scottosan
Well-known member
I want to address these with my perspective from a non-business standpoint and I am going to use real world examples. I'd love to get input from others who obsessively mod amp. The reality is that there is no money in modding or even complete builds unless you charge alot of money. People just cant grasp the concept of what leads up to installing a handful of cheap parts. I will take it a step further and claim that there needs to be a clear separation in definition between a mod and a rebuild. To me, a mod is changing a few parts without changing the amps topology. When you have to rearrange the topology and plan out how to reroute the signal path to accommodate a new circuit and are unable to leverage the existing traces/turrets/eyelets, etc. You are actually doing a rebuild. There are also multiple approaches you can take with modding.
On to my perspective. I've been repairing, modding and building for 17 years with a focus almost exclusively with Marshal based circuits. I've never offered modding, building, or repair services to the public. That said, I've modded alot of amps that were bought and repaired for personal use and subsequently sold out of necessity or like anyone else to fund other needs and wants. My builds were never from kits and have progressed from single channel circuits with my own layouts and hand drilled boards to complex channel switching amps. I've built countless pedals, buffers, switching systems, etc. To this day I still don't know of anyone that has done a full hand drilled turret CCV clone and I will never do one again. The Ceriatone King Kong doesnt count. The switching is incorrect and I could list a page of issues I've seen in the amp. While I don't know every bit of science around every component of an amp, like transformer winding etc, and some of the more complex in the weeds topics, I am proficient enough that I can quickly troubleshoot and repair just about anything I've had on my bench. I can trace out an amp pretty quickly and even more complex amps, I have the schematics pretty much memorized and can implement or identify from memory. But at the end of the day, the more I learn about electronics the dumber I feel.
The Jose....or the Cameron Jose....
This circuit and everything that surrounds it seems to be a topic of discussion. I personally have obsessed over this circuit for few years now. I've heard/played 3 Camerons in person, and have been inside 2 CCVs and a HG Jose. I've also been fortunate enough to have alot of information shared with me from others that have spent time inside these amps. That said, it's easy to conclude that there is no Cameron schematic. With the exception of the Brad era amps that had standard components, none of Marks amps or mods are exactly the same. There are things the you see as his signature "go to" values, but never a mod that is an exact copy of another. So, why the different values and the deviations? Many will say that he just has a bucket of parts and he uses whatever he can, but I feel that he is a circuit tweaker to OCD levels. This circuit is the most sensitive circuit I have ever worked. You cannot just cookie cutter this mod and have it sound Cameron. I have a baseline that I always start with and it always starts out with vary noticeable tonal differences depending on the components or the donor amps. The plate voltage, iron, components all have a huge impact on the tonal result of this circuit. Again, far more that any other circuit that I've worked. Plate voltage/B+ is critical. You tone stack becomes more sensitive the higher your B+. Your B+ affects the levels of your signal, which in turn affects how much audible clipping a given clipper value has. It also affects how much negative feedback comes off your transformer. Because much of Marks mods are in the preamp, power amp, and NFB, you can see how the variances in the donor amp can have a cascading effect on the outcome of a baseline mod. And because of the cascading shift Mark leaving some potentiometers stock on one amp but changing the taper or creating a custom taper on pots in another amp to get to sound, react, and feel like his sound. I have spent 100's of hours tweaking this circuit with quite a bit of difference components, transformers, and donor amps and have been frustrated to no end on the inconstancy of the outcome of the baseline mods between amp to amp. Over time, I feel that I've gotten closer and closer, but the level of effort to get to that point is literally like starting over again for every new donor amp. It is literally that sensitive to the sum of all parts. I've had to change tapers of pots and change downstream components to get amps with my own baseline circuit to behave the way I want them. If simply left with the baseline circuit, the results would be all over the place.
That said, I suspect that aside from whatever personal stuff going on in Mark's life and his lack of business acumen, I feel that he is likely obsessed with this circuit worse than I ever could be. As a result, what would seem like a several hour mod to most, turns into obsessive tweaking to get the tone as close as possible to the 1 magical sounding donor amp that had "it". I feel he has a talent and an obsession that is not conducive to business success. And while I don't condone the end result to the customer, I can imagine how he could have ended up with untouched amps stacked up in a storage facility. My most recent Voodoo V-Plex mod has been the worst for me. I have spent no less that 30 hours tweaking this amp and while I have it to a point that it's the closest I've gotten, its the furthest departure from any of my previous work and I struggle with things that work well on this amp didn't on others or vice versa. It becomes an inner struggle of making it sound like what your used to with previous mods or pushing the envelope knowing that you should do things a bit different to take advantage of things you current donor amp do different or better. So that's the dilemma. Do a canned mod and accept that its just going to be different or tweak everything you can with constant A/B and part swaps trying to make what is really a different amp sound like that reference tone. Part of me believes that Mark has a hard time just rubber stamping these mods to a point where its cost prohibitive and toxically obsessive the level of effort to get every mod consistent. Add in the business and personal side, its not sustainable model to many can pull off.
I conclude that many of Marks mods are special and what sets him apart is that he doesn't rubber stamp these. There are alot of options out there for modders that will do their mod, but I question if that mod can be done by others with similar results to the level as Marks mods. And you'll never get people to understand that you have to put a price on your time and if the end result is 10-15 parts costing less than $50 not including planning, ordering, shipping, charges, taxes, the fact that you spent a week or weeks tweaking to get to the end result of those final components cheap components is not conceivable nor is it easy to quantify from a cost standpoint. Again, this is not a defense of Mark, but rather some perspective. I suspect that David or Shea on this forum are not getting rich off their mods nor or they even generating enough profit once they factor in their time to survive on that alone.
- You can have a standard mod that you know will affect certain things on an amp and have an understanding that depending on the donor amp there will be varying degrees of tonality based on the components and characteristics of the donor amplifier and once done the amp is what it is. Depending on the type of mod in question some are less sensitive that others may be consistent regardless of the donor amp
- You can understand that not all components are created equal, not all iron is created equal, not all tubes are created equal and in general, not all voltages are equal, and most parts have up to a +/- 20% tolerance. Anyone who has owned a handful of older Marshall can attest they all sound different. Taking all of this into consideration, another modder can attempt to compensate for these variances by modding other parts of the circuit.
On to my perspective. I've been repairing, modding and building for 17 years with a focus almost exclusively with Marshal based circuits. I've never offered modding, building, or repair services to the public. That said, I've modded alot of amps that were bought and repaired for personal use and subsequently sold out of necessity or like anyone else to fund other needs and wants. My builds were never from kits and have progressed from single channel circuits with my own layouts and hand drilled boards to complex channel switching amps. I've built countless pedals, buffers, switching systems, etc. To this day I still don't know of anyone that has done a full hand drilled turret CCV clone and I will never do one again. The Ceriatone King Kong doesnt count. The switching is incorrect and I could list a page of issues I've seen in the amp. While I don't know every bit of science around every component of an amp, like transformer winding etc, and some of the more complex in the weeds topics, I am proficient enough that I can quickly troubleshoot and repair just about anything I've had on my bench. I can trace out an amp pretty quickly and even more complex amps, I have the schematics pretty much memorized and can implement or identify from memory. But at the end of the day, the more I learn about electronics the dumber I feel.
The Jose....or the Cameron Jose....
This circuit and everything that surrounds it seems to be a topic of discussion. I personally have obsessed over this circuit for few years now. I've heard/played 3 Camerons in person, and have been inside 2 CCVs and a HG Jose. I've also been fortunate enough to have alot of information shared with me from others that have spent time inside these amps. That said, it's easy to conclude that there is no Cameron schematic. With the exception of the Brad era amps that had standard components, none of Marks amps or mods are exactly the same. There are things the you see as his signature "go to" values, but never a mod that is an exact copy of another. So, why the different values and the deviations? Many will say that he just has a bucket of parts and he uses whatever he can, but I feel that he is a circuit tweaker to OCD levels. This circuit is the most sensitive circuit I have ever worked. You cannot just cookie cutter this mod and have it sound Cameron. I have a baseline that I always start with and it always starts out with vary noticeable tonal differences depending on the components or the donor amps. The plate voltage, iron, components all have a huge impact on the tonal result of this circuit. Again, far more that any other circuit that I've worked. Plate voltage/B+ is critical. You tone stack becomes more sensitive the higher your B+. Your B+ affects the levels of your signal, which in turn affects how much audible clipping a given clipper value has. It also affects how much negative feedback comes off your transformer. Because much of Marks mods are in the preamp, power amp, and NFB, you can see how the variances in the donor amp can have a cascading effect on the outcome of a baseline mod. And because of the cascading shift Mark leaving some potentiometers stock on one amp but changing the taper or creating a custom taper on pots in another amp to get to sound, react, and feel like his sound. I have spent 100's of hours tweaking this circuit with quite a bit of difference components, transformers, and donor amps and have been frustrated to no end on the inconstancy of the outcome of the baseline mods between amp to amp. Over time, I feel that I've gotten closer and closer, but the level of effort to get to that point is literally like starting over again for every new donor amp. It is literally that sensitive to the sum of all parts. I've had to change tapers of pots and change downstream components to get amps with my own baseline circuit to behave the way I want them. If simply left with the baseline circuit, the results would be all over the place.
That said, I suspect that aside from whatever personal stuff going on in Mark's life and his lack of business acumen, I feel that he is likely obsessed with this circuit worse than I ever could be. As a result, what would seem like a several hour mod to most, turns into obsessive tweaking to get the tone as close as possible to the 1 magical sounding donor amp that had "it". I feel he has a talent and an obsession that is not conducive to business success. And while I don't condone the end result to the customer, I can imagine how he could have ended up with untouched amps stacked up in a storage facility. My most recent Voodoo V-Plex mod has been the worst for me. I have spent no less that 30 hours tweaking this amp and while I have it to a point that it's the closest I've gotten, its the furthest departure from any of my previous work and I struggle with things that work well on this amp didn't on others or vice versa. It becomes an inner struggle of making it sound like what your used to with previous mods or pushing the envelope knowing that you should do things a bit different to take advantage of things you current donor amp do different or better. So that's the dilemma. Do a canned mod and accept that its just going to be different or tweak everything you can with constant A/B and part swaps trying to make what is really a different amp sound like that reference tone. Part of me believes that Mark has a hard time just rubber stamping these mods to a point where its cost prohibitive and toxically obsessive the level of effort to get every mod consistent. Add in the business and personal side, its not sustainable model to many can pull off.
I conclude that many of Marks mods are special and what sets him apart is that he doesn't rubber stamp these. There are alot of options out there for modders that will do their mod, but I question if that mod can be done by others with similar results to the level as Marks mods. And you'll never get people to understand that you have to put a price on your time and if the end result is 10-15 parts costing less than $50 not including planning, ordering, shipping, charges, taxes, the fact that you spent a week or weeks tweaking to get to the end result of those final components cheap components is not conceivable nor is it easy to quantify from a cost standpoint. Again, this is not a defense of Mark, but rather some perspective. I suspect that David or Shea on this forum are not getting rich off their mods nor or they even generating enough profit once they factor in their time to survive on that alone.
