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Sorry about the late reply...
I have the same/similiar amp (Fender Bullet 15 DSP). I wanted
something to play quietly in the house without disturbing others.
This amp is small, inexpensive, looks cute, and has some nice
features, but I can't believe how noisy and loud it is. It's far
louder than I would ever want it to be. Even with the volume turned
all the way down there is a huge amount of hiss coming from the
speaker, especially with the treble turned up.
Fortunately Fender provides a schematic and it is very easy to non-
destructively modify the thing to be much quieter. All that is needed
is to solder one resistor in parallel with one on the board (labeled
as R46). Doing this lowers the effective value of the resistance
which in turn lowers the gain. I went pretty extreme and added a
resistor of value 330 ohms (R46 is 100k!). Nothing needs to be cut or
hacked up and, if needed, the added resistor can simply be removed to
restore the amp back to factory condition. Now when I turn it on I
barely hear any hiss and I can play with the volume set around 5 or 6
without causing my ears to bleed. Note that this doesn't really do
anything to fix the root cause of the noise that is being generated;
it just cuts it (and the signal volume) down to a tolerable level.
A similiar mod can be done to R38 if you want to reduce the noise for
headphone use.
Larry
--- In , Richard <errant_jedi@y...>
wrote:
> Mine hums something terrible. It may be something as
> simple as a lose wire, but I'm not at all competent
> with amps or electronics so I don't bother. The
> volume tends to go from nonexistant to ridiculously
> high (for practicing in my thin-walled apartment) with
> very little tweaking of the volume knob. Don't get me
> wrong, it works, but I wish that I'd spent a bit more
> money on a slightly larger amp at the outset.
>
> Richard
>
> --- MalcolmO <MalcolmO@c...> wrote:
> > > (I can't stand my
> > > Frontman 15R.)
> >
> > What's the matter with it?
>
Does this mod apply to the Squire 15?
Thanx,
GT
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
--- In , gmcgrory@a... wrote:
> Does this mod apply to the Squire 15?
> Thanx,
> GT
>
Not familiar with a Squire 15 amp...Fender makes a couple of amps
similiar to the Bullet 15 DSP, the 15R and the 15G. I think the 15G
is included in a package sold with the Squire guitar, but I don't
have schematic diagrams for either of these other amps. It's possible
the 15G has the same main circuit board as the Bullet (and not the
small additional board which contains the circuitry for the special
sound effects) but without seeing the schematic or the actual board I
can't say for certain what would need to be done.
Larry
> I have the same/similiar amp (Fender Bullet 15 DSP).
Me too. I love mine. Good value.
> something to play quietly in the house without disturbing others.
> This amp is small, inexpensive, looks cute, and has some nice
> features, but I can't believe how noisy and loud it is. It's far
> louder than I would ever want it to be.
Two words: headphone jack. That said, it _does_ strain its bonds to be free.
:) Problem I have at the moment is breaking up and fuzzy sound, which may
be my cord.
I thought, "What hiss?" and plugged in and yeah, it was there but it doesn't
trouble me. Just makes it sound like a big ass amp. :)
Thanks for the tips on the mods. I've filed that. What I think I'd like to
do is put a direct box jack on the back (XLR, IIRC?) with a switch to on/off
the speaker.
--
Malcolm <<-- not a signature
"They should know they're the Grateful Dead now." -- Phil
"It's never too late to be up-to-date" -- Dan Hicks
"My clock loses time like there's no tomorrow" -- Malcolm
