[geeks] Tektronix TDS 220

[Joshua D Boyd]

>   The TDS series are pretty nice scopes all-around.  Very compact, nice
> displays, decent feature set.  And well-built, of course...they're
> Tektronix, after all.

They certainly were easy to use.  That's what we used in my physics
class. 
 
>   Dual-trace vs. single...I haven't seen a single-trace scope (digital
> or otherwise) in a very, very long time.  Even most (if not all) of
> Tek's low-end cheapie analog scopes (like the 2200 series) are
> dual-trace.

The web site talks about the TDS 2000 series as their low end.   But
they are making it sound like a digital scope.  For instance, they
talk about record length in kilo bytes. 

>   Are you sure you want a digitizing scope?  That'll push the price WAY
> up, and digitizing scopes aren't the best choice for many
> applications.  For catching single-shot signals...catch an event and
> then tear it apart over the next fifteen minutes...a digital scope is
> the best [only] choice.  But for repetitive stuff an analog scope is
> generally best.  An analog scope under digital control is even
> better, which includes pretty much all analog scopes made within the
> past fifteen years or so.

OK, that should be usefull to know.  The TDS 220 is called a digital
scope in some ads.  Is it a true digital scope, or an analog one under
digital control?  Looking at the tektronix web site.  It was certainly
far easier to use than my old analog one.  Plus I appreciated the
calculations it would do.

OK, at their web site, they seem to indicate that the TDS220 is better
, but older, than the TDS2000.  However, the lower end still TDS1000
series looks good enough.

But wait, they don't list a 2200 in the TDS2000 series, so it must be
another series I'm looking for.

<snip scopes I'll never afford> 
<snip comments of DPO series>
<snip comments on logic analyzers>

OK, the short of it is that my guitar rig really sucks.  It consists
of a kinda nice electric guitar plugged into a really awefull Zoom
9000 (all my guitar amps are somehow broken, and mostly they were so
awefull that running direct from the zoom didn't hurt anything).  For
years, I've talked about piecing together a guitar rig the way I want
one, ie, lots of nice pedals run into a good amp, out through a power
soak, and into post amp effects.

Now, I don't know how to fix my one good amp (I'm learning more and
more about solid state electronics, but it is a tube amp), and I don't
have the money for buying nice effects pedels (especially since the
pedels I want are actually fairly trendy).  But I figure that at this
point in my life I should be able to start building these things
myself.  Not only do I know how to solder, but I finally understand
what the pieces do and what the diagrams say.

But, I also have a number of non working items.  A quick test over
with a DMM didn't really turn up anything, so I'm thinking going over
them with a scope might help.  If I can make them work, mostly they
would be easier to upgrade than starting from scratch would be.

You know, I used to have a scope too, but it was accidently given away
a year before I got the information about electronics that I would
need to be able to put it to use.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd