briantf27
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2001
- Posts
- 247
- Likes
- 11
So I thought I'd make another simple mod to my MG Head with 47k pot input->wiper shunt resistors as recommended by Videoshielded.... Yeah Right!!! In the process of simply soldering the Caddocks to the stock Alps pot I lost the right channel. Input to wiper is now open. So off to angela.com I went and ordered up the economical Alps blue velvet. (http://www.angela.com/catalog/potent...Alps_Pots.html) In a timely manner, it arrived but low and behold the b!tch didn't fit!!! Looking back at the original pot, the shaft was not positioned dead center which allowed for enough clearance between it and the PCB in the MG Head!
So out came the dremel... I managed to reshape the top side of the circular hole (now eliptical) in order to provide enough clearance between the bottom of the pot and the PCB. Of course, a few kickback incidents renderred the front panel permanently scarred, but what are you going to do.
I also had to shave off the ancor stud on the Blue Velvet, because it was too large and not oriented correctly for the MG Head. The stud isn't needed anyhow, because once screwed in the thing has nowhere to go since it is resting on the PCB below it. The dremel easily performed the task of removing the stud as well as shortening the shaft length.
Well now that's all in the past... on to listening.... One word: WOW ! Of course now I've got a different pot in addition to the Caddock shunts, so it isn't a direct comparison.... Nevertheless, this is a completely different amp today. It is really astounding, and has catapaulted to the top of my list of bang for the buck MG Head improvments one can "easily" make.
HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended. The detail is so vastly improved that I can't believe I actually enjoyed this amp prior to this mod!! I am hearing things in every track of every CD that I haven't heard before. Literally. Its really unbelievable how homogenous the overall sound was before, and how distinct each component of the sound is now. This beats the improvement you get from tube rolling from the stock tubes to cream of the crop NOS tubes by at least an order of magnitude.
Do yourself a favor if you own the MG Head and make this mod. And after you do, tell your friends! One FYI: the Alps Blue Velvet doesn't seem to attenuate evenly once volume gets fairly low. And there is not much room between comfortable listening volume and zero volume. Therefore I'm considering getting a 250K pot and slapping that in. It should move the comfortable listening postion from where it is currently (1/8 of a turn) to somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 turn depending on the taper. Perhaps, then, the shunt should be on the order of 100k. Hmm. Not sure....
Brian.
Well now that's all in the past... on to listening.... One word: WOW ! Of course now I've got a different pot in addition to the Caddock shunts, so it isn't a direct comparison.... Nevertheless, this is a completely different amp today. It is really astounding, and has catapaulted to the top of my list of bang for the buck MG Head improvments one can "easily" make.
Do yourself a favor if you own the MG Head and make this mod. And after you do, tell your friends! One FYI: the Alps Blue Velvet doesn't seem to attenuate evenly once volume gets fairly low. And there is not much room between comfortable listening volume and zero volume. Therefore I'm considering getting a 250K pot and slapping that in. It should move the comfortable listening postion from where it is currently (1/8 of a turn) to somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 turn depending on the taper. Perhaps, then, the shunt should be on the order of 100k. Hmm. Not sure....
Brian.