Tweaking a Dirty Shirley Mini

[RedPlated]

Picked up a 20w DS mini in a trade recently. Killer little amp. Impressive for the size, no doubt.

It’s definitely on the dark and smooth side, which is cool and sounds great. But I wanted to see if I could get it to open up a bit.

I made a couple tweaks. One is to add the bright mode (B) switch from the Little Sister. It’s fairly subtle but helps open it up a bit.

I made some changes to the Structure switch so that it performs two functions at once in medium and high gain mode. Gets more aggressive.

The “Bite / Smooth” switch really makes a substantial difference. Adds a ton of bite to the amp like a mean JCM800.

Lastly, I added a “Pull Bright” to the gain control. This adds a small bright cap that adds sparkle but doesn’t overdo it. It adds great chime for low gain sounds.

Clip is attached. I’ll be posting this up in the classifieds soon…

 

[harddriver]

Sounds KILLER!

I see someone has a LARRY! Did it come with a back panel?

 

[ccn]

Bright switch makes a HUGE difference .

 

[ewill52]

badass! The Little Sister has been on my radar lately...

 

[midnightlaundry]

Good

 

[thenine]

Open Sesame Mod?

 

[hellzington]

I had Dave put a bright pull on my Friedman Modded 1987 and it made a WORLD of difference. Every Friedman should have a bright for BE/HBE.

 

[dcburn]

Wow sounds awesome!
Probably wouldn't have sold mine if it had sounded like this.
Great job.

I did buy the Twin Sister after, but it was kinda more of the same for me.
But it did sound bigger.

 

[dcburn]

I had Dave put a bright pull on my Friedman Modded 1987 and it made a WORLD of difference. Every Friedman should have a bright for BE/HBE.

I've been toying with the idea of sending him my Metro JTM45 for some modding...

 

[RedPlated]

Sounds KILLER!

I see someone has a LARRY! Did it come with a back panel?

Yeah it did! That’s what sealed the deal. Couldn’t pass that up.

badass! The Little Sister has been on my radar lately...

I believe the only difference between DS Mini and LS is the bright switch.

Open Sesame Mod?

You’ve heard about it?! You always have my secrets.

Wow sounds awesome!
Probably wouldn't have sold mine if it had sounded like this.
Great job.

I did buy the Twin Sister after, but it was kinda more of the same for me.
But it did sound bigger.

Thanks man!

 

[Wayniac3]

Sounds great!

 

[screamindemon]

Damn dude, that sounds great !

 

[RedPlated]

Sounds great!

Damn dude, that sounds great !

Thanks fellas….

A local RigTalker hit me up about it and is going to take possession of it tomorrow !

I ended up adding a SAT switch as well which worked out great.

 

[PlayAndersons]

Absolutely frothing!

 

[LPMojoGL]

I had Dave put a bright pull on my Friedman Modded 1987 and it made a WORLD of difference. Every Friedman should have a bright for BE/HBE.

I wonder a bright cap or any other mods would improve on the Phil X.

 

[RedPlated]

Absolutely frothing!

Very soon!

I wonder a bright cap or any other mods would improve on the Phil X.

I bet it will. I used a very small cap just to add a bit of sparkle. Nothing too big that would get unruly.

 

[hellzington]

Very soon!

I bet it will. I used a very small cap just to add a bit of sparkle. Nothing too big that would get unruly.

This is exactly what Dave did. It’s a small bright cap that just opens up the top end a bit. Frankly, it makes the BE sound more like a Marshall. I also run the gain lower with it pulled and use the HBE mode a lot more.

 

[screamindemon]

Nice, clean looking work !

 

[mnagola]

Picked up a 20w DS mini in a trade recently. Killer little amp. Impressive for the size, no doubt.

It’s definitely on the dark and smooth side, which is cool and sounds great. But I wanted to see if I could get it to open up a bit.

I made a couple tweaks. One is to add the bright mode (B) switch from the Little Sister. It’s fairly subtle but helps open it up a bit.

I made some changes to the Structure switch so that it performs two functions at once in medium and high gain mode. Gets more aggressive.

The “Bite / Smooth” switch really makes a substantial difference. Adds a ton of bite to the amp like a mean JCM800.

Lastly, I added a “Pull Bright” to the gain control. This adds a small bright cap that adds sparkle but doesn’t overdo it. It adds great chime for low gain sounds.

Clip is attached. I’ll be posting this up in the classifieds soon…



View attachment 258330
View attachment 258333

Hello Sir!
I am really interested in the Pull Bright and the Bright mode switch - could you share a pic of the circuit board or any useful instructions on how to do it on my DS mini?
I like the amp though definitely want to make it less beefy on the low gain and add sparkle and clarity.


Thanks!

 

[RedPlated]

Hello Sir!
I am really interested in the Pull Bright and the Bright mode switch - could you share a pic of the circuit board or any useful instructions on how to do it on my DS mini?
I like the amp though definitely want to make it less beefy on the low gain and add sparkle and clarity.


Thanks!

I don't think I have photos.

The bright mode just switches the coupling cap value from .022 to .0022. I forget if it's first or second stage. and simultaneously adds a .68 bypass to v2a cathode.

Pull bright is just a bright cap on gain pot. Use a small value, 150, 220pf etc... that's it.