peavey mace / ge diodes

[mark allen]

enzo, i have a couple maces and a deuce. early versions . not vt series. i would like to know what the two ge diodes near the input section are used for. are these used for clipping as in overdrive pedals. my thoughts were to mod it experimentally by putting 2 more in series with the ones there. what im wanting to mod is give the amp more dynamics,meaning more spread between clean and distorted tones.clipping onset is to early to me i have to try an play way to lite. i understand this is how the amp works but it would be nice to mod. also do you know any mods done for this amp. thanks

[Enzo]

Looking at the schematic, all I see is a ground reference. The circuit has its ground - the typical triangle shaped three lined ground symbol, but that is for common, not chassis. Chassis uses the rake shaped symbol. All this amounts to is a pair of diodes cross paralleled with a .05 cap.

Normally the series and jack grounds this poijnt to chassis so they are invisible. The separate channel jacks don;t wake them up. But plug into the series or parallel jacks and the shunt across them disappears.

If you want to experiment, be my guest.

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

Adding some artwork to Enzo's reply:

[Enzo]

Say! I am not sure why they chose to do this, but it looks a lot to me like the ground reference Marshall has been using in recent amps. MArshall parallels a 10 ohm resistor across all that stuff.