Just installed a A8301 in my Express build

[dbeasley]

...holy crap. What a difference. I had been using a Stancor OT that RJ guitars sold me ages ago. It was a great OT but I recently lucked into a nice vintage Stancor A3801 and installed it.

I built this express over five years ago and have been very familiar with how it sounds.

Going from the Edcor to the Stancor, the biggest difference I hear is overall chord clarity with higher gain settings. I really have to push the overall gain up much higher than before to get the low end to get mushy. In the end, I am completely blown away by the difference it makes. Ultimiately it boils down to a larger sweet spot of gain and EQ controls than before. Before, if I pushed the gain above 12 o'clock the amp got super compressed - which was fine because with playing with the volume control you could do that classic "clean to mean" with the twist of the volume control. Now it takes much more input to push the amp into heavy compression - and the shades of tones you get from low gain to that point are more musical (in my subjective opinion).

I can really see why KF used this OT in the earlier wrecks. The Edcor was good, but this Stancor is excellent.

Also, I've added a PPIMV and a Vox style cut control, as well as a variable trimmer in place of the 150K grid reference for that 3rd stage (big thanks to Martin Manning for those tricks) the Cut control really helps for trimming the highs, letting you push the treble control up which seems to sound better IMO.

Another cool trick is to tack a 1M across the volume/gain pot to make it a pseudo 500K. I find I get a more granular sweet spot as well.


Sorry for the ramble but thought I would share.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[RockinRocket]

The Stancor has a tone that is sweeter and less aggressive than the Pacific equivalent. Its a lot like a new Plexi build vs a vintage piece in the mellowness,roundness between the two.
I actually don't prefer one over the other in a Wreck!

[M Fowler]

Nice looking amp Beas.

Yeah but those original Stancors cost above $400 and I can't find them locally in old equipment yet.

I stopped using presence in my Express builds a few years back and installed treble cut pot in stead, much better tone.

Mark

[Colossal]

...holy crap. What a difference. I had been using a Stancor OT that RJ guitars sold me ages ago. It was a great OT but I recently lucked into a nice vintage Stancor A3801 and installed it.

Was the Stancor OT you got from RJ a different model, or was it the clone of an A3801 RJ had Mercury wind for him? Just the other day I was watching a video comparing an Express with a Stancor OT to one with a Pacific OT and the difference was obvious; the Stancor was less chewy and compressed.

[dbeasley]

Sorry I really should have clarified.

My build originally had an EDCOR transformer in it that I bought from RJ.

It now has the vintage STANCOR which sounds so much better.

Sorry I realized there was some confusion.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Mark]

Thanks for the feedback, that good to know.

[Colossal]

Thanks for clarifying! Very cool about the change for the better with the OT replacement.

[andresound]

Was the Stancor OT you got from RJ a different model, or was it the clone of an A3801 RJ had Mercury wind for him? Just the other day I was watching a video comparing an Express with a Stancor OT to one with a Pacific OT and the difference was obvious; the Stancor was less chewy and compressed.

I am using the MM 3801 clone that RJ had made and it is VERY good!! And what a great guy to deal with

[Mark]

Andresound, I thought the comparison was between an Edcor transformer and the vintage Stancor transformer?

It would be interesting to compare the Mercury transformer with several vintage Stancor output transformers.

I have only heard the Marstran output transformer which sounds good.

[andresound]

Oh shit!!!! Have i just become a troll??? Sorry guys, didn’t mean to derail the thread

[jazzbass]

Nice looking amp Beas.

Yeah but those original Stancors cost above $400 and I can't find them locally in old equipment yet.

I stopped using presence in my Express builds a few years back and installed treble cut pot in stead, much better tone.

Mark

Hi Mark,

I'm re-reading all the discussions regarding Traiwrech amplifiers. I don't remember reading anything about the treble cut pot, can you tell me where to read please.

Thank you
Franco

[M Fowler]

Cut pot is used in the Trainwreck Rocket and Vox AC30.

Mark

[jazzbass]

Hi Mark,

Thanks, so I just need to copy the cut control of a VOX AC 30.

Franco