SSS - Nukular Warhead - Chassis are Finished

[T Wilcox]

I know Im not supposed to say the N word or the C word here.
But if you really want an SSS to map out buy one from Nik at Ceriatone.
And then please be a good human and share the info with the rest of us.
I will probably never build one, the 30 watt TW I just built is too damn loud for my useage, but this I'm not telling na na na na na BS is getting really old.

Todd

[David Root]

If he has one he ain't advertizing it that I can find.

[greekie]

What does that mean?

What this means is that I am writing a document that tries to bind everything together, including all the open questions. I am building an amp like this for a friend, so it's a learning process for me as well, and if it turns out that I can produce something that people in here will benefit from - great!

The main reason for me is we don't know "the four things that you need to know to build an authentic SSS, none of which have ever been published on this forum", (and probably never will). Told to me by someone who knows, and who has been helpful to me on other builds, so I have to respect his position.

One of these is of course the filters. With/without inductor(s)? One of these I think is local NFB. I realize that's not much help. I suspect the power supply configuration is one because of a comment Brandon made a long time ago on this forum about "SSS circulating power supply", whatever that is. #4, your guess is as good as mine at this point.

I think that if I knew where to look in RDH4 I'd have most of it. HAD is a gifted adapter/adopter who used a lot of stuff he learned. The only things he didn't learn from the Westinghouse circuits, Leo Fender and RDH4 was the right way to do overdrive in the preamp and his uncanny understanding of what makes a great guitar amp and how to realize it. He might have picked up some stuff from the great '50s hifi amp guys too.

The odd thing is, that I do not understand why these guys do not share their knowledge. Peaked in a SSS? Great, share your information.

The local NFB-thing is one I thought about too, and I know how to implement it and which values work well.

The power amp will be 4x6L6 driven by a modified phase inverter with a 12BH7 on its tail.

The power supply I will construct from my knowledge from hifi as well as all the Dumble stuff I've seen over the years.

The last problem are the filters. I must read RDH4 again some day...

[ElectronAvalanche]

I do not know how the filters work, but concerning the filter section using the inductor, I would take a look at a Wah schematic.

http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/wahpedl/wah1.gif

If you make the 0.01uF between Q2 and the inductor switchable you could "step" through the sweep range. Q1 and Q2 would be 1/2 12AX7 each.

Then you would have to adapt the resonance circuit to be able to use the lower H indcutor (300mH).

Maybe someone owning a Bludotone Plains Drifter could make a video where they show the sound switching through the filters. That would help a lot.

Cheers,

Electron

[ToneMerc]

The odd thing is, that I do not understand why these guys do not share their knowledge. Peaked in a SSS? Great, share your information.

Don't take this personally...........

I've never understood why people show up here thinking it's almost a birthright that they should have any and all info that someone else obtained and then some of them cry when the info isn't readily shared.

Consider this, the information highway flows two ways. If you really truly want an SSS type amp then go out and buy a SSS clone, skim all the info you need, if thats what your conscience leads you to do and then sell the clone. Then maybe you will share the information and beome the SSS hero.

That is the immediate way to do it unless the thought of having to put forth a grand effort or having to pay for something actually deplores you.

Otherwise, like most continue to be humble picking up a few pieces ever so often and maybe one day it will all come together.


TM

[T Wilcox]

If he has one he ain't advertizing it that I can find.

Check the Ceriatone forum. In the SSS section.
Starting price will be $1700-2000 but so far will only offer the 100watt. No kits, and no layout posted yet although.

Todd

[M Fowler]

My chassis/faceplates are going bye-bye.

Besides I love the hot rodded Marshall amps more and my amp building efforts will be going in that direct.

Mark

[dreric]

If he has one he ain't advertizing it that I can find.

Check the Ceriatone forum. In the SSS section.
Starting price will be $1700-2000 but so far will only offer the 100watt. No kits, and no layout posted yet although.

Todd

Seeing that the newer modified Marshall clones haven't been released as kit or layout I wouldn't hold me breath on Nik's SSS. On the other hand, it would be rather poetic if Nik was to release a layout which TAG took from him................

Eric

[greekie]

Don't take this personally...........

Don't take this personally either, but that is the kind of attitude that kills innovation. People who build a great SSS-clone will still sell them, as it is only a tiny fraction of people who can build them and make them sound good.

That attitude also reaffirms in people's minds, the idea that some circuit is "magic" because it has not been examined closely, when it is in fact "just" the same ol' components, put together in an ingenius way by a skilled builder, to make an excellent sounding product.

This is just as bad as gooping your stuff. I believe in the free market, so therefore I believe that your statement is truely wrong. However, I will of course defend your right to have it till the day I die.

[ToneMerc]

Don't take this personally...........

Don't take this personally either, but that is the kind of attitude that kills innovation. People who build a great SSS-clone will still sell them, as it is only a tiny fraction of people who can build them and make them sound good.

That attitude also reaffirms in people's minds, the idea that some circuit is "magic" because it has not been examined closely, when it is in fact "just" the same ol' components, put together in an ingenius way by a skilled builder, to make an excellent sounding product.

This is just as bad as gooping your stuff. I believe in the free market, so therefore I believe that your statement is truely wrong. However, I will of course defend your right to have it till the day I die.

Well with that view, you will keep searching as well.

good luck

TM

[dreric]

This cracks me up!

It seems like once a month a new member or someone with double digit posts drops the:

"Hey I wanna build a Steel String Singer" bomb (which has become a firecracker)

They ask: "where's the schematic, where's the layout......... I know just enough to build one but I want to see what you guys know"

Met with the seasoned silence of the vast majority of the forum and maybe a few "good lucks" from well wishers they retreat into a sullen rant about hoarding, free market, selfishness and how some day all those cruelly withholding for their own benefit ($$$ego$$$) will "get theirs".

Meanwhile,,,,,,,,,,,,, in their secret laBORAtories mad tone scientists are laboring away to crack the codex unlocking the tonal nirvana of the Steel String Singer!!!!! Someday each will achieve the pinnacle of tube amp enlightenment and join "the keepers of scared knowledge". Then they will be welcomed bay the ranks of Brandon, jelle, Shad and Andy. They will get to sit back in their plush chairs made from the soft cloth wire covering of vintage amps, lighting their cigars with $100 dollar bills and eating bacon bought from the millions earned off the backs of starving musicians desperate for a touch of SRV's magic.

Sorry............ got carried away. Sooner or later the grail will be found. Let's hope that it's not a Dixie cup when it does show up. Until then let's play nice.

Eric

[ToneMerc]

This cracks me up!

It seems like once a month a new member or someone with double digit posts drops the:

They have multiple usernames here too, one of recent ones with "single digit" status busted himself.

[dreric]

This cracks me up!

It seems like once a month a new member or someone with double digit posts drops the:

They have multiple usernames here too, one of recent ones with "single digit" status busted himself.

Really? its an amp. wee tad pathetic in my book.

[Zippy]

They will get to sit back in their plush chairs made from the soft cloth wire covering of vintage amps, lighting their cigars with $100 dollar bills and eating bacon bought from the millions earned off the backs of starving musicians desperate for a touch of SRV's magic.

Mmmmmmmm, bacon...

[RJ Guitars]

Mmmmmmmm, bacon...

Canadian, English, American, or ???

Not entirely meant as a smart arse answer... HAD didn't seem to make any two of them the same and if he made another it would probably be different as well. For me this is how amp building should be done. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I tend to like some of my own ideas better than an exact clone of a legend when I do have access to that info.

Dig deep into the bits and pieces here on TAG and elsewhere on the net and you'll find the major pieces of the SSS. You should find the cumulative info to be surprisingly complete. YMMV

rj