Alpha State

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ben Waylin
  • Start date Start date
I like the lead tone on this .... sounds great man !
Playing around with an NOS Mighty Mite S-80 Pre-Amp.

You ever seen a schematic for one of these ?

RI1FtvB.jpg
 
No ....... never even heard of it before .

what the hell is it ?
It's a vintage pre-amp that mounts inside the guitar's control cavity..

Overdrives the signal before it ever leaves the guitar.

Prolly from the early-mid 1970's. Has a little trim-pot built in to adjust the gain.

giphy.gif
 
Last edited:
It's a vintage pre-amp that mounts inside the guitar's control cavity..

Overdrives the signal before it ever leaves the guitar.

Prolly from the early-mid 1970's. Has a little trim-pot built in to adjust the gain.

giphy.gif
you couldn't find a schematic ?
 
you couldn't find a schematic ?
Thus far I have found very little.

The story I got was that back in the day, Charvel/Grover Jackson made EVH's "bumblebee" guitar (the black one with the yellow stripes), and Ed got it and was photographed with Karl Sandoval (who only painted the body). The body and neck came from Boogie Bodies (Lynn Ellsworth and Jim Warmoth, who split in 1980).

Charvel started cloning that guitar. Ed walks into the shop a few weeks after getting the "bumblebee" guitar to hang out and talk guitars.. lo and behold he sees 6 "bumblebee" bodies, fresh out of the paint booth drying on the rack and he flips out.

Grover Jackson responds by telling Ed, "You cannot copyright a paint scheme".

The lore goes on to state that; Charvel made a total of 9 of these guitars before ceasing production, although several more eked out over the years..

These guitars had a locking nut, but no Floyd Rose.. just a Mighty Mite brass bridge (the one with the keyhole saddles). The single humbucker was a Seymour Duncan "custom", and they glued one of these Mighty Mite S-80 pre-amps into the control cavity.
 
Thus far I have found very little.

The story I got was that back in the day, Charvel/Grover Jackson made EVH's "bumblebee" guitar (the black one with the yellow stripes), and Ed got it and was photographed with Karl Sandoval (who only painted the body). The body and neck came from Boogie Bodies (Lynn Ellsworth and Jim Warmoth, who split in 1980).

Charvel started cloning that guitar. Ed walks into the shop a few weeks after getting the "bumblebee" guitar to hang out and talk guitars.. lo and behold he sees 6 "bumblebee" bodies, fresh out of the paint booth drying on the rack and he flips out.

Grover Jackson responds by telling Ed, "You cannot copyright a paint scheme".

The lore goes on to state that; Charvel made a total of 9 of these guitars before ceasing production, although several more eked out over the years..

These guitars had a locking nut, but no Floyd Rose.. just a Mighty Mite brass bridge (the one with the keyhole saddles). The single humbucker was a Seymour Duncan "custom", and they glued one of these Mighty Mite S-80 pre-amps into the control cavity.
well shit ..... there's a rabbit hole .... lol

I think I've heard the story of Ed and the Charvel Bumblebees before ... maybe on that Charvel Doc that came out a few years back ...

I've never heard of the preamp ..... I'll poke around over the weekend see if I can find anything .

so if it wasn't a push pull pot kind of thing like the clapton mid boost ........ It must have been always on ?
 
well shit ..... there's a rabbit hole .... lol

I think I've heard the story of Ed and the Charvel Bumblebees before ... maybe on that Charvel Doc that came out a few years back ...

I've never heard of the preamp ..... I'll poke around over the weekend see if I can find anything .

so if it wasn't a push pull pot kind of thing like the clapton mid boost ........ It must have been always on ?
Yep. You have to access the control cavity and use a jeweler's screwdriver to dial that little trim pot and set the gain where you want it.

I'm envision one or two discrete transistors and a couple of resistors embedded in that little epoxy rectangle - but who knows.
 
given the time it came out ... I bet it's a modified LPB-1
 
Back
Top