ODS 100w build now sounds great!

[Ampnos1]

Long long story short…. I finished my ODS clone build about a month ago (100w 6L6) and absolutely hated the tone from the normal input. With my les paul it was too bright on the treble pickup and too dark on the neck with no middle ground for adjustment using the tone controls. My strat sounded like I had a blanket over the cab. I have a 2x12 cab loaded with 12-65 speakers. The FET input on the other hand sounded great with both guitars so I just used the FET input only but couldn’t let go that the normal input sounded so bad.

I tried numerous things but nothing was working until I got curious about the internal OD trim pot. I originally set it per the 102 layout to 25.5k. I increased the value until I found a sweet spot around 45k and now the amp sounds fantastic. Seems like it blended everything out and now my les paul sounds like I expect it to using either pickup. My strat also sounds good but I still prefer that going to the FET input. Maybe it’s my lack of understanding the amp completely but I’m am surprised at how good it sounds now with such a simple adjustment!!!

[martin manning]

I also find the FET boost is great for punching up SC guitars. Not sure why you had to increase the drive going into the OD section. Maybe some other component value is off, or the tube is weak?

[Ampnos1]

Tried the tube swap first with no success and went completely over the amp 3x’s checking components, bias, etc. I find it odd myself but I am glad I have a usable tone now but still bothers me why that did the trick