dtrax
Well-known member
Inspired by the Triple Crown's "Tight" switch on their overdrive channels, and in an effort to rid myself of using a boost pedal once and for all, I've decided to take on modding my OG 3 channel Triple Recto. I've read the Pre500 tone thread, got a copy of the schematic, and have been (slowly) teaching myself the basics of tube amp circuits and electronics in general. Youtube channels such as Uncle Doug and The Guitologist have been invaluable in my quest for knowledge, as well as Warped Musician and Rob Robinette's site on tube amps. I'm still in the learning phase and probably not quite ready to crack open my amp just yet, but I wanted to run by a few ideas to you guys that have far more experience than I.
The first place I looked at was the cathode bypass capacitors, specifically V1a and V1b. I would prefer keeping CH1 stock, so would changing V1b bypass cap to say .47uf or even .22uf have a dramatic affect in the bass response for the overdrive channels? Or is it better to use successive filtering to achieve a tighter bass response; e.g., changing V1a to .47uf and V1b to .22uf for example?
Next I was looking at the treble bleed cap on the gain pots for CH2/CH3. Even without knowing the schematic or having any knowledge of electronics, it's rather noticeable the increase in bass/mud up past 1-2o'clock. Yet the percussiveness in the 10-12o'clock region is beautiful. So my thought was to half the value of the cap (from .001uf to say, 0.47nf) which would then double the corner frequency. I'm unsure how effective this would work though, since there most certainly would be a loss in gain. Thoughts? FWIW, unboosted I usually run the gain around 2:00 for the type of saturation I need, so there's still a bit of travel to make up for loss from the passive HPF.
Anyway, that's all I have for now. I'd appreciate any wisdom you guys have. Thanks for reading.
P.S. I should point out that I typically only use Modern mode for my gain channels, and even then, almost always on Orange. So another potential mod I would like to do is alter the Red channel to be identical to Orange, but that's for another thread. Moreover, I ultimately want any mod to be switchable, thus I'm looking to simplicity. I love the Recto voicing, I just want to be able to tighten up that fat *** of hers!
The first place I looked at was the cathode bypass capacitors, specifically V1a and V1b. I would prefer keeping CH1 stock, so would changing V1b bypass cap to say .47uf or even .22uf have a dramatic affect in the bass response for the overdrive channels? Or is it better to use successive filtering to achieve a tighter bass response; e.g., changing V1a to .47uf and V1b to .22uf for example?
Next I was looking at the treble bleed cap on the gain pots for CH2/CH3. Even without knowing the schematic or having any knowledge of electronics, it's rather noticeable the increase in bass/mud up past 1-2o'clock. Yet the percussiveness in the 10-12o'clock region is beautiful. So my thought was to half the value of the cap (from .001uf to say, 0.47nf) which would then double the corner frequency. I'm unsure how effective this would work though, since there most certainly would be a loss in gain. Thoughts? FWIW, unboosted I usually run the gain around 2:00 for the type of saturation I need, so there's still a bit of travel to make up for loss from the passive HPF.
Anyway, that's all I have for now. I'd appreciate any wisdom you guys have. Thanks for reading.
P.S. I should point out that I typically only use Modern mode for my gain channels, and even then, almost always on Orange. So another potential mod I would like to do is alter the Red channel to be identical to Orange, but that's for another thread. Moreover, I ultimately want any mod to be switchable, thus I'm looking to simplicity. I love the Recto voicing, I just want to be able to tighten up that fat *** of hers!