A
Amp_chaser
Active member
Wtf I myself have built a 1987 with Ed’s specs leaked by Dave Friedman and the fat cap at 470uf + the 820ohm .68uf and it has way less gain than a 2203 or 2204.Yep.
I was always a believer in the '68 had to be modded!' take....I mean, that's a shitload of gain on VHI. But, last year I grabbed a 72 50w lead and dug into the VH 68 spec rabbit hole. After adding the fat cap, lowering the V1B cathode resistor from 1.2k to 820 ohm the amp suddenly had WAY more gain than the stock circuit. Easily enough for VHI, II and Fair Warning.
I didn't even variac it, nor change the NFB or mid pot...it was a 2204 level of gain + a little bit more.
Played through GBs it was more than enough to cover any early VH gain wise.
After that, I'm a believer in a stock circuit with some 'off' values from the norm, which sometimes happened at Marshall.
If you want to prove that you can get the vh1 tone with stock plexi I can’t wait lets compare your record to this :