2nd gen should be something else (sort of a troll)

[Luthierwnc]

Hi Guys,

Winter is coming and I need to heat up the soldering station to stay warm.

I've got three D variants, a 50-watt 2nd generation hybrid (with some modern additions that can be completely taken out of the signal path), a 100-watt 102 with internal loop and a T-Lite 5879 combo with 2 7591's. The 102 is the latest and closest to what I wanted to accomplish with the cleans. I used a mix of lower plates on the first tube and high-plates on the OD. Love it -- not sure where I can play it.

The odd amp out is the 2nd gen. After airing the 102, the 2nd sounds a little muffled or indistinct. Still a great amp but no longer first in line. I built an HRM maybe 6 years ago and really liked it but sold it to pay for a guitar project. Now I'm considering doing one of those again and wanted to get your opinions since the field of research and experimentation has come so far.

In the absence of great ideas to the contrary, I'm looking at high-plates on both tubes. I usually put a Strat switch on the tone circuit with a bigger mid cap and cathode resistor but all else on that tube would be according to the established circuits.

https://tubeamparchive.com/download/file.php?id=22979

I didn't care for the FET on this amp so that relay might become a switchable PAB on the HRM tone-stack. Also foot-switchable mid-boost. It has the older-style filtering but there would be room in the chassis if I absolutely have to go to totem-poles.

I've never messed with the BluesMaster but I'm not really a Marshall guy and they sound a little more like that than I need. Other than that, does anyone have some ideas on making this amp a little more articulate?

Thanks, Skip

[ToneMerc]

Skip, here's a quad 6V6 HRM that I built last year. The only change I would make would be to put the HRM TS lift on a relay.

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.php?t=18577

TM

[jelle]

My 70's amps kill. Real tight tone.

Not sure what is up with yours. I really like mine. Do not expect lots of saturation, just clean sustain.

[Luthierwnc]

It is an excellent sounding amp -- just not my favorite. I've built 6 or 7 of these over the years and have gravitated towards the more recent iterations. The 102 has the loop built-in and uses the return as the MV.

I'll try it over a different cab before making any lasting decisions and I may also swap a couple parts first too. Mostly I'm fishing for ideas on alternative versions. BTW, around 450VDC on a pair of 6L6s with American iron. It is over a single ported 12" SRO right now but I have other 1X12's I can add in. I much prefer a decent stompbox to the FET but the OD is usually plenty. Clean boost is my sweet spot.

Cheers, sh

[marcos]

Skip,
here´s my two (Euro) cents:

I own a 79 2nd gen ODS, and I was not completely happy with the tone at first, so I started modding the amp (with some help from HAD) in the mid 80s. Without going into the detours and dead ends, the route I took was:
First I "upgraded" the amp to 3rd generation specs, not totally different sounding, but way more bass. Personally, I would start here, all you need is to lose the .02 cap on the bass pot, and change the treble pot to 250k.
BTW, my amp is now basically a low plate Skyliner, much more "vocal" sounding, much more to my liking, still, a matter of taste.
Hope this helps
Marcos

[Luthierwnc]

Yep, that's exactly where I am. It is a good amp, I could make it better but the winner is the amp next to it with a low-plate (well, first tube anyway) more modern tone-stack. I love the cleans, particularly. I remembered liking the OD tones better on the HRM at the time of this thread:

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... =hrm#66695

The HRM was sold to a friend and the non-HRM became something else. My favorite tones of all are low-plate cleans with the boost and a little hair from the loop. BTW, the 2nd gen does have an external loop but that amp does pretty well without it. sh