This preamp sounded great,wow I like this. Excellent controls and design. Very nice! Definitely on my project list to build. And very good video too, very good job.

Hey Darwin

Thanks for replying concerning the questions I had.
Yes, you were the one I was referring to in the Preamp forum.
I actually saw your YouTube demonstration vids and commented about them in Preamp forum, but I'll say here again that they were great vids. You did a good job demonstrating before and after tone. This preamp makes your harp sound fantastic. Makes your harp sound very good and bluesy. In your second vid, when you turned the Gain and Drive to max, the effect and tone knocked me out, that was real nice. I'll get this preamp built and try it with my amp, hopefully I'll have success getting a similar tubelike tone also. 

You provided the exact answers I was looking for concerning the schem, thanks very much for clearing that up. And thanks also for the info about the tone control and volume control circuits you mentioned and put into your circuit. I'll search it out and add components to my list.  Last thing I need, I must find a good steel cash box to hold it all, LoL. I liked the way you designed that. 
Thanks again for your help.
Regards,
StreeL

Hi all, 

I hope this is the right forum for this post.  I was reading through the Preamp forum and I discovered an interesting DIY preamp project that someone had built there, called the "Solid State Tube Sound" preamp. I have a 100 watt s.s amp and I thought this would be a good project to build. The schematics can be found at:
http://members.tripod.com/gillcar/id24.htm
I'm having a little trouble reading part of the schematic, and I hope someone here can help.

There are two versions of this preamp.  For reference: 

The original first design schematic -- http://gillcar.tripod.com/SSTS/SSTPreamp.gif
The second newer design -- http://gillcar.tripod.com/SSTS/SSTSschm.gif
The pcb layout of second schematic --  http://gillcar.tripod.com/SSTS/SSTSpcb.gif
The mod (optional) -- http://gillcar.tripod.com/SSTS/SSTSmod1.gif

I downloaded both versions (original and new) and I want to build the second schematic.  I'm having trouble locating all the pots. I only see the Drive pot at R20 in the mod schem, and the trimpot at R23.  I don't even see the Volume pot. The original schem clearly shows the Volume pot located between C10 cap and Out, but in the new schematic there's no Volume resistor between C4 cap and Out. Where is it exactly?  And I didn't see the Tone, Body, and Gain pots identified on the new schem either, which were clearly identified in the original. Have some of these been omitted from the new design? I want to start ordering the parts but want to be clear on the components I need first. 

I apologize for the beginner questions, I'm trying to learn electronics slowly and read schematics in my spare time, but I'd like to jump ahead and get this DIY preamp going right away. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much.
Streel

That was excellent, you did a good job in both visual and sound demonstrations. That preamp really made your harp sound great. I've been searching for a DIY project to help create a tubelike tone for my 100 watt s.s. amp, and I believe this is it. Definitely am building this preamp. 
I was considering some tube screamer type projects but those really work best for tube amps. I really like this preamp sound, it's awesome. Your enclosure box looks great too, I like that.

Thanks for posting this preamp info and your demo vids too. You said you'll be building similar projects like this preamp. For sure, do some more projects like this one and keep them coming.  Looking forward to them. 

Streel