeah I've already tried cleaning the contacts.  No change.