I modded my Express. This is how it sounds.

leadfootdriver · Post by **leadfootdriver** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:13 pm

I mixed the guitar a bit loud so you could hear it over the vocals.

I recorded with my Rockcrusher attenuator, so there's now speaker breakup. The gain was at 10 O'clock. I dig it.

http://www.tonefinder.com/files/421355854202-CPTW.mp3

Gibsonman63 · Post by **Gibsonman63** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:45 pm

Nice... and your backing band plays pretty good.

dorrisant · Post by **dorrisant** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 7:43 pm

I'm diggin' it as well!

Tony

Reeltarded · Post by **Reeltarded** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:38 pm

Hah! I know that sound!

ROCK

leadfootdriver · Post by **leadfootdriver** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:08 pm

Meh... I listened back, and it's more articulate with the change. But the lowend doesn't hold a candle to a 100 watt.

The EL34 breakup is neat tho, especially on an the D chord. Plus, the clean to mean is still the shit. No high gainer cleans up like an Express. I'll need to try the KT77's now.

Reeltarded · Post by **Reeltarded** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 1:25 am

I like the sound of your amp. Lowend to the ear and to a mic are whole different animals. That amp sounds very balanced and forward to me here.

Do the paralleled tone caps thing from the other thread if you want more beef.. or add a res control.

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.php?t=19687

ampgeek · Post by **ampgeek** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:16 am

Sounds excellent!
What modifications did you perform.
Sorry if I missed at in another thread.
Cheers,

Dave O.

leadfootdriver · Post by **leadfootdriver** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 8:43 am

Thanks guys.

I felt that the attack of my amp was a bit bloated, like it was blocking distortion on the power section. So I changed the grid blockers on the power tubes from 1.5k to 22k like the old Hiwatt amps. It really cleaned up the response of the amp. All the Peavey Classic amps use 47k. I'm curious about this value, and will probably try that.

I've read in the Wizard book and on Aiken's site that you could go as hi as 100k without affecting the highend of the amp, but I haven't tried it.

Post by **Colossal** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 3:09 pm

That's very interesting. I notice there is a bit of a hard glassy quality to this amp's intial distortion characteristic and I wondered if the very low value of grid resistor on the output tube is just letting signal punch through the knee of the transfer curve more easily and that was the resulting sound. While the trailing distortion has that signature TW effortless smoothness and sustain, I do hear this (for lack of a better word) hard sounding <<<BLATT>> on the initial attack and was also thinking this was a bias excursion thing as well as the rapid onset of sag. I did mod the preamp for more low end but that did not effect it.

FWIW, I did bump up the grid resistors on a high gain 4xEL84 amp to 9k1 and that amp has a great attack. Just full and warm, no blatt. Also, Mat (a member here) used 280k for the grid on an SE EL84 Dumbley amp with sonic success. Smooth as a gravy sandwich.

I'll change the grid leaks on my PCBExpress and see what happens.

Reeltarded · Post by **Reeltarded** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 3:16 pm

It sounds like a plate driven AC30 to me.

Does the guitar have hottish pickups real close to the strangs?

leadfootdriver · Post by **leadfootdriver** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:50 pm

The amp is on the edge of full distortion with the volume at 10:00. So if I lay into it, I get a good distortion like on that D chord.

I usually play with the gain at 12:00, but that SM57 mic colors the recorded sound by adding a lot of presence, which makes the guitar sound more gainy and grainy than it really is. I didn't want this particular clip to be mega distortion, so I backed off on the amp gain a bit.

The blatt on the A riff is partly the sound of this guitar, and that my strings are beyond dead!

A Vox matted with a Marshall was always my impression of this amp. You get the big EL34 overdrive with the bell defined notes like a Vox when you roll back.

I upped the grids to 33k, and like it. 47k seemed to be to stale for me. I get less tub around the notes when playing fast single note runs high on the neck.

leadfootdriver · Post by **leadfootdriver** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:53 pm

Reeltarded wrote:

Does the guitar have hottish pickups real close to the strangs?

I suppose. They're EMG 707TW's up pretty close.

Post by **Colossal** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:57 pm

leadfootdriver wrote:I upped the grids to 33k, and like it. 47k seemed to be to stale for me. I get less tub around the notes when playing fast single note runs high on the neck.

Any preference between 22k vs. 33k?

Reeltarded · Post by **Reeltarded** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:01 pm

There is the 50 microsecond attack width.

When you mentioned Hiwatt it made a lot of sense to me listening to the clip because it seems very voxy, and Hiwatts are like 1000lb AC30s with more highs right before the speaker response falls off, plus they hold up much better. Stiffer.

I like it.

leadfootdriver · Post by **leadfootdriver** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:18 pm

Colossal wrote:
leadfootdriver wrote:I upped the grids to 33k, and like it. 47k seemed to be to stale for me. I get less tub around the notes when playing fast single note runs high on the neck.
Any preference between 22k vs. 33k?

33k.

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