how does the Trainwreck Express circuit work?

[philip neri]

Can anyone explain to me the essential parts of the Trainwreck Express circuit that gives it its explosive ability to go from clean to crunchy with just a small twist of the guitar’s volume knob? I know that every little thing in the circuit plays a part in contributing to its tone. But I’m not interested in tone. I’m just interested how this amp circuit achieves a touch sensitivity unlike any other amp I’ve seen.

Since I’m new here, I’ll give a bit of background about myself. I don’t build amps nor do I really even play the guitar. Back in high school, 12 years ago, I wanted to do two things with my life. I wanted to be a rockstar and I wanted to be an electrical engineer. My lack of musical talent prevented me from pursuing my first dream occupation. And getting a C in Intro to Electrical Engineering in college prevented me from pursuing my second dream occupation. But I still have a general theoretical interest in both things despite the fact that I haven’t touched a soldering iron or an electric guitar in 7 years.

Also, I’m looking for a semi-technical explanation to my above question. As I said above, I took an EE class in college so I know a bit about electronics. But, like I said, I got a C. So I’m not too smart.

[gearhead]

Welcome to The Amp Garage!

That's a common question (understandadly so!)

Try this recent thread:


https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.php?t=9620

[philip neri]

Thanks for the link. I'm terribly embarassed that my question was answered just a few threads earlier. I should have lurked a bit more before posting.

I still want a few more details than what was given in that thread. So I'll do a bit more reading and see what I can find.

[gearhead]

One very important thing to know about the search function here is that it is a default "or" search. Need to type in "and" if you're doing a google type search ("express and voltage and plate" to find threads on express plate voltage)

[Noel Grassy]

gearhead,
Thanks for that tidbit! I've tried quotes, commas and everything in between but nothing worked. I gave up exasperated when the results rarely reflected my original search parameters.

I'm going to apply this method to a few other sites where I've gotten impatient with their search engines.

The Ampgarage continues to offer some of the best data at no cost!


Noel Grassy.