Sending my ampeg to dave friedman to get modded...

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jirojan

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Hi all,

I have an old ampeg Lee Jackson vl1002 that's been laying around in a half dead state (think one of the caps is out)

I plan on sending it in to Dave friedman to get modded.

Any mod suggestions / improvements you guys would reccomend?

I was thinking brown eye / hairy brown eye upgrade, but anything else I should ask for? I ha ent gotten any amps modded in well over a decade and I want to make sure I get this done right without overlooking anything


Thanks!
 
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Ask him to do something different than anything else he has done so far.
 
rottingcorpse said:
Ask him to do something different than anything else he has done so far.
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i was thinking of getting rid of the attenuator (or maybe make it useable, if possible)...
making the frequency selector thing a bit more drastic and useable.
adding a bit of lows
and making sure the board doesnt fry, like these are known to do lol
 
japetus said:
I would suggest finding a different amp to send him. I personally wouldn't spend that much cash and time on modding a turd of an amp.
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Honestly, when working (rare) they sound awesome...regardless, I'm gonna ask him to go kitchen sink on it
 
jirojan said:
Hi all,

I have an old ampeg Lee Jackson vl1002 that's been laying around in a half dead state (think one of the caps is out)

I plan on sending it in to Dave friedman to get modded.

Any mod suggestions / improvements you guys would reccomend?

I was thinking brown eye / hairy brown eye upgrade, but anything else I should ask for? I ha ent gotten any amps modded in well over a decade and I want to make sure I get this done right without overlooking anything


Thanks!
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He isnt accepting mod requests for the next 2-4 months.
 
jirojan said:
He told me the same, luckily I live a couple blocks from his shop so I'm just gonna drop it off whenever he has an opening
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I grew up in STL, in the shadows of SLM... these amps had bad reputations. I had a vl502 combo and it sounded great, meltdown city. At the time it was worth like $350? At the most. I have owned many VH140c, one of the best SS amps ever but one of the poweramps always fail...I just have bad memories of these amps. Have you played a Crate Stealth?
 
japetus said:
I grew up in STL, in the shadows of SLM... these amps had bad reputations. I had a vl502 combo and it sounded great, meltdown city. At the time it was worth like $350? At the most. I have owned many VH140c, one of the best SS amps ever but one of the poweramps always fail...I just have bad memories of these amps. Have you played a Crate Stealth?
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I actually also own a stealth, and a vh140c lolll...the stealth lives up to its name in that it's a super sleeper, the vh140c is a top 3 s.s. amp (along with the Randall rg100es and roland cube) imo
 
He probably knows the amp and circuit/mods well, probably best you start with having it serviced and get it working as it should first and foremost.

You could maybe look at upgrading any parts that are either low quality or prone to failure, and then see what he suggests. Probably helps to explain what you’d like from the amp and he’ll know the best ways to achieve it.

I’m not a huge fan of the Lee Jackson circuits, but it seems a bit weird to me to convert it into a Friedman circuit. I’d personally stick with the LJ sound and maybe upgrade and refine the circuit. If you want a BE/HBE or whatever, I’d grab a reissue Marshall or clone and use that as the base. Go for something unique to that amp and what you’re looking for, that’s the beauty of hiring Dave to mod your amp vs buying something off the shelf
 
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easstudios said:
He probably knows the amp and circuit/mods well, probably best you start with having it serviced and get it working as it should first and foremost.

You could maybe look at upgrading any parts that are either low quality or prone to failure, and then see what he suggests. Probably helps to explain what you’d like from the amp and he’ll know the best ways to achieve it.

I’m not a huge fan of the Lee Jackson circuits, but it seems a bit weird to me to convert it into a Friedman circuit. I’d personally stick with the LJ sound and maybe upgrade and refine the circuit. If you want a BE/HBE or whatever, I’d grab a reissue Marshall or clone and use that as the base. Go for something unique to that amp and what you’re looking for, that’s the beauty of hiring Dave to mod your amp vs buying something off the shelf
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If that's the case, do you think a dsl 100 would be a good option? (Have one laying around in my studio, so wouldn't cost me anything extra)
 
jirojan said:
If that's the case, do you think a dsl 100 would be a good option? (Have one laying around in my studio, so wouldn't cost me anything extra)
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not sure how well suited it is for Dave’s classic circuits, it’s quite a busy amp compared to an older single channel Marshall. Would probably be a ton more work and still not sound quite right - again IMO it would be best to speak to him and tell him to do his take on it.

IMO the Green channel sounds very close to a stock 2203 and the red channel isn’t a million miles off a modded plexi - I’d just see if he can make the 2nd Red channel better and maybe tweak the overall voicing of each channel a bit.

The single channel circuits like 2203/1959 etc are better suited because there is more room in the chassis, the components are in a great starting point, there’s room to add other channels/switches etc. They’re simple no nonsense circuits with no fat to trim, so they make an excellent starting point to take in any direction. The Lee Jackson and DSL have a lot more going on, so I’d really just fine tune on something like that.
 
easstudios said:
not sure how well suited it is for Dave’s classic circuits, it’s quite a busy amp compared to an older single channel Marshall. Would probably be a ton more work and still not sound quite right - again IMO it would be best to speak to him and tell him to do his take on it.

IMO the Green channel sounds very close to a stock 2203 and the red channel isn’t a million miles off a modded plexi - I’d just see if he can make the 2nd Red channel better and maybe tweak the overall voicing of each channel a bit.

The single channel circuits like 2203/1959 etc are better suited because there is more room in the chassis, the components are in a great starting point, there’s room to add other channels/switches etc. They’re simple no nonsense circuits with no fat to trim, so they make an excellent starting point to take in any direction. The Lee Jackson and DSL have a lot more going on, so I’d really just fine tune on something like that.
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Great points I didn't even think about. Issue is that I have these two laying around and they aren't going to fetch much if I sell then.

I've heard a few clips online of his mods on the ampeg and they sound amazing, so I do know it is possible...now just comes down to price. He also confirmed that he does/has worked on the ampeg.

Mostly looking for something a bit more versatile than my old spawn jcm800 (was a killer amp)
 
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