Welcome to Solid State Guitar Amp Forum | DIY Guitar Amplifiers. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 04:44:20 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Recent Posts

 

looking for opinions on a low watt amp with reverb and trem......

Started by rgdave, February 03, 2014, 02:46:25 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

rgdave

Hi All, Like the title says a simple question I hope...I'm a newbie here....I've got some tube amps and a vox pathfinder 15r....what I'm looking for is something like the vox with good reverb and tremolo that won't be too loud but those effects will sound good. I'm scratching my head and poking around online and figured this would be a good place to throw the question out there.
Thanx in advance,
Dave

Orson Maxwell

If you want something done well - do it yourself.

J M Fahey


Roly

If you say theory and practice don't agree you haven't applied enough theory.

rgdave

fahey funny guy....I'm happy with the vox, looking for other amps with reverb and trem.....preferably ss and not big money...

joecool85

No trem, but does have reverb.  http://deanmarkleyamps.com/Products/ElectricAmps/DM15R.html

The DM30RC has reverb and chorus.  I think I'll be getting one soon actually.
Life is what you make it.
Still rockin' the Dean Markley K-20X
thatraymond.com

J M Fahey

Unfortunately trem is not popular today and 99% makers dropped them.
In fact your amp is a rarity in that aspect, and being 15W, I **very**  much doubt a lower power one exists anywhere, simply because the standard chip amp is some TDA20xx, precisely 15W.
And 10W amps (first act and such) are piss poor 2 or 3 knob jobs, exact same chipamp but driving a 6" speaker.
That´s why I suggested you stick with what you have.

Unless you dare to build one, that is  ;)

rgdave

Ah......dare to build! I'm so new to this all I just did some soldering for the 1st time.....it worked so I have hope that I can change out pups on guitars and do some amp tweaks.....I was reading about removing some led diodes from the pathfinder..I find the boost to be too intense a jump in volume and in poking around on mod pages noted other chips and such to replace to maybe tame that.....I'll go slow, repeat cause I basically screw up the first time regardless of prep. and hope you guys can assist when I flock things up....cheers!

phatt

Hi Dave,
         Contry to popular uneducated banter on the net Be very aware that just changing a chip will  likely do little to evoke more mojo.
(this goes for a lot of valve hype as well) :-X

Yes sometimes an active component change can help improve things but often it's just an R or C value change will reap far better mojo value for time/effort/money outlaid.

The volume unbalance problem you describe is common on a lot of Amps with built-in Odrive and a chip change will do Nothing to help. Removing diodes may make that problem worse.

Post the schematic link to the amp and likely the good folks here will help you sort it all. (Likely just a resistor value change)

As to adding Reverb and Vibe,, might be a lot less hassle to get some pedals. 8|
Phil.

Roly

What Phil says is true, chip power amps and preamp op-amps (etc) these days are all so generally transparent they you are very unlikely to notice any difference in tonality.

But a few other odd components ... that's a different story.  You can play around with the bandwidth and the tonestack, but as we've just seen, simply changing identical diodes in any signal clipper for dissimilar ones can make a large difference (note; I didn't say "improvement").

Simple amps that don't have preamp diode clippers and simply drive the output or some other stage to limiting, may be tonally improved by adding an unbalanced diode clipper.


People fooling with small amps need BIG speakers.

You should consider building yourself a bog-standard 2x12 cab,

and fitting it with the most efficient (100dB/W or better) guitar drivers you can get your claws on.  You're still not going to blow wave even the front row, but it will give a small amp a stage presence it would otherwise not have.
If you say theory and practice don't agree you haven't applied enough theory.