Express 5:25 Bright Cap Removal

[mike9091]

Hey everyone, I'm interested in clipping the bright cap system on my express 5:25 and looking for guidance on which caps (number and value) are associated with that system. For clarification, these are the caps tied to the gain controls of CH1 & CH2. They allow the treble to bleed through at low gain levels. I know Isaac has tried this for the Ace series:

You can also remove C6 (180) and C7 (750) caps. These are a 'bright' cap system tied to the Gain pot of Channel 2 and are most active at lower settings of the control <8, at max gain they are shorted out and have little to no effect. Removing these will thicken the tone but you loose a tiny bit of gain and cut. On a side note, on Gain of Channel 1 you have two caps as well. a 120pf an a 500pf. Now the 120pf is always connected but the 500pf gets connected in and out via a relay and depending on the mode of Channel 1.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[DrKev]

The Express series and Stiletto series are completely different pre amp designs and voicings and there is no Marshall-style bright cap as such. The only caps connected directly to the gain controls are C4 (0.001 µF) for Ch2 and C16 (0.005 µF) for Ch1, directly from V2a, which (I think) is the input gain stage for all channels. (Ch 1 clean then goes to the tone stack, everything else passes through V2b before going to the tone stacks). You cannot "clip" those caps or no signal will get past V2a. You'll have to replace them with a different value.

I have a schematic for the Express series, drop me a private message with your email address and I'll send it to you if you need it. You'll find the Stiletto series schematics easily online.

 

[Don]

It looks like C6 is bright cap on the Gain control of the Clean/Crunch channel.