Billy Blades Update
- Thread starter I Like Amps
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I Like Amps
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JTyson":3jfgkfoq said:
I hear ya JTyson. He's not even a good assembler, yet he calls himself a boutique amp builder.
Don't get me wrong, I have definatly seen nicer , cleaner , and more thought out layouts then this, but if it sounds good, has no Noise issues and is reliable then that should be what matters. Yrs ago most players wouldn't care what the guts looked like as long as it sounded great. I have seen plenty of vintage amps that aren't pretty also. Taking your amp to the mall for glamour shots is something that came about in the past ten yrs!! Lol. I see this pics of gear in front of waterfalls and shit, cracks me up.
Was the owner of this amp complaining?
Was the owner of this amp complaining?
SLOgriff
Well-known member
Here's a glimpse at the "beginning" of Billy Blade's climb to the top.
http://www.marshallforum.com/workbench/ ... ybrid.html
http://www.marshallforum.com/workbench/ ... ybrid.html
marshallmadness
Member
joepete77":u7t0un00 said:
After just a couple months that amp has started to play up. Bad solder joints. This was after the owner already got new cabinets from Sourmash as the cabs that Billy made were disgusting. Billy told him to take the amp to another tech to get fixed but the owner was too embarrassed to take it to anyone so he learnt how to fix it himself.
Billy Blades is a fat redneck piece of shit.
I Like Amps
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joepete77":2m8i2rmg said:
Well the big problem here is whether or not it is safe. I agree that the wiring doesn't have to be perfect or even the soldering, but this amp is a disaster waiting to happen as pointed out in some of the above posts.
The other problem is that Billy claims to be a boutique amp builder.
And yes, the amp was delivered with a volume drop problem that the buyer fixed himself. (Cold solder joint on pin 2 of the PI.)
mooncobra
Well-known member
go to his website billyblades.net you can buy his custom amps there, the venom and the firebolt. msrp 3000, but direct from him only 299 dollars, just kidding, i think it was 1600? i just looked at the marshall forum. don't know much about him. is billy blades his real name or a forum name he uses? in one of his posts he said that the big name mod guys were making life hard for him??? also, he was saying friedman is disrespecting jose and his family by calling jose's mod the brown eye, another word for butthole, the butthole mod and how he would be sad if jose;s family learned someone was stealing his mod and calling it the butthole mod. wow!!!
thiswaythatway
Well-known member
Sphere":wx426t3c said:
OH SHIT.
glpg80
Well-known member
Splawn has shipped an amplifier or two that had cold solder joints - but he was able to help troubleshoot the problem with a tech in no time at all to get it resolved. Meaning that he stands behind his work and will not leave anyone hanging. Accidents happen but that amplifier is no accident. That is a cluster fuck of someone carelessly rushing through a build and spending 6+ hours or more at a bench without any care for user safety or mechanical know-how. Hell he even used the same damn gauge of wiring throughout the entire amplifier. There are some places where heavier gauges just are not called for. He even used the same wattage resistors throughout the amplifier. Overall it was carelessly done top to bottom and isn't worth more than the parts that are in it.
On top of the poor quality of the build, he marked all of the values to make it a pain to troubleshoot
IMHO he should be banned from AX84 and the marshall forum for even attempting to pull that off. Someone is going to get hurt if he keeps that up or his amps end up in the used market.
On top of the poor quality of the build, he marked all of the values to make it a pain to troubleshoot
IMHO he should be banned from AX84 and the marshall forum for even attempting to pull that off. Someone is going to get hurt if he keeps that up or his amps end up in the used market.
xXDaveyJonesXx
Active member
Can't tell if this feels like an asshole move on your part to throw a passionate guy under the bus or a serious public safety announcement/concern.
I'll go with a little of both. But mostly asshole.
I'll go with a little of both. But mostly asshole.
I Like Amps
New member
He was embarrassed because it looked like a cluster f**k and he didn't want to have some tech say, "Who built this piece of crap?"
Rather he blacked the values out then completely smother the amp in gasket seal goop like I have seen other guys do. Truth be told , I paid out the nose for a mod , waited forever and once received, it started smoking at 2nd band practice. It was making popping noises when switching from standby and noisy as hell also, was also bass heavy dark and muddy for my tastes, it wasn't billy blades so u won't hear about it on this forum.
glpg80
Well-known member
xXDaveyJonesXx":s80r8l79 said:Can't tell if this feels like an asshole move on your part to throw a passionate guy under the bus or a serious public safety announcement/concern.
I'll go with a little of both. But mostly asshole.
Call me an asshole for pointing out obvious safety concerns. If it keeps anyone that is reading this from getting hurt or killed then it is worth it.
If it was done through a registered business license inside the USA it should be reported to the BBB for failing certain IEEE standards that have to be met. There are certain responsibilities that you uphold the second you build something for others to use and there is blatant disregard for life inside that chassis. Half assed work that was rushed or poorly executed.
stratotone
Active member
I would hope if someone was going to reverse engineer his mod they owned a multimeter.
The amp is not so much as a rats nest build as it is a amateur child's build. Yes point to point amps and older fender amps can be quite rat nest like, but what sets this amp apart???
Terrible soldering, cold solder joints, these will cause problems down the road. Billy says in earlier posts he "triple solders". But the pics looks like he means that he heats solder around the solder joints in layers. Terrible.
The resistors soldered to the leads should be heat shrinked not only for safety , but also to help reduce the stain stress on the solder joint itself.
You can see plenty of burned insulation on the wiring from the soldering iron = Amateur hour here. Not just one or two but all over the place.
Notice the rosin flux that has dripped down on the contacts of the speaker selector switch. This will cause issues as well down the road.
Solder splats on the wiring insulation, this will come of and possibly get loose on the amp possible shorting a connection.
As for resistor size, I see various different sizes. I see carbon film, metal film and oxides. So I don't see a big issue there. 2 watt metal films can be the same or even smaller than 1 watt carbon film resistors.
The issue I think that exists here is that Mr Blades about the last year went on rants on just about every amp forum that exists, ranting about his amp building prowess, knowing all the Cameron secrets. He was going to build high end amps to be sold at Sam Ash and Guitar Center. He was going to take over the amp bailing industry. He was banned from most of the forums including this one.
That build of his looks like someones first attempt to build a tube amp, not something you would be selling to customers.
Terrible soldering, cold solder joints, these will cause problems down the road. Billy says in earlier posts he "triple solders". But the pics looks like he means that he heats solder around the solder joints in layers. Terrible.
The resistors soldered to the leads should be heat shrinked not only for safety , but also to help reduce the stain stress on the solder joint itself.
You can see plenty of burned insulation on the wiring from the soldering iron = Amateur hour here. Not just one or two but all over the place.
Notice the rosin flux that has dripped down on the contacts of the speaker selector switch. This will cause issues as well down the road.
Solder splats on the wiring insulation, this will come of and possibly get loose on the amp possible shorting a connection.
As for resistor size, I see various different sizes. I see carbon film, metal film and oxides. So I don't see a big issue there. 2 watt metal films can be the same or even smaller than 1 watt carbon film resistors.
The issue I think that exists here is that Mr Blades about the last year went on rants on just about every amp forum that exists, ranting about his amp building prowess, knowing all the Cameron secrets. He was going to build high end amps to be sold at Sam Ash and Guitar Center. He was going to take over the amp bailing industry. He was banned from most of the forums including this one.
That build of his looks like someones first attempt to build a tube amp, not something you would be selling to customers.
guitarmike
Well-known member
He has not posted since the gut shots were exposed, I wonder why he can't stand up for his work????
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