> 1N4148 diodes wired in series
I misunderstood. Yes, 1N4148 do the same thing only bigger.
The chokes, I would just do jumpers. That's cool for 99% of external jacks ever made. Yes, some internal or external HF crap could get in or out, and you don't want to build a million of them and *then* discover interference, but in DIY it seems awful paranoid.
Ok, so Blackstar designed the product with ferrites in an abundance of caution. That makes sense. I have found similar ferrites in solid state schematics, such as Line 6, which presumably are there for the same reason.
I did think, “well Jim Marshall didn’t think they were necessary”...
I am starting with no rear board at all, so all of this will be through the hole or wired point to point.
I bought the front pcb cheap (£30) NOS. It was cheap because a couple of the pcb mounted pots had been snapped off. I have taken all the pcb pots off and the pcb valve seats (ECC83s and EL34s). I am making my own chassis so it will end up as a head amp, rather than the original HT 60 combo.
The worst thing that might happen is that the main IC turns out to be faulty. Blackstar told me that they are “made of unobtainium”. If that is the case, I will strip out all of the bells and whistles and use what’s left to make a more traditional pure tube amp.
I am figuring this will keep me entertained in the long winter nights during the next Covid-19 lockdown