Tips for Soldering Bus Wire Across Pots

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micahnix1
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Tips for Soldering Bus Wire Across Pots

Post by micahnix1 » Fri Jul 21, 2017 7:08 pm

Hello everyone I'm attempting my first build...a 50 watt with the 2204 mod...everything has been going great so far until I hit a snag. I can't get my solder to stick to the back of my pots when trying to run the bus wire across them. I thought about maybe sanding the back of the pots a bit. Any tips? :jimi:

danman
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Re: Tips for Soldering Bus Wire Across Pots

Post by danman » Fri Jul 21, 2017 9:46 pm

If they are Alpha or CTS brand pots, the solder should stick. PEC pots are stainless and much harder to solder to. Try scuffing the back of the pot lightly with sandpaper or scotchbrite pad. Applying a dab of flux will also help. I like to melt a nice pool of solder on the back of each pot before installing them. Then when your ready to solder the buss wire the pot is already tinned and much easier to get the buss to stick. You will need a decent size tip for your iron or a higher wattage iron dedicated to solder larger items. I use a large chisel tip in my Hakko soldering station because it transfer heat much better. If you don't own a decent station then you may need to go out and buy a larger iron with a nice fat tip. The smaller tips used for solder wire and components will not transfer enough heat and if you can't get the solder to flow and stick in 5 to 10 seconds you will burn up your pots. Also be sure that your tip has plenty of fresh solder melted on it before attempt to solder the buss wire. The extra solder on the tip will help to transfer the heat much faster. You can find some decent soldering videos on Youtube if you do a search for "soldering to the back of a pot".

There are other grounding options available that don't involve soldering to the back of the pots and they are also much quieter. Do a search or "Larry Grounding" and you will find a scheme that many here have used with great success.

micahnix1
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Re: Tips for Soldering Bus Wire Across Pots

Post by micahnix1 » Sat Jul 22, 2017 1:00 pm

Thank you! I eventually got it to work after scratching the backs with my pocket knife and laying down a nice pool of solder, like you said. I think I'll eventually have to get a nicer iron too.

FourT6and2
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Re: Tips for Soldering Bus Wire Across Pots

Post by FourT6and2 » Sun Jul 23, 2017 10:57 pm

I wouldn't bother soldering to the back of the pots. Run the bus wire through the lugs that need to be grounded. Then run a ground wire from one spot on the bus wire to your star ground. Soldering to the back of the pots creates a ground loop because the pots' casings are already grounded to the chassis...

RockinRocket
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Re: Tips for Soldering Bus Wire Across Pots

Post by RockinRocket » Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:19 pm

FourT6and2 wrote:I wouldn't bother soldering to the back of the pots. Run the bus wire through the lugs that need to be grounded. Then run a ground wire from one spot on the bus wire to your star ground. Soldering to the back of the pots creates a ground loop because the pots' casings are already grounded to the chassis...
Its true but it doesn't mean its bad. My 4 hole marshall builds are super quiet in hum and hiss anyways I don't see any point. They all match my original amps in noise so why would you want to not include those imperfections as they all contribute to the tone :rock:

FourT6and2
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Re: Tips for Soldering Bus Wire Across Pots

Post by FourT6and2 » Mon Jul 24, 2017 10:14 pm

RockinRocket wrote:
FourT6and2 wrote:I wouldn't bother soldering to the back of the pots. Run the bus wire through the lugs that need to be grounded. Then run a ground wire from one spot on the bus wire to your star ground. Soldering to the back of the pots creates a ground loop because the pots' casings are already grounded to the chassis...
Its true but it doesn't mean its bad. My 4 hole marshall builds are super quiet in hum and hiss anyways I don't see any point. They all match my original amps in noise so why would you want to not include those imperfections as they all contribute to the tone :rock:
If you like more noise, hiss, and hum, knock yourself out lol. Me? I personally prefer a hum-free amp. I'm not building exact recreations of vintage Marshalls. So I see no need to recreate the bad practices of the past.

RockinRocket
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Re: Tips for Soldering Bus Wire Across Pots

Post by RockinRocket » Tue Jul 25, 2017 9:42 pm

FourT6and2 wrote:
RockinRocket wrote:
FourT6and2 wrote:I wouldn't bother soldering to the back of the pots. Run the bus wire through the lugs that need to be grounded. Then run a ground wire from one spot on the bus wire to your star ground. Soldering to the back of the pots creates a ground loop because the pots' casings are already grounded to the chassis...
Its true but it doesn't mean its bad. My 4 hole marshall builds are super quiet in hum and hiss anyways I don't see any point. They all match my original amps in noise so why would you want to not include those imperfections as they all contribute to the tone :rock:
If you like more noise, hiss, and hum, knock yourself out lol. Me? I personally prefer a hum-free amp. I'm not building exact recreations of vintage Marshalls. So I see no need to recreate the bad practices of the past.
Those aspects are all part of the character of those amps but truthfully if you are not a noob at building these vintage Marshalls you wont encounter hum with a vintage Marshall layout. Hiss is really the quality of the tubes and the presence of a bright amp. Again if you are not good with the iron the amp will have more hiss from my experience based on my first to latter amps.

FourT6and2
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Re: Tips for Soldering Bus Wire Across Pots

Post by FourT6and2 » Wed Jul 26, 2017 2:24 am

RockinRocket wrote:
FourT6and2 wrote:
RockinRocket wrote:
Its true but it doesn't mean its bad. My 4 hole marshall builds are super quiet in hum and hiss anyways I don't see any point. They all match my original amps in noise so why would you want to not include those imperfections as they all contribute to the tone :rock:
If you like more noise, hiss, and hum, knock yourself out lol. Me? I personally prefer a hum-free amp. I'm not building exact recreations of vintage Marshalls. So I see no need to recreate the bad practices of the past.
Those aspects are all part of the character of those amps but truthfully if you are not a noob at building these vintage Marshalls you wont encounter hum with a vintage Marshall layout. Hiss is really the quality of the tubes and the presence of a bright amp. Again if you are not good with the iron the amp will have more hiss from my experience based on my first to latter amps.
A ground loop is a ground loop is a ground loop. Doesn't matter how good you are with a soldering iron.

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