Just sent in my T/D for a makeover... to a D/D.

RockStarNick

RockStarNick

Active member
Well, I finally got around to sending in my T/D to bruce and jeff to convert it to a Double D Deeeeluxe.

For my main clean tones, the Bman is the way to go. Matches up with my SL2 nicely.

But for sitting at home, strumming on my strat, trying to hack my way thru bloooz licks, I wanted something more classic fender-y. And since I do alot of practicing with my RM20 (which only can access Channel A of dual channel modules), I figured modding both channels to be basically identical would be the way to go.

Can't wait to get it back. I haven't really been playing my strat much lately.
 
You won't be sorry! :) I can't wait to get my EG5 / EG3/4 back from Dave. I had to send the back to him.

That, and a AxeFx Ultra is on its way to me too! I really like the DLX though. Killer clean tone. Great for blues and country!!!

Eric
 
Yeah, I love the D side with my strat. The T side is, well, it's like a Twin! It's clean for miles, and it is almost impossible to make it break up.

The D side will give me more of that bluesy breakup im looking for.
 
When I played through a T/D I also loved the D side and envisioned me using that way more then then the T. Nice decision.
 
I still have the original DLX that they offered before the T/D came out. It's a great module. It's my workhorse for clean tones because the extra midrange cuts nicely and feels great to the touch.

Are they converting your T/D to a DLX? The reason I ask is the DLX might have less gain in B unless you ask them to tweak it. At least that's how mine was when I compared it to the T/D in those channels. The DLX stays cleaner in B.

I do miss that about my T/D. Channel B breaks up much more than my DLX with a Strat or a Tele. For a country bark when chicken' pickin' it's like having a compressor on the front end. Really nice natural compression. My DLX needs a little compression up front for the same effect.

You might want to ask Jeff.
 
I just got my D/D from Jeff. Even with minimal tweaking so far, I'd have to say it's pretty good. I thought it would fix the volume & headroom differences between the T & D channels, but so far it has not. From what I can tell, it's the same as the T channel with but with the D channel tone. The volume & headroom issue is still there. To get the same bass & volume on both channels, you'll be needing a huge difference in gain & master levels between the two channels. If you try bring up the gain on the A channel to match the bass on the B channel, it starts clipping. That's definitely one thing that I believe just comes with these modular systems - Tweaking gains & volumes drastically changes your tone. No biggy, just annoying, but I'm a big boy so I can take a little annoyance to get an awesome tone.

I have more tweaking to do with it, so I report back if I find any other interesting/useful info.

Oh and by the way, from what I can tell there's a total of two, maybe three components that are different between the T chA and the D chA. Same goes for the EG3/4 compared to a SL2, two, maybe three components difference between the two. Which components? I'm not telling because I don't think the Bruce & Jeff would appreciate that. I'm just saying because switching from one the other can be done in less than five minutes if you have any skills with a soldering iron, and know which components to change.

Another interesting point about components is the fact that one module is older and wired with some mica caps, ceramic caps, mylar caps, film caps, and some electrolytic caps in certain locations. And the other module is newer with with totally different types of caps in the same locations. Absolutely NO tone difference between the two modules. I mention this because I'm sure it's only a matter of time before this forum is loaded with bus full of self-proclaimed module tweakers claiming things like 'OMFG dude, it's like night & day!!' and 'Holy shit, it's the greatest tone on earth now, you've gotta yank all your caps and replace them!' :jerkit:
 
Klark":34i1gafh said:
I just got my D/D from Jeff. Even with minimal tweaking so far, I'd have to say it's pretty good. I thought it would fix the volume & headroom differences between the T & D channels, but so far it has not. From what I can tell, it's the same as the T channel with but with the D channel tone. The volume & headroom issue is still there. To get the same bass & volume on both channels, you'll be needing a huge difference in gain & master levels between the two channels. If you try bring up the gain on the A channel to match the bass on the B channel, it starts clipping. That's definitely one thing that I believe just comes with these modular systems - Tweaking gains & volumes drastically changes your tone. No biggy, just annoying, but I'm a big boy so I can take a little annoyance to get an awesome tone.
Click to expand...

I'm looking for breakup in both channels... I couldn't get the T side dirty enough with single coils. Are you saying that with the standard D/D, there isn't any real breakup/grit on the Channel A?

Klark":34i1gafh said:
Another interesting point about components is the fact that one module is older and wired with some mica caps, ceramic caps, mylar caps, film caps, and some electrolytic caps in certain locations. And the other module is newer with with totally different types of caps in the same locations. Absolutely NO tone difference between the two modules. I mention this because I'm sure it's only a matter of time before this forum is loaded with bus full of self-proclaimed module tweakers claiming things like 'OMFG dude, it's like night & day!!' and 'Holy shit, it's the greatest tone on earth now, you've gotta yank all your caps and replace them!' :jerkit:
Click to expand...

So basically, the whole hype about using the big orange drop caps for the input-coupling capacitor (when people do the mods on the randalls) is kinda BS? m :lol: :LOL:
 
RockStarNick":d7alzitc said:
Klark":d7alzitc said:
I just got my D/D from Jeff. Even with minimal tweaking so far, I'd have to say it's pretty good. I thought it would fix the volume & headroom differences between the T & D channels, but so far it has not. From what I can tell, it's the same as the T channel with but with the D channel tone. The volume & headroom issue is still there. To get the same bass & volume on both channels, you'll be needing a huge difference in gain & master levels between the two channels. If you try bring up the gain on the A channel to match the bass on the B channel, it starts clipping. That's definitely one thing that I believe just comes with these modular systems - Tweaking gains & volumes drastically changes your tone. No biggy, just annoying, but I'm a big boy so I can take a little annoyance to get an awesome tone.
Click to expand...

I'm looking for breakup in both channels... I couldn't get the T side dirty enough with single coils. Are you saying that with the standard D/D, there isn't any real breakup/grit on the Channel A?

Klark":d7alzitc said:
Another interesting point about components is the fact that one module is older and wired with some mica caps, ceramic caps, mylar caps, film caps, and some electrolytic caps in certain locations. And the other module is newer with with totally different types of caps in the same locations. Absolutely NO tone difference between the two modules. I mention this because I'm sure it's only a matter of time before this forum is loaded with bus full of self-proclaimed module tweakers claiming things like 'OMFG dude, it's like night & day!!' and 'Holy shit, it's the greatest tone on earth now, you've gotta yank all your caps and replace them!' :jerkit:
Click to expand...

So basically, the whole hype about using the big orange drop caps for the input-coupling capacitor (when people do the mods on the randalls) is kinda BS? m :lol: :LOL:
Click to expand...

My DLX will not distort in channel B even with the gain maxed. It's punchy though, especially with humbuckers in that channel. But it doesn't overdrive like the demo on Indoor Storm where he uses a Tele. Kinda wish it did. But my DLX does sound great.

Has anyone noticed much variance between two of the same modules in the amount of gain available?
 
RockStarNick":3bswc0kw said:
So basically, the whole hype about using the big orange drop caps for the input-coupling capacitor (when people do the mods on the randalls) is kinda BS? m :lol: :LOL:
Click to expand...

Not really. Made a noticeable difference in the modules I did it to. Guys were changing the value of the caps with changing the amount of gain in the lower frequencies---Like the bass switch on the Eggie duals. Also the orange drops are of a little better quality than the stock caps Randall uses.
 
Hey Nick. Yes, if Jeff gives you a stock D/D, which I assume is what he sent me, there will be very little breakup on chA. There is definitely more breakup than with the T chA, but it's a bad breakup. It's a clipping, mega flabby type of break up, unusable.

Now if Jeff is sending you something special, then I guess we'll see.

After few more days of tweaking, I am much happier with the D/D than I was with my T/D. The bass differences are still bothering me a bit, but the volume & tone are more alike now. I'm basically looking for a sparkly clean Fender tone on chA, and a slightly broken up tone on chB. The T/D could do that, but the bass and volume difference were driving me nuts. My representation of a Deluxe would sound like a nice 12" combo, but my Twin would sound like a Champ with a 8" speaker.

And yes, maybe changing an input coupling cap to an orange drop might show a slight difference in tone, I'll give them that. However, I'd have to say without a double blind test, they're probably more realistically getting a placebo effect rather than a worth while difference.
 
Well, my TD has landed at Egnater HQ. Gave Jeff a ring to discuss the mod... Hilly, call me to discuss... :lol: :LOL: At your convenience sir...

:thumbsup:
 
Klark":2ksh23vj said:
Hey Nick. Yes, if Jeff gives you a stock D/D, which I assume is what he sent me, there will be very little breakup on chA. There is definitely more breakup than with the T chA, but it's a bad breakup. It's a clipping, mega flabby type of break up, unusable.

Now if Jeff is sending you something special, then I guess we'll see.

After few more days of tweaking, I am much happier with the D/D than I was with my T/D. The bass differences are still bothering me a bit, but the volume & tone are more alike now. I'm basically looking for a sparkly clean Fender tone on chA, and a slightly broken up tone on chB. The T/D could do that, but the bass and volume difference were driving me nuts. My representation of a Deluxe would sound like a nice 12" combo, but my Twin would sound like a Champ with a 8" speaker.

And yes, maybe changing an input coupling cap to an orange drop might show a slight difference in tone, I'll give them that. However, I'd have to say without a double blind test, they're probably more realistically getting a placebo effect rather than a worth while difference.
Click to expand...

Klark,
From what you said, you would love a stock DLX. I don't think they offer this module anymore, but I wonder if they could convert a T/D to a DLX instead of a D/D? Granted, you may think channel A on the T/D is more pristine then a DLX, but not by much.

Funny thing is the only thing that I miss about my T/D is the way channel B had more gain then my DLX. Exactly what you don't seem to want.
 
bscfo1":3uersdu7 said:
..you would love a stock DLX. I don't think they offer this module anymore, but I wonder if they could convert a T/D to a DLX instead of a D/D? Granted, you may think channel A on the T/D is more pristine then a DLX, but not by much.

Funny thing is the only thing that I miss about my T/D is the way channel B had more gain then my DLX. Exactly what you don't seem to want.
Click to expand...
I just assumed the D/D was the new version of the DLX. I hope so, because the DLX on the Indoor Storm video is exactly what I was looking for.

And yes, I don't need a lot of gain on chB, just a pushed Fender sound.

Basically, I was very happy with the GAIN levels on the T/D. What was causing problems was the lack of bass on chA when you get chB sounding nice. If you try to boost up the bass for A to sound good, B then sounds super tubby, flabby, and sometimes even clipped out. The 2nd problem was the master levels. To get one channel sounding good, you had to severely sacrifice the other channel.
 
Klark":1spoostd said:
bscfo1":1spoostd said:
..you would love a stock DLX. I don't think they offer this module anymore, but I wonder if they could convert a T/D to a DLX instead of a D/D? Granted, you may think channel A on the T/D is more pristine then a DLX, but not by much.

Funny thing is the only thing that I miss about my T/D is the way channel B had more gain then my DLX. Exactly what you don't seem to want.
Click to expand...
I just assumed the D/D was the new version of the DLX. I hope so, because the DLX on the Indoor Storm video is exactly what I was looking for.

And yes, I don't need a lot of gain on chB, just a pushed Fender sound.

Basically, I was very happy with the GAIN levels on the T/D. What was causing problems was the lack of bass on chA when you get chB sounding nice. If you try to boost up the bass for A to sound good, B then sounds super tubby, flabby, and sometimes even clipped out. The 2nd problem was the master levels. To get one channel sounding good, you had to severely sacrifice the other channel.
Click to expand...

As a DLX owner...I have to say..I love it :) I personally prefer it to the T/D, but that's me :)

Eric
 
The T/D modified to be a D/D should sound just like the original 'B' channel (the Deluxe) on both the 'A' and 'B' channels. If it doesn't, something isn't right. Call us 248-541-9100.
 
Klark":2ldl3s4h said:
I just assumed the D/D was the new version of the DLX. I hope so, because the DLX on the Indoor Storm video is exactly what I was looking for.
Click to expand...

I ordered a M4 back in August with the DLX module and I'm hoping it will be like the one in the Indoor Storm video too. That was my favorite Fender module out of all of them. I probably need to call Frank, because I haven't heard anything on the M4 since I ordered it.

Regards, JD...
 
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