: I recently picked up a concert lead head just cause I could afford it. I like the basic sound it gives me through my friend's cab... but anway here are three basic questions:
: 1) what kind of cab should I get for it? (i'm used to combo's and know nothing about this sort of thing) what should I expect to pay?
: 2) when I get the distortion going (controlled via RCA input on back panel) what is the character of distortion i'm looking for (i.e. how can I tell if it's performing the way it's supposeed to?)? does the dist. on the amp usually sound pretty good?
: 3)this is related to question #2... what kind of things should i look to change to optimize the amp's performance (esp. distortion)... it's a pretty old amp (70's), so what can be changed to make it better?
: hope that wasn't vague enough... thanks to anyone for their help.
: p.s. i also have an empty sunn model 2 cab that i could put speakers in or something... is that a good idea? thanks -ben
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Most of your questions can be answered by
"personal preference". I've used mine through
many different cabinets... 10's, 12's and 15's.
Use the number and size of speakers that you like
best... but I wouldn't go below a system total
of 4 ohms impedance.
And how do you describe "distortion" quality?
The distortion shouldn't be "frizzy". It is
achieved by overdriving one FET stage into
another, and half of the distort control...
controls the amount of overdrive of the second
FET into the third. (the distort channel has
three FETs at the front end, the reverb channel
has two). There shouldn't be a lot of fuzz.
The distorted sound is also dependent upon the
guitar and pickup combination used. And if you
don't run the distort control maxed out, you will
notice that it can be controlled by how hard you
pick the strings.
Using the "brite" input instead of the normal input
can cut off some of the low end if you find that
desirable... which you might. The tone controls
come after the distortion stages and you may have
noticed that the bass control needs to be around
3-4 minimum in order for the mid control to have
and effective range.
The other half of the distort control... manages
the "boost" feature, that is controlled by the RCA
jack next to the one you use to control distortion.
With both switches ON (shorted to ground), turning
up the distort control also turns down the amount
of "boost". Without a footswitch, the distort is
normally off, and the boost is normally full on.
There is not much if anything I would change on
this amp. I replaced the large electrolytics due
to age... which cut down on the hum level.
However, The transistors are all in sockets so
you could try different FET's. I haven't done
this, nor found it to be necessary.
If you open it up, make sure to get the reverb
connection from the top mounted reverb unit
reconnected to the PC board. There is not much
play in the wires, and if it is disconnected...
it can cause the amp to squeal something terrible.
As far as that goes... it wouldn't hurt to make
sure all of the lug connections are securely
connected.
Hope this helps. Enjoy!
