Amp mash-up build

[Steve Blackdog]

Hi shrimpfarmer,

I didn’t look at this thread first time around, but I am scratching my head about what you are doing.

I get it that it might be fun to modify an existing amp by adding additional features, such as EQ. Where I am confused is trying to understand whether this is an academic exercise or whether you have an amp that you believe you can improve by addition of EQ.

the reason this is important is that if I had an amp and felt I needed to improve the tone, I would have an aim for the “missing” tone control that I wanted to add. In that case I would look at what the original design achieved and work out how I might be able to change it.

If on the other hand, I wanted to add a MXR EQ to a Soldano I would build the MXR EQ as a stand alone box and put it in the FX loop. That way I would end up with a decent head amp and a decent EQ, rather than an amp with an unnecessary EQ circuit.

if I were starting with a clean sheet of paper, I would build an amp, such as a Champ clone, and design your own tone stack to get the sound you want.

so answer these questions, what are you trying to achieve? What sound are you looking for? What will you use the amp for? What is it that you find amps without Multi-band EQ are missing?

I am interested in your answers.

cheers

steve

[Shrimpfarmer89]

It’s an amp build i think would be interesting. I like the sound of the Randall es and they sound good through an extra set of eq’s so I thought why not put one in the amp after the fact. Also the tube output might give it a different tone. I’m coming to the wall in the face that I’m out of my league building wise as to where to start and was thinking I could just build the seperate parts and then connect them but their is a bunch more to it as I start to try and figure it all out.

[Shrimpfarmer89]

also I have a few of the Randall’s and they have this wicked buzz and I thought maybe a tube power section would just clear all that up. I know it’s probably the rectifier and the power caps in the amps but I haven’t changed them out. Also I don’t want the reverb tank in the es.

the point was to come up with something that was sort of different from the original amp, hoping the eq would add some sort of flavor to it it doesn’t all ready have, and then with an eq on the front end it’s even gnarlier sounding.

[Steve Blackdog]

also I have a few of the Randall’s and they have this wicked buzz and I thought maybe a tube power section would just clear all that up. I know it’s probably the rectifier and the power caps in the amps but I haven’t changed them out. Also I don’t want the reverb tank in the es.

the point was to come up with something that was sort of different from the original amp, hoping the eq would add some sort of flavor to it it doesn’t all ready have, and then with an eq on the front end it’s even gnarlier sounding.

Well, good luck.

I reckon if you cost this whole exercise, by the time you have bought the transformers and other costly components, you could probably buy an amp that you really like.

If you want to learn about how to build guitar amps, buy one of the many excellent books on the subject and build one of their examples.

Start with something within your capabilities. Build a fuzz box or something simple first.