Lost my good sound

[Luddy]

This isn't really a serious problem for me, as I am kind of enjoying the process. When I first started playing on my Ceriatone OTS, it sounded like crap. Yet, I could tell that it was the kind of crap that meant there were other things the amp could do. After playing it all summer with a live band, I finally got it to sound good. ASIK, it was due to the settings, although I have heard some people say that amps need to be broken in. I brought the amp home 5 months ago, and have been getting really nice sounds, even at super low volumes. One reason is that I discovered note-flipping. I really like that.

Recently, however, I just started from scratch with the settings, hoping this would lead me to another great sound. But so far, I haven't been able to get anywhere. The big issue is the OD. I'm not asking for advice although I would be happy to receive it, but just wanted to tell how great and how bad an amp like this can sound.

Do others have these kinds of experiences?

[David Root]

The OD frequently sounds better with PAB or mid boost, or in some amps, both on give a really great thick OD tone. My #124 does that with both PAB and MB on.

[exocet]

This particular amp design is capable of many 'good sounds' but it really does depend upon what you are looking for.

Let's assume that you want a good rock / blues 'medium gain' sound.

You will need to set your initial input gain somewhere between 11 and 2 O'Clock, lower settings with Humbuckers than single coils.

You probably want the Bright Switch 'off', Rock Jazz set to Rock and experiment with the Mid Boost (labeled deep).

Tone controls - keep the treble 12 'O clock or less, mid control a little higher and I find that Bass should be lower than either Treble or Mid, say 9 O'Clock.

Next up Overdrive level set between 11 and 2 O'Clock, Ratio set somewhere similar.

Master.....what ever you can get away with and presence set to taste but I find no higher than 11 O'Clock works for me.

The other important setting on this sort of amp is the internal trimmer that sets the signal level being fed into the 1st overdrive stage - if this is set too high (beyond 12 O'Clock in my experience) you are going to get too much gain. Personally I don't like this but there again your taste will vary.

As David said, the Mid Boost and PAB can help with OD sound - personally I like Mid Boost but not PAB.......but I do like Mid Boost with PAB so long as I turn down the volume on my guitar otherwise it's too much!!

Back to where I started, what sounds do you want?

[Structo]

Recently I discovered that having the Mid Boost on tightened the low bass somewhat.

With the amp in Rock mode and just the OD on, the bottom strings sound a bit loose and not very defined.

Switch on Mid Boost and it tightens up the low bass.

But, it does change the tone a bit and I'm not sure how much I like that.

I'm going to experiment with the power supply filtering by increasing the B4 and B5 to 40uF to see if it will tighten it up.
The Ford amp has this filtering.