Trainwreck Hiss

[Firestorm]

I'll bet Glen is using 12AX7s, but I am increasingly enamored of NOS 6072s and 5751s. The 6072s especially cut the hiss dramatically ('cause they cut the gain so much), but they also give you a lot more adjustment room both on the amp and the guitar before the amp goes silly -- there's a lot more clean before you get to the gnarly settings. I've got to try rolling my stash of NOS and used 12AX7s and see if there's one that really fits the bill.

[Rimy]

i did some rewireing of my second build last night. to see what are the difference in hiss. tried to change a few things concerning the lead dress. i went from vintage cloth solid wire to pvc wire. the result didn't change a thing. the only thing what made a difference in hiss was when: i took off the 33k grid res on v1 from the input jack and when i changed the other resistors from 1/2w mf to 2w mf. i couldn't change all to 2w cause i still had a few missing in my stock, the rest should be done by monday. i will report.

[geetarpicker]

They all seem to hiss some. However once I did a comparison in the studio between a '68 Marshall plexi 100 superlead and my original '89 Express. I set the Marshall on 10, with a somewhat standard EQ setting. Then I set my Express for a similar gain and tone which was mostly everything on 1/2. With the amps set for a similar tone and gain the Marshall was actually NOISIER than the Express. Yes the Express was noisier when cranked further, but alot gainier. I think the Express is actually not that noisy IF you consider how much gain it has. Most folks nowdays are used to kicking off gain pedals are/or switching channels and such when they are done with the high gain and then they of course hear a lower noise floor. With the Wreck you are simply cranking the thing into high gain territory and leaving it there all the time. I don't think there really is any way around the noise, though in a clone proper lead dress seems to make a big difference. In my original Express and 2 clones I built the only shielded cable is from the input jack to V1. I think sometimes shielded cable can actually hurt the tone and even add noise issues in high gain tube circuits. I've seen some amps where the shielded cable loaded down the high end so much that it sounded bad, and had less noise simply because it had less high end. In most of my videos I did edit out the noise at the start and endings, however in the middle of the track the noise is there but barely a problem. Another good example is my "New Mexico" Youtube video where I set my amp for a fairly high gain (all knobs on 1/2, full bright switch) and used my Gretsch. I then rolled the guitar down to about 3 for a clean sound, but the amp is still cranked. Even with the guitar backed way down the noise isn't that bad. I only gated it off in the beginning before I hit the first note, but then it's left on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U36Uxwi ... annel_page

Thanks for the comments Glen!
Always interesting!!

Great video + nice playing!!

How do you manage to have such a low volume with the amp set at half and guitar volume at 3?

My Trainwrecks are way too loud at half volume and guitar on 3...

Do you change V1-V2 and V3?

Thanks

No, the tubes were the same as my other videos. Part of the trick is to have pots in your guitar with a smooth taper that comes on slowly. I've played many guitars that had pots that came on way too quickly to use with a Trainwreck type amp for any clean tones. Decent 250k guitar pots are fairly common place for Fender type guitars, but 500ks for Gibson's type guitars are really hard to find that have a smooth slow rising taper. This makes a big difference in being able to quickly back the guitar down to the clean sweet spot. That said, I rewired my Gretsch and it's totally different than stock. Stock they turn to mud when backed down. Still, my strats and LPs have no tricks in them just decent pots.

[drhulsey]

... "build the tonestack outside the chassis trick" ... Just make a template out of 1/16" FR-4 using the chassis front as a guide and then assemble it all of a piece outside the chassis...

I used the outside front of the chassis as my template. Nothing extra to fabricate, and there's no way it won't match

[skyboltone]

Good thinking Tim. I got templates for everything, just seemed natural, but that sure does the trick.