sk8tom
The extra drip mod was nesecery i think cause when i've put the 4AB3C1B it looses all of the pedal drip.

I'm a bit worried about having to do the extra drip mods... the basic 'larger tank' mod sounds quite drippy in the samples you have. Does it really lose that much drip?

As an
alienated institution, the market is neither hostile nor friendly, simply detached and
cold.

goon

UmaFloresta
imagethis is total noob - can anyone tell me which wire is + and which -? i.e. green or black. I thought black was earth? That last point will demonstrate how little I know about electronics. The guys in the store where I bought the RCA jacks and 4pdt switch treated me like a leper... . "everything in the middle is common, right?" ok, hmmm, yeah... "so what you want is all the common elements on one side and blah blah quantum theory"

you see my problem.

Black is ground aka earth, or (-); green is the signal, or (+). Everything in the middle horizonal row is going to or coming from the PCB. Then, depending on the position of the switch, it's being routed to and from the big or small tanks.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thedeadranchhands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZEW74mHjQk

goon
aha! Thanks Uma! Now, the question of the drip-loss when moving to a bigger tank - your sound samples seem good. Is it that noticeable. I guess these questions are fairly superfluous as I ought to just wait for my spring king to arrive and listen for myself, huh? But, until it arrives, i'm keen to know...

Well, you get some drip still, but not as much as with the small tank unless you do the drip mod. That's IIRC - you can always try the big tank and see if you like it sans the drip mod first. You can even wire it without drilling holes - just keep the enclosure somewhat open and run the signal to the big tank, see what you think.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thedeadranchhands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZEW74mHjQk

goon
Hi Uma,

Thanks so much for your help on this. After reading this stuff from you here as well:

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1636688&page=5

...i've decided to try just the delay mod because I want to be able to hear the surf 'sproing', and not the cha-cha-cha of the echo. I want to avoid the feedback mod because that involves a resistor as well, plus it will be too much going on. I assume its possible to just simply add the trim pot for the delay setting and turn it all the way down to essentially eliminate the echo?

Again, cheers for your help on this... very little people here in the UK have seen these around for a while and its difficult to find advice. In fact, I wandered around London last weekend, went into 10 guitar shops and no sight nor sound of a spring king - only raised eyebrows and a "good luck finding one of those" attitude!

To eliminate the delay, all you need to do is replace one resistor with another. Earlier in the thread I identified the resistor that controls the feedback. Simply replace that resistor with one that is 50 to 100k or higher - no less than 50k though. Those resistors are tiny though, so if there's anyway you can practice soldering on something else that uses SMD components, you might try that first. It requires a steady hand and some delicacy. Once you get the hang of it, it's not hard, but if you're too enthusiastic you can make a mess of things.

The replacement resistor will be much bigger than the original of course. I'd suggest after removing the original with desoldering braid, get the replacement, bend its legs into a bracket shape so both ends can be soldered onto the empty pads where the original SMD resistor was. Use double-sided tape to secure the new resistor in place, and then solder it very gently - sometimes even just having a bit of excess solder on the end of your soldering iron is enough to connect the component leg to the pad and make the connection. You want to minimize the time that your iron spends near those little components. If you can practice on one of those cheap dano Fab effects, that might help.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thedeadranchhands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZEW74mHjQk

goon
hmmmm..

a tad scary. Would you mind if I got someone to do a pro job for me, here in the UK, using your info?

No, I don't mind - just be sure to ask them if they've worked on SMD components before.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thedeadranchhands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZEW74mHjQk

goon

UmaFloresta

goon
hmmmm..

a tad scary. Would you mind if I got someone to do a pro job for me, here in the UK, using your info?

No, I don't mind - just be sure to ask them if they've worked on SMD components before.

Cool... and so right about someone who knows SMD!!! I just got my SK tonight and you know those components are miniscule! Holy moses... I would struggle. First impressions are not great though... on everything maxed out, there is a tendency to resonate with certain notes. Heavy E staccato runs seem to stress the springs out a bit too (I checked inside and they are all connected correctly). Also, not a fan of that delay. I'm sending it off ASAP to my man in Manchester... meanwhile, i'll be getting a 17" tank, a Tolex bag , and some sponge under support.

The overall tone of the SK is certainly vintage - far moreso than the Holy Grail I have.

Yes, those were my first impressions too - it can get overloaded easily in stock form. Try backing off on the Volume control just a bit and see if that helps.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thedeadranchhands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZEW74mHjQk

barrydjuptight
UmaFloresta,
I found this great thread while searching google for a solution to a problem I may have with my Spring King- sounds like you know this thing inside out and have posted some great stuff here.
My problem is I've just got a SK s/h and booting the kick pad (or anywhere on the unit, or dropping it down) and it just emits a whimper. The noise is the correct noise but it's at a much lower volume than the rest of the signal coming out; you almost have to strain to hear it.
Other than that the unit seems to function fine and the reverb itself is good although the decay is a little short, I've checked all the springs are hooked up and haven't come loose.
I really wanted to use the "dropped/kicked amp" sound!

Any ideas on why it's doing this or how to fix it will be greatly, greatly appreciated! Thanks

Hmm. Is it possible that the springs are being partially muted by some wire when the enclosure is closed? Best way to check is to open it up, make sure nothing is touching the springs, then lift up the edge of the pedal a little and drop it. If you get a louder crash, you've found your problem.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thedeadranchhands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZEW74mHjQk

I've opened it up again today and had a more thorough look and may have found the culprit, I don't know??
The red wire that comes out from underneath the spring mount in the middle is not attatched to anything (it was when I looked before but must have been loose).
Looking at your gut shots it looks like this should be soldered to the PCB.
Is this the culprit? I can solder it back no probs but I just wanted to check exactly where it should be soldered to, as the insides of pedals are a mystery to me!
It obviously should be attatched (!) but is this the root of the problem I'm having? Does this lead transfer the "clanging" effect from the springs to the pedal's output circuit? Would make sense....
At the moment the acoustic sound of the springs rattling in the pedal is louder than the "thunderous kick pad effect" lol

UmaFloresta
If you want a versatile delay, I'd use a 50k pot for both delay time and feedback, with a 1k resistor in series with the feedback pot to avoid too much oscillation (you can still get it to oscillate, but not so much that it overloads).

Hey Uma,

I finally started getting my hands into this mod. Quick question about the feedback pot. Just wanted to make sure I understood the placement of the 1k resistor you mentioned:

image

Is that right?

And lordy these surface mount resistors are tiny. If anyone else tries this mod I highly recommend one of those helping hands tools with a magnifying glass attached. Really helped a lot so far.

Oh and Uma I thought you'd be interested to see that the newer Spring Kings have a slightly different board layout. Here's mine that I bought last month, and your board below it:
image
image

Mostly the same, but you can see the red wire from under the pan goes to a different point on mine. It's hard to tell what it's connecting to on the underside but it looks like my red wire is going to the tone pot while yours goes to the reverb pot.

That red wire can hook to either point in those two photos - it's just a ground connection.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thedeadranchhands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZEW74mHjQk