Mystery Knob on Back of Ed's Amp Was FET ?!?!?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ben Waylin
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CrazyNutz said:
There you go, it is practical after all (y)

I was about to start modding a plexi to prove it :ROFLMAO: Thanks!
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It's been in the amp since 2009/2010..........Like I said the effect is subtle but there is an effect...... I never use the Jose for a Master volume but I do switch the 20V/20V diodes in and out of the circuit depending on what I like that day. Usually I like the diodes in for VH1 but my 69 without the Jose does a great VH1 but an even better VH2 IMHO.
 
Beandust said:
Not sure how many were actually alive when VH hit the scene, his technique is definitely a HUGE part of the sound and success, for anyone who was alive as mentioned, there was no fucking amp that had that type distortion , even in the chords he was playing, not anything I could get anyways and nothing I heard on anything released in that era, Boston perhaps but that was studio vs raw edge IMO. He wouldn't tell anyone shit either. Send you on a goose chase and you still can't get that sound is what I remember. Other than the phase 90 and Flanger he spoke of in 1980 or so in GW. 40 + years later from 78 and we still dissecting his sound, lol it was a mark in guitar history and won't be repeated, copied, absolutely.
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Funny , Ed also had to have everything on 11 also . I was reading a piece by Paul Gilbert yesterday and he was saying when he hung out with Ed at his 5150 studio's Paul said he permanently lost a big chunk of his hearing ability because Ed had to have everything dimed to the max LOL.
 
CrazyNutz said:
So do we know what this Marshmellow guy is doing? Clearly he has it loaded (even more than 20ohms as he says) But Im trying to figure out what the hell he is using.

Whatever load it is, it still needs to dissipate all that wattage
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I've reached the point where I feel people are overthinking things too much(as Robin L said) and usually it ends up with too much gain for correct Ed tone IMHO. I mean listen to Ed on the Diver Down tour or Largo Maryland shows, so little gain at that point the amp was almost cleanish compared to VH1.
 
CrazyNutz said:
So do we know what this Marshmellow guy is doing? Clearly he has it loaded (even more than 20ohms as he says) But Im trying to figure out what the hell he is using.

Whatever load it is, it still needs to dissipate all that wattage
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He's being cagey about that.

All he's said is that:

The preamp section is stock.
He's not using power resistor(s) or capacitors to load the amp.

He went off on a weird tangent about the old "Holdsworth Juice Extractor".
 
CrazyNutz said:
Yeah, there's no way in hell a stock plexi has that amount of gain. He was getting easy harmonics, and dives.
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Racerxrated said:
I have heard stockers sound super gainy, but at HIGH ear splitting volumes. On the Letterman show, no Variac, pedal, attenuator to be seen. It's getting a ton of gain at a small club volume.
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I'm super late to the party these days BUT if you are "slaving" (sorry woke crowd) then you can get that gain. You are pushing a gained out maxed circuit through another preamp and dialing that in to taste. Then of course there is all sorts of other stuff from eq pedals or wireless packs that add gain like Angus had going on etc.. Let's not forget also that DeMartini apparently had one of these golden Marshalls that were naturally gained out as well.

But yeah, I still think a lil' push from an OD somewhere lol.
 
I get a YouTube shout-out from Ossie, and he answers if it's the "Cerrem Mod"..

 
Racerxrated said:
The question is though, how high were the volumes? Even a 50w 1987, in order to get that distortion needs to still peel the paint off the walls from my experience. A 15w non master amp, in order to get the power tubes to distort/compress into distortion still gets REALLY loud. Again, for Ed's amp to reach the kinds of distortion on the Letterman show, let's say he pulled 2 tubes(he never insinuated that I don't think) and variac'd down..it's still pushing 15-25 watts easily, and you'll still need to crank it...I still think that Letterman show volume is way too low, no matter how he ran his 68 for it to be stock yet have that amount of gain.
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SLAVING is the answer! Load with a pass through.
 
Pope Francis was kind enough to let me peruse the secret Vatican Holy archives. Nestled between UFO and Nazi documents were the VH papers. Enjoy:

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So, Ossie said the transformers (PT & OT) are "custom made".

No load inside the amp.

Think about that for a minute...
 
The 80's Guitarist: "My tone is a secret wrapped in a riddle shrouded in a mystery. Nobody will ever know the truth, if there even is one!"

The 2020's Guitarist: "Download every tone I used on the album for $19.99 right now at tonescrewdriver.net!"
 
CrazyNutz said:
Alright so a Plexi cranked into a Fryette PS-100 Power Station is the way to do it now days.

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That's essentially it... add to it a tweak or two to your preamp based on how the components have drifted and what you need more of and then a lil push from an EQ of any type for more cut or shaping. Hell, even someone with an EQ pedal and a Plexi can get the sound if they can play. It's fun to see these debates but there is no way any stage on a tv show would let a guy open up a 100 watt plexi. The answer clearly lies in the slaving/reamp process. Or I guess a superlead into a load and the line output into a cab IR.
 
CrazyNutz said:
Alright so a Plexi cranked into a Fryette PS-100 Power Station is the way to do it now days.

​

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I guess so but the resistive load Ed supposedly used will probably color the tone and feel in a certain way. I've used THD hotplates, Trainwreck airbrake, Rocktron juice extractor, and a one off custom Fortin load box strictly as loads (not as attenuators) with slaved amps and all of them subtlety imparted their own color on the core tone and amp feel.
 
thegame said:
I guess so but the resistive load Ed supposedly used will probably color the tone and feel in a certain way. I've used THD hotplates, Trainwreck airbrake, Rocktron juice extractor, and a one off custom Fortin load box strictly as loads (not as attenuators) with slaved amps and all of them subtlety imparted their own color on the core tone and amp feel.
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Maybe I'll build the restive load described by Christopher Michael.

He say's 20ohm center tapped. So just need 10ohms + 10ohm, and tap into the middle of the two then run that to a pot. Attach it all to a large heat sink with fan.


EDIT:
I was poking around on Jose's facebook page and found this picture
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CrazyNutz said:
Maybe I'll build the restive load described by Christopher Michael.

He say's 20ohm center tapped. So just need 10ohms + 10ohm, and tap into the middle of the two then run that to a pot. Attach it all to a large heat sink with fan.


EDIT:
I was poking around on Jose's facebook page and found this picture
173433443_3878446175524534_8031352669319162775_n.jpg
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That looks like it could be the device(s) in question. Also, since Ed supposedly ran 4 16 ohm cabs paralleled down to 4 ohms, you might want to rewire a single 16 ohm cab to all parallel (4 ohms), if you're using a single cabinet. It's more squashed and crunchier this way.
 
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