V-Twin Rack; changing from 110V to 240V, switching question

[cube]

Hi there!

I know that this question was answered in this forum, but the pics, which showed how to make this aren´t online anymore...

I am living in Austria and it´s not easy to get the V-Twin Rackmount here.
So there would be a chance to buy one from US and make this unit usable here with 230 Volts.

At the moment i am using the pedal version, which works pretty well, but it´s limited in usage because of one EQ for all three Sounds. Even the same Gain Pot for all 3 sounds is not the real thing for me....

There is another question i have about the rack unit.
I would prefer to have a Clean, a Crunch and a Lead sound and want to switch it with the G-Major which has two relays.
Is there a way to handle 3 sounds with two relays ?


thank you for you answers.

keep on rockin´

cube

 

[daveyboogie]

cube...

I imported a v-twin from the states to the UK last year and it can be modded reasonably easily to 230 volts (at least mine did)... Just move the jumper on the power supply board from the 110V to the 230V position... You need to be pretty handy with a soldering iron, though because the board is very fragile.

I 'sort of' got 3 channels out of my v-twin by using the voice-1 as a crunch and voice-2 (or was it 2 and 3?) as a lead sound and using a fcb-1010. I used a relay network I made myself to get a third switch when both the other 2 swtiched are off. The 'mix' function on the v-twin is not really a practical option for a usable sound. It was always a compromise because I couldn't get individual gain settings for voice-1 and voice-2.

I ended importing a formula pre which isn't bad when 'Andrew' modded, however it won't convert to 230V and a step down transformer is needed.

HTH?

Rock.

 

[cube]

Thank you for your Reply!

So it seems that i won´t have problems by converting the voltage of the unit. That are good news.

What i´ve read in your posting is that in the end you haven´t really been satisfied with the unit itself.
I could not hear the Rack version till now. Just red the informations at harmony central and thougt OK, 1 HE, 6 different sound. That could be the right one for a campact an lightweight guitar rack which suits my needs for playing in different music styles, on stage and in the studio ´couse of the direct outs.

What is ment with the "Andrew" mod?

greetings

cube

 

[daveyboogie]

The v-twin rack in my opinion is a really good piece of equipment with some great usable sounds, just like the Harmony Central reviews say. Like you, I really needed 3 channels to play all my stuff on stage easily but the V-twin really is a 2 channel pre-amp only. It would be fine for studio and recording situations where you can fix your sound up, use it and then change it again.

If you're looking for something light-weight with 3 channels and not as expensive as a triaxis then you might consider trying a Formula Pre. (look for the reviews on Harmony Central)

The Formula will only work with 110Volt (if you import one from the US) so you'll need a step-up transformer but these aren't expensive and are fairly light weight.

The 'Andrew mod' is an improvement modification I did to my Formula (again, you need to be very handy with a soldering iron) that tends to 'open up' the lead channel sound and gives a bit more gain and clarity. Aparently, it was invented by some clever bloke called Andrew. The instructions are on this site somewhere...


Rock

 

[cube]

Hi!

After many hours of "soundsearching" with my V-Twin Pedal i´ve made the decision to get on of the formula Pre amps.
With the Pedal the sound is really very muddy, an it´s not easy to get two excelent overdriven sounds Even changing tubes didn´t change anything..

So i think i will try the Formula Pe Amp and try to get a Trafo.
Are there Models with 230 Volts?
If not: How much Power has your Trafo for the 230 Volt conversion?
I´ve seen some Stepdown Trafo´s and maybe i can find one which is in 19" Format which would make much more Equipment avaiable.

keep on rockin´
cube

 

[cube]

Hi!

After many hours of "soundsearching" with my V-Twin Pedal i´ve made the decision to get a Formula Pre Amp.
With the Pedal the sound is really very muddy, an it´s not easy to get two good overdriven sounds Even changing tubes didn´t change anything..

So i think i will try the Formula Pe Amp and try to get a Trafo.
Are there Models with 230 Volts?
If not: How much Power has your Trafo for the 230 Volt conversion?
I´ve seen some Stepdown Trafo´s and maybe i can find one which is in 19" Format which would make much more Equipment avaiable.

keep on rockin´
cube

 

[daveyboogie]

cube

I got my step down Tx from an online electronics supplier and it was about 30GBP for a 100VA torroidal unit which should be big enough for any pre-amp. I just leave it rolling about in the bottom of my rack.

I've never seen a 19" rack mountable step-down transformer but I'm sure there must be one out there somewhere...

Give the Formula Pre a try... I quite like mine, especially after I modded it with the Andrew Mod. They're fairly cheap and light and you might even find a 230V model kicking about somewhere.

Peace.

 

[cube]

Hi,

i´ve found on at e-bay which ends today

http://cgi.ebay.at/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130234569019&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=003

One question is left at the moment.
Some users at harmony central say that you will have to use a distortion pedal becouse the pre amp doesn´t have enough gain. Is that true?

Which tubes do you use? Maybe the secret?
After my test with the Studio 22+ und the V-Twin i came to the conclusion, that My Boogies work best with the original Boogie and Groove Tubes.

greetings from Austria

cube

 

[daveyboogie]

nice one.

That auction had finished before I got a chance to see it but looked like a sweet buy with footswtich and all. You're getting a seriously good deal for your Euro against the dollar at the moment too!

I found that without the Andrew Mod, too much gain on the Lead channel can make the sound a bit muddy and lose its definition. I like the sound now with the mod but I don't use loads of gain anyway. A metal guitarist might find there's not enough gain in the bottom end. I find that it needs VERY careful EQing on the lead channel.

Currently I'm using a Harma Cryo in the V1 position for that Blackface sound and JJs for all the rest.

 

[Blackface tweed]

cube...

I imported a v-twin from the states to the UK last year and it can be modded reasonably easily to 230 volts (at least mine did)... Just move the jumper on the power supply board from the 110V to the 230V position... You need to be pretty handy with a soldering iron, though because the board is very fragile.


Rock.

Hi there, I've got used V-twin and it have been allready converted to 220(jumper on a power supply board moved to 220 pos.), but I've noticed something strange. There are some modifications on the main board near the place where the power supply wires are soldered.
one resistor is missing and there're 2 diodes soldered in serial instead of t. Also there's one diode soldered in parallel with one installed on the board... everything looks terrible.
Also there's a writing on the top of the mainboard something about converting from 110 to 220. It says you've got to jumper some resistors.
Preamp works fine, but I don't want it to blow up in the middle of the show or something...

So can you post some photos of your mainboard, or something? :roll:

 

[daveyboogie]

Also there's a writing on the top of the mainboard something about converting from 110 to 220. It says you've got to jumper some resistors

yeah... I think I remember something like that on mine, too. I've since sold my v-twin (big mistake) so I can't have a look for you. Mine worked fine after conversion. No noise or switching probs or anything- not sure what the writing and dodgy jumpers and resistors was all about.

Basically, there was 15VAC coming off the PSU board when I ran it on 110V (from a step-down TX) before conversion and there was still 15VAC coming off the PSU board when I ran it on 230V after conversion, so I wasn't too concerned about the dodgy stuff on the main board.

If you're worried about the reliability of the modded board, you might want to rework some of the component soldering.

 

[Blackface tweed]

aha, thanks a lot! gonna check the voltage today, 15V AC you say? not too much for the preamp tubes))) i guess that's why they're not glowing :twisted:

 

[daveyboogie]

It was either 15VAC or 18VAC... Pretty sure it was 15VAC, tho. The valves use a heater voltage of 6.3Vdc which makes the glowing but it's not very obvious in the V-twin. I think there are even red LEDs behind the tubes to make them look pretty!! There's no HT voltage from the PSU board for the valves; I think that's generated on the main board somehow: similar to the JMP-1. At least it makes the V-twin a bit safer to work on!

 

[Blackface tweed]

geez something is terribly wrong with it!!!
it reads 280 VDC :shock: from the power supply... gonna make some further investigations...

 

[daveyboogie]

Interesting.... I wonder if yours is using a different type of power supply to mine. Might explain all those modded components on the main board. If its working ok I wouldn't worry too much! If the 110V to 220V conversion you did hadn't worked properly then the transformer would have exploded by now anyway.

280Vdc might explain where the valves get their plate voltage from. I'm sure mine was different, though. Don't kill yourself in there!

 

[Blackface tweed]

well here's what I've found. a full schematics of the Rack V-twin!!!!
take it here
well it's clearly visible that all the changes should be made on the power supply board only.
so I'm gonna roll back everything that previous owned did.

 

[daveyboogie]

Sweet!

You can clearly see the split primary windings on the transformer and how to wire it up. It's also nice to see a proper HV supply-- 17:275 transformer! Haven't seen many of those before!

 

[Blackface tweed]

I'm thinking about full maintance of my V-twin.
change all the pots on the front, roll back all that crap on the mai board, also there are some half broken wires inside.
And TADA! I've got a midi switching board, that's should be just a thing for V-twin: 8 relays and 12v required!

 

[daveyboogie]

I remember that the pots on my V-twin were a real weak spot- I ended up taking nearly every pot out and squeezing them back together to tighten them up. Stops any cracks and buzzing so it's worth doing. Especially the pots on the rear.