micro terror mishap

midlifecrisis

knocked my micro terror off the shelf, dfisadvantage of a tiny little amp, and broke the on off toggle switch ouch. are these easily replaceable?. meanwhile is it dangerously silly of me to short the switch and just turn it on and off at the mains.? until I get it sorted.

ICBM

It's safe to short the switch - it only operates at 15V(I think) DC. It's actually better to switch off at the mains anyway since otherwise the power supply unit is always on.

midlifecrisis

looks harder than I imagined. cant work out how to get the snug fitting board out, the pots and sockets are mounted on the board, doesn't seem to be enough wiggle room to get it out, and the switch is covered in this rubbery jelly stuff, . wondering whether its worth taking to a tech as a economically viable repair.

ICBM

Yes. It can't cost as much as even the second hand value of one I don't think. There must be a trick to getting it out, someone put it in!

Is the switch too broken to just jam it into the on position with a sharp object from in front?

midlifecrisis

yes, tried but cant force the internal bit of the switch---or maybe more is broken than just the switch, i will have to have a play with it all when i get a chance. i bought the amp s/h last year for £50, mainly as a gigging backup but occasional noodle at home.dont think its worth paying a tech. il risk buggering it up more myself i think.

midlifecrisis

yippeeee, managed to get the board out by bemding the pots back and forth, and careful levering with screwdriver, cant see how to remove switch but located the contacts on the underneath of the board and bridged them with a blob of solder, tested and it works, reassembled it all and switched on again and it still works. never repaired anything before, and I managed not to electrocute myself or burn the house down, well pleased, I deserve a blue peter badge.

ICBM

Well done!

midlifecrisis

thanx, now I have the urge to build myself an amp lol

Rocker

Upgrade the valve and see just how good that little amp can sound.  With the gain at 10.30 to 11.00 and using a 4 * 12 cab, it is better than OK.  IMHO of course.

midlifecrisis

I use it as a backup, incase my laney vc30 goes down I can plug the 2 12 speakers straight in, sounds great. I also have an unknown 12" cab I use around the house and sometimes at open mics I run.   I did have the little orange 8" cab but it sounded small, ok for practise but not much else.

if I wanted to upgrafe the valve any recommendations on make?

ICBM

I must admit that when I tried one I thought it was one of the worst-sounding amps I've ever heard - incredibly grating and harsh, and very fatiguing to listen to after only a short time. It was noticeably less bad into an 8 or especially 16-ohm speaker than a 4, but then it lost quite a lot of volume.

I did try changing the valve - I put a Sovtek I had lying around that I knew was very dull-sounding in it, and that seemed to make a small improvement. I still wouldn't want to use one except in a dire emergency though.

You should be able to put any 12AX7 in it, and *probably* other 12A*7 types, but without a schematic or one to hand to work out, I can't be sure.

midlifecrisis

ICBM said:

I must admit that when I tried one I thought it was one of the worst-sounding amps I've ever heard - incredibly grating and harsh, and very fatiguing to listen to after only a short time. It was noticeably less bad into an 8 or especially 16-ohm speaker than a 4, but then it lost quite a lot of volume.

I did try changing the valve - I put a Sovtek I had lying around that I knew was very dull-sounding in it, and that seemed to make a small improvement. I still wouldn't want to use one except in a dire emergency though.

that's what I bought it for, handy little backup that I can plug my combos speakers into if needed.

You should be able to put any 12AX7 in it, and *probably* other 12A*7 types, but without a schematic or one to hand to work out, I can't be sure.

I have a spare ecc83 I may try but don't wanna spend dosh on trial and error valves.i think the speaker makes more of a difference. I had the 8" cab designed for it and that did sound harsh, in fact worse than my little kustom practise amp with a 6" speaker, but sounds great through a 2 by12.

ICBM

I tried it through a 2x12" as well, with good speakers (old Celestion G12-20s - wired in series or parallel for 4 or 16 ohms) in it. It just sounded horrible to me. Each to their own though... there are quite a few amps which seem popular that I can't stand! One of them is the Tiny Terror, so perhaps it's not surprising I didn't like the Micro one .

midlifecrisis

ICBM said:

I tried it through a 2x12" as well, with good speakers (old Celestion G12-20s - wired in series or parallel for 4 or 16 ohms) in it. It just sounded horrible to me. Each to their own though... there are quite a few amps which seem popular that I can't stand! One of them is the Tiny Terror, so perhaps it's not surprising I didn't like the Micro one .

I guess tone is subjective. plus I havnt really experienced using many amps so I havnt been spoiled by too much high end stuff. I did have a marshall jvm 210 for a year but couldn't get on with it and didn't like the sound, much preferring the sound of my cheaper laneys. my drummer swears that my best tone comes from my bandit....but what does he know hes a drummer lol

ICBM

I like Bandits too… maybe I'm a drummer!

I wasn't keen on the JVM either, although I felt it was more due to lack of character rather than actively disliking it. Laneys I don't think are bad but I don't get the fuss about them - just ordinary-sounding, to me… apart from the Iommi signature model, which made me grin.

It's not all Oranges I don't like - I love the Rocker 30, and the old OR80s and OR120s. I really don't like most of the modern models though.