What does cermet taste like?

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azatplayer
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What does cermet taste like?

Post by azatplayer »

Having a thought regards an adjustable split load plate resistance, using a pot.
Just did an express with the fast grad switching and its great! Better in fact than on my concorde!
Also have a buddy doing a 6V6 express and he played mine and loved grad mode.
Just thinking that if i had a 47k fixed R at the plate and an adjustable 50K pot from B+ to the fixed R, it would maintain the fixed 100K load to the plate, but allow a dialing in of the sweet spot. I figure using the pot first into the resistor gives the benefits the resistors compound adds, but im worried about what cermet tastes like.
Was also wondering about the effect of the signal being pulled from that divider, mainly on noise aka hiss. The grad mode is super quiet, is pedal friendly, but stills screams when wound on. Has express character and minimal hiss! I like that idea!
Therefor im keen on trying a pot to dial in/out hiss as much as anything. Maybe theres an inductance deal going on, or perhaps its purely the resistance that hiss cant pass thru, or the drop in gain that does it.
What is true to my ear is the tone is still there, the gain at ma is still there, the clean to mean is still there, just at a less noisy field.
So, does cermet taste like brown sugar or poop?
Cliff Schecht
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Re: What does cermet taste like?

Post by Cliff Schecht »

Putting DC on the pot will give you lots of nasty scratchy sounds as you rotate it. I'd leave a fast/gradual switch or put in some sort of switch that gives you more resistor options instead.

People have done similar things with the feedback resistor coming off of an output transformer. While it seems like having a pot instead of a resistor will give you more tonal options, a lot of people end up removing the pot and putting in an on/off switch. The in between sounds of the pot aren't as versatile as you might think.
Cliff Schecht - Circuit P.I.
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M Fowler
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Re: What does cermet taste like?

Post by M Fowler »

I did the fast gradual mod on an Express and it worked fine but later made it into a four tube high gain shredder.

There are a couple ways to wire that fast/gradual and I tried both ways and it works great. But I didn't have this amp together long enough to really test it.

Mark
azatplayer
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Re: What does cermet taste like?

Post by azatplayer »

Yeah Cliff, youre right i now itll be a noisy bugger. And i know once its dialed i. thats where it will stay.
I am curious tho to hear what the variations are. After all that divider is basically a 100k pot, whos to say those values are perfection? Certainly with my buddies amp, its a little off the reservation already. Might make bugger all diff, and there might be some gold.
But i still dnt know what cermet tastes like!
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M Fowler
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Re: What does cermet taste like?

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