Video Blog 007 - Fender Frontman 15G Upgrade & Modifications
DISCLAIMER: This design is experimental, so if you decide to build one yourself then you are on your own, I can't be held responsible for any problems/issues/damage/injury that may occur if you decide to follow this build and make one yourself.
VIDEO BLOG
My wee Fender Frontman 15G guitar amplifier is only good for basic practising on my own, so I set about with an idea to get the power up and the sound quality improved.
- Replace the single chip (TDA2050) final stage amplifier with a quality lateral mosfet design - Ampslabs LM60.
- Upgrade the power supply to cope.
- Replace the 8" speaker with a quality, more powerful unit - Weber 8F150 Vintage.
- Add reverb - Accutronics 8DB2C1D. Note the model I chose has an insulated input and grounded output which matches the Fender's reverb interface.
UPDATE:
Further to the video I've made the following mods:-
Replaced the original TL072 op-amps on the Fender pre-amp circuit with Burr Brown OPA2134PA IC's. By all accounts these have a nicer sound, probably due in part to the higher slew rate and higher bandwidth.
Changed R35 on the Fender PCB from 100k to 680k to increase the gain of the pre-amp to give the following:
160mV p-p at the input to give approx. 1V p-p at the LM60 input (full volume on amp). 160mv being the output of a Strat style single coil pickup.
NOTE:- YouTube removed the video due to the 10secs worth of Dire Straits audio I had used to test the amplifier! Sorry!
