A new take on guitar tone...

[Racing]

Long time.
Sry bout that boys,but i´ve at least spent it wisely

Still working on tube amps,still trying to find new n fresh approaches. ´N tell ya what..i think i did this time out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzwXF74 ... DK75AbbWRU

What started out as an old Champion GM-25 made in Stockholm back in 1943 evolved into something that i think n find a new take on what can be had out of a given tube amp for guitar use.
U guys tell me.

This the first time i build a new amp for my own use in 4 yrs,and had these ideas at the back of my head i wanted to toss into it so...
Out the other end came a tube amp so wide that it basically puts ALL common "tone stack" amps to shame. For real.

Have used this as my own main amp for the last 5 months and couldn´t be happier. True enough i kept some of the real old school tubes in there from the start..like the old fabled EF-12 small signal pentode and them WONDERFUL EL-12 powertubes.
Them EL-12´s put out about on par with a pair of way more modern EL-34´s but at the added cost of more hiss as they need more signal inbound to perform.
Buut...at rehearsal and gig volumes,who cares!

Amp makes VERY good use of an "expanded" James network for tone control. No trade secrets there...just a bit of thinking cap on before arriving at this

Yeah. Something came out right this time out boys.

Enjoy.

[marqueemoon]

Not sounds I'm personally that into, but still very cool.

[secretroutines]

Pretty cool sounding amp! When’s the production run?

[somanytoys]

That’s pretty cool that you can get so many different sounds by just changing the one knob, without even touching the gain or tone stack knobs. I imagine that changing those would give even more tonal possibilities.

It does seem to be a lot different than almost anything else out there, it seems like you put a lot of thought into it. Good job.

[wproffitt]

Wow! Glad you’re back, Racing! This really does seem like you put everything you had taken away from your other (re) builds and put it all in one tidy package. The James network really does seem to afford you a great deal of versatility here. I’m impressed! It sounds like you’ve been able to live with it for a while and still get really excited about it. That’s the real test! Well done!

P.S. - Great sounds, btw. Also, thanks for tuning your guitar. Nobody ever seems to do that before they shoot these videos!

[Racing]

Thx boys.
Yeah. Being a gigin guitarist i too realize that i basically shot the ball out of the park this time out.
Yup. Have had it around a bit of time and it´s since my main amp. What the video doesn´t show is that it does cleans about just as well. Indeed the amp is two channel and albeit the "mild" channel (which is all triodes in contrast to the wild one that sports that EF-12 as an entry stage) can be dialed to "healthy" doses of gain too,its main territory is indeed thought to be milder sounds. Cleans as noted even.

Being a gigin guitarist i decided to "hardwire" this amp,completely. Ie,no relays and no optos to break. You thus control channel switching out on the floor with a regular good ol fashioned so called A-B/Y box. Ie;signal to the one or the other channel straight up.

Nope. Serial runs ain´t my thing... My goal is exactly this,to develop,and indeed i did i believe. I build mine by hand,and done deal.

Have built a few others on the same theme since and thus..more vids coming up. Exploring what´s more to be had.

[secretroutines]

Nope. Serial runs ain´t my thing... My goal is exactly this,to develop,and indeed i did i believe. I build mine by hand,and done deal.

Have built a few others on the same theme since and thus..more vids coming up. Exploring what´s more to be had.

I was kidding... mostly. That amp sounds great, and I really want one now hahaha.

[Racing]

Thx!





By now i´ve put together a few of these and..valued greatly i´d say. That circuit sure has something to offer.





..like for instance this old GB-50 which is a quad of 6L6´s. Yes..the faceplate is just a "make do" awaiting the final one. Massive amp though,no argument there.

[46346]

so, with the Champion's two EL-12's, you are getting perhaps 45 watts?

and golly, gee - look at the iron on your 4x6L6 version... i noticed the model designation of 50... but maybe more like 70 watts?


do you remember what plate voltages you were getting from either/both.

what fun! i've been curious about EL-12 tone, and wondering if there's something i can play with Stateside to hear how it might differ from EL-34, 6L6, 5881, etc.

cheers,
eric

[Racing]

Sry for the long wait...

EL-12? How to best describe those.. What they bring is that they´re a lot more "coarse" at what they do. In turn to make power they take more inbound signal for full saturation.
As always you´re normally ok with going off the charts on ONE count vs tube data sheets and indeed the EL-12´s in my little green wonder there see the other side of 500VDC in idle.
Ie; no..they make more than 45 watts.

The massive GB-50 there in turn found a new owner. In contrast to my little green wonder i didn´t check output of it before it went out the door, but let it just suffice to state that power is ample.





This little thing in turn runs along the same kinda-ish lines. Just the one channel and sans the loop. It´s an old lunch box/toaster LM Ericsson from the -50´s. Uses a pair of EL-84´s out back. Roars its lungs out when asked to.





At the moment in turn this old beautiful "Elme" 112 combo is getting the full monty. Altho a mere pair of 6V6´s it´s getting the entire two channel front end, loop and so forth.
ATM i´m looking into if a neo speaker would work... hope so as that´d make for a rather light weight combo that´d be a gigin guitarist delight.

[N0_Camping4U]

Super super cool. Lots of versatility. What inspired you to work on this, I've dabbled around in amps and can't imagine coming to this stage or creativity and originality.