Normal breakup for a 5e3?

[vmazz]

I posted this in the maintenance section then I noticed this sub forum..I hope its ok for me to repost.

I seem to hear a little fizz during the decay of the notes when break up occurs in the mid gain range and usually with 2 or more discordant notes. But I dont know if I am hearing what is nomal break up for a deluxe.I have heard many samples of 5e3 distortion of youtube and some sound similar. I am just curious to see if I can get any opinions on the type of distortion to be expected form a 5e3 type circuit.This circuit varies some from the traditional 5e3 but the major parts(preamp stage , 2 6v6 cath bias etc) are the same.
Lend me your ears...any opinions would help me. Im trying to load 2 samples both wtih a PRS SE with dimarzio pups and gain on about 4 of 10.

[vmazz]

sounds normal to you 5e3 guys?...besides the crummy playing of course ..any input will be appreciated..Im trying to make sure im not trying to refine the circuit to much, when its maxed out it roars nicely, when its clean its nice too..but in between it gets that little fizzy trail sometimes. What do you folks think?

[Ringwraith]

Sounds really nice but ya something weird going on with the fizzy decay.
Have you swapped out the tubes??
Might check your cabinet as well. I've had weird shit happen with loose baffle boards or speaker screws etc.

What did you do differently to the circuit? It's got a really nice tight tone.
Is that a humbucker in the PRS?

Cheers
Sean

[vmazz]

First things were the tubes..I went to buy tubes from a really nice guy..he makes tube amps and pedals , they have been in Guitar Player Mag reviews before..anyways hes very nice to me.. he gave me a few extra tubes and a couple OTs and told me to swap them out..never done something so drastic to a circuit so that got me over the hump and I started changing many things..at the time of the clips above the big differences from a 5e3 would be coupling caps .047 and .022 adn this circuit has a n exta gainstage..by now the amp has been morphed into a mini plexi of sorts..ive been hanging out at MEtroamp forum getting ideas for marshallizing it. The pickups are dimarzios a cruiser neck and tone zone bridge. I wll attach some new clips so you can hear some evolution if your interested.

[Ringwraith]

Wow that really does sound like a Marshall now!
What mods did you do? What speaker are you pumping through?

Sounds sweet!
Sean

[vmazz]

Thanks for the kind comments! Im really enjoying the fact that Im starting to understand the circuitry! Now I need to focus on my playing more. The amp is basically a Dukan PA conversion ..as I said in earlier posts it was somewhat 5e3 and now ive changed the values more towards Marshall Plexi ...Iv eused up a bunch of old salvaged pots tat have on-off swtiches built in ...one is a NFB on or off as well as amount of resistance..on the back side is a presence control that works in conjunction with the NFB..oh yea the NFB has a .0033 cap in series to act as a resonance boost...also a fat switch which changes the v1 cathode bypass from1 uf to11(just a 10uf cap in parrallel on the switch). THis amp has 2 channels like a5e3 or plexi no hi or lo inputs ..ive wired them together on one jack(I was using a homemade y cable but I never plugged into just one channel so I wired together) Ive put Eddie Van Halen supposed values bright cap ( 270pf ceramic) on one channel and a 330 pf acroos a 470 k mixer on that side..this makes the normal channel very dark and the bright very bright ..but gives me awesome ways to blend them...This is a PA head so I am playing through a Lopo line 2x12 cab that I bought empty for pretty cheap on the Bay and put in a used V30 and a new Mojotone bh30? its called something like that , its basically there version of the Celestion GH30. ITs a nice combintation ..this cab is in an isolation box miked up with an sm57 and a mxl v67 condenser into a focusrite saffire le and then ableton live.
If I get any thing decent recorded I may post it in the appropriate section..I guess ive veered away from the pure 5e3 tones..But I still really like the cleans I get..
Thanks again for encouraging me!
Val

[macdillard]

So if you don't like the original Fender 5E3 why don't you just build a Marshall 18 Watt?

[vmazz]

So if you don't like the original Fender 5E3 why don't you just build a Marshall 18 Watt?

Good point..actually I like the 5e3 as a basic blues sound...what I started with was a Dukane PA 1A385Dukane 1A385 vers2.pdf which has alot in common withthe 5e3 circuit to my newbie eyes of course. SO I was trying ot change values in the direction to make it more like a deluxe and was also trying to figure out what the cause of a slight fizzy decay was from. I now realize the dukane has a couple things different from the deluxe (a cascode gain stage and NFB and more) ..I do prefer a Marshall sound for leads so I went more in that direction. I may build an 18 watt thats a good idea. I also like the task of marshallizing old PAs..part of the fun is learning about tube circuits. Im finally starting to get it..ind ive been tinkering for a few years now.
ANyways thanks for the suggestion. ive been having trouble joining the 18 watt site anybody else have issues with it..they never send me a confirmation link to activate..ive tried with 2 different emails too. Id really like to read whats going on over there. Thanks to all the helpful people at this forum.
Val

[macdillard]

Go over to the AX84 site and post attention Zaphod (Phil). He is a Mod on the 18 watt board and is on the AX84 board a lot. He will get you registered. They have some problems with registering on the board, not sure what it is..Take a look at the 18 watt Superlite TMB. Heck of a little amp. I have built the Lite IIB and the Superlite. I like the IIB best but my guitar playing Son likes the Superllte the best. (More gain). Anyway give Phil a hollar over on the AX 84 board and he will help you get on the 18 Watt board.

[vmazz]

Thanks for the info MacD! Ill check out the Superlite TMB!