Change 5E3 circuit for cleaner tone and normal volume controls?

[JCMNelson]

I built a 5E3 (from parts) a while back, and while I'm very happy with how it came out, I'm really not using it much for the following reasons:

• It's a little LOUD!
• I like to have a great clean sound from the amp, and use pedals to get overdrive

Clearly I should have done a bit more homework before building it!!

Anyone got any suggestions for changes (Princeton?) that can be made easily without needing new transformers/speaker and a bigger board?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Keyser Soze]

What do you have in V1? If you currently have a 12ax7 then try a 5751, 12AT7, or 12AY7 (original stock spec.) Those tubes are listed in order of decreasing gain.

[TweeDLX]

+1 on using a 12AY7 in V1. Some like a 12AT7 in V2 as well. Decreasing cathode bypass cap values will clean things up. Try 4.7uF, 2.2uf, 1uf, or .68uf and see if you like the sound. If you built this as a traditional 5E3, the controls should be quite intereactive. I plug into the Bright channel with the volume set on 3, turn the Normal channel volume up to about 11 (just shy of dimed). This usually gets a cleaner tone from the amp.
I know you didn't want to do a speaker change, but for "Clean" this amp needs a ceramic speaker with a higher sensitivity rating. My $.02

Mike

[parkhead]

give it negative feedback !

look at bigger tweeds and the brown deluxe for implementation ideas !

ie use the brown inverter


p

[phsyconoodler]

Ok,getting the most from a 5E3 calls for a little digging.First you need to get intimate with the interactive volume controls.Try this:dime the bright channel and set the normal volume to about half.Plug into the normal volume input and listen to the nice clean tone.If you don't get a nice clean tone,you have a couple of things going on.First you may have really hot pickups in your guitar or they are too close to the strings.
Next,plug into the bright channel.It should be a nice lead tone with lots of power tube distortion.
Now to get pristine cleans from either channel you need to use your guitar's volume control.However,because the 5E3 tend to be a little dark,especially with humbucker guitars,you need to use a high-pass filter cap/resistor on your guitar's volume pot.When you use say a 470pf cap and 100k resistor on the guitar's volume control,when you turn down you get a better clean that doesn't lose the highs and actual adds some as you turn down further.
Now you are probably saying,"what a lot of trouble".Well how much trouble is it to turn a few knobs and add a high-pass filter to your guitar?A WHOLE lot easier than building another amp.
The clean tones you get this way are incredible and really need to be explored.You can leave your volume on either channel at 6 or 7 and simply turn down the guitar to get a pristine clean tone.Then you just turn up the guitar to get a ripping lead tone.No need for a pedal at all.
It seems people have lost touch with the volume controls on their guitars.They would rather stomp on a pedal.
20 minutes modding the guitar or 20 hours building another amp?You choose.

[mbratch]

In addition to what others have said...

Yes, the 5E3 can be sort of loud. But then don't turn the volume up as much. The volume is a bit touchy between, say 2 and 4 on the dial. That is, it increases quickly from about 10% volume to 90% within that span. But it's still possible to find a middle setting in there at a suitable volume then your pedals will work well.

As PN indicates, turning up the normal volume whilst using the bright channel will reduce the gain on the bright channel. And using a 12AY7 in V1 (if you aren't already) or some other lower gain tube can help as well.

[Chris Scott]

A 5E3 with a 12AX7 in the V1 slot, to me at least, is like putting bias ply tires on a Ferrari.

...well - maybe not a great analogy, but really, these things are pretty damn gainy to begin with, and a 5751/12AY7 in the #1 slot make it, well, what it really is, which is a pretty fun and actually pretty versatile little box.

[SLG]

Check out the 5E3 tone/volume modification kit from Mission amps. An excellent mod by Bruce Collins to correct the discrepancies you described. I incorporate this mod into all of my 5E3 amps after trying it.

http://www.missionamps.com/kits.shtml

If you major goal is a large increase your amp's headroom, consider the Mission tone/volume modification and an upgraded output transformer. Larger iron will reduce the saturation in the output section.