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Vox pathfinder stripped

Started by Rutger, April 11, 2012, 06:04:56 AM

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Rutger

Glad to hear. :)
I'm still a bit unsecure about all this, but it's nice to hear that I'm starting to understand.
My conclusion now about this design is that I don't like the heavy distortion because of a lack of high-frequency shaping. I think this is done because the amp is specificly designed for nice cleans.

@Roly: Thanks for the good advices!

@Davelectro: funny that you mention this, because I bumped into the whole diode-clipping because I was looking for a simple 'limiter' for another preamp in the first place.

Fretts

I believe you are right.  I also have a Pathfinder and I've played it at every possible volume.  When I get to the top of its power range, it sounds really ugly.  I'm convinced that we love this preamp.  The chip amp is just there to make it louder.  The speaker believe it or not, is a really good match for this amp -- they must have tailored it to the amp.  I bet this preamp would really holler if it was teamed up with KMG's power amp.

QReuCk

Quote from: Rutger on July 06, 2012, 02:59:56 AM
My conclusion now about this design is that I don't like the heavy distortion because of a lack of high-frequency shaping. I think this is done because the amp is specificly designed for nice cleans.
Think about it this way: pure square clipping will add odd harmonics. The more you clip, the more of them you get. A third harmonic is orginal frequency multiplied by 3, a 5th is original * 5, etc...
If there is no specific tone shaping circuitry to boost back the lows (or rather smouthing the highs out), then your signal has a lot more high frequency content after the clipping. As the pathfinder is a monochanel, the EQ is shared. As you like the clean tone, you probably EQ for the clean tone.
Depending what type of switch you use to activate the boost, you could also use it to filter some of these harmonics out of your signal, but going this way has the potential to open a whole new can of worms I believe.