Author Topic: A couple of questions about Solarus combo  (Read 2213 times)

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Offline TheLustyGhost

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A couple of questions about Solarus combo
« on: December 01, 2005, 10:34:46 pm »
Hey, first post!  Thanks to everyone on here for an amazing site.  There's more information about Sunn amps here than on every other website I've found combined.

Just picked up a Solarus and so far I'm loving it - much nicer than any PCB-based amp I've ever played.  When I got it home, I noticed that the power cord is not grounded - it has no third prong.  Not that it broke off, it is simply an ungrounded male plug.  Is this standard, or did someone replace the original plug with an ungrounded one at some point in its life?  If the latter, is there a compelling reason why I should install a grounded plug?

Second, I know this has been asked before in various forms, but what are the pros and cons of a twistlock capacitor vs. the SDS Labs capacitor board?  Will the SDS board even work with this amp, or is it specific to the older amps that used stock Dynaco power amps?  I've never owned a tube amp more than 10 years old before, so recapping is a new area for me.

Finally, the tremolo seems to be a bit problematic, as I've noticed is common with these amps.  Takes a minute or so to warm up, and there's a bit of a click as it reaches the crest of each volume swell (not audible when it's set to 0, thankfully).  I don't really need it, but I want to make sure that there's no danger to the preamp if I don't have the tremolo circuit refurbished.  Incidentally, does the audio signal actually pass through any of the solid state circuitry in the tremolo, or does it merely provide a control signal that modulates the amplitude of the preamp?

Wow, that was long-winded.  If you managed to slog through all of it, any advice would be great!

Thanks,
Morgan

Offline Isaac

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A couple of questions about Solarus combo
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2005, 07:35:50 am »
I can't answer your other questions, but the two-prong power cord was indeed the standard back in the sixties. Check out the schematic diagrams of the amps.
Isaac

Offline TheLustyGhost

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A couple of questions about Solarus combo
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2005, 08:07:34 am »
That's a relief.  I've been shocked through my guitar by people's (broken) ungrounded amps before, and hope to avoid it in the future.

Offline Isaac

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A couple of questions about Solarus combo
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2005, 01:07:31 pm »
That's exactly why they changed the law to require the three-prong cords. It's not generally a problem, but in some cases it can be.
Isaac