Metropoulos Forum

made a couple of clips with the variac hooked up. Got it about 85 VAC. I don't think it changed the sound very much. Amp still works all the way down to about 50 volts but pretty much sounds the same .

https://soundcloud.com/lbrown3743/variac-at-85vac


https://soundcloud.com/lbrown3743/les-paul-variac-85vac

Sounds a little over saturated. Have you tried dialing back the volume to like 8 or so. You have plenty of gain. Sometimes the last two clicks on the dial add too much.

At first I thought your mic may be clipping. I realized one thing in your chain that does increase gain. Its the THD Hotplate. At low levels those attenuators will add gain especially in the higher frequencies. I got rid of mine for that reason. Also try it with the bright switch off. Its almost a buzzy sound from those I found. The UA attenuator was even worse.

There is really mo way to win. Im going to try and open it up soon without the hotplate and see how it sounds. Im getting alot more gain from the boss GE-10. Sounds like a completly different amp without it. I cant play without that thing anymore. Im going to put in a master volume In the 69 im building now.

I would get a better attenuator at this point, and maybe do a little bit of tweaking in the amp, perhaps just some different brands of caps and resistors in a couple of spots. These style of amps don't lend themselves to the kind of easy gain shred machines that rock guitar players naturally trend towards. The 12xxx is a swingin' riff monster by itself once it is dialed in. I've always found that the GE-10 turn the 12xxx into a KK Downing special, not that there is anything wrong with that.

Ill start moding it once I get a few more hours on it. Which attenuator would you recommend?

Lbrown3743 wrote:Ill start moding it once I get a few more hours on it. Which attenuator would you recommend?

I wouldn't mod it, just try some different brands and makes of caps and resistors. The old Alex attenuators are good or even a Power Brake with the Ralle mod is good. The Fryette thing that just came out sounds intriguing but I've heard of at least one braking and have yet to hear any convincing demos.

I have a bunch of different coupling caps on order. Im thinking about putting .1 in the PI and a .0022 in V1b. I have mostly mustards installed now but im really liking the sound of Mallorys. They are way cheaper and I think sound better. Im think that sozo caps might be a complete rip off and have no effect on the sound.

alright check it. fired up the old 12 series tonight for the first time in a while. Made a Vh style Riffage clip. Running a wet dry setup through a pcm 80.
https://soundcloud.com/lbrown3743/15-ap ... -12-series

Explain what was used in this set-up and how you hooked it up. Mic-ing and recording an amp ALWAYS changes the 'In The Room' sound, always making things sound 'slightly' tighter and compressed as well as adding a certain midrange (in a good way though).
I'd be interested in hearing this amp (ran at 65v) by way of a cell-phone vid. Many say that a cell-phone degrades the 'in the room tone', but imo, a cell-phone more accurately captures an amps TRUE sound better than a recording mic/software setup.

By the way, the amp sounds REAL GOOD. What is the circuit values, and cap brands, etc ?

Ill record a clip with the Cell phone tonight after work. I have the 12 series variaced to around 65 volts turned all the way up and run into a THD hotplate then into 1960bx cab (1). Then I have a line out from the THD hotplate run into a phase 90 then through the Lexicon PCM-80. From there it goes into the effects return of another plexi then into another 1960ax cab (2). Both cabs are next to each other and each mic'd with SM-57's into a tascam and recorded with Garageband.

The amp specs are all normal. Mostly Mustard caps. Zoso on the v1 and V2 cathodes.

alright..just a cell phone mic in the room.

https://soundcloud.com/lbrown3743/12-se ... -recording

Very nice sounding, thanks for that. The sound reminds me a little of my Metro 12xxx when I just had the Lar/Mar ppimv on it. I later cascaded the front end (ala Mod5) and lost that 'rubbery feel and more open dynamic' . I think this lower voltage 'Stock' spec (no master volume)may be a tad less compressed as compared to a ppimv ran low though. Again,Great tone and love the cool evhesque vibe you conjure with those 'rolling and rubbery' legato runs

Thanks man.

amazing tone!