Mod advice please

[LP's Rock]

I'm planning on making a few changes (one at a time) to change the flavour of mt stock Metro 50. What I'm ultimately hoping for is a more raw (distorted) sound at a volume that I can use with my band.

My first step will be to change the pre amp tubes. I plan to use an RFT in V1, a Tungsol in V2, and a Bugle Boy in V3. I am told this will let the sound break up earlier.

My second step is to change the can caps from 50 uf X 50 uf to 16 uf X 16 uf. A friend of mine who works a lot with old Marshall & Traynor amps tells me that this will give me a vintage "brown" sound.

The final step will be to install the LarMar PPIMV mod.

Do these mods make sense? I am open to other suggestions.

Thanks

[54strat]

Have a Lar/Mar MV in my Marshall 50 and love it. It's a 73 with the 50/50 cans.
Running a Heath/Mullard in V-1 and a couple of RCA 7025's in the other two spots.
A good master volume will help get a good tone at a lower volume regardless of other changes.

[LP's Rock]

Perhaps the better choice would be to add the Lar/Mar before I mess with the caps????????????

[54strat]

Like a lot of other people that have installed the LarMarMV, I love it. Having good glass is worth going for, but I have no experience with the lower value caps. But putting the MV in my old Marshall has made my little amps sit around and collect dust.

[PCollen]

Leave the amp alone. Buy a distortion stomp box. Everyone uses outboard distortion, even Billy Gibbons and Jeff Beck although they are usually discretly out of sight.

[54strat]

Ah come PCollen....where's the fun in leaving it alone. Tinkering with amps is too much fun! I tinker with my amp AND use two different distortion pedals....even more fun!

[LP's Rock]

I'm already running 3 distortion pedals in front but what you don't get is the "Marshall" (or should I say Metroamp) distortion. I'm assuming that by installing the MV I will have the best of both worlds. Either run it flat out with the MV backed off or bring it back to 5 (where it is now) and use some pedals. Isn't variety the spice of life? Fingers crossed. The surgery should be complete within a week or so.

[54strat]

I run the front end on mine around 6-7 where you hit that sweet spot, and back the MV off about a third to half-way down depending on the room. Use a Boss DS-1 and Ibanez TS-9. I really think you will like the MV.

[LP's Rock]

Right now I'm using a Boss Metalzone, a Marshall Guvnor, and a cheap Danelectro to get some varied sounds. The amp can only be set to 5 and it isn't really breaking up. The nice part about the MV is that I figure I can just roll of the guitar volume and still use the pedals. Lot's of sounds which is good for a cover band.

[Coot Boy]

I run the front end on mine around 6-7 where you hit that sweet spot, and back the MV off about a third to half-way down depending on the room. Use a Boss DS-1 and Ibanez TS-9. I really think you will like the MV.

I run my pre on 6 as well but I have the master on 10 then just use the guitar volume, pedals are such a last resort, if you want the amp to sound it's best pedals will just get in the way. I know, I know, I'm out on a limb here

[neikeel]

I think that you will find 16uFs across the board much too low.

Keep 100 on the mains, use a dual 32 in the pre amp, a 16uF on the screens and 32uG in the PI (I believe F&T have a 16/32 can).

This will give the similar filtering to a 68 100watt (a la VH) but the 100uF on the mains will help keep out a lot of mains hum and ghosting.

Yes, I think the LarMar is useful as long as you appreciate that like most MVs (and to be honest most attenuators) do not sound quite as good at really low volumes (like < 2/10 on the dail) as you need to get the speakers working a little too

[LP's Rock]

Well the MV is installed and it seems to work perfectly. Started off with some JJ's in V1,2,3 and sounded good but when I put a NOS RFT in V1 and some Tungsols in V2,3 the sound really opened up. Hello Angus. Vol 1 on 7 and MV at 5 is a real sweet spot. I think I'll just mess with tubes for a while and leave the caps alone for now.

Question regarding biasing the amp with the MV. Do I need to have the volume at 0 and the MV at 10 while biasing? I'm reading 440 at the HT fuse but am having trouble getting readings that make sense at the bias resistors.

[54strat]

Yes, when biasing your MV should be on 10 and everything else on 0. At 440 volts your bias should be around 39mv. What are you seeing?

[LP's Rock]

Right now I'm not seeing anything. I bought a new multimeter and I'm trying to sort it out. Not being a real "electronics" guy I figured that it would either be self explanatory or I would just read the instruction booklet. Well the instructions are not as clear as I would like and the control panel is nothing but symbols. I'll figure it out.

Thanks for the help.