Cranked and ranked! (best heavy distorted tones?)

[Steve Conner]

Hi,

I started a new thread on this to stop it hijacking the "Worst Tube Amp Ever" thread. Anyway the subject is extreme high-gain dirty distortion! We're talking enough gain to make the guitar play itself, and a grinding tone variously described as bees in a can, tearing paper, or chainsaw-like, sometimes even with scooped midrange for extra aggression and menace.

There are a million and one ways to do it, from the famous Mesa/Boogie amps through the Marshall JMP-1 to Neil Young's cranked Deluxe. I personally like the high-gain tube amps with master volume, because you can control the volume and have the option of a clean sound. Though I listened to a lot of metal, I don't always like massive volume and have been known to wear earplugs at gigs. Sound guys seem to like master volume amps too, although it's probably not an issue if the rest of the band is as loud as the guitarist.

How do you like it?

[Satamax]

I like Pantera's tone for example. Don't know how to get it tho.

[Rob Mercure]

To echo tones that I like but am not sure how to get: As I mentioned earlier I really liked Blue Oyster Cult in the 1970s and perhaps their most famous tune was "Don't Fear the Reaper" - which I was priviledged to see in a small auditorium during the 1975 Agents of Fortune tour. It featured the first laser light show that I'd ever seen - a bright red beam hitting a giant disco ball (didn't realize at the time that the lead singer probably had a 3/8" thick cable running up his arm and a foot long tube assembly).

Anyhoo, the "dominant" lead guitar on that album has nice, rich sizzling guitar with some "reverb/echo" and perhaps some compression on it - almost sounds like someone getting speaker to string feedback but very controlled. Any ideas about how that cranked tone was achieved?

Rob

[Jelle]

Rob,

Please see attachment. Is this the amp you are referring to? I have it at home in the Netherlands. I had black stagetape on the head to cover the word Dharma untill I found out that it was a famous player! I hope the attachment works BTW. The amp was modded when I got it....

If you are interested in info please let me know.

Jelle, NY

jwelagen (at) hotmail.com

[Slobrain]

Hey Jelle,
What year is that Marshall? Also can you post the inside guts so we can see the mods?

Thanks

SLO

[PlayItAll]

Hafler preamps...

Back in my "rack days" I used to have a Hafler T2 preamp that I ran into a Boogie 50/50 and then out to two cabs with an EV 200 watt speaker each. The Boogie was clean even when turned way up and the EV speakers wouldn't break up so they worked great with the T2 which had insane gain. Then, I'd use a TS9 pedal to get that, "Way-too-much-gain-into-way-too-much-gain" sound.

Does anybody use Hafler preamps anymore? It wasn't half bad as I remember.

Later,
Ed

[Jelle]

The Marshall is a D series metal face point to point amp. I do not know exactly what year. So basically a later version SLP: Yellow board, mainly yellow resistors except the 100k V1 V2 and NFB resistors are brown. All Mustard caps. Split cathode :820 470uF and 2.7k .68uf. V1b out 2.2nf. 470K//560pF red brown flat ceram cap. TSC is 33k with same style 560pF cap. V2a cathode is 1k//.68uF. Pots measure 125% of schematic values so 1M is about 1.25M... Bright cap is a round flat 4.7 nF ceramic Murata PI output caps are 22nF > Filter caps are 50 50uF Green cans (Brand???) replaced by Peter van Weelden (the Netherlands) for LCR. Regular dropping string for this era. Plate voltage is 454V and NFB comes from the 4ohms tab. 4.7K pot measures about 6k but I'm not sure on this one... All resistors measure within 5%... The amp had a 1M pre master volume added and a hole was drilled next to the mains switch for this. A copper plate was added to shield this from Mains AC.... > The amp sounded way better when this master volume was removed. I put another big silver swith in there. You can see this in the pic. I hope I'm not forgetting anything...Please let me know if you need additional info. I have gigged the amp a lot and in between I have modified it to my needs. I have all the parts stored away safely. Sounds killer like most old marshalls do when maintained well. Did I say it is LOUD????

I do not have a picture of the amp guts. I recently moved to New York and I have stored the amp in the Netherlands.

Regards, Jelle

[steve]

I had a Hafler T3. I regret getting rid of it now.

I have the repair manual for the T3. The clean channel is all solid state. There is lots of silicon in that pre. I liked the tone of mine, it didn't do bluesy all that well, but for hard rock/metal/thrash it was perfect.

steve

Back in my "rack days" I used to have a Hafler T2 preamp that I ran into a Boogie 50/50 and then out to two cabs with an EV 200 watt speaker each. The Boogie was clean even when turned way up and the EV speakers wouldn't break up so they worked great with the T2 which had insane gain. Then, I'd use a TS9 pedal to get that, "Way-too-much-gain-into-way-too-much-gain" sound.

Does anybody use Hafler preamps anymore? It wasn't half bad as I remember.

Later,
Ed

[PRNDL]

Echoplex tape machine

The echo tones are probably from a Echoplex tape machine, in combination with a great guitar amp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU2uNjxvBcs

[tats_dragon]

I had a Hafler T3. I regret getting rid of it now.

I have the repair manual for the T3. The clean channel is all solid state. There is lots of silicon in that pre. I liked the tone of mine, it didn't do bluesy all that well, but for hard rock/metal/thrash it was perfect.

steve

Can you please send the T3 manual to:
soundfun@prodigy.net

Thanks,
Jun

[scott]

hafler t3 user!!

does any one have manual for hafler t3?

[samhin925]

I like Pantera's tone for example. Don't know how to get it tho.

Solid state Randall RG amps and old Furman PQ-3 parametric equalizers were the main staple of Dimebags old sound.

[fly135]

Did anyone ever find a manual/schematic for the Hafler T3? I just picked one up today.

[fly135]

Here's the T3 manual. Not much to it.

[jansen]

Great! Does anyone still have a schematic for this amp and the especially footswitch? Mine came without a footswitch, and I really need one.

Maybe somebody can take pictures of the insides of the switch, or tell me how it's wired? I've tried several fender/marshall switches, but none of those work..

Thanks!