Please help me with some amp mods!

I have a stock Kustom Defender 5h. I would love to add a tone and a gain knob.
I am open to other suggestions on mods, like maybe a standby switch or tube change?

I see videos on YouTube that shows these modded, but I really need help with parts and instructions.(the "how to" part)


Is there a kit I can buy somewhere? I am fairly new to amp modding. I have done a couple pedal mods, and have wired multiple electric guitars.

Thanks guys, you are always a great help!

Hey from Japan!

I found this one, but you don't do anything.

Gabe Pedals Mod (http://gabepedals.com/page26.php?view=productPage&product=11&category=)

But looking around at reviews, and following a few forum threads at MLP, I have to wonder if it's really worth the bother. The 'final words' seem to be that the tone doesn't really change a whole lot unless you change, well, almost everything. Yet, the concensus seems to be that the 5H is a nice little head, and everyone seems to like the looks of the metal box!

Because it is a rather cramped PCB, it will be a lot like modding a pedal! I'm sure folks here will have some more positive ideas, my knowledge is pretty limited. :sad:

charisjapan

Thanks! I came across his page, but he wants 100 bucks,to do it plus shipping to and from. I was hoping to do it myself( part of the fun) and also not have to spend the 100 plus 2x shipping.

Thanks! I came across his page, but he wants 100 bucks,to do it plus shipping to and from. I was hoping to do it myself( part of the fun) and also not have to spend the 100 plus 2x shipping.

Well, that's the thing. The modder includes a Classic Tone OT, add pots, knobs, a few caps and resistors, plus shipping for those, and you'll likely spend $100. :sad:

Sorry, I don't mean to sound negative... I just spent a bunch of time trying to find a way to mod a Bugera V5 (there's a thread here a few days ago), and was about to get started when someone kindly told me that tubes and speaker would be about as far as that platform would support. I did the math, got an inexpensive Jensen and some E-H tubes, and it sounds much better. In order to make it sound like a nice tweed, I would have spent some $$$ and it would still say "Bugera" on the front. Instead, for a few bucks, it sounds like an EL84 ought to, not like a MIC mumble-box.

So, IMHO, there's a few things that can be done to perk up an inexpensive amp, but at some point you end up being better off making a nice amp from scratch. A serious mod would probably involve a turret board, caps and resistors, new trannies, and maybe a 6V6 instead of an EL84 (this is what the fellow at MLP did), and then you just have a 5F1 Tweed Champ, which looks awesome in a tweed cabinet! :grin:

Which is what I ended up doing, lol!

Get a set of quality tubes in that 5H, and enjoy it! (then build a Tweed Princeton :twisted:)

charisjapan

http://www.rh-tech.org/public/Kustom_Defender-5H_RevB.png

I would remove R16 and feed it to the middle of a 1M tone pot. Replace C14 with a 500pF cap. The other end of the pot goes to a 0.0047uF cap to ground. R15 could be removed or replaced with a 1M.

Remove R8 and install a volume pot there. You want the line to R4, the grid stopper, to go to the center wiper. Ignore the notes on the schematic.

Thanks printer. I looked at the schematic for a while, and followed your instructions in my head. I think I can do that . Looks like you answered my request for a tone pot as well as adding in a gain knob.

Now I've got to get the guts to take it apart and modify a perfectly good amp. ( actually first, Im going to get new tubes and the parts, then I'm sure the itch to mod will let them not sit long!)