NAD: Voodoo V-Plex. Going to be a platform amp to mod. Need ideas.

  • Thread starter Thread starter scottosan
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I do like that they used the Ken Fisher Type 1 Master volume. I’ve never been a fan of some of the alternatives that cary bias voltage or could cause catastrophic failure with a pot wiper issue.
 
Samhain said:
D. Aldrich has never officially endorsed any amp by Cameron and i have been told that Doug sent Mark a couple JMP's and never got them back or any compensation FWIW.
And i could tell a story about VooDoo as well but i won't.
* commence shitshow but i didn't bring it up.
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Doug does credit Marks mods on the Whitesnake live DVD

2B0C2948-FE35-4FE8-ABAD-BD787ADD03D8.jpeg
 
He also credits Bob Bradshaw/Martin Golub of CAE. Martin did lots of Marshall mods, I believe he and John Suhr developed the SE mod for Bradshaw... Martin just passed away a few days ago according to David Philips at LA Sound Design’s Facebook page.
 
fusedbrain said:
Sweet!
Go with the SE100 build. It's a killer circuit and very tweak-able. Your chassis has the 4th 12ax7 socket, and you've done the Jose thing already.
My SE100 clone is my best sounding amp.
It's a killer combo of massive Wizard-style bottom end and tightness ( unique filtering and NFB design choices ) but still has a bit of grease from the 4 gain stages + CF.
Circuit has tons of gain on tap, but cleans up incredibly well when rolling down the guitar vol. (y)

Mine is pretty close to the real SE 100 design, but I used .0022uf for the first 2 couplers and it has a metro loop vs a tube loop.
Because I omitted the tube loop, my power supply string is a little different ( droppers, not the caps ) to get the right voltages to the pre section.
I also have a 3 way bright cap switch: B1-off-B2.
Very very cool circuit and props to J. Suhr for a killer sounding design. He's been running that circuit for 30 yrs in various forms ( 3+SE etc..) because it just sounds good.
If it doesn't float your boat, you're not very far away from a Marshall #34 / AFD100 circuit wise, even though the Suhr design sounds NOTHING like the AFD, so you will still have options. Amazing what a few component value swaps can do to an amp :LOL::LOL::LOL:

I liked this circuit so much a built a second 50watt version with channel switching ( 2 vols, 2 masters, shared eq, 3 DPDT relays ) that drops out the 3rd gain stage for lower gain tones, but when you go to the 3 gain stage mode, it has the #34 voicing. :rock:
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Would you be willing to share the schematics you used for the SE build? I have the SE3+ schematics as my reference, but would appreciate any help that will result in a killer sounding amp...
 
Going through the circuit prior to modding, I noticed the presence is wired incorrectly. The control does nothing.

The cab came with one speaker as the previous owner stated one speaker went bad. The wiring harness was a turd. The jack was of the lowest quality and the spades we crimped and not soldered. One of them had no electrics continuity.

I know that it’s a 13 year old amp and cab and perhaps some one jacked with it after Voodoo, but damn, I’m far from a pro tech and a shit player, but how does this happen? I guess it’s good for me in that I got it for a great price.
 
I guess I am a creature of habit and love the Jose stuff. My last was the modded Roccaforte that had really good iron. That was an interesting amp due to the low plate voltage around 400v. It sounded great and I attributed it the the MC10H choke since I’ve had other amps with similar iron but used 3H chokes. I noticed the the CCVs used the 10H choke based on the measurable specs, but the Roccaforte was at a much lower plate voltage. This amp has similar iron and a higher voltages, so I am chasing the unicorn trying to get closer. My opinion is that the choke is an under appreciated and overlooked component. It really affects the feel amp.

The Voodoo had been worked on before and I had to sort through some issues. I pulled the PPIMV, and found that the wiring was reverse polarity. When I removed it and placed standard .022uf caps in it’s place, it put the circuit out of phase. This part of the circuit was still stock. I spent too many hours troubleshooting oscillation that was due to the polarity, thinking it has to do with the mod. Still some things I don’t like about the design of this amp.

Anyway, got the basic HG Jose circuit in the amp and can hear the potential. Lots of mids and low end.

 
That sounds killer! I love the mid clank you are getting there! What pups in guitar and what speakers in cab? Oh la la!
 
thenine said:
That sounds killer! I love the mid clank you are getting there! What pups in guitar and what speakers in cab? Oh la la!
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Then you. Jalen Franky pickups. The speakers Weber Legacy’s, which are basically equivalent to blue frame Scumbackd
 
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Wow. That baby sounds mean! (Love the Jalen Franky / Pinnacle, btw.)

Do you see yourself selling this one after you have it dialed in and have some sun with it?
 
PDC said:
Wow. That baby sounds mean! (Love the Jalen Franky / Pinnacle, btw.)

Do you see yourself selling this one after you have it dialed in and have some sun with it?
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I have a local guy that’s been asking me for a while to build one. I told him that finding a good amp to mod would be the better option, Since e a ground up build is very time consuming and parts are hard to come from a single source, it take the fun out of building. Since this amp checked the boxes for price and good transformers

He will have first dibs assuming I can get the amp to where I like it and he likes it.
 
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I’d say you‘ve got it 90+% there already. I’m betting you could get quite a bit of overall tone refinement from speaker selection alone at this point. Sounds great!
 
Such great amps. Many years ago I picked up a Vplex 1x12 combo locally and I sent it back to Trace at Voodoo to have it modded to V-Rock specs including a 5 position mid-shift knob. All the 80’s hard rock/hair metal tones you could want. Good luck with whatever you decide. That’s a really beautiful setup.
 
Contact Brian Wallace aka Marstran. He might be able to help with the Naylor biz.
 
Doesn't the Voodo have a lot of mods built into it already? I thought Fortus uses those as his live amp with GnR.
 
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