220K/150K plates

[james21789]

Hey everybody,

I just put in the 220K/150K symmetrical plates for v1 and v2 into my d lite 44 with verb. I used riken carbon comps. I'm in love with the cleans. Very sparkly and not as 'tight' (in a good way). The OD is interesting, much more american/fender-esque in the break up, much more distorted. While getting outrageous feedback tones for half an hour was fun, I feel I prefer the smoother distortion I got with the previous set-up. I originally intended to buy enough for resistors to try riken in the stock d'lite, but I forgot one resistor...uff.

Anyway, my question to you all-

Is there another mod I should do to 'tame' the symmetrical plate set up? Or should I just switch v2 back to stock value dales?

Thanks,

James

[Structo]

The RN65D Dales are the preferred plate resistor on the ODS amps.

[tubedogsmith]

Are those values different than what was in it before and did you change your cathode resistors as well?

[Bob-I]

The RN65D Dales are the preferred plate resistor on the ODS amps.

The high plate amps didn't have RN65's, just metal film.

[Structo]

Aren't RN65's metal film?

I like'em.

[Bob-I]

Aren't RN65's metal film?

I like'em.

Yes, and I had one amp that I used metal films, then swapped to RN65 and it made a huge difference.

What I meant was that any quality metal film resistor should sound great.

[james21789]

Are those values different than what was in it before and did you change your cathode resistors as well?

Riiiight, forgot about that part. I just changed the cathode resistors to match v1. Sounds good, but the carbon comps are just noisy and not as smooth...I'm going to switch back to the Dales, still keeping the 150k/220k set up and see if I like it better than the stock set up.

[ayan]

Are those values different than what was in it before and did you change your cathode resistors as well?

Riiiight, forgot about that part. I just changed the cathode resistors to match v1. Sounds good, but the carbon comps are just noisy and not as smooth...I'm going to switch back to the Dales, still keeping the 150k/220k set up and see if I like it better than the stock set up.[/quote

For what it's worth, I am still not sure I understand what was in the amp before ad what is now. You talk about stock set up... which was?

Just curious,

Gil

[james21789]

For what it's worth, I am still not sure I understand what was in the amp before ad what is now. You talk about stock set up... which was?

Hey Gil,

Sorry for the lack of clarity. Before I was following the standard d'lite layout, which has 220k/150k/180k/120k RN65D Dale plate resistors going from v1a to v2b.

I then switched to riken carbon comps, changing v2 to 220k/150k in lieu of the d'lite redux thread.

That is what I have right now (with the correct cathode resistors). I'm planning on switching back to the dales for all 4 plates to determine if I like the symmetrical plate set up better than what I had originally.

Hope that clears things up!

-j

[ayan]

For what it's worth, I am still not sure I understand what was in the amp before ad what is now. You talk about stock set up... which was?

Hey Gil,

Sorry for the lack of clarity. Before I was following the standard d'lite layout, which has 220k/150k/180k/120k RN65D Dale plate resistors going from v1a to v2b.

I then switched to riken carbon comps, changing v2 to 220k/150k in lieu of the d'lite redux thread.

That is what I have right now (with the correct cathode resistors). I'm planning on switching back to the dales for all 4 plates to determine if I like the symmetrical plate set up better than what I had originally.

Hope that clears things up!

-j

OK, I got it now.

Cheers,

Gil

[Jackie Treehorn]

I did something similar in my amp, going from 220k/150k/180k (actually I think this one was closer to 190k)/120k to just raising the last stage to 150k. Then, I went with Bluesmaster 150k/120k/220k/150k which for me was the best. I also had all carbon comps on the plates at one point, but eventually switched them all out to the RN65's. Then I swapped all the cathode bypass caps for film types, which I liked a lot. I also got rid of the trim pot to the od and went with a voltage divider.

To me, with the 220k/150k/180k/120k setup, the overdrive was too smooth and lacked definition and grind. It sounded good on some things, but very artificial on distorted rhythm. The cleans were nice with the skyline stack, kind of a Bill Frisell austere quality. The Bluesmaster cleans are far more funky and sustainy; I did more lead playing on clean with the BM. I kept the skyline stack, too. I also always had the stack wired somewhat like the bluesmaster, without the independent treble.

The Rikens are carbon film, although they get a lot of the carbon comp fatness without the grain. You might try them on the grids if you're not using them on the plates.

[dave g]

FWIW, my current favorite setup is non-HRM skyline with 100k/1.5k on CL1 and CL2, and 220k/150k on OD1 and OD2.

[Frankie]

FWIW, my current favorite setup is non-HRM skyline with 100k/1.5k on CL1 and CL2, and 220k/150k on OD1 and OD2.

Yeah! Me too. I use it in both Hrm and non-hrm.
Works great with strat on both Od and clean. Od best with Les paul, cleans a little wet on LP.

Frank.

[Luthierwnc]

At least for my own playing, I love the 100k clean channel but find it makes the OD harder to manage.

If I ever got round to it, I might try a dedicated clean with 100k plates and a dedicated 2-tube OD tweaked for that sound exclusively. You could use the same PAB panel/foot switch for both channels. The real estate shouldn't be prohibitive. Different tubes in V1 and V1OD further refine the tone. Long-story short; dialing the clean side defines the feed on V2. Why compromise?

Course, with one more switch, you have two different clean channels too. In my long and indistinguished amp hacking career, I occasionally surprise myself with a tone I wasn't expecting.

Food for thought.

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