Stock 68 spec W/2"OT and such...

[harddriver]

What type of difference do you hear with the chicklet cap on V2A versus the standard Mustard cap? Does is give more open tone as you describe?

I hear them being a bit more aggressive in tone ala less smooth than the standard Mustard cap by my ears in the V1A position. Contemplating installing another in V2A. Curious as to what your ears hear?

[Strat78]

What type of difference do you hear with the chicklet cap on V2A versus the standard Mustard cap? Does is give more open tone as you describe?

I hear them being a bit more aggressive in tone ala less smooth than the standard Mustard cap by my ears in the V1A position. Contemplating installing another in V2A. Curious as to what your ears hear?

I'm still torn on this, the V2A cap is more open for sure with a chicklet, but a mustard is a little sweeter there. I have an old 1.5uf chicklet there right now but I'm not quite sure what I think of that yet. As far as the mid pot being a PEC, I'm going back to an Alpha there and possibly switching the 1M pots to PEC types, like in the 12xxx that George is cloning. Still, perhaps the original PEC pots had a different carbon makeup than the new. There is a great thread on this somewhere her. Oh, here it is:
http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php ... pha+carbon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Strat78]

Getting ready to pack all my gear up for it's new home in a storage unit. Did a quick clip to see how the NOS amp sounds before I box it up. Don't know if this clip does it justice, but other than it being a little stiff with the 2.7k resistor instead of the 820R, I think it's pretty much where I want it to be.
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12364173" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[vanhalen5150]

Sounds pretty much right on. I hear what you mean by the stiffness.

[rgalpin]

awesome. the only problem with that is that the clip is not longer! i coulda sat and listened to that for a good long while. sounds great. man, man, man... nice!!

so, 2.7k at v1b is stiffer than 820? that's good to know. so many times the comparisons between 2 values of a component are much more nebulous and up for debate. it's nice when there is a simple rule like that that can be applied.

[Strat78]

Almost like a coked out rockabilly tone, but the cool thing about keeping the amp a little on the stiff side, opens a whole world of dynamics via sag and front end push and aggression from the pick. I don't know if you can tell from the clip, but the tones is sweet from top to bottom. Once you introduce an MXR 6B that goes away, so I still can't bring myself to plop some sort of boost after the guitar. The plates were down to 354 with the bias at 2.50 (1.64 was the correct formulated target for biasing without a 1ohm resistor), still, this variac thing is not changing things all that much. Try this: crank your amp and jam away, reach over and turn it off, but continue to play. There is a point where the tone is quite beautiful as the sound fades away. It is articulate yet saggy, crispy, fizzly and warm, that is what I thought the variac should be emulating, but it does not at 90V. Tubes be dammed, next time I'm going to drop the variac even more and see if I can recreate that phenomena.

[garbeaj]

Almost like a coked out rockabilly tone, but the cool thing about keeping the amp a little on the stiff side, opens a whole world of dynamics via sag and front end push and aggression from the pick.

This right here is the soul of what a great amp should do. This is the nexus of where your right hand technique and your left hand fingers meet with the amp to produce the best self-expression. Better to err on the side of a slightly "harder to play" (for lack of a better term) or "stiff" sound (closer to this "rockabilly" area rather than super high gain and high sustain hair metal crap) and let your fingers push the amp. At least that's my opinion...

I don't know if you can tell from the clip, but the tones is sweet from top to bottom.

I can hear it.

[vanhalen5150]

Dropping the variac down even further is only hard based on the heater decrease. This all goes back to a the Variplex with the second small tranny for the heaters.

I'm not implying anything about a second variac sitting on top of said amp...but...I'm saying, there was a second variac always sitting on top of said amp......

[vanhalen5150]

"Nebulous" and "Nexus".

[Strat78]

awesome. the only problem with that is that the clip is not longer! i coulda sat and listened to that for a good long while. sounds great. man, man, man... nice!!

so, 2.7k at v1b is stiffer than 820? that's good to know. so many times the comparisons between 2 values of a component are much more nebulous and up for debate. it's nice when there is a simple rule like that that can be applied.

I would say it makes the notes a little thicker and fast, like before you hit the note it's feels like it is already coming out the cab. That makes soloing psychologically a little uncooperative and naked if you are out of practice. But it's the 2.7k/xxk mid pot combo that change the characteristics of the amp in a good way. The 820k seemed to be a booger from hell, pinching the tone down to a nasally bleat. I think the stiffness can be plied and tenderized in other ways. Still I had the amp on about 8, a hair before the big squish starts. I don't know what I'm doing half the time.

[garbeaj]

"Nebulous" and "Nexus".

[Tone Slinger]

Sounded damn good there Strat ! Loved the improv going on there. Regardless of the tone or the song, THATS musicianship .

So if your stuff is going in a storage facility, are you gonna have it set up and ready to play (soundproofing the room like band practice ) or is it just gonna be 'stored' .

[efraser68]

Getting ready to pack all my gear up for it's new home in a storage unit somewhere in Virginia. Did a quick clip to see how the NOS amp sounds before I box it up. Don't know if this clip does it justice, but other than it being a little stiff with the 2.7k resistor instead of the 820R, I think it's pretty much where I want it to be.
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12364173" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fuckin amazing playing and tone there Phil

[stef]

[emmjaydubya]

Wow Phil, sick tone as usual. Is this the brand new NOS or the rebuilt one? I hope to get this close one day...