YOUR fav 5E3 tweaks

[dbtk44]

Everybody has different ears, and a different sense of what good tone is.

While certainly not to imply that the stock 5E3 isn't a great sounding circuit, it would be great to have some recipes of what people have done to achieve what THEY think is great tone with their 5E3 (aside from just the classic stock circuit Leo bestowed upon us ). I see many people around here, and else where, speak of little ( or even major) tweaks that they've performed and seemed to have found "their" sweet spot, or even something that just works better for them...and it sure seems like it would be great to have a little unofficial Cookbook of sorts to refer to, for different flavors of the mighty 5E3.

So, if you have a schematic, layout diagram, or just even a simple component change or two...please feel free to share them here! Just please be sure and tell a little bit about what changes it brought about and why you like it, and maybe how you use it ( if you did it with a specific purpose in mind).

As always...great tone is subjective.

Thank you in advance!

[MWJB]

5V4 rectifier, 40uf 1st stage fliter cap, 35-40mA plate current.

Don't overlook the mic/normal channel, for overdriven tones this channel is great, especially with the inst/bright set at halfway.

[xFallen]

I thought about various mods, but I like 6V6s and won't give up the interaction between the channels so there aren't many that seem interesting so far. Maybe this thread will raise a few.

I like to run the guitar through the normal channel and jumper it to the bright input. Not much in the way of clean available, but lots of very usable overdrive without any sort of coercing from pedals even at fairly modest volumes.

In general the volume controls interact so much with the other channel and with the tone control that there are a lot of different tones available without doing anything except finding those sweet spots. Then you can start playing with guitar tone and volume settings and pickup selection all without firing up the soldering iron or plugging in a pedal.

For example, plugged into the bright channel, set the tone above 6 (I like 7-8), set the brightvolume somewhere between 2.5 and maximum, then turn the normal volume slowly from 0 until it hits 8-10 or so. You'll find a spot somewhere in there where it starts to taper off and go away. Right before it does that there is a cool dynamic OD that all my guitars seem to groove on, especially P-90s and PAFs.

Does the fact that I really enjoy my Mission 5E3 show much?


Barry

[Denny_A]

Fave Tweaks

I'm with xFallen on the interaction between channels. I use an AB switch to flip between a cleanish rhythem sound and a fatter solo/crunch sound.

Also, I adjusted the coupling and bypass cap values for my guitar with a humbucker p/u.

[stokes]

.02 coupling caps,5R4 rectifier (or the 5V4),heftier filtering-80uf on the main and screen,"Paul C PI" and last but not least an EV12L speaker.Yeah,you could argue that it aint a 5E3 anymore,but it keeps up with the drummer now.

[Don]

I have a 30uF filter cap in mine (two 16uF caps in parallel sounded just as good) to tighten up the cranked sound and a .047uF cap in the bright channel to brighten it more.

Good old tubes (pulls that sound tested strong) and a good speaker (Weber 12A125) help.

It sounds great, jumpered or not, with humbuckers and single coils.

[dbtk44]

Excellent info gentlemen, thank you for sharing!

Denny_A, what values for the coupling and bypass caps did you arrive at that worked for you?

[Denny_A]

.022uf coupling caps and a 1uf bypass cap on the cathode of the preamp tube. Used the Paul C. mod to good effect also.

[hasserl]

My current personal project (when I get time to work on it) is a 5E3X2. I'm using a Weber kit, and I found the chassis came with three 9 pin tube socket holes and a blancking plate to cover up one of them. Well I can't just let an extra tube opening go to waste. After considering a few options I decided to go with a pentode input for the bright channel. I have a bunch of 6AU6's around here, as I've used these before and I like them, so I'm going with that. I've already mounted the 7 pin socket and reworked the schematic and layout for this.

I've also thought of going with a LTPI, like in the Tremolux. But I'm going to get it going first like this and see what it's like, then I might try something different depending on how it turns out.

[RickyD]

.02 coupling caps,5R4 rectifier (or the 5V4),heftier filtering-80uf on the main and screen,"Paul C PI" and last but not least an EV12L speaker.Yeah,you could argue that it aint a 5E3 anymore,but it keeps up with the drummer now.

Hey Stokes!

Are you using a standard 5E3 cabinet? Any clearance problems with the EVM 12L?

-Rick

[Steve Conner]

If you were building a 5E3 with just one of the two channels, which would it be? Normal or bright?

[MWJB]

They both have their charms (bright for cleans, normal for heavy overdrive), I'd hedge my bets and have the 500pf bright cap at the tone control switchable in/out.

Just one thought, what would you do with the spare triode, or are you not anticipating using a twin triode at V1?

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

If you were building a 5E3 with just one of the two channels, which would it be? Normal or bright?

I'm pretty sure that 95% to 99% of all 5E3 players use the bright channel for just about everything.
I think a single channel amp with one 500K audio volume pot and one 1M audio tone pot should be built around the bright channel.
It is the one that the tone control is actually connected to so, with the tone control using a .01uF cap instead of the .005uF and set very bassy you can make it sound very close to the old normal channel anyhow... (most players run the tone control up very high when playing in the normal channel so it doesn't sound like a muffled fart).
Stagger tune the 12AY7's first unused triode.
If you don't want to use a couple mixing resistors after the plate coupling caps... share a common 68K to 100K anode-plate "mixing" resistor but either way, split the cathodes for what I call stagger tuning.
Use a standard 1k5 with 4.7uF to 22uF bypass on the bright channel triode and a 1K5 with 2.2uF bypass or maybe a 2k7 with .68uF bypass on the "normal channel".
Hold one or both "channel's" cathodes above ground with a 68K to 100K resistor, bypassed with an SPST or DPST switch to turn them on or off.
I guess an extra SPST could let you have both channels on at once for a mix.
But not using the 68K to 100K lifting resistor on the bright channel means it would be on all the time... I think a good thing.
This is a usable mod and the way my old Soulkicker 15 amps were made.

[MWJB]

Bright channel: "It is the one that the tone control is actually connected to so,". The Normal channel is also connected to the tone control, it just lacks the 500pf bright cap. Upping the grounded cap value to .01uf will bleed off more highs to ground, but the 500pf still bypasses highs around the unused portion of the bright vol (esp with the tone up high), which it can't on the Normal. Not saying it won't work or sound good as you describe Bruce, just that the tone pot works as a hi cut, at least, on both channels of a stock 5E3.

Many non Fender amps used a simple hi cut tone pot like on the 5E3 Normal channel. Turn them up enough and they can brighten enough for a smooth, driven tone.

And yes, I'm sure that a lot of player do use the Bright all the time for chime-ier tones, but it's worth straying to the "dark side"...if not to stay, maybe just for a visit. :-)

[RickyD]

I always jack into the bright #1. And I really like the sound with the volume of the (unused) normal channel turned up to 9 or more. Sometimes, I'll run a jumper from bright #2 to normal #1 for a slightly different voicing.

Mine is a Mission kit, and I still appreciate the advice I got from Bruce and Randy: Build it stock and get to know it first, then consider mods.