why is SHO super hard on your amp?

[eniam rognab]

maybe i am missing something...

i done builded me a SHO, all my buddies (yeah right ) are saying

"dont turn that thing up too loud sonny, youll blow up your tube things"

well, i turned it all the way up, i aint afraid!!

it was loud, it was awesome, it was mosfet-tastic

so anyway, why exactly is this bad for my tube amp? something about biasandsuchandsuch? i dont know

as we say in maine, "you guys ah wicked smaht"

educate me

[gingertube]

....educate me

You first - what is a SHO?

Cheers,
Ian

[eniam rognab]

....educate me

You first - what is a SHO?

Cheers,
Ian

my bad

SHO is a polite term for the Super Hard On effect by Zvex

It is a single mosfet gain stage, 5 resistors,1 pot, three caps, zener diode and a BS170 mosfet

linkage
http://revolutiondeux.blogspot.com/2012 ... n-sho.html

[gingertube]

Went and looked at the schematic - It is a simple mosfet buffer stage. It gives the guitar signal a boost which gives you more chance of overdriving the first (input) gain stage of your guitar amp and just about guarantees that you will be able to overdrive the second stage.
It will do no harm to your amp at all.

Cheers,
Ian

[eniam rognab]

so

it doesnt matter what the input Vpp is? apparently the SHO will boost to something like 7.something peak to peak. this wont harm the tube?

i have an engineer friend that keeps warning me about too much gain going into the amp, but i thought thats where the TONE comes from.

why is it called the super hard on?

i feel gypped.

[gingertube]

No it won't harm the tube - boosters like this are actually good to stick between your guitar and older amps with clean preamps like many Fenders etc. It just allows you to take a clean amp into overdrive territory. The difference between this and some other up front effects boxes/pedals is that there is no attempt to generate the distortion in this box, it is relying largely on the amp to do that when given some extra input signal. In my own opinion, this is the better way of doing it. Let the tubes generate the overdrive sound/tone.

Howard Dumble built the same thing into the amp itself and provided it with a footswitch labelled "PAB" (Pre Amp Boost). Tell your buddies its your Dumble mod.

Cheers,
Ian

[xtian]

Given some value of excessive voltage, you will damage the tube. But,

http://www.drtube.com/datasheets/7025-rca1959.pdf

Datasheet says that's 100v differential between grid and cathode? Anyway, you'll drive the tube into cutoff LONG before damage, right?

[eniam rognab]

SUPER HARD ON!!

not WELL WITHIN THE OPERATING PARAMETERS!!!

thanks for the responses guys

ppssshh engineers are stoopid, scuse me while i crank this shit

[eniam rognab]

Anyway, you'll drive the tube into cutoff LONG before damage, right?

yeah! right! i thought this was the idea!

you guys are my new friends

[Leo_Gnardo]

SUPER HARD ON!!

not WELL WITHIN THE OPERATING PARAMETERS!!!

thanks for the responses guys

ppssshh engineers are stoopid, scuse me while i crank this shit

Pretty well established that it won't hurt your tubes. I always found the SHO had a nasty "hard" sounding tone (maybe the reason for its name) that was very un-smooth, doesn't hit my ear in the right place BUT to each his own.

If we did everything in a way that pleased your engineer friend, music wouldn't be very exciting. Maybe he's a fan of non rock, non blues, anti-distortion, etc, but there again, to each his own. Don't you boys know any NICE music? There are all sorts of engineers in this world, some just aren't adventurous, gotta do everything by the book, don't think outside the box. Others push the limits and beyond, that's how innovations are made. Mistakes too sometimes. (Motto of US Army Engineers is "Essayons" = "Let's try it." Didn't work for New Orleans, did it. Oops.) No worries for you and your SHO. Crank it up dude!

[Reeltarded]

omg we have one its awful dont use it run away!

[EtherealWidow]

So, now that we're on the subject, what would your more refined ears prefer in terms of a booster/buffer?

[martin manning]

...ppssshh engineers are stoopid...

.. There are all sorts of engineers in this world...

And lots of them on this board, too!

[vibratoking]

ppssshh engineers are stoopid, scuse me while i crank this shit

Yes, there are some of them on this board. And they are probably thinking you are stoopid for asking whether the SHO will damage your tubes and ignorant for offending a group of people with your head planted firmly in your ass.

But that's not stupid...that's just truthful.

[NickC]

So, now that we're on the subject, what would your more refined ears prefer in terms of a booster/buffer?

I am partial to this one:

Xotic Effects EP Booster
http://www.xotic.us/effects/ep_booster/