Paraphase distortion vs twin long tail

[tubeswell]

Paraphase inverters sound good if you don't have many pre-amp stages, like in a supro t-bolt.

I think this kind generalization really stunts experimentation. The Budda Superdrive amps use a paraphrase and those sound VERY good.

I wasn't suggesting they don't sound good in other applications. I was just saying they sound good without many stages in front. Whether that stunts other peeps from experimentation, YMMV.

[Gaz]

I just mentioned the Superdrive because it is a high gain example. 3 bypassed gain stages in front of the PI.

[printer2]

Two versions of paraphase inverter, I have not tried the floating paraphase yet but had fun with the normal paraphase. I put in a trimmer to control how much signal the second stage gets. If you are more interested in clean or edge of breakup playing you could unbalance the stages to get some nice second harmonic.

If you use it with the above imbalance and hit it hard with a signal I found it to sound kind of ratty. Dialing back the balance to be equal made it sound better when cranked. I had the PI switchable between paraphase and cathodyne and found I liked the paraphase for cleans much better given the added imbalance.

[matt h]

(deleted)

[tubeswell]

I found the t-bolt style to be what you say too Printer 2. Here is a recording I did of that amp. You can hear how the 2nd harmonic is starting to flavour the single notes

https://soundcloud.com/surf-daddies/bus ... ber-sig-12

mp3 attached of a cleaner setting - again with the 2nd harmonic coming through, more-clearly in places this time

[matt h]

(deleted)

[Xander8280]

I was dancing around the idea of the twin tale with a driver stage or two after it. Voltage Dividers in place to prevent the phase inverter from distorting.

All I was getting at is with a full stack and my 4 string plugged into my 2204 it cannot hold the low end for a rock band volume with the low end. With it distorted it has LOTS of low end, but not overdriving the preamp I get weakness. Just thought there's somebody who's make a loud loud clean clean pre that drives the poweramp as hard as a dimed jcm does.

[matt h]

(deleted)

[Xander8280]

If you already have a 2204 you like, and are looking to mod it (rather than building a new amp), there are a couple of things that could get you headed in that direction.

Are you using the lo-gain input? or the high just turned down? In a typical 2203/4, the low input bypasses the first stage.

Anyway, if you mostly like your amp but just want to hit the power tubes harder, you might also consider running a pair of IRF820 (or similar) as source followers on each PI plate. That'll let you enter class AB2 territory for more clean power out on the back end. If your transformers were up to it, doing that in combination with a different power tube (instead of el34's, something like 6550s) would get you more headroom.

If you did that, continuing to work backwards up the signal path, you could try bootstrapping the CF already in there in the preamp, you should be able to hit the power tubes harder with a lower "gain" knob setting.

Dropping a lower gain tube into V1, in combination with the above, should net you something useful. A 12au7 or 12ay7 would be good depending on sonic goals.

thanks!

I've got EL34's currently but once I get the cash I want to put 6550 or Kt88s in. I have the tone stack plate feed, some gain mods here and there. It still bares the 2204 skeleton but I'm itching to upgrade it to 2203 trannies and drill a few holes in the chassis and double the wattage.