RealMarkDeneen

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE JMA DOCS There are now a few people using these docs, and there will be more, I'm sure. I have to provide some context about the docs. As a literal "one man band" I did everything on my own - no help of any kind. No contractors, part timers, helpers - nada. So, unfortunately what suffered was "documentation". In the beginning it was all paper and pencil. Then I tried various software solutions, but none were really suitable for schematics. I ended up using Adobe Illustrator because I already had learned it for other things. It's not a good solution. For Bills of Materials I used an old AppleWorks program no longer made, so trying to recover that info is tough, but I am making some progress. Worse yet, I did not formalize every schematic of every revision I made. So, for BBX there are probably 15 revisions in circulation and for Peach it might be 10. The schematics I am posting are "as of that date" schematics and don't necessary jive with the unit you have 100%. But the TOPOLOGY is all there. My guess is that a good technician with tube experience will be able to follow the topology and interpret the minor differences in the various revisions. Maybe a 240K resistor got changed to 220K and so on. The PCB layouts are a whole other problem. I used a proprietary service called PCB123. I think I have most of the original files from VERSION 1 of their software. But I have no large format printer. They will send give out links to their version 1 software though to anyone asking for it. Then, using that, a person could open one of my PCB files and either look at it, or possibly print it out. I have no idea how far people want to go, but I mention it as a possibility. The manuals are pretty useless, but I have those PDFs. Sooooooo, I am willing to provide everything I can, but the quality of the info is sort of "average". It's not spot on. And, there are many different revisions of product out there, so I don't want anyone to expect that I can document their specific unit - because I just can't. I can get close. I can get you in the ball park. My bad, but that's what it is. As far as I know, the only parts that are UNOBTAINIUM are the PCB mount RCA jacks, and the color graphic panels. The LM350 regulator isn't made anymore (I don't think), but you can find them on Ebay. They rarely failed, thank goodness. My intent is to make a DOCS PACKAGE zip file for each of the products. It will be a hodge podge of what I have for each. Some will be richer than others.

BlueBerry Extreme Schematic - a General schematic. Notes: I can't recover the far left of the schematic which shows the input jacks. Don't know what happened but it was lost years ago. This again, should serve as a general guide for the design.

Peach Schematic - - disclaimer: this is a GENERAL schematic. There were many minor revisions to actual production models, some don't rely 100% on every value of resistor, etc. But any tech should be able to see the design and how it works.

I did post the Peach schematic on the K-forum. Possibly it was the for sale section though. YES, I will post it all here if that's ok with moderators. Thanks, that was my reason for coming back. Cheers

I am back from vacation today Friday the 21st. But on Monday I'll be getting surgery and be out for at least a few days. I'll get some info to Rich today about the power supply. I'll get a few docs ready to mail this weekend, but it will be a little later before I can then address more issues. Mark

Send me a PM with your email addy and I will get you on the BBX document train. Cheers, Mark

Hi, I am sure we can get you fixed up, but I'm on s short vacation and only have my phone with me. I'll be back home Friday, and we can pick this up. What i see in the photo is a common problem and there is easy enough work around i can help you with. No worries. Send me a PM with your email addy. I'll get in touch in a couple days. Cheers, Mark

Considerations for a Tube Amp would include: -purchase price -sound quality -Cost and availability of replacement tubes -reliability -power output and distortion -age of the small parts and capacitors -appearance -synergy with a specific speaker (and associated electronics) Some of that is subjective and some is objective. Sound Quality is about like recommending wine, or clothing to someone you don't know. "Sounds great" is a woefully inadequate recommendation. A sensible fallback is to use a popular reference as a starting point. For example, MILLIONS of people have owned and enjoyed Dynaco ST-70s. There's a good reason---it was a sensible, solid design with Chevrolet level capability and reliability. Not a Porsche, but not a Nash Metropolitan either. Once heard, it can form a baseline reference that millions of others can relate to. It makes upward moves easier to calculate. Even some one says, "I like the ST-70, but I wish it were faster sounding" people with ST-70 experience can relate that comment to their experience and go from there. You could do a heck of a lot worse than a proper ST70 as a "entry level starter." Good luck!

Regarding the IRS and companies issuing 1099s The camel's nose is under the tent now. The 1099 process by Esty and Reverb (same company) and others, is just step 1. Once the FED launches its "FEDNow" service in mid '23, I suspect that Etsy will deduct a standard "tax reserve" like 15% or so from your proceeds, and send it directly to the IRS, and you will have to argue it back when you file your return. In California, when you sell a home, the escrow company witholds about 8% of the gross proceeds and sends it directly to the state tax board. Then, the seller has to show when filing taxes that they don't owe the tax, or that they owe less, or whatever. The burden is on the seller to claw back what is owed them - or, I suppose, pay more if that is the case. The "connections" in a fully connected world, are never going to work in the favor of the lowly wage-earner or average powerless citizen. Of course, this is what the citizens wanted, so, I guess they're ok with it.

Companies wanting your phone number always have pretty much the same motivation: Tracking. Cell providers track and sell surveillance info. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/dont-want-your-phone-carrier-tracking-your-personal-data-you-can-tell-it-to-stop/ I imagine most people have no clue that it is even happening. So, there are good odds that providing your phone number will be at least marginally valuable to whomever is wanting it. Unfortunately, "surveillance economics" is a big and permanent aspect of the modern economy.

I don't think there us any recourse with USPS money orders, right? Once mailed, that money is gone. I always prefer credit cards because the recourse is way in favor of the buyer. I've never been denied reimbursement for a faulty service or product. And you have quite a long time to exercise that option. On the other hand, platforms like auction sites and retailers will often try to enforce the "no return" settings of their sellers. I don't even bother with their "complaint process"--I call the credit card company first. To me that's the reason to have a credit card. It's a form of "conditional cash."

I prefer to collect cash, and pay out with credit cards.

Call me old fashioned, but not everything about life is "transactional." There still exists right and wrong behaviors and ideas that are worth fighting for or against in consideration of everyone involved.

I haven't been describing my "risk" of using PPAL, I'm describing the risk to an open society represented by PPAL's authoritarian practices, and the lack of rigorous regulation by those we elect to carry out those duties for us. I don't mind saying that the worst possible people rushng in to fill that gaping void.

Individual self-appointed authorities who claim to be arbiters of mis-information have the burden to demonstrate the details of that process, otherwise they are involved in the much simpler exercise of simple censorship. Usually, mis-information is described as: “information that is false, inaccurate, or misleading according to the best available evidence at the time.” If that word is to have any credible meaning whatsoever, it must be examined critically. This presents several complications. 1) What are the "rules of evidence" and who defines or enforces them? Any individual? Or just CEOs who run companies? Courts? 2) In complex matters, what "judge or jury" is used to examine the evidence and issue the determination of accuracy? Some goofball CEO? 3) Who exactly is being mislead? A moron? A scientist? A politician? A consumer? Educated or uneducated? Is a person with absolutely no scientific training being misled by scientific information he doesn't understand? By words he has never seen? How do people file a complaint for being misled? 4) Who is it that can claim they possess "perfect information". Consider for a moment the nation's most influential newspapers. They are in CONSTANT violation of spreading "misinformation" - it's their role in our polirical economy to do so. They are the propaganda bullhorns for the establishment and the state. Their stock-in-trade is misinformation. Ergo, what the PPALs and Googles are trying to promote here is stripping the lowest powered entities in the society (mere citizens) of the rights of expression while revelling in the non-stop spewing of misinformation by their corporate peers who want to "own" public discourse.

Thanks for mentioning their unilateral power to levy fantastic fines on users for any reason they like. I forgot that piece of their crappy business.

Hmmmm? PayPal was founded and grown by billionaires that include Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. PayPal was pried out of Ebay ownership by the demands of billionaire Carl Icahn. PayPal is currently run by Dan Schulman, CEO who has sold hundreds of millions of dollars in PPAL stock over the past couple years. Their "founding and background" has been heavily influenced by billionaires who conceived it and grew it before it became public. Secondly, PPAL has taken it upon themselves (like Google, Twitter and others) to ban people and groups from receiving payments or making donations to "unapproved entities" based on PPAL's proprietary decision making about their user agreement. Various entities have been banned by PPAL for violations of their homemade rules about "misinformation" or controversies over political views and political speech. That they are a publically held company provides no protection for people being banned for political beliefs. This is much like Google deplatforming people for "wrong views". Financial enties like banks and payment processors are in the wrong lane when they begin controlling users based on political affiliations. Being a "public company" doessn't prevent Apple, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, or hundreds of other Internet companies from making their own rules with fine print in their EULAs. And "Vanguard" has nothing to do with the EULAs these companies rely upon to manage their business. Not everyone sees the dangers in this aspect of the techno-plutocracy - I understand that.

Like so many other unregulated and lightly regulated tech firms based on Internet technology, PayPal has morphed into a political-policing-enforcement entity that has nasty social implications. They fall into that basket of "billionaire-backed social re-engineering" firms that have already gained too much power over free-expression. These companies are flooding the zone and drowning out democratic principles and sovereign authority to regulate them. This movement is a plutocratic de facto coup over democracy. But sure, there's not much risk they will spoil an Ebay transaction.

In the case of a problem with my banks, brokerage, or credit cards, it's still easy to get a human on the phone to resolve trouble. That's my first question about any new financial service. IMO, the new FINTECH entities rely on fully automated forms of customer service and lots of fine print in the User Agreements, that are not consumer friendly. Worse yet, the regulatory framework on the new FINTECH world is at best shakey. For popcorn-money transactions it's probably useful, but there's no way I'd put 4-figures through these companies.

Great topic! I'll be interested also to see what people do. I quit PayPal after like 10 years when I found out they were blocking people from contributing to causes I support. I will never use them again. I am extremely dubious about all the popular payment processing companies like Zelle.

@lighting guy Hi, Nice comments. I remember the amp shoot out at Josh's very well. He was a gracious host and such a swell guy to know. I appreciate the forbearance of you and all my other customers for appreciating the very imperfect whimsical products of JMA. Cheers, Mark

Was there anyone who didn't have at least one of these, and a book or LP of Rod McKuen poetry?

Wait..what? Wine bottle drip candles from the 1970s? WOWZA! On a more serious note....what was the significance of Jesus brother?

Considering that dozens and dozens of investors have paid many times that price to own JPGs of Apes, it looks like a seriously solid opportunity for someone with spare cash. There are plenty of people looking for inflation proof investments today. This is a decimal point out of my range, but heck, it's chump change for millions of others. Spectacular rare artifact!

I don't even speak the "I-Word" here anymore. 😇 Mum's the word.