Aguilar Tone Hammer DI unaffected out mod

[scotch]

Just got a used Tone Hammer from the tb classifieds (thanks, jhfishn!). Love it! I know the OBP-3 preamp very well & have used a bunch of Aggie' amps that I love, so I knew the tone would be cool. The only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger on one of these years ago was the lack of an unaffected (parallel) 1/4" output.

I don't want a di to color my signal to the amp, just the pa. So, a parallel, unity gain output before any eq or gain adjustments was a must! Unfortunately, Aguilar didn't incorporate that into the Tone Hammer design. Well, I did it myself!

Pretty easy mod - the hardest part was removing the chassis screws! Had to drill those out! After that, pretty simple to link a 1/4" switchcraft jack & install it in the chassis.

guts removed & jack leads soldered & heatshrinked to input jack pc lugs:


jack installed after chassis drilled out, not a lot of space in there!


finished exterior:


I would have liked to locate the extra jack on the top panel with the others, but there just wasn't enough room. This low-profile metal jack should be fine though!

Very happy with this DI!

[Ron Now]

That was my gripe with the tone hammer when I had it. I wish I would have thought of this. I'd probably still own it if I did...

Great, now I'm going to want another one.

[eeyorebass]

A slight resurrection to ask a question.

Do you notice a signal loss splitting off the input like that? either at the unaffected out or the signal going through the pedal?

If you've had a chance to use this out in the world, I'd love to hear a review. Do you still like the mod?

Thanks,
Jeremy

[Bakkster_Man]

One other question. You didn't happen to generate a schematic while you had it open, did you?

[scotch]

Originally Posted by eeyorebass

A slight resurrection to ask a question.

Do you notice a signal loss splitting off the input like that? either at the unaffected out or the signal going through the pedal?

If you've had a chance to use this out in the world, I'd love to hear a review. Do you still like the mod?

Thanks,
Jeremy

No signal loss whatsoever. Still using this as my live DI! I've been using it out in the world, alright! 3 tours so far as well as dozens of local shows in clubs, churches, bars, festivals and tv.

The mod is necessary to how I set up. I use the ToneHammer di to provide a colored signal (a compromise of the way I like it and something easy for the engineer to mix) to the front of house pa. I do not want that extra coloration going to my amp, however - I do the coloring with my head and cabinet there. Generally, a little bit 'cleaner' to the front of house with a little treble rolled off (I hate it when I hear the bass "snapping" out through the pa!). I can also adjust for boominess, etc if the soundguy is asleep at the wheel.

Originally Posted by Bakkster_Man

One other question. You didn't happen to generate a schematic while you had it open, did you?

I sure didn't. I simply tied the hot (tip) and ground (sleeve) connection from the additional switchcraft jack to the correct terminals on the pcb mounted input in the ToneHammer. If I remember correctly, the solder points closest to the jack are the ground connections and the furthest points are the tip (ignore the middle solder points). Use a continuity tester to verify if you do the mod...
The only tricky part is getting the enclosure apart & locating the jack hole properly - there's not much room in there! I'm sure if you were to show the above pics to any competent amp repairman, he/she could have this done in 15 minutes!

[eeyorebass]

Originally Posted by scotch

No signal loss whatsoever. Still using this as my live DI! I've been using it out in the world, alright! 3 tours so far as well as dozens of local shows in clubs, churches, bars, festivals and tv.

The mod is necessary to how I set up. I use the ToneHammer di to provide a colored signal (a compromise of the way I like it and something easy for the engineer to mix) to the front of house pa. I do not want that extra coloration going to my amp, however - I do the coloring with my head and cabinet there. Generally, a little bit 'cleaner' to the front of house with a little treble rolled off (I hate it when I hear the bass "snapping" out through the pa!). I can also adjust for boominess, etc if the soundguy is asleep at the wheel.

Great news. I'm one who agrees that all DI's should have an unaffected out. My amp/cab sound the way I want them to, no need to mess with it, especially if it's mostly just for me on stage.

This is brilliant.