Elan Memran Metalhead Mod

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Frank52387

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Hey Everyone,


I have a 70s Marshall Superlead with the metalhead mod. Was wondering if anyone had any good info on these and how the volume knobs and extra knobs interact when the mod is engaged. Thanks in advance.
 
Still looking for the info Frank? You're a patient man.

You asked the same question over a month ago here:

Frank52387 said:
I just bought a 75 superlead with this metalhead mod by Elan Memran. I was trying to understand what the extra 2 knobs do once the extra gain mod is engaged.
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With any luck someone else might have sumpin' for ya. :dunno:
 
Post some gut shots and we can do our best to tell you? I mean you own the amp so that’s the best way to get answers to let you know what was done. Otherwise there’s not much to go by.
 
Hope this helps.

glpg80 said:
Post some gut shots and we can do our best to tell you? I mean you own the amp so that’s the best way to get answers to let you know what was done. Otherwise there’s not much to go by.
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It’s a really cool amp, it’s loud and wants to rock. It’s a different flavor than my 2203. It’s hard to explain. Definitely a rawer sound. The amount of gain on tap is insane. I play mostly classic/hard rock. It’s tone heaven for that.
Techdeth said:
I’ve always wanted to try one in person
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thegame said:
That's the infamous urinal cake noise gate circuit. Not joking.
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I don’t think this one has the noise gate.


I think the urinal cake is covering the circuit to the extra preamp tube or the bass boost push/pull. Looks like the wire runs back to the bass knob
 
Frank52387 said:
I don’t think this one has the noise gate.


I think the urinal cake is covering the circuit to the extra preamp tube or the bass boost push/pull. Looks like the wire runs back to the bass knob
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Gotcha. Is the amp relatively quiet, considering the gain reserves it has? If so maybe there’s a built in ‘always on‘ gate of some sort.
 
thegame said:
Gotcha. Is the amp relatively quiet, considering the gain reserves it has? If so maybe there’s a built in ‘always on‘ gate of some sort.
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Someone scratched in tone settings on the face plate and I keep the modded gain knob half or below and it’s relatively quiet but hums. If I crank that gain knob it hums bad but the gain at that point is probably like slipknot territory.

I mainly bought it because Ive was always really wanting a plexi/Superlead. I fell into that 80s hot-rodded plexi lore. I was on reverb and turned out to be within 20 minutes from me. Seemed like a Good deal and seller was really nice.

In reality, it’s not much different than my 2203 but it’s a different flavor in the frequency range.
 
As far as the design goes, he’s running 5 gain stages. 2 from the added tube and it feeds into the first stage stock. It’s a super Jose style build with two stages in front running into a mainly stock 2203 latter 3 stages. The first two stages seem to be fully bypassed.

The wiring is a complete and utter mess and the reason for a large majority of your noise IMO. I’m surprised nothing is tied off - it will eventually stress solder joints and cause stress on them. The joints of the stages and switching are short and tight - everything’s where it needs to be and nowhere else.

The hidden circuit pulls B+, ground, and one side of the bass potentiometer. I’m thinking he’s doing something with feeding negative feedback into the tonestack. The B+ is odd. Is there a tube or FET on the other side?

I need better res photos of the added stage to get values if you want them.
 
glpg80 said:
As far as the design goes, he’s running 5 gain stages. 2 from the added tube and it feeds into the first stage stock. It’s a super Jose style build with two stages in front running into a mainly stock 2203 latter 3 stages. The first two stages seem to be fully bypassed.

The wiring is a complete and utter mess and the reason for a large majority of your noise IMO. I’m surprised nothing is tied off - it will eventually stress solder joints and cause stress on them. The joints of the stages and switching are short and tight - everything’s where it needs to be and nowhere else.

The hidden circuit pulls B+, ground, and one side of the bass potentiometer. I’m thinking he’s doing something with feeding negative feedback into the tonestack. The B+ is odd. Is there a tube or FET on the other side?

I need better res photos of the added stage to get values if you want them.
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I don’t feel particularly comfortable taking it apart lol. Those were the pics from the seller.

It’s not dead quiet but no more or less than my other amp. It’s not really noisy unless the gain is cranked which is like slipknot level heaviness. The guitarist from fear factory played one of these metalhead amps.
 
Is it 5 stages or 4? I can’t tell if the stock circuit is cascaded. It’s not a 2203, looks like a 1959, so it might not be. So you’d get 4 stages total with the added 2.

The hockey puck wiring runs between volume wiper and bass pot. Bass is push pull so it appears that’s what activates whatever that circuit is. Have no idea why it has B+ running into it. Maybe some sort of inductor but I don’t see it needing B+.
 
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RedPlated said:
Is it 5 stages or 4? I can’t tell if the stock circuit is cascaded. It’s not a 2203, looks like a 1959, so it might not be. So you’d get 4 stages total with the added 2.

The hockey puck wiring runs between treble wiper and bass pot. Bass is push pull so it appears that’s what activates whatever that circuit is. Have not sure what it has B+ running into it. Maybe some sort of inductor but I don’t see if needing B+.
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I wonder if he’s running a wire of B+ just to throw people off.

Yeah you’re right, it’s two stages into stock 1959 not 2203.

Seems once again like something jose inspired with some very common bass boosting capabilities in the tonestack which is what Laney’a are known for.
 
I corrected my post. That circuit is between volume wiper and bass pot, not treble and bass. So it’s doing something to alter frequencies. The B+ is definitely a mystery.

What does the bass pot do when you pull it?

Hopefully there’s not 280vdc on that pot.
 
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RedPlated said:
The hockey puck wiring runs between volume wiper and bass pot. Bass is push pull so it appears that’s what activates whatever that circuit is. Have no idea why it has B+ running into it. Maybe some sort of inductor but I don’t see it needing B+.
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The shape is weird.

Gotta be a clue to the circuit hidden.
 
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