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Old December 23rd, 2007, 08:39 AM   #10 (permalink)
11 Gauge
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: The East Coast
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I've had the pleasure of owning a small handful of PCB amps that were a breeze to work on - flying leads out to the sockets and such, and a handful of pots, which made pulling the board relatively painless.

My biggest gripe with many PCB amps is that even if you can get to the underside of the board to service it, you oftentimes run the risk of lifting a trace when unsoldering something, even if using desoldering stuff, and heatsinking the component.

Some manufacturers use a heavy clad board, with thru-hole plating. Unless you've got tons of off-board stuff to disconnect, these are pretty nice to work on.

For simple amps, turret/eyelet/etc. is the way to go, IMO. Servicing is a breeze (usually), and you can have the amp up and running quickly. If you are adding passive switching to a single channel, I also prefer this method.

I would never build a true PTP amp - it's a nightmare just trying to get everything attached to a very small space, without shorting anything out, or resorting to a rat's nest of hardwired jumper leads...

...I've also tried the terminal strip method. Also a pain. It's great for little additions to an existing circuit.

I just re-purposed an old bass head - early 70's stuff. I actually went back to the original PCB, stripped it, and traced the stock circuit layout with a Sharpie. I then rewired it with some brainbending, calculating where to put the new components, and jumpering stuff where the stock circuit would not allow. It worked out well, but the old board is one tough SOB - I didn't lift any of the traces while reworking the board.
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