What could I build starting from a Peavey Ultra?

[mushy]

bandmaster= boring, dull...overly polite and reserved.

Marshall 2204 50 watt is very close to a bassman, with the input stages in series (instead) to beef up the gain.
You should do it that way instead of using an overdrive pedal.
Real tube overdrive will be a change, and when the guitar is turned down, it's a very clean amp.
You should build it.
[ATTACH]28890[/ATTACH]

An 800 might be a little too much gain for me. I'm flurting with my old man stage in guitar tone preferences. I should probably just go tweed/alnico/tele, getting it over with already. I think a bassman would be a good kick off point for further exploration.

I used to think the same on overdrive pedals, but a guy that I roomed with once had a Hiwatt stack with one of those landgraff od's in front, and that thing sounded really great with a nice dynamic crunch and really good clarity, and bringing the gain and volume up would move into knee in the face territory, still with good clarity.

[tedmich]

the whole thread was about Fenderizing the Ultra, maybe try Deano's mod?

If you have basic soldering and schematic reading skills. I have a few suggestions you might try. I did this on a couple of Ulltra 120's over the years and they turned out with a very nice fenderish clean. I believe the ultra 112/60 is the same tonestack. Pretty much same everything except for the tube layout. Schemeatics are everywhere on the internet. the mods are not difficult for someone with basic soldering skill, and are easily reversible if you dont like them.

>obligatory electrocution disclaimer<

1) Ground the bottom end of C15 & raise the cap value 10uf or 22uf (if you put the larger cap in parallel it can be removed pretty easy if you dont care for it. Also with a little bit of caution you SHOULD not have to remove the board

2) Try putting a 1.9k ohm resistor across R14.

These small mods have made a pretty dramatic change in the clean channel on the units I have done them too, providing that the amp was well maintained & serviced with decent tubes.


Deano


Marshall is (also) simple
http://home.comcast.net/~jbjdav26/2204PPIMVr16.jpg

clean sounds good

[soundguruman]

Someday you will graduate to real tube overdrive.
Then you won't use effects pedals, anymore. (which are just a weak imitation)

Might as well be now.

Once you play real tube overdrive, you won't go back to transistors.

[tedmich]

All I am sure of is you don't like the Ultra, I'd try another couple amps If I were you

three series Ts9s into a line 6 works for some people, the Ultra alone works for me! I wish you joyful playing!

[dmartn149]

In the other thread you said that you may try changing speakers. Did you try that yet? I had an Ultra 60/410 and I thought the clean channel sound just beautiful, I liked the ultra channel too. I realize that I am not you, and 410s is not 212s. but still, the speakers could be the only thing keeping you from liking this amp.

[tedmich]

Ultra 60 410 is a RARE bird!

too heavy to fly but it squawks real loud!!

[mushy]

All I am sure of is you don't like the Ultra, I'd try another couple amps If I were you

three series Ts9s into a line 6 works for some people, the Ultra alone works for me! I wish you joyful playing!

I try every amp that I can get my hands on. I love good sounding amps. Amps are instruments, maybe more so than guitars, I think. Amps that I have liked include fender, marshall, hiwatt, vox, and some others that I'm not thinking of. Amps that I have not liked include fender, marshall, vox (never heard a bad sounding hiwatt!). I really think that a big part of it comes down to how amps are setup, including speakers and tubes. A twin is not necessarily a good sounding twin.

I got sidetracked by life today. No time for electronics ed. Back at it tomorrow. I did briefly look into 2204's. I'm not up on all of the varieties of marshall. It seems that there is the jmp and jcm 2204. No time to today to look into the differences, but this amp sounds nice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8SUG0-6OiM I just wish it had been recorded without the delay/reverb.