Metro-Plex clip November 2014

[VelvetGeorge]

I've been refining the design and dialing in the tone. All but finished now. Might make a tweak to compensate for certain speakers yet, but then again might not.



george

[chrisom]

Incredible. Sounds and looks grand. No changes needed IMO. Way to go- Congrats George!

[kdmay]

Sounds better than the Plexi - I got confused at one point!

Real winner George.

[SDM]

Congrats on this design George. Hard to stop tweaking sometimes, but at some point you gotta call it done. Think you can safely call this one done, sounds fantastic. Excellent work my friend.

[VelvetGeorge]

Many thanks!

Thanks for your help on this Steve, I'd still be staring at transistor data sheets trying to figure out the switching if you hadn't. LOL

Big news on this amp that I can't fully reveal yet. A pre-produciton amp is going to a major guitar player for use on his new solo record. I'll let the details out as soon as I get the OK.

george

[Carbia]

Great amp George. One more time, you nailed it

[Velva]

I really dig what you are doing with the master and variac. No need for an attenuator as far as I can tell. Cool design. I have never seen an amp like it. Can't wait to hear one in person...

[Ferrari-Dude]

Hope that thing fits down the chimney. I know what's on my Xmas list.

[OnTheFritz]

Very impressive George!
Not to reveal any of your proprietary designs in the amp, curious if the higher gain is all tube, or any diode clipping like other designs?
Sounds killer in every mode Btw!

[VelvetGeorge]

All tube, three gain stages and the cathode follower. The boost uses a FET though, of course.

The keys to voicing this amp were:

1. Using the '68 half stack as the reference tone.

2. Cutting out narrow bands of frequencies, both to emulate the response of my old cab and to get rid of harsh, modern sounding frequencies.

3. Gain staging. It was really tricky to get the plexi mode and modded mode to work together. I built it up and tore it down many times until I found something I liked.

4. Tweaking the power section, specifically the negative feedback. Making the amp feel right under your fingers, even at low volume, was tricky too.



George

[neikeel]

All tube, three gain stages and the cathode follower. The boost uses a FET though, of course.
The keys to voicing this amp were:
1. Using the '68 half stack as the reference tone.
2. Cutting out narrow bands of frequencies, both to emulate the response of my old cab and to get rid of harsh, modern sounding frequencies.
3. Gain staging. It was really tricky to get the plexi mode and modded mode to work together. I built it up and tore it down many times until I found something I liked.
4. Tweaking the power section, specifically the negative feedback. Making the amp feel right under your fingers, even at low volume, was tricky too.
George

Definitely cracked it!
My humble attempts with my 4-stager were always a compromise between modes, the FET boost works well and footswitch would be perfect for live work.
Of course you are the pro' and I am a tinkerer. I found that JTM type levels of NFB worked best for me.
So - how do I build one like yours?

[tone?]

dude that sounds really Awesome!

Good job George!!!


Bravo!

[rgorke]

Sounds great George!! I hear the older one with more softer edges and the newer is a bit more "eager" is the word that comes to mind. That being said, I wonder how they would sound coming out of the same cabinet? I bet most of what I am hearing is speaker based.

Again great job!!!

Roger

[Grosh_Guitars]

George,

Sounds great. is there anyway you could do a clip where you swap the cabs? The 68 is definitely compressing more but I'm sure it has to do with the difference in speakers in each cab.

[VelvetGeorge]

Sounds great George!! I hear the older one with more softer edges and the newer is a bit more "eager" is the word that comes to mind. That being said, I wonder how they would sound coming out of the same cabinet? I bet most of what I am hearing is speaker based.

Again great job!!!

Roger

Thanks!

The previous clips were through Crossroads, which were rounding the tone off quite a lot. The new clip is through G12H's, which are more bold of course.

george