Stock 68 spec W/2"OT and such...

[Strat78]

oh - the 1000pF and 2000pF might be good for the bright cap - if you will use one and depending on how much you want. Afaik in 68 SL's had a bright cap of up to 5000pF.

Thanks for the help with that! Where can you get those large 560pf ceramic caps that George uses in his builds?

[StuntDouble]

oh - the 1000pF and 2000pF might be good for the bright cap - if you will use one and depending on how much you want. Afaik in 68 SL's had a bright cap of up to 5000pF.

Thanks for the help with that! Where can you get those large 560pf ceramic caps that George uses in his builds?

I think Ed's amp has the little, red lemco 560pf silver mica in the tonestack, first one on the left in your pic. I recall Dave saying he took one from a 69 to put in it.

[vh junkie]

That was my last set of those cool fuse holders that I got from George, so you finally found them, awesome!

No, I'm not a pile of carbon next to my amp, in fact, here is the latest with George's last run of chassis: Check out where the screens will connect, thanks Robert!

Are those fuse holders you got from me?
I finally found the ones George use to supply (only took three months!)

Those fuseholders are something I haven't seen before.
Here are the one's I have now.
The top one is close.
The bottom one is what I got from George in 2009.


They are pretty close. George's has the plastic nut.
Do all of the one's you got from George have the metal nut?

[vanhalen5150]

The sets I have from George have the metal nuts. I got some for my Sovtek from Antique E. Supply a while back and they also had metal nuts.

[Strat78]

Yes, all the ones I have have metal nuts as well, like the top one, but the grip part tapers like the one on the bottom and has the white lettering.

[Strat78]

Grabbed another 7.5 amp ohmite variac for nothing. All it needed was a three prong snap in plug, which I found a box of 10 on ebay. I rewired it like the one on the left and the thing is practically brand new now! The 69 metro kit is done and is now acting as a power amp for my 68, very cool tone, thanks vh junky! Also finished stripping an old Marshall 4x12 and gave it a nice coat of clear nitro plus new parts, just waiting for the grill cloth among other things from mojo. June will be a month of continuing cabinet restorations, with several vintage cabs on the way. -thanks Jape88 for the tip on transitional pulsonic speakers, with black tabs, as a result I probably just scored a pretty great cab with 003's for a song!

[vh junkie]

Yes, all the ones I have have metal nuts as well, like the top one, but the grip part tapers like the one on the bottom and has the white lettering.

Clearly George went thru a few different favs on the fuseholders and a few other parts ( the one's on plexireplicas.com are the ones with the plastic nuts).

The 69 metro kit is done and is now acting as a power amp for my 68, very cool tone, thanks vh junky!

So that's a pic of the converted power amp! Yep! Shouldn't need the PB though, right? Takes a bit of time to get all the levels and settings right between the two amps... plus deciding on any effects chain between the amps... not VH1... but maybe on some of the early tours... a lot of fun to play through!

[Tone Slinger]

So strat78, how are your EH 6ca7's holding up ?

[harddriver]

Hey Strat 78, I was listening to your other latest clips and th eamp sounds great, but your phase 90 and reverb/delay settings are perfect.

Where are you running your Phase 90? Have modded it any to change it from stock form, it sweeps perfect in and out as Ed's did.

What delay reverb are you using in the rola3 clip?

[Strat78]

Hey Strat 78, I was listening to your other latest clips and th eamp sounds great, but your phase 90 and reverb/delay settings are perfect.

Where are you running your Phase 90? Have modded it any to change it from stock form, it sweeps perfect in and out as Ed's did.

What delay reverb are you using in the rola3 clip?

That's just a mid 70's script mxr p-90 going into an echoplex and into the amp. Having the amp perform right seems to make all the difference for a good p-90 sound. The reverb is pro=tools "bright arena" I think.

Tone Slinger, the EH 6ca7's are really nice though I bew out the first quad by running the amp at 500v instead of 400v. They don't seem to like being run higher than 450v or so.

I've finally finished this latest 12 series with the M e r r e n 1.5" tranny. I'll try to do a comparison clip with the 2" tranny 12 series before the end of the month.

[VintageCharlie]

Great! I'm really looking forward to this!

[Tone Slinger]

+ 1

Cant wait to hear some new clips .

[Strat78]

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10871491" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The amp with the 2" OT is first, the amp with the 1.5" OT comes in at 2:25
So the 12 series amp with the 1.5"OT Drake clone is finally done and here is a comparison clip with the 12 series/2"OT amp. Kind of a silly comparison, given that with each amp I build, I'm improving on the last build with experience and quality of components: The amp with the 1.5"OT is made up of NOS mustards, Pihers, Erie's and a quad of NOS GE 6CA7's (a few other things too). Still, both amps sound pretty close, though the solo tone of the 1.5" OT amp is pretty great considering the amp is right off the bench with no break in time. It has a solidity and chime that sounds nice in the room. The guitar is going straight into the amps with no EQ before or after the recording, just a little verb. I will switch in some better componants into the 2" OT amp for a better comparison. I've stopped using the 1ohm resistors on the power tube sockets for biasing and have switched over to doing it the old fashion way.

[VintageCharlie]

Thanks for the interesting post and clip!
On the speakers i'm at the moment the difference is not THAT big between the amps (i was expecting a bigger difference). The 1.5" OT seems like having a bit more focus on the upper mids, while the 2" OT has more lower mids. Does this hold true also when comparing them live? The 1.5" OT seems to be a bit smoother too, but that might have to do something with the NOS components?
Have to listen to the clip on some proper headphones to understand what's going on.

What are your own impressions? Any favorite at the moment?

[StuntDouble]

There are a couple of things going on with the 1.5" Dagnal clip. It has a 100uf electrolytic cap paralleled at over the .68uf/820 V2, so that might be contributing to part of the smoothness you're hearing. In theory, I think the Drake clip should be smoother...all things being equal. The 1.5" clip also has a paper/mylar .022uf cap at the p.i. input, which dumps some bass and adds a littl top-end; that'll affect the voicing too and may be contributing to that upper midrange emphasis. 1.5" Clip also has a 5h Metro choke.

Phil, is the 32uf+32uf p.i. filter cap in series for a 64uf or it's it just at 32uf? I'm thinking that the 1.5" could stand to go up in value at the p.i. filter..whadda ya think? What's the filtering on the 2" Drake clip? It's defintely tighter in the low-end, but I'm guessing that's probably just the OT.

Anyways, both clips sound fantastic, but the 2" Drake clip gets my nod for best tone at the moment

BTW, ...I'd really like to hear that 2" Drake clips with that 100uf/.68uf/820 at V2; so close.