Curious about boards ?????

[rdlegerr]

Ok guys, I know this is most probably a newbie question or dumb question but here goes. I've seen on this site and other sites where you can purchase boards for various type of amp, bassman, plexi etc. My question is can you buy one of these and just replace the existing one in a tube amp ? Example let say I've got an old tube head with 2 el34 power tubes , 3 12ax7 etc... Could I just switch the board that is in there for a plexi board ???????? Thanks for your patience...................

[Shea]

That's the main intended purpose of those boards, I think. A lot of them are used to replace the PCB's in reissue amps.

Of course, not every board will be usuable in every amp. The availabe space inside the chassis might not be big enough, or it might be proportioned differently than the board. You might have to drill mounting holes in the board or the chassis.

Usually these circuit boards are made to the same dimensions as the original amp that they're copying, or close to them. That generally makes them suitable for reissues or clones of the same amp.

Shea

[EBE]

Many of the newer production tube amps have PCB mounted tube sockets with the tubes sticking through an oversized hole. For this type amp you would probably need hole spacers. They also may be in a poor location for a rebuild. You will have much better luck with an older production amp with chassis mounted tube sockets. Better yet, for a first build, bite the bullet and buy Graydon's chassis. If you are a glutton for punishment like some of us you could roll your own chassis. I have done this and it is a bunch of work.

Norm

[loverocker]

I'd reiterate what the other guys said. But I'd also add that other off-board things play a very important role - the transformers. If you don't also replace those, you may have a different supply voltage than the original plexi/whatever and a different sounding output transformer. May still sound fine, or it may sound significantly different.

[Wannatone]

and, just remember that you would have to change/replace the old wiring if the board and amp model are not identical.

The pots should be chassis mounted if you don´t want to run into more troubles, though.

Last but not least, anything just depends on your skills.