Brown Sound for $600

johnnybgoood · Post by **johnnybgoood** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:35 pm

See attached for sound evaluation and layout. All of the ideas implemented into this amp were taken off the web and belong to the public domain to be shared freely. This is for anyone considering building an amp from scratch.

I needed a relatively low-cost amp to be able to record guitar at very low volumes. Most of the amps and guitar software out there just wasn't cutting it. I didn't get enought usable sounds rolling off on the guitar's volume knob. I managed to build a 50 watt tube amp for exactly $609.

I used the 2203/2204 preamp schematic for extra gain and I decided on lower filtering for a looser feel. The PI filter is 100 uf (50+50 joined with a 10 ohm resistor.) I used present-day caps. The transistors manufactured today are much more reliable compared to vintage parts.

The one unique element I added was to apply the filter caps in series and place them into the smaller and more portable chassis of a 50 watt. I utilized the inside walls of the chassis to secure the caps as Marshall did for their early JTM 45's. The main reason for applying the mains and screens in series was for ripple reduction.

The DAW used was Reaper and the VST Plugins applied were an EQ to cut out the highs and lows, Ambience Reverb, and a master limiter.

The guitar was a Strat with a basic Alnico V Humbucker. The mic was an SM57 centered exactly on the speaker cap and placed flush on the cloth.

The voltage on Pin 3 on both V4 and V5 was reading at 434dcv.

BIAS
67% X 25 (EL34 PLATE DISSIPATION)
divided by B+ Voltage 434 = 38mA

The sound clip is a comparison with a very brief guitar part of VHI's Jamie's Crying.

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:42 pm

Not bad, pretty good sounding there

.

guitar007 · Post by **guitar007** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:40 pm

Sounds fantastic! Is that straight in?

ttowne · Post by **ttowne** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:39 pm

Sounds great!. How long did it take you to build this? What were your Vol/Tone settings?

johnnybgoood · Post by **johnnybgoood** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:23 pm

guitar007 wrote:Sounds fantastic! Is that straight in?

Guitar was plugged strait into the amp with a 20' cable.

ttowne wrote:Sounds great!. How long did it take you to build this? What were your Vol/Tone settings?

It took roughly about a week to complete working on and off. Volume & Tone settings were as follows:

Presence: 10
Bass: 10
Middle: 10
Treble: 7
Volume: 10
Gain: 4
PPIMV: 1

Thanks!!

ttowne · Post by **ttowne** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:12 pm

Can you run another pass on Jamie's with the bass at 2 and the gain on 3?

fhn_lopes · Post by **fhn_lopes** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 7:56 am

Man, indeed sounded very good! Clean build too

It sounds like a mod5 amp but with a more organic feel, more RAW if you know what I mean. I'm starting to like those cascaded tones, damn that's ripping!

Strange that those cascaded preamps and low filtering usually sound flubby with bass on 10 (eg 1959RR), but yours behaved very well! Congrats, excellent tone.

ttowne · Post by **ttowne** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 5:49 pm

Definitely raw and damn near perfect IMO. Just a little too much gain and bass for JC but the timbre and tone are spot on. What brand PAF???

johnnybgoood · Post by **johnnybgoood** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 3:59 pm

ttowne wrote:Can you run another pass on Jamie's with the bass at 2 and the gain on 3?

See newly attached mp3. Bass on 2 and gain slightly under 3.

ttowne wrote:What brand PAF???

Pickup is a Zebra-coil Burstbucker Pro Bridge Alnico 5, 2 Conductor, Wax Potted

ttowne · Post by **ttowne** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:54 pm

JB

Sweet....I guess I asked for a little too much bass reduction LOL. By the sounds of the last version it would sound most accurate somewhere in the middle of these two runs. GREAT JOB on this amp man!!!!

johnnybgoood · Post by **johnnybgoood** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 7:58 pm

I put the amp to the test by playing Eruption and a little bit of the intro to Mean Street. I think it holds up. PPIMV is set only at one.

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 10:59 pm

Being totally honest, that tone is a trade off of sorts. On the one hand, you got that 'extra' something in the gain dept. (v1 cascade), but on the other hand, you got the side effects of the cascade, which imo are a touch of brittleness and harshness.
But to put it in perspective, I see it like this, THIS spec is contained within a single chassis, where as 'similar' tones to this need attenuation, which is extra cables and 30 to 60 extra lbs, plus set up time. REAL good tone and playing there

.

fhn_lopes · Post by **fhn_lopes** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 8:30 am

I dunno why, but Jamie's clip sound so right and this last MS one sounds so out....

ttowne · Post by **ttowne** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:04 pm

Yeah, rather than lead clips I'd like to hear some more clips like FYLT, the intros to ITO, ATBL and LD.

The settings on the first clip would probably work best on ON FIRE. Where the "in between" (Bass on 7 and gain on 3 ) setting I suggested would likely sound best on most of the rest. When the bass was lowered the second clip came out sounding too mid rangey.

fhn_lopes · Post by **fhn_lopes** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 2:39 pm

Yeah, but that chunky low E thing is there in spades at JIC clip...

can't get this in my amp.

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Brown Sound for $600

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