Plaid Preamp - bass and gain 1

[CheapSuitG]

Hi!

Built a plaid preamp, like the sound of it thus far but the bass and gain stage 1 don’t really do that much especially compared to other eq and gain. The gain goes from nothing to full in just a few degrees on the pot but isn’t near the amount of gain I see in the demos.

Bass doesn’t add that much bass to the tone

Here is the photo.

 

[jwin615]

It's a (passive) marshall tone stack, which doesnt add anything...
You can plug the pedal values in here and see exactly what's going on. You can get more bass by cutting high and mid, different amounts for different knee frequencies.

Gain 1 has no clipping, only some tone shaping while gain 2 has soft clipping so it will be more apparent. Gain 1 will make a greater difference when gain 2 is already clipping some.
Theyre pretty much two tube screamer clipping stages but the diodes/clipping is removed from gain 1/stage 1 and the 720Hz filter is only in the first stage. At least that's how I see it.

 

[jwin615]

Wait. Not exactly the same as the marshal. But close. Definitely in that marshall/bassman territory. I'm not hip on every town stack. Maybe someone will chime in but it's to the same affect.

 

[CheapSuitG]

Yeah - was just expecting a little more control over the bass and umph on the first gain.

All good, love what it can do though.

 

[jwin615]

Yeah - was just expecting a little more control over the bass and umph on the first gain.

All good, love what it can do though.

If you're looking for more crunch, you could experiment with another set of soft clippers at IC2 2
Use some alligator clips and put a pair in opposing parallel across gain 1 pot lugs 1 and 3. Maybe 2 pair of Ge (2 diodes in series in each direction) would be different enough to justify a mod.
Or maybe try an asymmetrical clipping pair.
It's non invasive and easy enough to try.

 

[jimilee]

OR …hear me out…you could build a more crunchy pedal. Think about it, you get to build more and have more toys!

 

[CheapSuitG]

Mmmmm crunchy. Like a hard shell taco.

 

[jesuscrisp]

Are you sure about all your pot values and tapers?

 

[lowpitch]

Wait. Not exactly the same as the marshal. But close. Definitely in that marshall/bassman territory. I'm not hip on every town stack. Maybe someone will chime in but it's to the same affect.

Pretty much a Marshall tone stack with slightly altered values. C8 and C9 are in parallel so it might as well just be a single 30n cap.
15n is kind of low for a bass cap (C11) imo. Standard for Marshall and many others is 22n. Try increasing it to 47-100n for more bass. Above that it's diminishing returns.

 

[CheapSuitG]

Are you sure about all your pot values and tapers?

I will check tonight to make sure, but 93% certain. I am new and have been ordering the bare minimum of pots, I want to see what is the most popular before doing a bulk order but could have put in the wrong one!

 

[CheapSuitG]

Pretty much a Marshall tone stack with slightly altered values. C8 and C9 are in parallel so it might as well just be a single 30n cap.
15n is kind of low for a bass cap (C11) imo. Standard for Marshall and many others is 22n. Try increasing it to 47-100n for more bass. Above that it's diminishing returns.

I will try changing C11 tonight. I get to unsolder, my least favorite part!

 

[PunchySunshine]

I get to unsolder, my least favorite part!

High quality braid and more flux is your friend. Also this tool is of a different caliber than any other suckers I've tried:

 

[CheapSuitG]

Maybe need some better braid, haven't had much luck. Also have a cheapy sucker, I will look into that on.

Thanks!

High quality braid and more flux is your friend. Also this tool is of a different caliber than any other suckers I've tried:
View attachment 84756

 

[Robert]

I will try changing C11 tonight. I get to unsolder, my least favorite part!

You could tack a capacitor on in parallel rather than removing the one that is already installed.

 

[PunchySunshine]

Maybe need some better braid, haven't had much luck

NTE Electronics SW02-10 No-Clean Solder Wick, #4 Blue, .098" Width, 10' Length​

 

[Erik S]

Maybe need some better braid, haven't had much luck. Also have a cheapy sucker, I will look into that on.

Thanks!

+1 on the braid suggestion. I ignored braid for a long time because it didn't seem fancy, but it is really great at getting the last little bit of invisible solder that's keeping your component stuck in the board.

Some braid comes impregnated with flux and some is dry. I always add a little bit of liquid flux to the tip of the braid with a solder pen and it works great.

https://www.amazon.com/SRA-Soldering-Products-PEN_RMA-99-20/dp/B008OC3VMU/ref=sr_1_2?crid=POGPSFMQXX03&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CZRviLyJUMnrgaVKtyVEuRrUjIUiDfLYWEnlqtKMX87LEp2FeUNMb77QMtTiSF_Jh6aiaHGxxCcHSOSovxqT1E-UGcKsSdIjc1yC5nLiE__6k4FKAdWpZ7BFYJFnLHgIzDY1IpUxxMfFHYaiy8I6LcT1hE7G5qIKuwjChtn6mr1rJ95uQ3G2DAqG7acBABDz2KE2q61TMZO2y_THtYCi4Xx3B6C9hXIHAekuLVdpwjWQac4XfdzVL_aEGYXnuZMCCeP9G7c9CIHa6KKjBN4bgDb3mzgNV-wzvtjiVZ0-Aco.hXqJyFjBQAhWON17KuCRE3Qi9MYGA1suJ4ay2JiIeMg&dib_tag=se&keywords=solder%2Bpen%2B99-20&qid=1730823217&sprefix=solder%2Bpen%2B99-20%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-2&th=1

If you want to make desoldering really easy, get a gun. I have one of these and it's fantastic. I made the investment because I had a project to do where I had to desolder a bunch of ICs from a pricy piece of vintage gear, but I wish I had got one sooner. I used it this morning to pull a bunch of components of a Kliche board to get ready to convert it to a Bass Klon, and it was genuinely fun.

Amazon.com

 

[CheapSuitG]

Thanks for the links!

I think a majority of the desoldering I have done has been fixing stupid mistakes so it may be my bad attitude towards that! HAHA.

+1 on the braid suggestion. I ignored braid for a long time because it didn't seem fancy, but it is really great at getting the last little bit of invisible solder that's keeping your component stuck in the board.

Some braid comes impregnated with flux and some is dry. I always add a little bit of liquid flux to the tip of the braid with a solder pen and it works great.

https://www.amazon.com/SRA-Soldering-Products-PEN_RMA-99-20/dp/B008OC3VMU/ref=sr_1_2?crid=POGPSFMQXX03&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CZRviLyJUMnrgaVKtyVEuRrUjIUiDfLYWEnlqtKMX87LEp2FeUNMb77QMtTiSF_Jh6aiaHGxxCcHSOSovxqT1E-UGcKsSdIjc1yC5nLiE__6k4FKAdWpZ7BFYJFnLHgIzDY1IpUxxMfFHYaiy8I6LcT1hE7G5qIKuwjChtn6mr1rJ95uQ3G2DAqG7acBABDz2KE2q61TMZO2y_THtYCi4Xx3B6C9hXIHAekuLVdpwjWQac4XfdzVL_aEGYXnuZMCCeP9G7c9CIHa6KKjBN4bgDb3mzgNV-wzvtjiVZ0-Aco.hXqJyFjBQAhWON17KuCRE3Qi9MYGA1suJ4ay2JiIeMg&dib_tag=se&keywords=solder%2Bpen%2B99-20&qid=1730823217&sprefix=solder%2Bpen%2B99-20%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-2&th=1

If you want to make desoldering really easy, get a gun. I have one of these and it's fantastic. I made the investment because I had a project to do where I had to desolder a bunch of ICs from a pricy piece of vintage gear, but I wish I had got one sooner. I used it this morning to pull a bunch of components of a Kliche board to get ready to convert it to a Bass Klon, and it was genuinely fun.

https://www.amazon.com/YIHUA-Desold...G2o2RicmM&dib_tag=se&keywords=desoldering+gun

[QUOTE="Erik S, post: 304617, mem...refix=desoldering+gun,aps,160&sr=8-15[/QUOTE]

 

[jesuscrisp]

Pretty much a Marshall tone stack with slightly altered values. C8 and C9 are in parallel so it might as well just be a single 30n cap.
15n is kind of low for a bass cap (C11) imo. Standard for Marshall and many others is 22n. Try increasing it to 47-100n for more bass. Above that it's diminishing returns.

While this MIGHT help I'd go ahead and simulate it. With these types of tonestacks you might end up just setting the cutoff frequency lower which may counterintuitively result in even less perceived changes to the low end and more mid scoop.

 

[CheapSuitG]

Checked last night, all the tapers and values matched, although each gain pot is a different value. Gain 1 is is a B100k and Gain 2 is an A500k.

Are you sure about all your pot values and tapers?