New express clone----Clip Inside----

[snide]

Hi all,

My friend Kevin and I, just finished his A1a build. We got a quick down and dirty clip with Kevin playing his ES335 with EMG active pickups. Please excuse my feeble attempts at mixing as I don't know how this will sound on average computer speakers. Now the equipment list:

Tascam DP01FX digital recorder
Shure SM57
Detuned port cabinet with 1X12 G12H30

Let me know if the mix sounds bad and I will try to redo it.

Eric

[Moose]

Considering we all want to hear the amp, I suggest remixing it with the guitar more in the foreground. It's pretty buried behind the rhythm track and I'd love to hear it out front, more clearly.

Good recording and playing. Thanks for sharing.

[loverocker]

It's easy to hear clearly on headphones.

Sounds pretty good (though it's not a style of playing I really get). What amp Volume setting was that? Any chance of some bluesy clippage?

[snide]

The amp settings were:
Vol-12 oclock
Treb-11
Mid-2
Bass-3
Pres-9

The amp sounded real good in person and also I forgot to mention, it was running thru a THD hotplate at 16db down! My friend (Kevin) who played this clip is not much into the blues per se, Santana is more his cup of tea. I will ask him if he wants to lay down a more bluesy track. We had the preamp loaded with old RCA tubes but we swapped those out for some newer Sovteks and JJ's. It sounds even better now.

[Allynmey]

Clip sounds good! Nice sustain...I will have to listen through headphones later. You used the A1a version. any changes? Do you have a layout you want to share with the huddled masses?

Allynmey

[loverocker]

The amp settings were:
Vol-12 oclock
Treb-11
Mid-2
Bass-3
Pres-9

Interesting - that's quite a bit of gain for 12oclock. I'd made an 18W Liverpool clone and that also has a lot of gain pretty early on the Volume dial. I've never seen/heard a real Trainwreck to know if this is a 'signature Trainwreck feature'

I'm not complaining though - because this is the tone and response I've been looking for - but I think I need to fine tune my version to get more variability out of the Volume control. I might experiment with a dual pot, with the second element used as a voltage divider later in the circuit.

[tubedogsmith]

A nice slow taper audio pot is essential for the volume control. Replacing the 1meg with a 500k pot with a 470k resistor in series with the wiper will spread out the taper as well.

[ampdoc1]

Hello all,

I just listened to Snide's clip and the general tone reminded me very much of the first Xpress clone I built last year. Attached is a clip my friend David Craton made in his home studio.
In this amp I used a variable resistor to reduce the heater voltages on the output tubes for varying the output; this recording was made at about 5 watts clean power. The guitar is a Parker Fly, the speaker a Rivera sealed Thiel cab with an EV-12L, and an SM57 mic was used. The overall sound was mixed and some echo added, while the guitar was played live through a Johnson J Station for reverb.

DEH

[loverocker]

Nice clippage, ampdoc1 Makes me think that I'd love to hear Jeff Beck through a Wreck... And you guys have reinforced my plan to make an Express to go with my 18W Liverpool 'experiment'

tubedogsmith - thanks for the tip on the Volume pot mod - I'll try that idea on my Express build.

[MSS]

Great sample.

Can you tell us the amp settings and speakers used? What was the the "adjusted" filament voltage during the recording?

Thanks

MSS

[ampdoc1]

Thanks for the kind words. The speaker was a Rivera, tuned, sealed box with an Electro Voice EV-12L. I really don't know the amp settings but generally I used the amp ~ with the volume @ 1:00, treble @ 9:00, mid @ 10:00; bass @ 3:00; presence @ 12:00. The voltage on the power tube heaters was continuously variable down to ~ 3VAC, but I think this was set at ~ 4VAC which gave about 5 watts clean sine wave out.
On another note I should clarify that this design was "bastardized". I used a 12AU7 for V1, and a 12AT7 for V2, to reduce hiss. I also added an additional gain stage between the normal V1 and V2 tubes (with the unused 1/2 of V2) to enable a LITTLE preamp distortion. Also I added a master volume control. All of these changes were made to "tame" the output. While I like the unadulterated TW sound, it is just too loud for my music room.
But I think the important lesson is that as much as I changed the design, it still sounds very similar to a "standard" (if there is such a thing) TW.
Concerning the variable heaters, I've had a lively discussion re the wisdom of using reduced heater voltages on the power tubes at :
FIREBOTTLE:AMPAGE: GUITAR AMPS:DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION FORUM:MULTI WATTAGEW AMP IDEAS

DEH

[snide]

Ampdoc1,

Your clip does sound very nice. And the amps do sound quite similar. I think if we had backed off the gain on our clip, they would sound very close indeed. We first tried the .002uf/150K combination on the third stage but the amp sounded like sh*t so we had to go with .0047uf/68K and that made a huge difference (makes me think we have a 5K OT). The speaker cab is homemade per Kevin O'Connners plans. This thing sounds real good with alot of bass if you want it

Eric

[ampdoc1]

Snide,

Thanks for the kind comments; your great clip inspired me to send this along. It's funny how many different small ways this circuit can be modified and still retain the great overall tone and dynamics. I used the .002/150k combo and it works well for me,.. but then again I cut the gain of the first two triode sections before that, then jacked it up a little in the next section.
I'm looking for some speaker box info, do you have a link to the Kevin O'Conner plans, or is this from one of his books?

DEH

[snide]

Ampdoc1,

The cabinet plans came out of one of his books. It is a small guide to building speaker cabs. The only thing I don't like about the cabinet we built is, that it's huge for a 1X12. Let me know if you would like to get dimensions, etc.

Eric

[basicaudio]

If you could post the cab dimentions that would be great!

Thanks

John