Changed Components Successfully

This morning I changed the following components:

• R1 to 1 Mega ohm. Was originally 68 kilo ohm.
• R2 to 47 kilo ohm. Was originally 68 kilo ohm.
• R6 to 100 kilo ohm. Was originally 1 Mega ohm.
• R7 to 100 kilo ohm. Was originally 1 Mega ohm.

To get to the bottom of the board, I temporarily removed the tubes to have more access. I also removed all the cables to the Transformers, as those limited the mobility of the main board. This was my first time using de-soldering braid, and it is probably the greatest invention ever. I don't know how I lived before knowing about it. When I was done, I made sure to put the tubes in, and then connect all of the Transformer wires to their proper pin. The connector for the T3 broke off while I was pulling it from the board, so I stripped the end of the wire and re-soldered the tip to the connector. Now it's better than new.

Anyways, these modifications are intended to make the potentiometer change, or volume change, more linear. Before the change, it would be really quiet, and then really loud, with not much in between. Now, the change is noticeably more linear, with the volume ranging evenly from quiet to loud. This does have some trade-offs though. The amp is almost silent until about 10 o'clock on the dial. Maybe it's because I'm almost deaf because of all those years of rock n' roll.

Also, those DPDT from Hong Kong never came in, so they're sending me two more. Maybe those will actually arrive.

Here's some pictures:

With all components changed.

R1 and R2 successfully soldered in.

The back of R6, before clipping the excess resistor wire.