I tried a plate fed tonestack a while back In my homebreww marshall style amp and i seemed to like it. But i went back to a CF and then back again trying to decide. Finally a few weeks ago i made it switchable and since then i've been able to instantly A/B them. at this point i never seem to use the CF anymore, and when i do after a few minutes i end up flipping back to plate fed and breathing a sigh of relief ! It just has a fuller sound. A wider range it seems. And the tone is more natural and balanced and dynamic. Just all around better. So i'm now just about to the point i think i want to remove the switch and just dump the CF for good. But i'm also thinking since i have a spare stage in V2 i might try adding another gain stage and making each stage have a little less gain. Or maybe parallel a stage, i dunno. But i just don't see myself ever wanting the CF in there again. It just plain doesn't sound as good to me after all these years of using marshalls.Well waddayaknow....
Moderators: pompeiisneaks, Colossal
-
iknowjohnny
- Posts: 1070
- Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:10 am
- Location: los angeles
Well waddayaknow....
....i guess i never liked cathode followers after using them for decades ! I tried a plate fed tonestack a while back In my homebreww marshall style amp and i seemed to like it. But i went back to a CF and then back again trying to decide. Finally a few weeks ago i made it switchable and since then i've been able to instantly A/B them. at this point i never seem to use the CF anymore, and when i do after a few minutes i end up flipping back to plate fed and breathing a sigh of relief ! It just has a fuller sound. A wider range it seems. And the tone is more natural and balanced and dynamic. Just all around better. So i'm now just about to the point i think i want to remove the switch and just dump the CF for good. But i'm also thinking since i have a spare stage in V2 i might try adding another gain stage and making each stage have a little less gain. Or maybe parallel a stage, i dunno. But i just don't see myself ever wanting the CF in there again. It just plain doesn't sound as good to me after all these years of using marshalls.
I tried a plate fed tonestack a while back In my homebreww marshall style amp and i seemed to like it. But i went back to a CF and then back again trying to decide. Finally a few weeks ago i made it switchable and since then i've been able to instantly A/B them. at this point i never seem to use the CF anymore, and when i do after a few minutes i end up flipping back to plate fed and breathing a sigh of relief ! It just has a fuller sound. A wider range it seems. And the tone is more natural and balanced and dynamic. Just all around better. So i'm now just about to the point i think i want to remove the switch and just dump the CF for good. But i'm also thinking since i have a spare stage in V2 i might try adding another gain stage and making each stage have a little less gain. Or maybe parallel a stage, i dunno. But i just don't see myself ever wanting the CF in there again. It just plain doesn't sound as good to me after all these years of using marshalls.Re: Well waddayaknow....
That's a cool experiment! I often wondered about that. I have read it is "good practice" to drive a tone stack with a low impedance i.e. cathode follower, but there are many good guitar amp designs that don't. I often thought of using a mosfet as a cathode follower but never got around to trying it yet. In the hifi world, some people believe that a cathode follower never sounds "good".
-
JamesHealey
- Posts: 477
- Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2008 5:34 pm
- Location: Leeds, UK
Re: Well waddayaknow....
Cf's imho are a waste of time and energy. None of my own designs use them.
-
Cliff Schecht
- Posts: 2629
- Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:32 am
- Location: Austin
- Contact:
Re: Well waddayaknow....
I have to disagree. While they aren't for everybody, they have their time and place. A properly designed and implemented CF can be very dynamic if you set it up to clip a certain way.
Cliff Schecht - Circuit P.I.
-
David Root
- Posts: 3540
- Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 3:00 pm
- Location: Chilliwack BC
Re: Well waddayaknow....
Thanx for the A/B comparison, ikj! That is most interesting.
And yet, there are as Cliff says, amps (like the 5F6A for example), which sound great with a CF.
I wonder, if you built a 5F6A without the CF, it would sound even better? After all, that's basically what you have done with your Marshall circuit.
And yet, there are as Cliff says, amps (like the 5F6A for example), which sound great with a CF.
I wonder, if you built a 5F6A without the CF, it would sound even better? After all, that's basically what you have done with your Marshall circuit.
Re: Well waddayaknow....
Is it more appropriate to compare the 2 on the same tube, or should the cathode type be on the stage after the plate type? Which is more apples-to-apples?
If it says "Vintage" on it, -it isn't.
-
iknowjohnny
- Posts: 1070
- Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:10 am
- Location: los angeles
Re: Well waddayaknow....
Thats exactly what i've been wondering.....would i have liked all those marshalls i had over the years if i had changed to plate fed TS? Who knows. And i'm not saying it's better by the way, i'm saying it's better to my ear.
As to the notion of used that unused stage as another gain stage, does anyone have any thoughts on that....whether there are ways to use it that may be beneficial in making the preamp as dynamic and sweet as possible? I've often read that using more stages with less gain in each makes for better preamp distortion.
As to the notion of used that unused stage as another gain stage, does anyone have any thoughts on that....whether there are ways to use it that may be beneficial in making the preamp as dynamic and sweet as possible? I've often read that using more stages with less gain in each makes for better preamp distortion.