@Guitarists - Handmade Valve Amps - Your Wishes

[Dean Aka Nekro]

Yes a parametric fan lfm

+1 about a fan, but does it have to be parametric ?
Lol,
susiwong

Like these ones that have no respect:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8F7ABBD9E4DD1BE8
or the ones on your 3,000 Watt rig that you get your locks caught in whilst wearing your spandex?

ROFLMAO

Dean

[susiwong]

Yes a parametric fan lfm

+1 about a fan, but does it have to be parametric ?
Lol,
susiwong

Like these ones that have no respect:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8F7ABBD9E4DD1BE8
or the ones on your 3,000 Watt rig that you get your locks caught in whilst wearing your spandex?

ROFLMAO

Dean

Wow, this will keep me busy for a while, watch, change pants, watch, ...
You get the picture, it won't be pretty !
Great link !
Lol,
susiwong

[Dean Aka Nekro]

Anyway enough from me, When i am thinking more realistic i will post

Dean going overboard with the ultimate dream or horrific nightmare depending which way one looks at it amp/pre-amp

PS: a tone stack pre-gain stage? The clean channel on the TSL has that setup and it is not a channel i spend anytime on, Thought something was wrong with it when first trying it out

Nothing unrealistic about your ideas at all, mate, the opposite is true. Very specific thoughts, coming from experience !

Re tone stacks, I actually thought of the higher gain scenarios when suggesting pre & post, always liked this with Boogies.
Pre gain you shape the character of the distortion more than actually EQing tone, post gain is where you do the actual EQ adjustments.
Very effective, imagine boosting the mids for a singing lead tone pre-gain, and EQing them out again afterwards to get a clear tone ...
Not unlike EQ/comp sequence when mixing, or NR emphasis/deemphasis in an analog tape machine if you get my drift.

Re parametric EQs, I like them a lot, but can they be made at all using a simple tube circuit ?
I definitely agree on trying to keep it all tube if possible, though there sure are a few great examples with selected solid state stages.
I always felt JCM900s didn't end up as epic fails due to the solid state boost stage, but due to general corner cutting with trannies, filter caps and related stuff.
Think of the classic Klon or TS into Marshall recipe, nobody would mind the SS component in that scenario ...

Ymmv,
susiwong

I hear you, As said i have only come across it on the clean channel of my TSL and in that context it does not work with no post-EQ available. I am easily pleased if you have a suggestion of an amp which i could try this on? Do not think the MKIV Boogie has this or if it does then i can go and spend some time with it and get a good handle on it but any amp i am up for trying if has the pre and post thing man
I am not technical clued up much as to know whether or not a parametric EQ band would compromise the circuit and regarding the JCM900 range well too much in the way of reverb on board for me to even think about one, They are alright but between the 800 and the 2000 JCMs they seem to sound not so much Marshall, More american is the best way i can describe it but nothing in particular. The transformers were rather small which is never a good sign but at the same time i do not mind a well executed solid-state boost stage. The Bugera JCM900 aping head is actually better i find but not enough to warrent a purchase. Put a 900 next to a DSL2000, The difference is clearly audible. Maybe the power-amp valves they went for in the 900s were a big factor in why they didn't nail that Marshall thing?

Cheers mate

Dean

Edit: Glad you will be having fun watching that lot of video clips lol, Fans and bands hey? Some classic Spinal Tap and beyond in that lot

[trimph1]

Yes a parametric fan lfm

+1 about a fan, but does it have to be parametric ?
Lol,
susiwong

Like these ones that have no respect:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8F7ABBD9E4DD1BE8
or the ones on your 3,000 Watt rig that you get your locks caught in whilst wearing your spandex?

ROFLMAO

Dean

Wow, this will keep me busy for a while, watch, change pants, watch, ...
You get the picture, it won't be pretty !
Great link !
Lol,
susiwong

I already have a few of my own!!! Don't need to see those!!!!

[susiwong]

I already have a few of my own!!! Don't need to see those!!!!

Would make a good WE thread - most funny/embarrassing moments on stage !
Lol,
susiwong

[Hink]

I would want more of the same as what I have but one BIG change...I want a tube amp to be fairly simple. I would want a low powered amp with a rectifier tube, bias jacks on the rear panel, no parametric or graphic eq for me instead I would rather the standard tonestack and a presence. I also would like the pre/post but also like the Boogie SOB I would like two channels one being with one drive (pre if you will) and the second with a second drive cascaded into the first. A simple fx loop is a plus but not a deal breaker either.

Here's the one thing I want that is never done, I want amps to use more of the real estate on th elower front than some do now...space out those knobs much more, then put large chickenhead knobs on it. By that I mean not what we are use to now but skinnier versions with much longer beaks and short tails so they have space to turn on the bottom.

With Fender style knobs you can grab the outer ring and get more fine tuning there and of course standard chickenhead knobs are better than those little Marshall style knobs. Better still I want to be able be able to affect a very small change by having a larger dia/circumference path available to me...like the tip of the beaks on a just such large chickenhead knobs. This way I can make either quick adjustments by grabbing the center of the knobs or fine tune them by adjusting at the tip of the beaks

[susiwong]

I hear you, As said i have only come across it on the clean channel of my TSL and in that context it does not work with no post-EQ available. I am easily pleased if you have a suggestion of an amp which i could try this on? Do not think the MKIV Boogie has this or if it does then i can go and spend some time with it and get a good handle on it but any amp i am up for trying if has the pre and post thing man

Any MK x Boogie with EQ will be fine, go overboard with midrangey boost and then make it sound good with the 5 band EQ.
Start out with a V shape, but the lowest point should be the 2nd slider, tweak to taste
Do yourself a favour and print out the manual of the amp to bring it with you, MK style Boogies are completely different from most other amps, a bit unintuitive to put it mildly , not least due to that pre-gain tone stack.
Gain changes brightness and body, treble and mid are boost pots above 10 o'clock and so on.
It becomes 2nd nature after a while ...
That's why these amps used to be pretty popular with players not exactly associated with Santana tone.
Try it, this is big fun, lovely amps once you get the concept !
Ymmv,
susiwong

[Dean Aka Nekro]

Right, I am familiar with the MKIV reissue on the highest gain channel/setting but i will spend more time with it and pay alot more attention to dialing in Cheers, I like the MKIV also so if the pre was like that i'd bite. So dial in then via the graphic cut/boost trial and error? That makes sense now if i got that right

Dean

[lfm]

Yes a parametric fan lfm dude, If its implemented as to suit many i think it would work and be a pretty unique feature which could be the amps ace up its sleeve if it is switchable with a pull to engage and push to defeat/bypass

Especially if experimenting with a Wah and tube amps and PEQ. You can get some really crazy stuff going there.

It's something about how a tube reacts to saturation and start generating really nice harmonics and then combined with tweaking frequency content that hard that PEQ can do. And on top of that a wah.

Peeuuuuhhh....

[Dean Aka Nekro]

Yes i have a Dunlop Crybaby From Hell wah and simply using one of its numerous voice settings (like a 935Q on steroids!!!) can get some superb vocal/growly type cocked wah things and i love not doing the rhythmic wah/shaft theme thing but odder small movements. We are having a PEQ or at least a loop so we can patch one in i reckon

Cheers lfm dude

[Hink]

We are having a PEQ or at least a loop so we can patch one in i reckon

I actually started to post that I prefer the latter a while ago but changed my mind...an eq patched in can help saturate the power tubes if one desires and would be my prefered option...but that's just me, after a certain point too many eq options is just more ways for me to screw up a good tone

[Dean Aka Nekro]

We are having a PEQ or at least a loop so we can patch one in i reckon

I actually started to post that I prefer the latter a while ago but changed my mind...an eq patched in can help saturate the power tubes if one desires and would be my prefered option...but that's just me, after a certain point too many eq options is just more ways for me to screw up a good tone

Did i send you any of the really heavy down-tuned stuff i did mate? If not let me know and i will send links your way and explain how i get that sound, It very much involves an EQ of sorts that i call The 'djent box'. They are pretty cheap also and can alter the character of most amps so long as it has a series FX Loop

[Uncle E]

1) power

Either 2 x EL84 at 18W or 2 x 6V6 at 22W.

2) controls

In order:
Boost level
Input gain
Treble
Middle
Bass
Reverb
Attenuator Output

3) connections

Input
2 x Speaker Output
1 x XLR Line Level speaker modeled output

4) looks

Black and tan.

5) anything else too of course

1 x 12" and 2 x 10" speaker options
Footswitchable boost
9V DC output for pedals

What has always stopped you buying these cheapo ones?

Tone and dynamic response. Poor quality reverb. Noise.

[bluelife]

Hi people,

thx for all your comments.
Klaus, the guy that is building the amps, has been monitoring the thread and has made lots of notes (he does that a lot).

Currently he is working on a solution, which also entails looking for very good wholsale parts at a reasonable price - meaning also valves, speakers etc.

He did say he is aiming at a 5Watt model at first. Which features it will have I am not sure at the moment.
It will probably be a series of ten at first. I am currently working on my webshop which will offer slide guitars, conversions, handmade parts for building your own delta blues guitars, Ugly Amps (that is what Klaus' creations will be called) and later pickups - both Klaus and his father in law have electronic workshops and a really nice big winding machine with all the frills, winding counter, tension thingy etc. (probably about 40 years old and looks like a lathe:).

We maybe meeting up at the weekend, then perhaps I'll know more,

Cheers

Richard

[bluelife]

Hello Poeple,

as you were kind enough to help with ideas, thought I would keep you up to date.

Klaus and I met at the weekend and are planning the followoing (also due to research on the web):

Some of the infos I have from Klaus and don't know (or understand:) about the actuall reasons for the necessity.

One of our main aims is to provide a tube amp for recording, not just for practicing / small gigs.
It's a head BTW.

General:
3 valves (2 in the pre, 1 in the end)
3/7 Watts (we may increase this), switchable on the back (because you actually should turn the unit off before switching)
Hi / Low input with volume and gain
Bass / Mid / Treble (we are still looking into ways to make this interesting and have something we want to try - variable resistors I think it was)
3 crunch positions, switchable per footswitch
"Boost" button (perhaps switchable per footswitch, we didn't talk about that.)
Reverb (we are looking at a spring or a digital unit) with amount - and because of this we are not adding an FX send

Outputs:
4,8,16 ohm switchable speaker connection
Headphones with volume
DI - XLR balanced, normal 6,3mm plug unbalanced


What it will also have is a trun off speaker switch. The energy will be fed to a component (Klaus said something about this), but the sound on th DI will be the same as the sound which comes out of the speakers - this for recording in the night:)

On / Off, standby.

Important elements will have LEDs.

Think thats everything.

A custom made chasis has been ordered and at first an amp will be built containg all of our ideas and tested. The EQ ideas will be tested to on this unit.

The cabinet will be made of wood.

So, that's it for now

cheers

Richard