ROCK WIZARD TUBE AMP by LARRY

[novosibir]

Modestly I want to disclose, that…

A new winner will be rising up on amp's heaven soon! Born in Germany!

- No PCB, as usual! Based on firm conviction!
- No MIDI!
- No bias jacks & pots for each tube separately!
- Not possible, to stick in whatever output tube you like!

- But provided with a 'special designed' Killer-OT, optimized for use with EL34's only and filled with 70' NOS iron! Of course hand wound on paper former and paper insulated as usual in 'the old days'! Hand made by two 'old school' guys in U.K.
- Provided with NOS B9A preamp tube sockets from 1962 (MIL specs)
- Provided with NOS Tungsram ECC83 preamp tubes from the 70' (those with the sweet grind)
- Provided with NOS RFT EL34 power tubes from the 70' (those with the rich mid range, flubbyless punch and nice high end)
- Provided with NOS LCR electrolytic can caps from 1994 (those with the real British Voice)

All thought-out and designed with just one goal in mind: To give you the PURE TONE w/o any compromises! From the classic 70's Rock and Heavy tones onwards up to the modern guitar sounds from this millenium! All included in just 'one box'

And of course the amp is built rugged as hell with a 'larry-like' chassis made of brushed stainless steel (thickness is 3/16 inches), with all mounting stuff also of stainless steel and the entire circuit built on sturdy eyelet boards PTP hand wired throughout for durability, rigidity and longevity – an amp, what's holding up trouble-free, until your grandkids rip it off your hands

It's a 3-channel, 100W amp head with just 14 control knobs on front (instead of ~40), but due to 3-pos. Miniswitches for each channel separately and two included and footswitchable boosters, this amp provides you with 27 (in words: twentyseven) different voices

In this amp, there's all my knowledge and experience included, what I've accumulated within the meanwhile over 20 years of servicing, repairing, modding and hand building tube amplifiers.

Here are some photos from the first prototype:

And you can easily see on the photos, that it's still a clearly arranged amp, for which you haven't to make first a 'driver's license' before the first use

Let me know, how you like it!

Larry

 

[jasonP]

Looks sweet!

Offer any inside pictures or is that off limits?

[Answer from Larry: "Added it later especially for you"]

 

[Tone Merchant]

looks fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant wait to hear it

 

[Dallas Marlow]

Looks killer if you need a tester let me know I'll give you my address and put it through the paces Seriously looks sick man, and honestly everything I love about an amp versatile but built like a tank and not to much random crap to break! Bet it sounds awesome!

 

[Shark Diver]

That looks bad ass! If it sounds as good as it looks it will slay. It's a good time to be a guitar player.

 

[lolzgreg]

Any ideas of an esitmated price?

 

[goldwing68nv]

VERY NICE

 

[thegame]

Oh dear, G.A.S. building to epic proportions !

Larry, are there tones in this amp not available in the Dino ? For example, this amp's Scream is the same as Dino's Scream ?

Is the Mean channel similar to the BritishCrunch ?

What are those 4 mini-toggles on the back (top) of the chassis ?

Thanks for posting the pics

 

[Anonymous]

I'll take it....

 

[glpg80]

Overnight it to me and I will bring it to the amp fest on Saturday.

Is that a silver plated Tungsram in V1?

i dunno if you caught this or not, but that mains input said 425, not 120V

larry i can only imagine how great this amplifier sounds. im not a fan of EL34's usually, but im 100% you have outdone yourself on this one.

it definately looks like you spent alot of time on this... much respect

 

[Jay Strange]

I'll take it one also!!!!!

 

[loudgtr]

That looks great Larry!

Would love to hear some clips as well.

 

[thegame]

looks fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant wait to hear it

Is that a hint ?

 

[Rufus Leaking]

I'll take it one also!!!!!

Put me down for one too...

 

[jasonP]

Overnight it to me and I will bring it to the amp fest on Saturday.

Is that a silver plated Tungsram in V1?

i dunno if you caught this or not, but that mains input said 425, not 120V

425 VA is not input voltage it stands for Volt Amps, this is the power measurement of the power transformer.

I suppose the power transformer has different taps that could be wired to a different voltages...

 

[Digital Jams]

Holy Shit...................................

 

[novosibir]

Thanks a lot for all your kind words, guys! This is very appreciated and gives a great feel!

Offer any inside pictures or is that off limits?

I've been always very generous with inside pics of my amps in the past, which sometimes were so detailled, that you at least partially couldt analyze the circuit only off the photos. I've even been so green, that I gave requesting people still more detailled infos via emails or PM's through different forums. Those who know me from the Metroamp forums or from the German TubeTown forum can confirm this.

So far, so good - because I always knew, that I'm at least 10 steps further then all those other wannabe amp builders, who sprout out of the earth like mushrooms within the past few years. But after I've heard here and there again and again, that others later claimed, that 'my findings' suddenly were 'their own product out of their brain', I became more and more withdrawn concerning sharing 'my secrets' with others...

... so hopefully you understand, that I still will be thinking about this for a while. And when I post some photos from the amp's inside, then they'll be at least partially diffused, to not show all and everything

Any ideas of an esitmated price?

Still not concretely at this moment. I first have to re-calculate all & everything, what went into this amp. There are huge costs to set into account due to the NOS steel for the trannies, what has me cost an arm and a leg, to buy all the remaining rest.

I think, that over the Chrismas & New Year holidays I'll find the time for re-calculation, to set a price. But I think, that it won't be less than the price of a DINO.

Overnight it to me and I will bring it to the amp fest on Saturday.

You can't imagine, how much I'd like also to be there. But it's unfortunately so far away from Germany and the additional air freight costs for the amp back & forth...

Is that a silver plated Tungsram in V1?

Yep, it is

I still have about 180 pcs. of NOS Tungsram ECC83's, but there are only 12 pcs. with the silver plates among these. This tube is an absolute killer tube, but you probably know this, because you've asked

Larry, are there tones in this amp not available in the Dino ? For example, this amp's Scream is the same as Dino's Scream ?

No! The most similar channel to the DINO is the Clean sound, but in this case it's equipped with a 3-pos. mini switch, what enables to the 'regular' (Fender blackface-ish) setting to set it to a mid boost mode as well as to a scoop mode.

The Mean channel includes beginning at a pretty regular JCM800-2203 sound nearly everything, what I've created as mods for Marshall amps in the 3 stages & CF fashion. There's also a 3-pos. mini switch and you have additional two different boosters - resulting in 12 different Mean voices.

And quite the same with the Scream channel. But none of the also 12 Scream voices will match the DINO's Scream spot-on, because in this amp, there's a different power stage and a different output tranny. The output stage of this amp compared to the DINO's output stage is soundig remarkable more fatter, more 'meat' in the lower mids - and the OT of this amp, although fitted with the same NOS steel like my 'new' British Purist trannies is wound different to the B.P. OT and wound different to the DINO OT - it's an extremely "angry" sounding OT, but w/o being peaky or ear cutting.

So as a concluding short answer: This amp offers the same amount of gain as the DINO, but it's voiced different. It's not as extremely tight and 'gun-like' shooting as the DINO, but warmer, fuller, richer and some more 'earthy' and a tad into vintage direction sounding.

This amp might substitute a British Purist at the most only to about 50-60%, but a DINO to about 80-90%

Is the Mean channel similar to the BritishCrunch ?

This is already answered right above.

What are those 4 mini-toggles on the back (top) of the chassis ?

You're speaking about these four mini switches here:

Ok, let's start with the right switch, what's regarded from the amp's front switch #1:

Switch #1 - is affecting only the Clean sound and enables a basically shape of the sound's low end between 'full, rich and warm' and 'tight, funky wiry and ultra dynamic' - a sound, what's jumping directly into your face, though clean

Switch #2 - is doing quite the same as #1, but it's affecting only the channel group Mean & Scream - so pre-selectable between 'straight tight and very quick in response' and 'thick, earthy fat and punchy, but a tad slower in response'

Switches #3 & #4 - have to be combined in the explanation for a better understanding and to this I pre-explain:
To this amp belongs a foot controller (w/ 5-pin XLR connectors), with which besides the usual channel selection and the selection of the "Solo Volume" (affecting the entire amp's volume, no matter what channel) you additional can switch a booster (for Mean & Scream) on/off.

But this 'booster' actually is/are two integrated boosters, which are located in different areas of the circuit. With the mini switches now you can pre-select, which of these two boosters will be activated after stepping on the boost button at the foot controller. Just #3, what's a not too much hefty booster - or #4, what's a BOOSTER with grind & punch.

So additional to your sound shape, you've selected via the 3-pos. mini switch on the front you can now decide to have:
a) no booster at all
b) just the some tamer booster #3
c) the angry booster #4
d) or both boosters at the same time

3 * 4 is 12 different voices each for the Mean channel and also for the Scream channel

As a special: If someone doesn't need the switchable Solo Volume and agrees to a 'Pedal Output' jack like in the DINO, to be able, to continuously control the amp's volume via a plugged in Volume Pedal, then I can use the now free relay inside the amp and the button on the foot controller, to make both the boosters switchable individually.

What more do you need?

i dunno if you caught this or not, but that mains input said 425, not 120V

Seems, that you've overlooked this 'buried' switch on top of the chassis here:

You'd need a screwdriver, to switch back & forth and the amp usually is hard wired inside, to switch between a wall voltage of 230V (Europe) and 120V (North America) - but there are additional primary taps taped inside the amp for additional 100V (Japan) - 220V (East Europe & Russia) and 240V (United Kingdom), which you can solder to one of the switch's positions, if required.

The "425VA" is the power consumption of the entire amp at full blast, what it pulls out of your wall outlet. But physically correct you can't name it 'Watts', because there's always a phase shift between voltage and current, hence "W" and "VA" definitely are different shoes.

And at least two of you knew it before:

425 VA is not input voltage it stands for Volt Amps, this is the power measurement/consumption of the power transformer/amps.

I suppose the power transformer has different taps that could be wired to a different voltages...

larry i can only imagine how great this amplifier sounds. im not a fan of EL34's usually, but im 100% you have outdone yourself on this one. it definately looks like you spent alot of time on this... much respect

Thanks for the 'respect'! And yes, this amp was a lot of R&D! Not the 'design' of the different voices, because all the amp's voices are generated out of that, what I've done as mods in Marshall and other amps and also in my own amp models during the past 20 years and hence all already has been bullet proofed before.

The 'actual' efforts have been, to put all this into just one case
It's been a hard time the past 6 months with nights sometimes with just 4-5h of sleep - but I got it

Larry

 

[stephen sawall]

All I can say is WOW ......

Thanks for all the details.

 

[glpg80]

thanks for clarifying, im always up for learning something new..

i never put 2 and 2 together - voltage lagging current in inductors or current lagging voltage in capacitors with VA as a power consumption measurement.

thanks!

6 months with 5 hour sleeping nights? i bet you have a huge weight off your shoulder

 

[hunter]

Looks great Larry, congrats to the new design!!

I was thinking that it's perfect when I looked at the front panel, actually for me the pre grain pots and mini switches weren't necessary. However, if all the switch settings sound different but good, then it's pure win.

Pity that the cost is in the same range, but guess that's an unavoidable aspect that comes along with your approach to building.

So could one basically say that this one is a bit more agressive than the British Purist, but less in yer face than the Dino, kinda in between the two?