vox pathfinder (MOD THREAD)

[ryan summit]

the pathfinder is my living room amp
it never leaves the house
a problem i have(had) with it
is if you so much as touch the gain knob
you get pretty trashy distortion
sounds real good to me
but overpowers pedals at these levels(quiet)
just did the led mod
removed the two clipping diodes from the board
as far as i can tell so far its clean clean
and a whole bunch louder
before just right now
i used my crate with the pedal board
and broke this out for quick trash riff jam
now as far as i can tell
its just a clean amp
ill upload pics and before after clips
if anyone shows any interest
always liked this lil guy
sounds real good
now i think it sounds even better

[sonidero]

vox

xov...

[ryan summit]

dude cmon
your so quick
that was 3 min

[TweedBassman]

ahhhh the Vox pathfinder. probably my favorite amp.

I own 2 and plan on getting a 3rd. they are discontinued now so if you're even on the fence git one.

The LED mod is pretty much necessary. I've tried a few other mods as well but honestly you don't need them.

Swap out the speaker for a higher quality 8" and you'll be shocked at how nice (and loud/clean) it can be. Through a real cab it's amazing.

2 pathfinders run stereo with a nice stereo effect at the end of a pedal board is siiiick. Holds up to low volume gigs too.

[ryan summit]

im runnin it stereo with a
wooden box crate ii-r
and i have that hooked up to a
shure vocal master p.a tower
i had the tower hooked to the vox
but it seems to bypass the internal speaker
any way around that
you know
the difference between 7 and 8speakers
at a whopping 35w total
is humongous
no seriously anyway to keep em all workin

[Gone Fission]

ahhhh the Vox pathfinder. probably my favorite amp.

I own 2 and plan on getting a 3rd. they are discontinued now so if you're even on the fence git one.

The LED mod is pretty much necessary. I've tried a few other mods as well but honestly you don't need them.

Swap out the speaker for a higher quality 8" and you'll be shocked at how nice (and loud/clean) it can be. Through a real cab it's amazing.

2 pathfinders run stereo with a nice stereo effect at the end of a pedal board is siiiick. Holds up to low volume gigs too.

I don't suppose you know of a standard mod to increase the trem depth?

[TweedBassman]

ahhhh the Vox pathfinder. probably my favorite amp.

I own 2 and plan on getting a 3rd. they are discontinued now so if you're even on the fence git one.

The LED mod is pretty much necessary. I've tried a few other mods as well but honestly you don't need them.

Swap out the speaker for a higher quality 8" and you'll be shocked at how nice (and loud/clean) it can be. Through a real cab it's amazing.

2 pathfinders run stereo with a nice stereo effect at the end of a pedal board is siiiick. Holds up to low volume gigs too.

I don't suppose you know of a standard mod to increase the trem depth?

I'll take a look.

[TweedBassman]

Vox Pathfinder 15R Tremolo Depth Mod:

OK so my OCD kicked in and I just experimented and stared at schematics for an hour.

There are several different versions of this amp floating around. Some may look identical but have different boards. SO this mod is just for the one I have on hand. It is a Made in Vietnam reverb version. If the resistor in question is not in the exact spot mentioned, you'll have to trace your amp yourself OR it may not work for yours. This is for the 15R (reverb) version. It is most likely the same on other versions but use common sense and don't blame me if you fry it. Word.

Vox Pathfinder 15R Tremolo Depth increase mod:

Before you begin, set the depth to max and flat controls and take a quick audio clip with your phone or something to compare.

1. take apart the amp to expose the circuit board. knobs, jacks etc. Take your time, the input jack has like 10 washers on it.

2. Find the 2.2k resistor (red-red-red-gold) labeled R45 on the circuit board. On my amp it is exactly between the Bass pot and the tremolo speed pot. De-solder and Remove it.

3. Grab a few 1k resistors and measure them with your meter, or grab a 910 ohm. I settled on a 1k that was actually around 950 to 960. Don't go too low or it won't work. If you don't have a meter, just use a 1k or a 1% resistor in the mid-high 900's. 950-960 is perfect.

4. Solder that puppy in. Don't burn the board or lift the trace.

5. Rebuild it. Don't forget the order of the input jack washers to keep the input off the chassis.

6. Swamp out.

With the increased depth, the faster trem speeds are way better now. It's not ever gonna be super-choppy but now it is really usable.

[Gone Fission]

I've got something to do this weekend now! It's not that the trem was bad or anything. Just need moar. And moar headroom for moar fuzz.

(I've been procrastinating the LED mod for an age because I wanted to do the trem in the same trip after hearing people talk about the PITA of dis- and re-assembly.)

[ryan summit]

ooh i love you guys
ima change the name of the thread
patfinder mod party
sweet la
if you do the trem mod take step by step pics
awesome
also i had some trouuble exposing the circuit board
so for the leds i just reached in and grabbed
so fission if you could
can you show how to remove the board from chassis the easiest
every way i thought i should do it
looked like iwas gonnna run into trouble
and post those before and after clips

[TweedBassman]

removing the board is a giant pain in the asss... i just remove the knobs, input nut, and then disconnect the speaker. you have to push all the pots through the holes verrrrry carefully and then move some wire bundles and the pots will pass by the top of the chassis, letting you flip the board over to see the top.

[Gone Fission]

removing the board is a giant pain in the asss... i just remove the knobs, input nut, and then disconnect the speaker. you have to push all the pots through the holes verrrrry carefully and then move some wire bundles and the pots will pass by the top of the chassis, letting you flip the board over to see the top.

I was so right to wait to do it all at once, then.

I'll try to get some pics up for general edification.

[Gone Fission]

Frick. Do I need an image hosting site to upload? Never messed with that.

The board work was much easier than getting access to the board. Theoretically possible to do the LED mod without much disassembly but not the trem mod. Both are quite awesome and well worth the effort.

[Gone Fission]

I've moved my how-to images to Tumblr, along with instructions:
LED mod: http://bearsgonefission.tumblr.com/post ... -state-vox
Trem mod: http://bearsgonefission.tumblr.com/post ... vefuzz-com

This is from my Korean manufactured Pathfinder 15R. I think it's going to be a common board layout with others but I'm not 100%. Matches the Vietnamese board, at least for the trem resistor mod.

Steps:

1) remove the back panel and unscrew the chassis at the two screw holding the chassis to the top of the cabinet. Pay attention to the types of screws because there are two different types that are superficially the same size.

2) remove the knobs -- just pull them up, they come right off. Remove the nuts holding the input jack and the control pots to the chassis panel. I think it was a 10mm sized socket that I used on the nuts on the pots. The plastic input jack washer needed no help.

3) remove the two little screws and their lock washers that are about on level with the speaker wire on the back of the chassis. These free the mounting bracket for the PCB board.

4) gingerly try to wiggle the board out without snapping off the reverb pot. I think this might have gone easier if I had been more thorough about disassembly, like removing the power transformer so I could slide the board down more easily to free the pots from the chassis.

5) locate the two red LEDs on the board. A lot of people just get in there and snip with a diagonal cutter. There's enough room to do that. I decided to go the full nine and remove them all. I used a soldering iron and desoldering braid on the board side, one LED at a time, both legs at once. The joints flowed and the slight push of the iron and gravity let the LEDs fall right out. I cleaned up the old solder after with the desoldering braid. If you go this way, be careful not apply too much heat and lift the traces

6) locate the 2k2 R45 between the bass pot and the trem speed pot. Remove gingerly as the traces are very fine on both side. I grabbed the resistor with a pliers and pulled the leg while applying the iron to that leg, then the next. Pick a replacement value, as TweedBassman details. I had a bunch of 1k 1/4 watt resistors, all measuring at about 970, and no 910's, so that's what I went with. Bend the legs to fit the holes. (The 1/4 watt is bigger than the 1/8 watt that was stock, thus the yoga pose being bent above the board.) Solder carefully. Although the board is masked, try not to bridge to adjacent traces as you go. When soldered, trip the excess legs on the solder side of the board.

7) reassemble and enjoy a suddenly remarkably cooler amp.

[ryan summit]

yeah fission
nice documentation
i use photobucket cause its the only one i know
and its pretty simple to use
i wonder if that google thing you used has embed links
how you like it with no leds