The Amp Garage

After having lived with this amp for some time now, I have come to the conclusion that it's just more trebly than I think it should be. Oh, I can get a tone I like, but the presence is almost all the way off and the treble control is barely past noon. That's not the tonal settings I'd prefer and oth...

The industry is shifting toward radial capacitors as they make better use of limited circuit board space. Keep that in mind when building for future sustainability.

I like axials better. But radials are the future.

A friend brought me a blackface 40 watt Bassman that hasn't been plugged in for a very long time. So long that it had to be recapped before even powering it up, the originals were puking. Well, they weren't originals...most were cheap IC caps from the early 90s and they were done. It's had a LOT don...

Windex, real Windex with ammonia, is AWESOME at stripping smoke residue off of electronics. It's good everywhere but not over particle board or MDF so the grille cloth is going to require a more conservative approach than a soaking bath. Spray it on a clean rag, dab it on the grille, pick it up with...

Thanks, I'll probably just leave it be because I like the overdrive I get out of this. I would not really want it to be cleaner. That's not the point of it, not for me. And I have other amps that play really clean at any volume level you might want.

I'm using the APD-8065H power transformer in my Express. Out of an abundance of caution I wired it up using the lower voltage 260V plate winding. This means I don't worry at all about over-voltaging the plates on any EL34s or 6V6s I care to use. Or anything else if I decided to mod for other power t...

I personally am not afraid of power. My practice rig, whichever of most of the amps I own, they're all 100 watters. I've been playing my TWX and my '73 stock Marshall Superlead a lot this week, and they get run with the volume at least halfway up. Because that's where the big tone is hiding. Nobody ...

I revise my estimate...cranked up to about 9 (or 4:30 if you prefer clock faces) is the sweet yet brutal spot.

I've ordered the chassis and transformers to begin two more Wreck builds.

https://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36577

There's my topic on that amp build. Photos included.

Prepping to build three more soon. Maybe up to 5.

Marshall powerbrake, attenuation varies as needed, sometimes I use NONE and just let it rip. Transformers.... Mojotone Mojo791 ATS5200 output. Amp Parts Direct APD-8065H power. Using 2 4x12s is impractical for my customers. I need practical recommendations for tonal response modifications in the cir...

About Orange Drops...there's something about their sound I just don't like. I prefer the MKT1813s. I've also seen a surprising number of Orange Drops that became leaky/shorted. They have a reputation for reliability but I've seen a lot that weren't.

Excessive bass can itself be a symptom of oscillation, in rare instances. Do you have an oscilloscope? Use it to watch for oscillation. I have to say, I don't like those orange drop caps in there very much. I favor MKT1813 series Vishays. They're about as close as you can get to a modern Philips Mus...

Another answer that works well for me....I just use my Mesa horizontal 2x12 cabinet with V30s in it. The darkness of that cabinet has a synergy with the brightness of the amp. It sounds killer....despite them being V30s.

It definitely warms up when run pretty hard. I set the volume to about halfway which IS loud and leave it there. And that's the tonal sweet spot. I run it through an attenuator and use the attenuator as the volume control.

Yes, I'll give that a try. I don't want the "fix" to be something external to the amp. If I make another one like this and sell it to somebody, the last thing I want to do is tell him to find and buy a specific kind of instrument cable to get his desired tone. I guess I'm going to have to experiment...