OT questions

[Zippy]

I did a little tweaking on the tone stack to get a little more bottom end and make the treble pot a little more useable, as it initially was way to bright...

What cabinet are you running? Are you playing it at performance levels?

These will have a profound influence on your bottom end and treble. Don't tweak at "bedroom" levels and expect it to sound the same on stage.

[marcoloco961]

I am using a single 12 cabinet with a Vintage 30. A big part of the bright sound is more than likely the speaker and cab. The best cabinet I have heard it played through was a 2-12 loaded with either greenbacks or scumbacks. The Vintage 30 IMO, is a bit of a shrill speaker to start with.

It was tweaked at 3/4 to full volume, much to the dismay of my pooch and my soon to be ex-wife.

The thing that was really annoying me, was the fact that the treble pot was almost un-usable. When turned up past 2 or 3, it would not only boost the treble, but it was cancelling out the bass and inducing a loud hiss.

I checked it out on the tonestack program that I downloaded not too long ago and it confirmed that with the values I had, the gain of the bass frequencies was lowered quite a bit when the treble was turned up. After I changed the pot values the treble became much more "usable". You could turn up the treble and not lose so much of the bass. It also lowered the "hiss". This amp has less gain than the first build and the volume knob is much more user friendly. It starts breaking up at a lower level so you don't have to crank it as loud to get the overdriven tones, at least that is the way it worked with the guitars and cab we were using.

I think that the truth is, there are so many variables that go into getting a specific desired sound, that the circuit almost has to tailored to each individuals guitar, pick-ups, speaker cabinet, desired tone AND playing style. I have watched one person plug a guitar into it and just make the thing wail, then someone with a different playing style can pick up the same guitar and not be able to get near the sound that the last player could achieve with the exact same set -up. Not to say that one player is less talented, just that the picking and playing styles vary.

These amps seem to favor precise players who play with feeling. They also tell on the ones who use distortion to hide sloppy playing.

A bad player will not like your shinny new Trainwreck.

[marcoloco961]

the experess is more of a lead amp then a rythm amp , if you want to make it more like a rythm amp put a 10h choke in the powersupply (like a comet ) i think i also would have that 56k dropping resistor as a pot . so you can adjust it to differtent pickups . it would be fun to hear some sound clips
Espen

Thanks for the insight. I had thought about putting a pot in some of the different resistance locations, but was not sure if it would work and sound well. You guys just like to make me solder a bunch.

My friend who made the last clips for me has sold his recording mixer and has not picked up a new one yet, so it will be a while before I can post a decent clip, but I will work on getting something together to give an idea of the sound the variations made.

Would I eliminate the 1k 25 watt resistor if I were to go with a choke?

[ckpop]

I agree many try to tune the wreck without looking at the big picture of all the variables outside from the amp itself. Not to offend players but you have to know as much about your speakers, guitar, pickups and playing style to make everything come together and sometimes it happy accidents.

I always measure my results of one amp with many players playing it. That way I know it's not me as the player or my influence. Sorry but I will be the first to say maybe it's me LOL Then I can eliminate that factor out of the equation.

Pride can get in the way of progress

[breakfastbuddy]

make the choke switchable. choke or 25w resistor make the switch before the resistor or choke closer to the tranny , it would be best if you can have the switch on the ac current

[geetarpicker]

in general how will a transformer with lower impedanse sound compare to one with higer impedanse . i know a lot of you like the fender thing , sweet clean sound , but what if you like a bit of edge ? more like a marshall. is a lower impedanse the way to go ?

FYI my original Express has a 6.6k Pacific OT, and that amp still has plenty of highs and an aggresive nature. Even though I've done alot of bluesy clips you might also check out the last tune in the media player on this myspace page. It's a cover of Alice In Chains "The Rooster" which is close to a metal tone with a 6.6k Express. Not metal in a scooped mid sort of way, but still plenty agressive. Perhaps a 5.2k OT is even more in this direction, but just noting that a 6.6k Express is not specifically a blues machine by any stretch.

Link: http://www.myspace.com/gksrevenge

[breakfastbuddy]

i play in a band myself , but were just having fun , here is a taste with no hightec sound straight in a camera mic . the express is a special amp and its intresting how its made up and how its verry resposive to you guitar picking .
here is my band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGhwSjj3hEE
Espen
ps were into playing Johnny Cash now and other country hits with some punk flavor