Damocles Revisions

August 8, 2013, 8:40 am

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I’m experimenting with a different topology now.

I changed things up so that now the blackface channel just uses 2 gain stages with the tone stack in between. This is more like most blackface amps. I thought with the 3 gain stages there might have been a bit too much gain for what I was looking for.

Also, the tweed channel now uses 2 gain stages with the tweed tone control in between. The benefit of this is that the two channels are in phase so you can run the parallel for an extra fat tone.

The two channels are mixed before the PI. The tweed channel has a master volume because it is so much louder than the blackface channel.
It’s nice having tweed and blackface tones in one amp but I’m still working on this one and it might all change again….

Here’s that schematic:

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Still Working On the Damocles

August 23, 2013, 9:28 am

≫ Next: Latest Damocles Schematic

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I’ve been messing with this amp more and ended up changing the topology again. Right now I have it so there is a 2 gain stage black face channel with the tone stack in between. In addition to that there is a switch that can add two cascaded gain stages with a gain control and tone knob before the black face channel to add a bunch of gain. The switch also adds the master volume and alters the tone stack.

I think I’ll be sticking to this topology since it makes for a nice clean channel and a relatively high gain channel. I’m still tweaking component values but I think I’m close to calling this one done.

Latest Damocles Schematic

August 25, 2013, 1:24 pm

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After much soldering I think I might be done. I have two OD gain stages that can be switched in front of the Fender-like clean channel. In OD mode there is a good amount of gain available. Here is the schematic:

Since this used to be a Dumble type amp I had some switches available so, of course, I have to come up with something. The Brit/American switch in the tone stack is actually pretty handy. It changes the tone stack from something close to a Blackface type to something close to a Marshall. I’ve found that in OD mode in the American setting you can turn down the mids and get close to that high gain, scooped mids Mesa sound or in Marshall mode you can get a pretty good high gain Marshall sound. I think that somewhat strange topology lends it self to being able to go Marshall or Mesa.

Another good sound is with the tone stack in American mode and switching in the OD circuit with the the OD set to low. With a strat you can get some really nice, just breaking up sounds. With this setting having the tone control on the overdrive comes in handy too.

It’s a pretty versatile amp and can get a lot of good tones but my problem now is that its a combo and I’m not crazy about the speakers I have. I’m not going to go buy 2 12s just for this so I think I’m going to build some sort of head cab for it so I can use it with my good speaker cabinets.

I’m also considering putting a choke in it. I think it would really be a good addition.

Here is a gut shot. It could be cleaner but not too bad considering how much experimenting went in to this one (and that is started out as a Crate Blue Voodoo).

That transformer inside the chassis is a “bucking” transformer to bring the voltages down a bit. The stock Crate power transformer got me a little over 500v on the plates and I wanted to lower it. The bucking transformer works great.

Damocles Head Cabinet

August 27, 2013, 6:53 am

≫ Next: Revisiting and Simplifying The Loco Fiasco

≪ Previous: Latest Damocles Schematic

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Here is the head cabinet I made for this amp. It’s shelving boards, drawer handle and floor molding. I have no wood working skills so I do what I can

Revisiting and Simplifying The Loco Fiasco

September 10, 2013, 8:00 am

≫ Next: Back to Basics with the Loco Fiasco

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I recently tried another design in my test chassis but it didn’t turn out so well.
I ended up putting it back to the Loco Fiasco design but I ended up making some changes. I simplified it a great deal. It’s pretty basic now but I like it better. Less is more!

It’s still the basic topology but with out the NFB and bypass cap on the second triode. A few other changes too.

I’m going to try and do a clip soon.

Back to Basics with the Loco Fiasco

September 22, 2013, 7:52 pm

≫ Next: Fiasco Tweaks

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After going down the modification rabbit hole with this amp I ended up putting things back to how I had them, pretty close to the original schematic.

It’s a nice simple amp now and sounds pretty good with humbuckers or single coils.

This is the latest and maybe the final:

Fiasco Tweaks

September 26, 2013, 6:38 am

≫ Next: Blue Moon Lite Clip

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Generally I’m still happy with the Loco Fiasco after playing it for a few days.

I tried to do a little recording with it and I think I might need to do a slight tweak to reduce the low end a little. Currently it works pretty well with a strat but with my Les Paul I think it has too much bass in the distorted tone. I’m going to try and bring the first cathode bypass cap down from 22uF to 2.2uF and see how that is. That will also reduce preamp gain a bit and could be good for promoting more power amp overdrive.

Blue Moon Lite Clip

October 4, 2013, 5:57 pm

≫ Next: The 5E3 Park LE

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Here’s a little clip of my Blue Moon Lite. It’s a 18 watt TMB type amp.

This is the schematic:

And this is the clip:
Blue Moon Lite with a Les Paul

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The 5E3 Park LE

October 5, 2013, 5:35 pm

≫ Next: Slow on the Amp Building Front

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I’m trying out a new circuit in my test chassis. It’s based on the Park LE 1231 and 1273. Park amps were made by Marshall and some shared Marshall circuits and some didn’t. This one didn’t. It has 3 gain stages and a cathodyne PI.

Here are the original schematics.
http://www.chasingtone.com/schematics/PPl25/park_20wt-1231.pdf
http://www.chasingtone.com/schematics/PPl25/park_20wt-1273.pdf

And here is my schematic:

The preamp is pretty close, the PI and output section are a little different as is the power rail. One straight out mod I did was adding a mid boost switch that puts a .001 cap parallel to the treble cap in the tone stack. I think this sounds better for overdriven tones.

I think it sounds pretty good. I’m considering build one with EL84s like the original. With the 250p bright cap on the volume pot its pretty bright at low volume but it’s not as bright as you turn it up.

I did a couple video clips.

This is a Les Paul, the mid boost engaged and going through my 1×12 with a Vintage 30. I’m going for a straight rock sound in this one.

This is one with a strat and then Les Paul going into my 2×12 with a Celestion 70th Anniversary and WGS Retro 30.

Slow on the Amp Building Front

November 26, 2013, 9:29 am

≫ Next: Park LE + JCM5E3 + Blue Moon Lite + Mimosa Mash Up

≪ Previous: The 5E3 Park LE

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I haven’t been doing much with amps these past few weeks. I’m doing some schoolin’ so the home work and classes are really biting into my soldering time.  Even so, I’m slowly building up a list of things I would like to do.

• Add a master volume to the Park and maybe redo it with EL84s.

• In the Club Dawg change the voltage divider before the PI to a fixed value and add the Brit/American tone stack switch from the Damocles.

• Speaking of the Damocles, I really like it since it can get so many different tones but at about 50 watts it’s pretty loud. I was thinking about building a lower watt version with 6BM8/6F3P power tubes.

I don’t know when I’ll get around to any of these things, maybe after the holidays…

Park LE + JCM5E3 + Blue Moon Lite + Mimosa Mash Up

December 10, 2013, 10:15 am

≫ Next: Built a Theremin!

≪ Previous: Slow on the Amp Building Front

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Over the Christmas holidays I’ll be taking a little break from school so I’m thinking about doing a little amp project. This would be a redo of the Blue Moon Lite by combining it with ideas from the Park LE and my old JCM5E3 and Mimosa.

The concept would be 3 cascaded gain stages and the ability to choose one of 2 tone stacks.  Choosing the tone stack in front of the PI should produce more preamp gain while choosing the first tone stack would reduce preamp gain and be more of a clean sound.  So I’m hoping it would behave like a two channel amp.

The controls would be fairly simple, just the switch, a volume, master volume and a dual gang pot that would work for the treble control in both tone stacks.

This is my idea for the schematic:

 

 

Built a Theremin!

January 6, 2014, 8:33 am

≫ Next: Clip of my Minimum Theremin 101

≪ Previous: Park LE + JCM5E3 + Blue Moon Lite + Mimosa Mash Up

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It’s not a guitar amp but it’s a something I had wanted to do for a long time and finally got around to it.

I had originally planned on building a tube based theremin, and maybe someday I still will, but for my first theremin I went with a kit. I build the 2006 Minimum Theremin from Art’s Theremin page.

The kit was very well organized and I got the whole thing going in a couple hours. I built it in an old carving knife box and i think it came out pretty well.

As far as playing it, it’s hard! Trying to play a real melody will take some practice. I did hook it up to my Guitar Pod and set it on the Orange amp model with some delay and I was knee deep in Whole Lotta Love!

I’ll get some pics and maybe a clip up soon.

Clip of my Minimum Theremin 101

January 13, 2014, 9:03 am

≫ Next: Park LE with EL84s

≪ Previous: Built a Theremin!

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This is a quick clip I made with my tablet. The sound is not that good but it gives an idea what it sounds like. Lately I have been running it through my TMC1 and using a Chandler Tube Overdrive. That gets a a cool sound but there are no other effects so I need to get some effect options happening. I gotta have that crazy delay!

In the clip it’s going through my computer speakers using a Line6 Guitar Pod with effects.

Park LE with EL84s

January 31, 2014, 8:02 am

≫ Next: Revisiting the Loco Fiasco Yet Again with a Different PI

≪ Previous: Clip of my Minimum Theremin 101

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I think I’m pretty much done with my Park redo.

I ended up keeping it pretty close to stock. It has some different values, mostly in the PI, and a mid boost switch, same as on my 6V6 version. I also put in a switch to turn off the negative feedback. It’s sounding really nice now.

This is the schematic:

Revisiting the Loco Fiasco Yet Again with a Different PI

February 10, 2014, 2:04 pm

≫ Next: Schematic Heaven

≪ Previous: Park LE with EL84s

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Since the original Loco Fiasco design eventually morphed into the Park LE I’m thinking about taking another crack at it. However, I’m pretty much done with the cathodyne PI for now.

Now I’m thinking of using an LTP PI with the first two stages of the Trainwreck Express. I’d be leaving out the 3rd 10k stage but I’m hoping I would still be able to capture some Trainwreck vibe with this simpler design. I’m planing on leaving off the NFB so that should add back some gain.

This is what I’m thinking:

It’s very similar to a Fender Blackface sort of thing.

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Schematic Heaven

March 11, 2014, 9:38 am

≫ Next: A Clean Bench Might Mean New Amps

≪ Previous: Revisiting the Loco Fiasco Yet Again with a Different PI

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The site that is hosting schematic heaven says that Schematic Heaven will go away by the end of the month. Chasing Tone has a mirror site here.

There are a couple ads to hopefully help cover the cost of hosting. Not sure how much traffic it’s going to take so we’re sort of playing it by ear. It would be a shame if those schematics just want away into the the ether of the interwebs.

A Clean Bench Might Mean New Amps

April 7, 2014, 9:29 am

≫ Next: One Knob Tone Control Palooza

≪ Previous: Schematic Heaven

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I just spent most of last weekend cleaning off my bench and the surrounding disaster area. Over the last few months it became the dumping zone for whatever we didn’t want in the house. Now that’s its cleaned up I would like to get soldering again.

I have a few ideas but I’m leaning toward something with big bottle tubes, EL34s or 6L6s. Maybe single ended. I haven’t done a big bottle ,single ended amp and I would like to try out a high gain preamp.

One Knob Tone Control Palooza

April 10, 2014, 8:25 am

≫ Next: Damocles Head Cabinet

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At Chasing Amp Tone we put up a list of one knob tone controls. It has some standards, such as the Tweed tone control that was in a ton of old Fender amps and some more obscure ones.

It’s fun stuff to experiment with when building amps and wanting to do something a bit different. Besides the tone controls, there are mid and bass controls too so you can play mix and match and come up with a whole “tone stack”.

Check out the list here.

Damocles Head Cabinet

August 27, 2013, 6:53 am

≫ Next: High Gain Build with Clean Channel

≪ Previous: One Knob Tone Control Palooza

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Here is the head cabinet I made for this amp. It’s shelving boards, drawer handle and floor molding. I have no wood working skills so I do what I can

High Gain Build with Clean Channel

April 30, 2014, 10:29 am

≫ Next: Making Progress on the High Gain Build

≪ Previous: Damocles Head Cabinet

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I’ve started working on a high gain build based on the SLO. I’m planning on using just 3 6N2Ps and a pair of Russian 6P3S-E’s though I’ll try other 6L6 type tubes to see how they sound.

This is the schematic so far. The lead channel is based on the Soldano while the clean channel is an attempt to keep the tube count and complexity down but still have something useful.

This should be fun build since I haven’t tried one with this much gain before.