Hi everyone... just started poking around here today, but it looks like lots of good info is around.
So, where I'm at is, I have a 30W solid state marshall that I rarely use but I think I'd get almost nothing if I sold it. I was hoping someone could help answer a couple quick questions before I spend a ton of time researching a project that probably won't work.
What I was thinking about doing was tweaking the preamp a bit, and hopefully changing things around to get a bit more clean volume out of it. I don't expect to be able to turn it into a monster, but just a bit more would help. I understand that its probably cheaper/easier to give this away and buy a bigger amp... this just souds like more fun. I also expect that I'll have some serious reading to do about wiring something that connects to mains power, and making sure I don't die in the process.
That said, here's what I was thinking and the questions that came up...
1) I'd like more clean volume from it. Its 30W right now (and I think just a chip for the power amp), and I think that if I could get it to 60W the rule of thumb says I'd get about 3dB more? So Ideally I'd like to get it to the 60-100W ballbark. After a quick skim on here, I think thats doable with 1-2 LM3886's. I think I'd need a new power transformer, changes/replacements to the power supply, and probably bigger heatsinks. Is this a reasonable goal, or is that just crazy talk?
2)Speakers. What's a reasonable 10 or 12 inch speaker to handle that? They have to exist, but I always see 25 and 30W ratings on guitar speakers, but I thought a distorted tube amp tended to put out significantly more than its rated power and still use these, so what kind of options do I have? What do you guys use, or do you just drive more than 1 speaker when the wattage comes up? If I'm replacing the speaker would I be better off going for something with a higher sensitivity and not bothering with other mods? I'm open to a neo speaker to drop some of the weight that the heatsinks and transformer might add. I would just like to be able to use most of the wattage the combo puts out, with a decent sensitivity, and not sound terrible.
2b) bonus speaker question... With an open back cab, is there less consideration to cab size/etc, or am I looking for trouble if I don't really check speaker parameters the way I'd need to for a sealed/ported design?
3) The preamp. I'd like to maybe tweak the dirty channel, and probably make sure that the clean channel either clips more smoothly than it does now, or not at all... I assume that some improvement could be made, but I'd have to try and sort out if the clipping I get now is the pre or power stage. This is less key because I figure that if I can get through swapping the power amp and supply around without hurting myself, I can probably mess around in the preamp with less risk.
Thanks for taking the time to read, and any help or guidance that can be offered. I don't mind doing my reading, but an initial push to see if my goals are too lofty, or I'm even asking the right questions is appreciated.
PS. Sorry about any typos, my screen is jumping around while I type and I can't really see everything....
So, where I'm at is, I have a 30W solid state marshall that I rarely use but I think I'd get almost nothing if I sold it. I was hoping someone could help answer a couple quick questions before I spend a ton of time researching a project that probably won't work.
What I was thinking about doing was tweaking the preamp a bit, and hopefully changing things around to get a bit more clean volume out of it. I don't expect to be able to turn it into a monster, but just a bit more would help. I understand that its probably cheaper/easier to give this away and buy a bigger amp... this just souds like more fun. I also expect that I'll have some serious reading to do about wiring something that connects to mains power, and making sure I don't die in the process.
That said, here's what I was thinking and the questions that came up...
1) I'd like more clean volume from it. Its 30W right now (and I think just a chip for the power amp), and I think that if I could get it to 60W the rule of thumb says I'd get about 3dB more? So Ideally I'd like to get it to the 60-100W ballbark. After a quick skim on here, I think thats doable with 1-2 LM3886's. I think I'd need a new power transformer, changes/replacements to the power supply, and probably bigger heatsinks. Is this a reasonable goal, or is that just crazy talk?
2)Speakers. What's a reasonable 10 or 12 inch speaker to handle that? They have to exist, but I always see 25 and 30W ratings on guitar speakers, but I thought a distorted tube amp tended to put out significantly more than its rated power and still use these, so what kind of options do I have? What do you guys use, or do you just drive more than 1 speaker when the wattage comes up? If I'm replacing the speaker would I be better off going for something with a higher sensitivity and not bothering with other mods? I'm open to a neo speaker to drop some of the weight that the heatsinks and transformer might add. I would just like to be able to use most of the wattage the combo puts out, with a decent sensitivity, and not sound terrible.
2b) bonus speaker question... With an open back cab, is there less consideration to cab size/etc, or am I looking for trouble if I don't really check speaker parameters the way I'd need to for a sealed/ported design?
3) The preamp. I'd like to maybe tweak the dirty channel, and probably make sure that the clean channel either clips more smoothly than it does now, or not at all... I assume that some improvement could be made, but I'd have to try and sort out if the clipping I get now is the pre or power stage. This is less key because I figure that if I can get through swapping the power amp and supply around without hurting myself, I can probably mess around in the preamp with less risk.
Thanks for taking the time to read, and any help or guidance that can be offered. I don't mind doing my reading, but an initial push to see if my goals are too lofty, or I'm even asking the right questions is appreciated.
PS. Sorry about any typos, my screen is jumping around while I type and I can't really see everything....