some clips

[HiGain]

Setup:

Heritage H150CM (similar to les paul) or telecaster, to EL34 express or EL84 express, to Avatar 2X12 cab, to shure sm57, to micpreamp for PCs, to laptop using Kristal software (NO eqing), and then coverted to WAV, and then to MP3.

The mic was out in the room, and therefore sounds sort of boomy. The one problem with the recordings is a lack of the chimey high end you expect to hear. I'll try some more with the mic close to the cab.

No changes in mic position or recording levels at the computer between this batch of tracks to allow for comparison. Also, no editing the tone at the computer.

You can tell when I pick lightly, or when I turn up the guitar volume (and when I have a problem with the jack at my tele).

I installed a higain/logain switch in the 34 express, since the two rock chassis already had a whole to use. The designations are lg and hg in the samples. The numbers indicate the position of the gain knob, as in the time of day. "lp" in the 84 express clip means liverpool configuration.

For those of you in the know, is this about what I should expect?

Jake

[doctord02]

Nice playing Jake. Congratulations! Welcome to the insane gain of wreckland.



Your clips sound dead on to me. Good job.

[HiGain]

Thanks, doctordo2. The El34 express is very fun to play, but extremely loud. It does feel like a train roaring right at you, in a good way.

Jake

[Omar]

HiGain
Nice clips! I especially like the H150 clips - fat and gainy. The high gain clip with the feedback sounds like it's on that stability edge that we talk about.

Were the H150 clips done with the EL34's? Which schematic did you use?

Omar

[Elcabong]

Nice clips Jake. I think they give a good idea of what an Express is capable of.

I saw in a previous thread that you were concerned about the EL34 headroom; how did it turn out? Have you tweaked it a lot from the original schematic?

[HiGain]

Nice clips! I especially like the H150 clips - fat and gainy. The high gain clip with the feedback sounds like it's on that stability edge that we talk about.

Thanks, Omar! At first I had trouble controlling my guitar. I really have to concentrate on muting the strings and not moving my hands around too much. But, the wildlness makes it exciting to play.

Were the H150 clips done with the EL34's? Which schematic did you use?

Yes, the amp is running with EH mullard reissue EL34s. I uploaded a schematic of my amp. This is the exact schematic I settled on, except I also have a 50pF cap across the PI plates. The sound samples were with no master volume or cut switch engaged.

Thanks for the feedback.

[HiGain]

Nice clips Jake. I think they give a good idea of what an Express is capable of.

I saw in a previous thread that you were concerned about the EL34 headroom; how did it turn out? Have you tweaked it a lot from the original schematic?

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad the amp is in the right ballpark.

I uploaded a schematic of the values I used in the previous post. I messed around with the PI long tail values, but found that as you increased the resistance, not only did the amp clean up a little, but frequency shifted down too much. It made my particular amp sound too thick, sort of brutish. So I settled on the values shown, which seemed to accentuate the mids in the right way, and are shown in some express schematics.

The headroom you hear with the tele comes from the use of the bright switch. I turned the gain, mids and treble way down, and engaged the bright switch. This creates a beefed up fender sound that has a good amount of clean volume. Reducing the hg/lg switch in the schematic adds a little more headroom.

Thanks again.
Jake

[ampdoc1]

HiGain,

The clips are great! Anyone who has played one of these amps can almost feel that "thing" they do when hearing another player.
Can you tell me what you used to draw your schematic? I've tried ExpressPCB but it is very limited. AutoCad is great, but there are no templates and I don't want to take the time to draw my own parts.
Congrats on a great build!

David Hicks

[HeeBGB]

HiGain,

On your Schematic you list Pacific Transformers. Where did you get

them?

Your amps and your playing sound great.

Any pics on the horizon?

Greg

[HiGain]

HiGain,

On your Schematic you list Pacific Transformers. Where did you get

them?

Your amps and your playing sound great.

Any pics on the horizon?

Greg

Hi Greg,

I got my transformers from the Two Rock guys, as part of the chassis and cabinet "kit". It was a good deal. But a while back some one here pointed out that you can get them directly from Pacific Transformer Corporation. Go here,
http://www.pactran.com/products.html

I spoke with a woman named Amy, who confirmed that you can have the transformers within a week.

Thanks for the compliments. You can see a pic of the amp in the "issue of express headroom thread."

Jake

[HiGain]

The clips are great! Anyone who has played one of these amps can almost feel that "thing" they do when hearing another player.
Can you tell me what you used to draw your schematic? I've tried ExpressPCB but it is very limited. AutoCad is great, but there are no templates and I don't want to take the time to draw my own parts.
Congrats on a great build!

David Hicks

Hi David,

Thanks, and I know what you mean about the feel of these amps. It sort of feels like something creeps out and grabs you.

Re: the schematic. After trying several programs, for the last several years I've used plain old MS paint. I uploaded a gif, which you could convert back to bitmap if you wanted. Anyone is welcome to using it.

Jake