Custom amp build

[guidedbyechoes]

Hello folks,

A friend of mine has decided to help me build a 60 watt 3 channel high gain amp with 6550 tubes. I am doing research as to figure out what kind of clean tone would best suit this type of amp. The best clean tone I can think of off the top of my head would be the cleans on the mark 4 and the f100 from Mesa Boogie. But it would sound quite different with a vastly different power amp I would assume.

My goal with this amp is to have immaculate tone with simple controls. Gain channels being gain, bass, high mid , low mid, treble and most likely channel volume. The clean channel will most likely not have a gain control.

So far I have been searching through clips of amps with 6550 tubes such as the marshall major, various hiwatts, VHT ultra lead and the deizel vh4. So far the hiwatt has been the most versatile and seems to accept pedals extremely well but I am not familiar with a lot of the clean sounding amps on the market mass produced or not. I figured if I wanted to talk to people who know what a really good clean sounds like this is the place to go. :AOK

I have already picked the specific tonal direction I wanted to go for the gain channels. One being in the vein the orange rockerverb and the other being the lead channel of the mark 4. Of course with tweaks here and there to tailor it to my liking of course.

Said friend has already started drawing up schematics for the power amp section. I am firm on using this type of power amp so the amp retains a tighter feel upon turning up the volume. But I also want to keep it saggy enough to be able to do leads. Closer to splawn tightness than vht. Yet not another super marshall amp. I feel there are plenty of those out there. Any help would be most welcomed.

Thank you,

Guidedbyechoes:dude

[rooster]

Having built many channel switching amps, there may be a few things to think about. First, if you're expecting the clean channel to keep up with the lead channel volume wise, you are going to need a big power section, like the 100W you mentioned. However, There will be not much sag available from the power section, as the clean channel needs max headroom to remain clean. Therefore, all your distortion characteristics need to come from the preamp section. IMO, the PI adds quite a bit of character to the drive of any overdriven amp. The PI that kicks butt on a great overdrive will usually add grit to the clean channel. That's not a problem for me, as I prefer a slightly gritty clean channel to a pristine clean channel.

Now, with the lead channel, if you want those power tubes to be adding any character, the best way to do it is to turn off 2 of them for leads. This will let the 2 remaining power tubes drive into a bit of distortion while not overpowering your clean section. Now, if you're going for that nu-metal sound, you will need ALL of your distortion coming from the preamp, so that may not be a problem at all.

I guess that to me, the trick is to get that great 70's distortion sound, like Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden (80's mostly, I know, but they had a great 70's sound), and the like had, where it was more "blistering" and crunchy than fizzy. If you go for the highly compressed, artificial-sounding distortion prevalent today, you can get away with a clean driver/power section.

Hope this doesn't sound too confusing, but this is my input, FWIW.

rooster.

[guidedbyechoes]

Having built many channel switching amps, there may be a few things to think about. First, if you're expecting the clean channel to keep up with the lead channel volume wise, you are going to need a big power section, like the 100W you mentioned. However, There will be not much sag available from the power section, as the clean channel needs max headroom to remain clean. Therefore, all your distortion characteristics need to come from the preamp section. IMO, the PI adds quite a bit of character to the drive of any overdriven amp. The PI that kicks butt on a great overdrive will usually add grit to the clean channel. That's not a problem for me, as I prefer a slightly gritty clean channel to a pristine clean channel.

Now, with the lead channel, if you want those power tubes to be adding any character, the best way to do it is to turn off 2 of them for leads. This will let the 2 remaining power tubes drive into a bit of distortion while not overpowering your clean section. Now, if you're going for that nu-metal sound, you will need ALL of your distortion coming from the preamp, so that may not be a problem at all.

I guess that to me, the trick is to get that great 70's distortion sound, like Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden (80's mostly, I know, but they had a great 70's sound), and the like had, where it was more "blistering" and crunchy than fizzy. If you go for the highly compressed, artificial-sounding distortion prevalent today, you can get away with a clean driver/power section.

Hope this doesn't sound too confusing, but this is my input, FWIW.

rooster.


Yes I do believe I am going for the what you call artificial preamp gain centered tonality. Since I play what is commonly known as death metal. I already own an amp for that tube power amp breaking up tone. I am going after tones such as the reverberocket and the mark 4 lead channel. Like I said before if I need a more classic metal sound my modded vtm can get as close as I need. :JAM

[guidedbyechoes]

I must be at the wrong place.

[phsyconoodler]

A three channel amp is complicated to build and is prone to noise and oscillations.There is likely no difference in the sound compared to the off-the-shelf units out there.When you pound out that much gain all the guitars sound the same.A strat sounds like a Les Paul and a squire sounds like a PRS.
Why not build a decent one channel amp with footswitchable gain and overdrive?
Even a 2204 with one extra gain stage will be easier to build and likely sound better.you could use relays and a footswitch to add the gain stage to the output.
It is a major undertaking to build a three channel amp and you will likely be more frustrated if you are not a competent builder already.
Take a look at Weber's high-gain kits.They might be a better way to go the first time around.www.webervst.com (http://www.webervst.com)

modern metal gain is artificial and involves diode clipping and some pretty involved circuitry that is better left to PC based amps.There is often not enough room to hand-wire a circuit like you are describing.

[guidedbyechoes]

A three channel amp is complicated to build and is prone to noise and oscillations.There is likely no difference in the sound compared to the off-the-shelf units out there.When you pound out that much gain all the guitars sound the same.A strat sounds like a Les Paul and a squire sounds like a PRS.
Why not build a decent one channel amp with footswitchable gain and overdrive?
Even a 2204 with one extra gain stage will be easier to build and likely sound better.you could use relays and a footswitch to add the gain stage to the output.
It is a major undertaking to build a three channel amp and you will likely be more frustrated if you are not a competent builder already.
Take a look at Weber's high-gain kits.They might be a better way to go the first time around.www.webervst.com (http://www.webervst.com)

modern metal gain is artificial and involves diode clipping and some pretty involved circuitry that is better left to PC based amps.There is often not enough room to hand-wire a circuit like you are describing.

I was thinking as setting it up in a rack mount setting and having a just a clean preamp that has lots of options and just buy a preamp for high gain.