Cameron modded 101B

[steve_k]

I've been tripping over this box in the floor for a week. Decided I would open it up and give it a quick spin around the block. It is a Mark Cameron modded 101B. Used it a little in band practice yesterday, and I really like what Mark did with the amp....a lot. This is the 3rd XTC I have owned and one problem always for me was striking a balance on the blue and red channels with the shared EQ. Even with the mini switches, it was hard to dial in to me to be able to use both channels. Well, the short and skinny is that Mark fixed that shit right up. The blue channel is hot rodded a bit more, but the red channel is explosive. He added some gain to the green channel, which throws it more in the Plexi mode, instead of using the blue channel for it. But, the resonance shifts he made with the blue and red EQ's and gain control are spot on and make this one sweet piece of meat.

 

[Robby G]

Damn Steve you do have the arsenal to say the least. I like my 101b but do share your thoughts on the mod factors, except I do like a pristine channel which makes my new Tremonti sound superb!! Really rocks through the uber!!

Merry Christmas to all

 

[steve_k]

Damn Steve you do have the arsenal to say the least. I like my 101b but do share your thoughts on the mod factors, except I do like a pristine channel which makes my new Tremonti sound superb!! Really rocks through the uber!!

Merry Christmas to all

Just testing....

Every once in a while though, a real gem like this comes my way. I have had a few lucky trades and purchases lately for sure.

 

[Setneck]

Can You share with us what mods were exactly done to the circuit? Especially to the Blue and Red channels.

Regards, Andy

 

[steve_k]

Can You share with us what mods were exactly done to the circuit? Especially to the Blue and Red channels.

Regards, Andy

I haven't pulled the chassis yet and have no idea exactly what Mark did with it

 

[Setneck]

If You do so that'd be great if You could write what was done. I am actually during modding my amp to make it brigter, more open and in-front. Maybe Your mods could be aplied to my amp . The main idea is to put a bit more classic Marshall crunch to the Bogner flavour .

So far I changed 1st stage cathode values to 1.8K//1uF and 2nd stage cathode to 2.8K//.68K. Also lowered 2nd stage snubber cap to 680pF. The results are quite promissing .

Regards, Andy

 

[steve_k]

If You do so that'd be great if You could write what was done. I am actually during modding my amp to make it brigter, more open and in-front. Maybe Your mods could be aplied to my amp . The main idea is to put a bit more classic Marshall crunch to the Bogner flavour .

So far I changed 1st stage cathode values to 1.8K//1uF and 2nd stage cathode to 2.8K//.68K. Also lowered 2nd stage snubber cap to 680pF. The results are quite promissing .

Regards, Andy

Well, from what I remember about a stock 101B, sounds like you are on the same page as far as the green and blue channels go. Lots of bright, Plexi sort of grind on the green channel now with the gain dimed and on H. The blue channel gets a real upfront crunch and uncompressed JMP sort of tone when the gain is dimed. The red channel is where it is at though. As I said earlier on, it was always hard to strike a good balance between the red and blue channels, especially with mids/presence/top end sharing an EQ stack. But, with the gain level on L, the base setting line up really good for the red channel gain around 11:00 and the blue gain dimed. A lot of the mud and compression was removed from the red channel in the process. The red channel is very big and fat and controllable now....for my tastes anyway.

Steve

 

[Setneck]

The red channel is where it is at though [...] A lot of the mud and compression was removed from the red channel in the process.

That is exactly what I am after with my mods. I am happy with Green (I already changed 1st stage bypass cap to 1uF) and Blue, but the Red is a bit too compressed and backed-off in live mix. So I want to make it more in-front.

Regards, Andy