New Project Completed: Hardwood Headshell for my Peavey VTM

[GuitarGoat]

Just got another project finished up! I picked up a Peavey VTM60 a while back with the worst looking headshell I've ever seen. I decided I'd mod the head a bit and then make a headshell. I finally got the headshell done...here it is:









With the chassis in it:





And of course...the new addition to my stack of amps:


This is the first headshell I've done with a dovetail jig I picked up before starting this. It's not perfect since it was the first one on the jig, but it's not horrendous. A little bit of tearout on the end of one of the pins and a few looser fitting dovetails than I'd like. The wood is maple. Overall though, I'm quite happy with this! Thanks for looking!

 

[tfridgen]

There's a VTM 120 locally I've had my eye on. How do you like it? What kind of mods did you do?

 

[GuitarGoat]

There's a VTM 120 locally I've had my eye on. How do you like it? What kind of mods did you do?

It's similar to a Marshall. It's got 6L6s so that's a bit different, and all the dip switches let you switch in some different components that are pretty common mods for Marshalls. I think it's pretty fun...not my best sounding amp but it's cool for what it is! I made the High and Low gain inputs footswitchable so the High input is now just the input and the Low input is a footswitch. The switch next to that is a hardwired switch for the same function. The low can then be used as a clean because I put a concentric pot for the volume control (one is the master volume and the other is just for the High channel, so I can turn up the Low channel to how loud I want it, then switch channels and bring up the High to match it). I also put the bright and treble peaking caps on a 3-way switch, but I usually just leave it to stock. That's all I really did to it so far, might do a little bit more, but I like it now for 80's style high gain. Or if I pick up a guitar that's droptuned it can be pretty cool. I think it was Soundgarden who used these?

All the different options are pretty cool for getting more out of it, there's a couple gain switches, low, high, mid, and a "comp" switch that adds a Jose style clipping circuit. I find these are usually enough to get it to sound how I want it, but I might tweak it a little bit more just to get it all the way "there". If it's cheap I'd pick it up, but I wouldn't overpay for one...

 

[tfridgen]

400 bucks?

 

[GuitarGoat]

400 bucks?

I got this one for like $200 or $250 with the awful headshell...maybe if you can talk that guy down a little and it's in good condition. They're really cool heads, I've just seen them for cheaper around here, but maybe those are just deals.

 

[Mudder]

That's about as good as that amp can look. The angled faceplate doesn't help, and all those little dip switches to deal with...

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Nice work!
I had a vtm 60 in 1987 or so & mistakenly moved on to a decade of inferior racks

There was a Fortin vtm clip here awhile back, the amp sounded monstrous!
Curious to hear your clips

 

[midnightlaundry]

Looks great. I'd tolex it tho so you can beat it around a bit. But anything beats that rubber shite tolex with the deep textures they used on those amps that held dirt in no matter how hard you scrubbed it.

 

[GuitarGoat]

Nice work!
I had a vtm 60 in 1987 or so & mistakenly moved on to a decade of inferior racks

There was a Fortin vtm clip here awhile back, the amp sounded monstrous!
Curious to hear your clips

I'll have to make something. I just busted out my recording gear and set it up...now I just have to do something with it! Thanks!

 

[GuitarGoat]

Looks great. I'd tolex it tho so you can beat it around a bit. But anything beats that rubber shite tolex with the deep textures they used on those amps that held dirt in no matter how hard you scrubbed it.

Thanks! I like the hardwood look a ton, so I haven't thought about tolexing it, but I need to use it on an amp at some point. The headshell that this thing was in was just too hideous...I had to do something about it.

 

[rlord1974]

That looks great! Nice work!

That's also a nice collection of amps you have there!

 

[GuitarGoat]

That looks great! Nice work!

That's also a nice collection of amps you have there!

Thank you! I like them

 

[pkripper]

Nice work! I had the I few VTM's they rock for sure!

 

[D-Rock]

Looks great. I'd tolex it tho so you can beat it around a bit. But anything beats that rubber shite tolex with the deep textures they used on those amps that held dirt in no matter how hard you scrubbed it.

Thanks! I like the hardwood look a ton, so I haven't thought about tolexing it, but I need to use it on an amp at some point. The headshell that this thing was in was just too hideous...I had to do something about it.

The wood is nice, but too raw/white for my liking. I would consider buying a black or dark gray wood stain.

Go for this kind of look.
http://www.prsguitars.com/prs30/

 

[GuitarGoat]

Looks great. I'd tolex it tho so you can beat it around a bit. But anything beats that rubber shite tolex with the deep textures they used on those amps that held dirt in no matter how hard you scrubbed it.

Thanks! I like the hardwood look a ton, so I haven't thought about tolexing it, but I need to use it on an amp at some point. The headshell that this thing was in was just too hideous...I had to do something about it.

The wood is nice, but too raw/white for my liking. I would consider buying a black or dark gray wood stain.

Go for this kind of look.
http://www.prsguitars.com/prs30/

Yea, all that would take would be a stain. And figured wood I just like how the bright maple pops with the black hardware and darker chassis. Just preference really.

 

[MetalTerrorist]

Nice job on the headshell, Goat. A friend and I made one for my Pittbull 45 that looked fairly nice but there was nothing on the order of Dovetail Joinery. Here's the finished product on top of the 2x12 combo box it came in. Since then I ended up putting it back in the combo shell. It's heavy but not near as bad as hauling around a 4x12 and a head.

 

[Mailman1971]

Looking good man!

Cant wait to play this one in the upcoming months.

 

[GuitarGoat]

Nice job on the headshell, Goat. A friend and I made one for my Pittbull 45 that looked fairly nice but there was nothing on the order of Dovetail Joinery. Here's the finished product on top of the 2x12 combo box it came in. Since then I ended up putting it back in the combo shell. It's heavy but not near as bad as hauling around a 4x12 and a head.

Looks awesome! And it's probably one of my favorite amp companies so that doesn't hurt either!

Looking good man!

Cant wait to play this one in the upcoming months.

We'll have to figure out what you want to play through here. I'm only limited by what I can fit in my car when I move back to school!

 

[GearHaven]

That looks great, man. Good job!