I know you've probably all heard this time and time again, and I'm probably going to get hell'd for this.. But, are there any mods that can be done to a Ceriatone OTS Bluesmaster to make it sound like a Two Rock on the cleans? I've searched the forum, but all that I've found is people asking how a build a Two Rock amp. I'm thinking in terms of getting the clean channel of the Ceriatone into the ballpark of the Two Rock. The Ceriatone is great in itself, but I want it a bit more refined if you know what i mean. Any guidance in the right direction would be much appreciated!
- Justin
Last edited by justin_t_ on Fri May 25, 2012 6:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
In my view the Ceriatone OTS is very similar to the Custom Reverb (if you ignore the lack of built in reverb).
The CR v2 is a High Plate with Skyliner EQ - so the OTS is pretty close to this. There are a few coupling capacitors that are lower value in the TR, this would trim some of the bass content.
I really think that if you crank the OTS on the clean channel with a Dumbleator type loop, it's definitely in the same territory as a TR.
The Bluesmaster type circuit has a different EQ and a Marshall type Phase Inverter section which adds harmonic content when pushed hard. If you go down this route and drive the clean channel / crank the output - you'll get 'singing' cleans.
I apologise for the wording of the original post (which I've now edited). I was meant to say that I already have a Ceriatone OTS Bluesmaster 100W that I built myself through the kit, and would like to tighten up the cleans so that I can get that glassy chimey tone that can be achieved with a Two Rock. I would probably be looking more towards the custom clean/classic reverb models. I've spent countless hours drooling over youtube videos, and the tone those amps produce through a strat just makes me sad that I can't reproduce it without selling my organs haha. Is such a mod even possible? Or did I build the wrong amp as a donor amp for such project? Thanks!
I know where you are coming from but I really do think that the differences are smaller than you'd imagine. Playing the amp at "gigging volume" I think is key to getting "the tone"
Thanks for the advice. Does anybody by any chance have settings for the Bluesmaster to achieve a similar tone? Forgive me for being ignorant, but, how much difference do speakers make in terms of tone? I have a pair of Celestion G12-100T - i know these are for Marshall distortion type amps, but it was what came with the speaker cab. I'm thinking of getting a Celestion G12-65 paired with a Celestion Gold in a 2x12 open back speaker cab, thoughts?
I've got a 100w C-tone BM as well, Hopefully I can help out some.
First off, I'm playing with a Les Paul, so Strat values will vary. The BM is a bit bassy (not too much, but somewhat), so I usually set the bass low. I don't use the Deep switch. I also don't use the mid switch, as I feel it muds up the OD somewhat.
You will probably want to consider a speaker swap. One EVM-12L in a ported or open cab may be your best friend. I have not tried the amp with any G12-65s or variants, so I can't speak to those. I just really like the EV.
If I were you, I'd start by bringing the plate/cathode resistor values down. The higher values are going to get you more harmonic content for the overdrive, but at the same time, the cleans won't be as chimy.
The first stage is 180K/1K, and the second stage is 130K/1K8 (or I'd even go 130K/2K2). This is something I've seen done in a couple of these amps: bias the first stage hot and the next stage cold.
I owned a Ctone BM and built a 124. I actually prefer the cleans in a BM because I'm more into marshall cleans i.e. kinda on the edge of breakup tones that bark and are compressed. But to me the BM sounds best with hotter humbuckers. My strat sounded ok with it but needed alot more volume to sound best which helped to fill in the holes if you know what I mean.
I've never tried it but what oldmacman suggested sounds fun. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but those values would get you a little closer to 124's gain but you'd still have the BM tone stack. My guess is it would behave more like a plexi. BTW, the 124's cleans are definitely more pristine and open which worked really well with my strat. You might want to go as far as changing the tone stack too
This is a little confusing for me. When I set out to build the Bluesmaster, I was told that the clean is on the fender side and the OD was more on the marshall side. Should I be looking to change the tonestack to a skyliner EQ? Is there much else that needs to be changed in a Bluesmaster to bring it to sound like the #124? I don't really want to build another amp, so modifying this one would be the best way to go. The recent post/soundclip Joost put up of his amp is exactly the clean sound that I'm going for. I'm now starting to feel that I built the wrong amp to start with..
justin_t_ wrote:This is a little confusing for me. When I set out to build the Bluesmaster, I was told that the clean is on the fender side and the OD was more on the marshall side. Should I be looking to change the tonestack to a skyliner EQ? Is there much else that needs to be changed in a Bluesmaster to bring it to sound like the #124? I don't really want to build another amp, so modifying this one would be the best way to go. The recent post/soundclip Joost put up of his amp is exactly the clean sound that I'm going for. I'm now starting to feel that I built the wrong amp to start with..
Thanks!
I have right now a similar "problem" - the BM sound is just very bassy, way too much for me; my plan is increasing the slope from 47K to 100K or even 150K, depending on what sounds better. I've done the same in my own Bassman homebrew and late Fender (Blackface+Silverface) Bassmans also have 100K; the 47K slope is more inspired by the old (Tweed) Bassmans, where the Tonestack was hanging after the cathode follower. At the same time what I sometimes do is kind of a soundwise half-step from Fender TS to Dumble Skyliner, by doing the following: I increase the mid poti from 25K or what have you, to 100K, and at the same time provide a heights bypass route from the bass potis top end with 1nF+10K to ground. You could try one without the other; I'd guess increasing the slope to 100K will already get you much more chime in the cleans. Anybody tried this before with a BM?
