Matchless Chieftain tone stack

[brewdude]

I was recently checking out the Chieftain schematic and noticed the unusual preamp and tone stack arrangement. It uses a parallel dual triode feeding a bass and a middle into another dual triode feeding the treble and volume.

http://web.archive.org/web/200711012128 ... ieftan.pdf

I listened to a couple of you tube demos and it seems to be a strictly clean amp.

Do any of you have any experience with the Chieftain? Who is a known player of a Chieftain amp? What kind of music is the Chieftain best suited for? What is the advantage, if any, of the Chieftain's preamp and tone stack?

[brewdude]

Judging by the lack of responses, I presume the Matchless Chieftain is either a somewhat unpopular amp, or it is somewhat rare amp and not many of us have any first hand experience at all. I suppose those two choices are not mutually exclusive.

I wonder if the parallel triodes are intended to decrease noise and, perhaps, the tone stack is designed to have less interaction between settings.

I am somewhat intrigued by this design. I am contemplating a new build and am considering trying to utilize this preamp/tone stack. I wonder what it would be like fed into another gain stage, maybe even a pentode.

I am very interested to see if anyone has any thoughts, or suggestions.

[M Fowler]

I don't have any experience with this amp but many of the Matchless amps have the parallel triode for increased gain.

I used that on a Marshall lite IIB style amp 18w gets plenty gain.

Built the Spitfire, Lightning and DC30.

[selloutrr]

Do any of you have any experience with the Chieftain? Who is a known player of a Chieftain amp? What kind of music is the Chieftain best suited for? What is the advantage, if any, of the Chieftain's preamp and tone stack?

I've owned a couple of them, late 90's combo 2x12, and a Head/Piggyback
It was before I gave a care about what was on the inside - i never openned them up or even retubed them come to think about it?...
I've since parted with them for vintage instruments.
At the time I was playing in a blues band.
Strat - Butler Tube driver, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Vox Wah, Ibanez Flying Pan chorus. It's a nice clean machine it can break up when pushed in the studio but for the most part i'd overdrive it with a pedal to keep the volume under control.

Currently Kings of leon is a user with the Gibson ES-325.

Best suited for Country and mild rock - think Nashville, I've worked with a lot of country acts who used the chiefton.
it's a very nice compliment to a trainwreck amp for layering in a mix.

The advantage of the tone stack is make up gain and patents?

Hope it helps - sorry I can't tell you more.

[M Fowler]

I think Sniffyduke a member here used one in a country venue as well.

[brewdude]

Thanks guys.

M Fowler,
How do you like the Lightning, Spitfire, and DC-30?

selloutrr,
Can you possibly elaborate on the Chieftain in regards to your impressions on the tone controls and their effectiveness?

[M Fowler]

The lightning has more gain on tap but I don't care for the amp.

The Spitfire has been a good gigging amp in small bar setting but slightly trebly which I recently reduced the 250pf cap on the volume pot to 47pf and changed out the boost cap to run .68 and 25uf that helped.

The DC 30 has some funcky tones because of the rotary tone knob and the EF86 channel is kool. I prefer other amps over all of these though.

Mark

[selloutrr]

The chiefton has a great range of tones, Speaker cabinet design and speaker models make a wide range of differences.
The amp was pretty easy to dial in, the tone stack was well balanced at 12 o'clock. I was a set and forget it kind of guy most of my EQ was on the guitar or pedals.
It must have sounded pretty good all around, I don't remember being a knob twittler, even at the venues. Studio was a different matter but I was eq'ing for the microphone and the end result in the mix not the actual tone it was putting out.

[skeezbo]

I worked in a music store that sold Matchless twenty years ago. Local blues guitarist Ronnie Earl had a Chieftain. He is famous for his mostly clean sound, but he usually uses a Super Reverb, I think. In my opinion the Chieftain was the best sounding amp that Matchless offered at the time and would have bought one if I hadn't been collecting vintage amps.
Didn't a 100 watt Chieftain (I never saw one of those) beat out a Trainwreck Express in a boutique amp shootout in one of the magazines back in the day? I remember the reviewer was afraid that the Express, while sounding great, wasn't loud enough to compete with a rock drummer. It must have had 6v6s in it. Still....
I have looked at the Chieftain schematic a lot. I don't get the advantage of the tone stack, but my interest mainly is in the way the reverb enters the other side of the phase inverter, a neat idea that I saw for the first time in the Chieftain.
I didn't know anything about amps at the time, but I do remember the amp gurus in the shop worrying that the EL34s were biased too hot and that they weren't sure the power transformers were up to the task for the long haul, but I don't remember why. Filament current?
Great sounding amp, in my opinion.

Skeezbo

[skeezbo]

One other thing that I remember. I am not sure if this info came from Matchless, but I think it did, and we used it to sell the amps: the paralleled triodes supposedly made the other Matchless amps sound at least a little similar to the flagship DC30, which had (at the time so it seemed) a revolutionary pentode preamp channel! And cathode bias! Matchless amps certainly sounded a little different (in a good way, probably) when compared to to the standard FMV circuits that we were all used to at the time. The paralleled triodes was a clever way to sound different.

Skeeper

[brewdude]

Thanks skeezbo.

[C Moore]

Mark -
Just wondering what amp you have (or have played) that you prefer over the Spitfire.? You know what I mean........similar topography, output power, number of speakers, etc.
Thanks

The lightning has more gain on tap but I don't care for the amp.

The Spitfire has been a good gigging amp in small bar setting but slightly trebly which I recently reduced the 250pf cap on the volume pot to 47pf and changed out the boost cap to run .68 and 25uf that helped.

The DC 30 has some funcky tones because of the rotary tone knob and the EF86 channel is kool. I prefer other amps over all of these though.

Mark

[M Fowler]

It is really hard to beat a stripped down Marshall 18w.

I don't need two channels and don't need the tremolo even though it sounds great. I have a pedal if I want that.

The lite IIB has about all I need in an amp really, great tone and volume.

Run that through either a 412 with Vin 30 or 212 with Vin 30.

For combo guys a 1-12 comes in handy. I prefer at least two 12's for gigging.

My 18 Rocket went to my oldest son so can't gig with that

More volume then the JCM800 2204 or a octal Rocket fills the spot nicely.

[C Moore]

I appreciate the info......
Is the "Lite IIB" a Brown Note amp of some type.?
Thanks

[Zippy]

It was an evolution at 18watt.com - now a dead site as I understand it.

Anyone know if there is a mirror site that captures the schematic archives.?