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Danelectro Nifty Fifty Mod


antone

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I use one of these for a pratice amp. I've also used it on some recordings with some luck. Love the tone but it's kinda noisy. I'm not any kind of an electronics wizard but, I was reading a review over on the user's section, and a guy was talking about a mod he did to his NF. This is what he had to say.

 

 

Fix2: Buy a cheap two way speaker filter (rated ~100watts RMS max) with a 12dB/octave suppression and a cut freq of 3500Hz. Install it in between the speaker and the amp itself (using the woofer side of the filter as opposed to the tweeter - of course)

 

I've searched around and can't seem to find anything like this. Tried Radio Shack. Anyone know of where I should look? Thanks

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I read that review as well and was really intrigued. Someone posted a link to partsexpress.com, here, but didn't say what to look for. I already looked up "filters" at partsexpress, and it came up with crossovers. I'm no electronics expert, either, but I've done some reading on building cabs, and I think what the reviewer was talking about was, actually, a crossover. There is a crossover on partsexpress with the exact same specs as he mentioned in his review.

 

You could try emailing the guy who posted the review and asking for specifics. If you find anything out, post to this group, I'd love to hear it.

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Originally posted by 2deaconblues

You could try emailing the guy who posted the review and asking for specifics. If you find anything out, post to this group, I'd love to hear it.

Except that his email addy wasn't available. (:( Blah.)

There was also a review posted since I last looked at the post about those mods, and he talks about changing the capacitors (caps). I dropped my stepson's Nifty Fifty off at a local repairman's shop for the crossover mod, and to get some bad pots replaced and maybe mount the PC board a little more securely. That was in early February, and the last time I called him, he was still "waiting for some parts." I'm about ready to tackle it myself. :rolleyes:

 

I also have a line on another N50, which I'd like to use for blues harp. (Yeah, I know, anything but a tube amp for harp is heresy, but I'm just getting into this.) Noting T-Bone Bruce's comment about the amp becoming too bassy for harp with the filter installed, I was wondering if anyone has experimented with cap values and come up with anything good, or if it might just be better to get a similar filter with a different cut freq (4800 Hz?) and try that.

 

All insights greatly appreciated.

 

--

Doug C.

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Originally posted by Yamaha_Doug


Except that his email addy wasn't available. (
:(
Blah.)

I dropped my stepson's Nifty Fifty off at a local repairman's shop for the crossover mod, and to get some bad pots replaced and maybe mount the PC board a little more securely. That was in early February, and the last time I called him, he was still "waiting for some parts." I'm about ready to tackle it myself.
:rolleyes:

--

Doug C.

 

I just checked back into to this thread. I, too, saw the more recent gear review that mentioned doing this mod, and just like the original post, there was no email address available.

 

If you ever get your son's Nifty-Fifty back with the mod, let us know.

 

Thanks

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Originally posted by 2deaconblues


If you ever get your son's Nifty-Fifty back with the mod, let us know.

I will. I'm glad you reminded me of this. I'll call the guy tomorrow, and ask "What's up with that?"

The people at the music store told me this guy works slow, but I've seen faster snails. :rolleyes:

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Well, I just got the amp back. The repairs to the pots and input jack, and shoring up the flakey mounting of the circuit board, came to $80. He never got around to installing the high-cut filter, but if it's as simple as getting the right cap in the right place, I might be able to do that myself. Finding the right audio coil might be a little more of a challenge, but this document may help anyone else who wants to give this a whirl: http://www1.electusdistribution.com.au/images_uploaded/crossovr.pdf.

Or I might just decide the hiss is tolerable, and go on to other things.

 

If I do come up with a cap value that seems to kill the hiss without dumping everything else into the mud, I'll post it here.

 

Happy holidays, all.

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I have a Nifty Fifty. A fun little amp.

The noise it makes is a background hiss.

I have loose wall sockets in my house. By wiggling the 120V plug in the wall socket and cocking it to one side, the hiss goes away. I honestly think I am defeating the grounding plug inorder for the hiss to drop out. That of course is less safe, but I am not playing barefooted on a concrete floor in the rain.

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Originally posted by Bartfast

I honestly think I am defeating the grounding plug inorder for the hiss to drop out. That of course is less safe, but I am not playing barefooted on a concrete floor in the rain.

Change that rain to a thunderstorm, and don't forget "while sitting in an aluminum lawn chair." BZZZZT!

Actually, while getting a shock from music gear may be rare, one encounter with it could ruin your day. See the GuitarNuts electrical safety page for more info. (And some ways of isolating yourself from "shocking" experiences.)

As long as I'm going to be buying some capacitors for the string ground of my guitars, as mentioned on the GuitarNuts site, I'll get one or more for the high-cut filter to quiet the amp a little.

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Yamaha-Doug, I tried the mod last week, and got nothing from it.

I bought a crossover from partsexpress.com and installed it as described earlier, but it did nothing about the breakup. The hiss never really bothered me with my Nifty-Fifty, but I didn't notice any improvement in this area, either.

 

I'm perplexed. I did notice a change in tone with the crossover, it was very subtle, not much change. I'm no electronics expert, so I'm at a loss to explain why this mod did nothing to help. Though I've never played another Nifty-Fifty, I wonder if my amp might suffer from the usual problem to a greater degree. There are times when it sounds like the speaker is damaged, but it's not. Other times, (with single-coils, never humbuckers), I can pretty much wail and get no early breakup. I had really hoped this mod would take of this problem, because I like the tone of the amp.

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Originally posted by 2deaconblues

Yamaha-Doug, I tried the mod last week, and got nothing from it.

I bought a crossover from partsexpress.com and installed it as described earlier, but it did nothing about the breakup. The hiss never really bothered me with my Nifty-Fifty, but I didn't notice any improvement in this area, either.

I don't know about the breakup part. That almost sounds like something with the "Dirty/Sweet" control, though.

 

I'm perplexed. I did notice a change in tone with the crossover, it was very subtle, not much change. I'm no electronics expert, so I'm at a loss to explain why this mod did nothing to help. Though I've never played another Nifty-Fifty, I wonder if my amp might suffer from the usual problem to a greater degree. There are times when it sounds like the speaker is damaged, but it's not. Other times, (with single-coils, never humbuckers), I can pretty much wail and get no early breakup. I had really hoped this mod would take of this problem, because I like the tone of the amp.

I'm no electronics expert, either. In spite of some training in my younger years, I'm just getting into the musical side of it since earlier this year. (Plus I've forgotten most of the little bit I already learned. :rolleyes: )

One question: did you install the additional ground recommended as Fix #1? That or another path to ground may be necessary for the filter to "bleed off" the frequencies that it cuts.

Just a SWG. (Scientific Wild Guess.)

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Originally posted by 2deaconblues

Since the housing is painted with that thick shiny paint, is it possible I'm not really getting a proper ground?

Yeah, as I understand it, paint can be an insulator unless it's something conductive like the copper paint or other stuff sometimes used for guitar shielding. (Not all shielding paints are conductive, either, or at least some are better conductors.)

You could go with a ring terminal screwed into the surface that you want it to ground to, and the screw shank becomes part of the path. Maybe if you scraped off enough paint to get a good solder connection where the wire attaches, that would also ensure good continuity.

 

I could run this by the guys on the GuitarNuts Forum, most of whom are better at this stuff than I am. Or you could join up there, too.

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