Good choice for clean, full, balanced amp?

[lpresnall]

What's a good choice in your opinion for a clean, full, amp with no tremolo or reverb? Say 15-30 watt range?

[Smokebreak]

Fender AB763 Deluxe Normal channel. You can simulate the 220K mixer effect and vib pot, sort of, with a 220K/270K voltage divider between second stage and PI. It's basically the AX84 California Dreamer. Stays clean till about noon.

[Randall]

Smokebreak, can you be more specific about that voltage divider?

[Smokebreak]

Smokebreak, can you be more specific about that voltage divider?

Check this out : https://tubeamparchive.com/files/ab763_ ... ly_139.pdf

On mine I believe I lifted the 270K>ground for a little more hair and like it that way the best...or stick it on a trimmer and see what suits. Going plate>cap>PI grid was too much for me

[lpresnall]

Fender AB763 Deluxe Normal channel. Stays clean till about noon.

But most of my gigs start around 9...

[Randall]

Thanks for that. Did you drop the .047 cap as well?

[Smokebreak]

Fender AB763 Deluxe Normal channel. Stays clean till about noon.

But most of my gigs start around 9...

Nice

Thanks for that. Did you drop the .047 cap as well?

Honestly I'd have to get in there and look. I wanna say I'm sure I did, but it's easy enough to fiddle with the values there. You only need 1 cap to block dc there anyways so you can pick what sounds best.. .001 is stock PI entrance, though on original AB763 schematic there is a .1>220K>.001 .
I remember I was a bit confused about that then, and still am Perhaps someone more knowledgable can explain why there are 2 caps in that part of the circuit. It must have something to do with the vibrato circuit, I would guess.

[tubeswell]

Tweed Twin (5E8A or 5F8A) , or Bassman (5F6A)
Blackface Bassman, Bandmaster, Concert, Pro, Super, Twin, or Showman

[lpresnall]

Thanks tubeswell. I'm looking all around the net now for a plan that's within my capabilities. Some have offered the ax84 California Dreamer as well, but it's an old project and I don't know how well documented it is these days. Also I think I read that it will break up above middle volumes. I'm not sure that's what I'm after if that's the case. I'm thinking if it's a simple matter of cap values that'd be ok (as long as I knew what to change and where).

[tubeswell]

If you want a super clean amp with no reverb or trem, a blackface bassman is the ticket. Relatively simple to build too. Build the AA864
http://www.el34world.com/charts/Schemat ... _AA864.pdf

On the other hand the earlier 6G6B (brown/blonde) is excellent too.
http://www.el34world.com/charts/Schemat ... N_6G6B.pdf

[Randall]

With respect, those amps with 6L6 outputs are going to put you above your 15 - 30 watt range. The AB763 Deluxe with it's 6V6s is about 20 watts.

[Leo_Gnardo]

If you want a super clean amp with no reverb or trem, a blackface bassman is the ticket. Relatively simple to build too.

On the other hand the earlier 6G6B (brown/blonde) is excellent too.

Deafinitely good choices! To simplify further leave out one of the pre channels. And of course you can build a smaller power supply to get power at your 30W level. Alternate power solution - build the stock power amp but run the output tubes in triode mode. Put in a switch so you can have the choice of normal or triode mode. You'll get @ 20W in triode and a somewhat rolled off high end.

There's an intriguing and clean sounding pre in blonde bassman's bass channel. You may have to fiddle with the tone stack to get the right result for your ears, speakers & guitar.

One thing you need for clean is power, you can't get around it. "There's no substitute for cubic inches." Like that.

[Leo_Gnardo]

With respect, those amps with 6L6 outputs are going to put you above your 15 - 30 watt range. The AB763 Deluxe with it's 6V6s is about 20 watts.

Good observation.

Some other things to consider - you can run Deluxe with 6L6's & solid state rectifier for a little power boost (26W give or take) & cleaner tone. Many of my customers do this. And the 6L6's are loafing under that load, tend to last a very long time.

There's also the "double Princeton" concept - Allen Amps offers one as a kit or ready-made. Of course you can cobble your own together & leave out what you don't need. These deliver @ 32W. Allen will sell you just the transformers if that's all you need. Boo-tique builder Gries makes his own version of this amp - one of my customers has one & likes it a lot.

There's also your speaker to consider. The more efficient the speaker, the more clean volume you'll get out of any amp. I favor the old Altec 417 12" but of course you should listen to everything you can find & make a choice that fits your ears.

[M Fowler]

Run a Bandmaster circuit it uses a 35w 4 ohm OT and run the 5881 they put out less wattage then the 6L6GC.

[tubeswell]

Actually those 2 x 6L6 amps I listed before are actually around 35W-40W, and aren't much louder than 25-30W amps. But they will certainly meet the 'clean full amp' criterion. YMMV