She’s thinks that being a doper and surfing pr0n are exclusive?
Shhhh!
I’ve actually had this kit (mostly) completed for a few weeks, however, mine is still a little glitchy. I was going to work them all out, and post recordings when I had them all gone. Squeegee’s acting impatient after I mentioned it in another thread, so here’s a quick progress report. 
The kit itself is fairly simple. 6 resistors, 3 caps, a phone jack and a reverb tank make up the majority of the electronics. You receive step-by-step instructions for making the changes, but no revised schematic for your final product.
Soldering to the circuit board of the Valve Jr. isn’t hard, but soldering the angel hair it has for wires is maddening. I suggest buying the smallest, tiniest strippers you can find if you work on one of these. My wire strippers were made for working on phone systems, and were too big. The instructions suggest this is a 2-3 hour job. I went slowly and carefully, and it took me about 7 hours to complete. For a job that involved me with a soldering iron, the swearing was minimal. If I have a complaint about the design, it’s that you’re sometimes soldering a component in-line between a wire and the board. Even with an extra hand, those soldering jobs were a pain.
When it’s complete, I go to plug it in for my first test. Of course, it doesn’t work. The output side is working (I can shake the tank and hear the springs rattle), but no input. Probe around with multimeter, find open connection, fix, try again. It works! Happily, I stop testing it, and mount the whole thing in the case. Try to play again, and I get nuttin. Back to the original problem, you can hear the springs, but the preamp isn’t driving it.
After several days of trial and error with an intermittently working tank, I’m almost certain that the original input jack from the Valve Jr. is bad. I still can’t get it to fail reliably. But if it doesn’t work at first, I can plug the cable in and out a couple of times, and it works again. I haven’t replaced it yet, because I dread soldering on those teeny wires.
But, I have played through it quite a bit. It sounds awesome. It’s not quite as long a reverb as the fabled '63 Twin, and it does not quite sound as ping-y as a Fender standalone unit does, but it is lush, and there’s no mistaking that it’s a genuine spring.
It’s output signal is weaker than the signal of any of my guitars, so it doesn’t push the amp nearly as hard. That could be the faulty input jack, or it could just be part of the kludge of a design that it is. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to put another preamp after it to cure that, or tinker with this design to get its output raised or (ideally) adjustable. I’m going to need more education before I can do the latter. I did try to contact BitMo about it, but their email account bounced the message due to it being out of space. :rolleyes:
So, do I wish that I’d noticed the 60’s Gibson reverb tank sitting at the local Guitar Center before I embarked on this? You betchya. It would have been a better investment, and I would have spent several days playing guitar instead of monkeying with a multimeter and a soldering iron. However, it would have cost twice as much. I know that my time’s not worthless, but I the time spent working on this project made me a little less dumb about the electronic side of the instrument. So, it wasn’t completely wasted.
Though, if that Gibson tank is still there in a couple of months, I’ll probably go on a campaign to justify it coming home with me to my wife. 
Wow, that wasn’t very quick. I’ll post some recordings soon if anyone wants to hear what mine sounds like.
Aw, man, I wasn’t trying to guilt you, I’m just very curious about that mod and really just how it all went for you. I think it’s ingenious to repurpose a small amp and end up with a standalone reverb. Too cool for school.
All that said, I was a little iffy on doing this sort of thing myself, and I can’t say I’m encouraged now. 
You sound like you know quite a bit about what you’re doing, and it was/is still a bit rocky going. The input jack thing sounds pretty fixable, but I can say that 'cuz the amp isn’t in front of me. The level thing would piss me off though, and I’d regret that one and not know how to fix it. I do know how to solder, I can tell a capacitor from a resistor from other things, but I’m someone who generally doesn’t repair his own car unless it’s drop-dead easy because I’ll screw it up and take 10x-100x longer than anyone else. This sounds like a similar situation.
I really appreciate the thorough writeup. Thanks!!
I came across a picture of Lionel Loueke on the NPR site holding a beautiful guitar. Obviously custom-made. Here’s one picture. Here’s another one.
Anyone have any idea who makes this?
According to this interview, Rolf Spuler. The Paradis model.
http://www.rolfspuler.com/site/
Handmade. $12,000.
Here’s a better picture (scroll down). There’s a name at (what I assume is) the 12th fret, but it’s hard to make out: “Paradis”. if you image google Paradis Guitar you get back a lot of instruments that look very much like his design. I’d guess if click around on a few of those you’ll find the maker.
ETA: ninja’d.
Why is the D string thicker than the A string?
Likely he’s using an unusual tuning that requires a thick string in the middle. It’s jazz, don’t fight the madness.
Chefguy, re Lionel Loueke’s tuning, from here:
So I guess to get G in that position, he relies on a heavy string, either for string tension or for tone.
There was an unhappy ending with this pedal.
I ordered it and received an email acknowledgement on Jan 5, then later a “it shipped” notice on Jan 23. The product never arrived. Over those seven weeks, I’ve sent five email queries to the vendor and gotten no response. I’ve (nicely) posted to the company’s Facebook page asking for help; the Facebook posts were deleted without acknowledgement. If you google around, there are a lot of people who have had the same experience with this vendor.
Today I notified my credit card issuer that I’d been defrauded. I’m told they will investigate, and they’ve credited my account.
Avoid.
About the Lionel Loueke guitar, thanks everyone. I knew this was the right place to ask.
Regarding the Paradis guitar, here’s a good technical description, which I found fascinating. It also shows exactly how the tuning mechanism works, which I was curious about.
I just finished 19 guitar songs and I made some videos for a few of them. Some of the songs are light and some are heavy-ish.
Anyway, the videos are here on my YouTube channel:
The funny thing was, the faster and more complicated I played, the worse it sounded to me. So I simplified and slowed down most things, especially the solos and they turned out more melodic.
Tough crowd.
by-tor: I liked the first two; haven’t checked out the rest.
I think simpler and slower is usually a good idea, because musicians are often oblivious to the impressions of listeners. The concept could be compared to a driver and a passenger. The former is occupied with operating the vehicle, keeping it on the road and getting it to a destination, whereas the latter’s only concern is to enjoy the ride. Of course, it depends on the musician and the kind of music.
Sorry, by-tor. I’m in the middle of a divorce/separation and a bit distracted or I would have responded. I listened to a couple and liked them quite a bit, but didn’t really dig in. Your tone is quite nice, what was your setup?
PS: do you own a snow dog, and are you a working man? 
Thanks for checking them out!
jerez, yeah I wouldn’t tell Mozart to slow down and make it less complicated but then, he is a genius!
squeegee just Finding my Way. (=
Pearson Airport is quite nice, don’t you think?
Holy cow, this is an epic guitar thread. :eek:
Um…I used to post here. I post here now again. I recognize WordMan as a fellow guitar slinger from back in the day.
I read the first two pages and last two pages just now. Can I play? Is there any particular etiquette for jumping in?