Hammond AO-35 to SuperLite II?

[Eulipian]

Aloha,
Searched the forum and did not see any intel as to whether the AO-35 can be converted nicely to a Superlite II TMB. Maybe my search terms aren't well chosen, as I've seen posts on other forums pointing here. Any help would be appreciated.

[JMPGuitars]

Plenty of people have converted those to 18 watters, so I don't see why you couldn't do a Superlite TMB. The Superlite TMB has a solid state rectifier, so they only use a total of 4 tubes.

[zaphod_phil]

Agreed!
However, I recommend you build it to the original SuperLite TMB design Here's why (from a PM I received)

I recently reworked my Stinger circuit board to your revision and all I can say is "WOW". What an incredible difference. It sounded okay before but somewhat sterile. I got rid of the toroidal transformer. I replaced both the power and output transformers with those sold by GDS, I bought a new blank 18-watt chassis from Watts Audio and routed it on my CNC router at work and then changed the components on the circuit board to those recommended in your revision of the schematic. HOLY ****! This thing is a little beast. One of my good friends is a performing musician and he was blown away. He wants one of his own.

The story behind this is that some well-meaning, but misguided people from another BBS convinced Terry (RIP) to make changes to the original Superlite TMB design, which effectively castrated it, to make it the Superlite II.

[Eulipian]

Are you referring to the Superlite_IIb_2-7_Schematic_V4.pdf? Or the original? Thank you both for your replies.

[zaphod_phil]

The very original Superlite schematic is the one you should use

[JMPGuitars]

The very original Superlite schematic is the one you should use

Or the new version of the original we'll be posting soon.

[JMPGuitars]

The new version has been uploaded. viewtopic.php?f=25&t=24430

EDIT: Updated today with the Paul Ruby Mod in case anybody needs it.

Thanks,
Josh

[Eulipian]

So I see that the new version using a ss rectifier in place of the ez81. Is that for sonic or reliability improvement, or both, or neither?

Thanks

[JMPGuitars]

So I see that the new version using a ss rectifier in place of the ez81. Is that for sonic or reliability improvement, or both, or neither?

It costs less and sounds the same with a sag resistor (and maybe more reliable). ZP likes them, and he (for a while) was pushing me in that direction. I'm currently making a cuckoo amp I call the "18W Xtra TMB" which has a tube rectifier and a SS rectifier switchable on the standby switch. Even with the SS rectifier's B+ being 20VDC higher, they sound/behave nearly identical. If I drop the SS B+ I would bet they'd sound completely the same. I haven't decided to do that yet because them not sounding 100% the same seems more useful. I'll probably make a video comparing them at some point.

If you prefer a tube rectifier, you can build it that way too. Look at any of my build docs with a tube rec, and use that rectifier section instead. The Lite 2b(ish) is probably the easiest to reference.

Thanks,
Josh

[zaphod_phil]

Are you referring to the Superlite_IIb_2-7_Schematic_V4.pdf? Or the original? Thank you both for your replies.

Superlite_IIb_2-7_Schematic_V4 is the "castrated" version.