124 Revised...Please SAVE!!

[drew]

This may be a really dumb question, but with the popularity of lower wattage and lunchbox amps, is it possible to build a 10-20 watt amp using any of these designs?

http://www.el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=10111.0

[jimsz]

This may be a really dumb question, but with the popularity of lower wattage and lunchbox amps, is it possible to build a 10-20 watt amp using any of these designs?

http://www.el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=10111.0

Did you build that? I like it. Noticed it has Mercury transformer, too. Very nice.

How do I get one?

[thyx]

Anyone have any sound clips of a 124 build?
I'm interested in what difference the 100k plates have on the overall tone.

I posted these years ago:

http://www.ayanmusic.com/audio.htm

Gil

That middle overdrive track (no PAB) is what I like to hear. The low-plates kill the high-plates for musicality in my book. Sure, the high-plates have their own thing...it's just not nearly as musical to my ear.

[ic-racer]

Sounds great IC!:D

Yes can you give some details about the recording as well how the amp is set up?

What guitar were you using?

How loud was the amp when you recorded this?

I'll try to put things in order as to what I think are the most important components and the less important details near the bottom

1993 Howard Roberts Fusion III with both pickups on and controls max. 0.10 strings
Exact 124 ODS circuit
My OD entrance is like the schematic, nominal 350k CTS trimmer and 220k.
Celestion Modern Lead 70 re-cone in open back cab (just turns out that out of all my speakers that one sounds best after lots of trial and error)
Tom Shultz Power Soak set on -19 (somewhat low volume as you can even hear me clicking the foot switch which was on the floor by the mic)
Close mike straight-on with electret cardioid mic
post process = old noisy rack mounted SPRING reverb and rack mounted delay around .440 sec with the echos coming back through a separate channel on a 16channel Mackie mixer so the echos can get reverb also. I think this, the Power Soak and the speaker are key elements to the sound on those recordings.

Preamp tubes= various old/used RCA 12ax7
PI setting = near the middle. I can't hear any difference with the trimmer. But different PI tubes I can hear. I swapped until I got one I liked.
Output tubes = New MESA branded 6L6 (less noisy than a set of old worn out RCA 6L6s from the 1970s that I originally had in there)

Amp settings:
non-fet input
Vol 3 to 4
Rock, No Mid boost, no bright
All else on 5 except Ratio is low around 3 or so
Power switch = 100W output





Track #3 uses the OD channel then uses PAB&OD for the chorus
Track #5 uses clean, then OD then OD&PAB. I was also playing around with the pickup selector switch on the HRF III.

[bluesfendermanblues]

Hi IC, Thanks for a thorough explanation.

So, power tube distortion is part of your equation. I'm also a bit surprised, that your effects were added at the recording stage and not mixed in after afterwards. They sound very good and 'not in the way'.

Regarding your choice of speaker unit, whould you regard that as more important, than how/where you put the mike up against the speaker unit.

BTW did you close mike the cabinet or put the mic a ft or 1½ ft away? -
maybe a peculiar question, but I find it hard to distinguish one close miked speaker unit over the other (12G65 vs. Greenback vs. 12H30), when listening afterwards on (dynaudio 5a) studio monitors. However, I'm sure this is due to my speaker units are in fact very similar and that I lack experience in recording guitar, optimally.

[ic-racer]

I used to record the guitar signal clean then add the ambiance on mixdown, but I needed a good 'wet' mix to for the monitor feed anyway (I can't play with a dry sound). Eventually I just went with recording it how I heard it the first time through the headphones, with the effects.

I don't have the best assortment of speakers. Basically 2 cabs with Vintage 30s, one with 4 alnico tens and a some other Celestions. Nothing really good for the Dumble except by chance that modern lead 70. Finding the right speaker is very very important.

I don't 'crank' the amp with the Power Soak. I just have it on 5 master and 3 to 4 on the Volume. Probably normal stage volume tamed for a suburban basement.