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Ashly SC-40 Preamplifier

#62
Isotonic said:
There is a thread somewhere with sound clips of a stock SC-40 and clips of it with the op-amp upgrades. Nicely done. I have no doubt that the newer op amps have a cleaner sound, or less noise, perhaps more headroom. But to me the newer ones, though similar to the original, lacked the character that makes the SC-40 special. Not that they sounded bad, but they lacked characteristic bite and roundness. I recently bought one myself and I am planning to recap, but I will keep the old op amps.
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Isotonic said:
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Just listened to the clips (stock RC4558N, LF353, and OPA2134PA opamps - listing for those for whom that signifies something) twice with headphones. Didn't like the LF353 clip at all - sounded, relative to the others, dull and lifeless.

Between the other two, hard for me to say. Stock had a pleasing sound, with some bite and texture and "rounder" (very slightly rolled off? or maybe I'm just hearing a softer envelope/response) in the lows. OPA2134 clip retained more of the stock bite and was more interesting to listen to than the LF353 clip but was more clear and definitely more present in the deep lows (with a more "square" envelope in the lows - or seemed that way) than the clip with the stock opamps. More HiFi, but still kinda interesting.

Not sure which I'd like better with a band - might be situational. Low end on these new headphones (JBL noise-reducing something or other) is a bit hyped (up to ~400 Hz, I think), so it's hard to judge accurately.

Thanks for sharing!
 
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#66
These were around in the 80's/early 90's, and were contemporary to things like the PB1 Yamaha Pre and other SS (notubes) preamps from those days. Usually neutral sounding as expected, and used in a lot of power amp rigs in those days when higher power than an SVT bass heads weren't a reality. In proper shape, it's a great preamp, but may sound a bit dry alongside of an Alembic or any of the tube pre's that have come along since those days.
 
#67
fokof said:
very easy : both diodes on opposite direction linked between tip and ring.
I always leave it there as I use it only for that sound.
I have other preamps for clean sounds.

And yes , take a foot switch , put both diodes at the same place as the wires on the switch.

I took a crapy pic





View attachment 3266231
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Is there anyone who can draw this out for me, both the plug and the footswitch? I’m sure I look like a complete moron, but I don’t know this stuff. I can’t bake a cake by looking at a picture of a cake lol. I would also be happy to buy one if someone were inclined to make and ship.
 
#68
Update. I ordered the diodes and a 4-pack of connectors and went for it. Low and behold, it works. Sounds much like I expected, a mild lo-fi distortion. I like it. Lots of room to play around with it using the Ashly’s eq and the eq and blend knobs on my bass (Ibanez BTB670). Great cheap mod indeed.

My only complaint is the volume drop when I plugged it in. So making a footswitchable version of this seems a bit useless as far as clicking on/off the distortion in a live setting.

F3B8BCEA-B6B1-4FA3-90D3-FCA032721445.jpeg
 
#69
This would work well in conjunction with a sans amp pre. Set the sans amp clean and bassy, run your bass into the modded Ashly, run out of the 1/4 direct out set pre to the input of the sansamp. Then the high out of the Ashley to the fx return of the sansamp set to 50/50. Blend to taste
 

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