Favorite Amp Knobs & Switches - Stock or Modded: Go!

Junk Yard Dog

Well-known member
I’ve had several modded amps over the years and am about to have another amp modded. There’s lots of cool new options on our favorite amps that are part of mods or have become stock on modern amps.

Yes, a simple Plexi or 800 are always gonna be the tits, but I thought it would be fun to have a thread of some of our favorite knobs (Resonance/Density, PPIMV, “Growl”, etc.) and mini toggles (mid shift, bright ala Ceriatone Chips/Yeti, Sat, C45, right, etc.) Look at what Fortin, Gower, Friedman, Henning, BFG, and now Splawn and others have done; lots of these are stock now and it’s pretty cool.

Name the amp, the knob or toggle, and the impact it has on the tone that you love.

BFG Egnater: AFD switch. It’s pure Slash. I don’t know the tech side of what it does, but anytime my band played GNR, it ruled.

Solo Boost: I’m spoiled by these now. Both my amps have these and I don’t have to put something in the loop of my modded Marshall-Esque amps to get a volume boost for leads.

Power amp Density: you know why.

Toggles that intrigue me: 3-way mid Switches, 3-way “era” or Saturation seitches, Tight switches.

Yes, I am nerding out.
 
Butterslax- thump

love the shred switch on the JP2C

got a lot of desire to try a Natas for the Grind/Girth

Would love to have an Uberschall depth on a few different amps
 
I love the pussy trimmer knob on the back of my Yeti. Pretty much works as a third gain control. You can use the front two gain controls to set the gain and structure, and the PT to fine tune it. I like the gain structure with just a little sag. Not too loose, but enough to sound really thick. This means the front two knobs around 1 o'clock for the thickness, but that also means way too much gain. Then I'll back the PT off to around 8-9 o'clock. This backs the gain off without changing the gain structure and reducing the thickness. On the flip side, you can set the front gains to 9 o'clock and dime the PT and get and ultra tight tone/feel. It's a killer option to have.
 
Noise gate on the Marshall Kerry King,ENGL,DAR,etc...
Sweepable midrange on the FBM.
All the yummy mini toggles on the KSR Gemini. Lots of tones available on that amp.
Herbert and Dmoll mid cut knobs.
 
Beyond Black":2z5dm4mm said:
I love the pussy trimmer knob on the back of my Yeti. Pretty much works as a third gain control. You can use the front two gain controls to set the gain and structure, and the PT to fine tune it. I like the gain structure with just a little sag. Not too lose, but enough to sound really thick. This means the front two knobs around 1 o'clock for the thickness, but that also means way too much gain. Then I'll back the PT off to around 8-9 o'clock. This backs the gain off without changing the gain structure and reducing the thickness. On the flip side, you can set the front gains to 9 o'clock and dime the PT and get and ultra tight tone/feel. It's a killer option to have.

Dude, I'm kind of regretting not grabbing a Yeti I saw for $750. It has so many features I want on an amp. This was a great description of the features and gives me something to go off of for modifications on future amps or if I grab a Yeti one day.


rottingcorpse":2z5dm4mm said:
Noise gate on the Marshall Kerry King,ENGL,DAR,etc...
Sweepable midrange on the FBM.
All the yummy mini toggles on the KSR Gemini. Lots of tones available on that amp.
Herbert and Dmoll mid cut knobs.

Awesome, thanks! So what does the sweepable range do? And what about the mid cut knobs; is that like a Marshall to Mesa mid cut knob?

Thanks, guys. Exactly what this thread is for.
 
The "Bright & Sat" switches on my Henning Bottle Rocket and the "Brown/Brit/Blow & Burn/Live/Vintage" ones on my Sig: X
 
JerEvil":3pcq2pou said:
The "Bright & Sat" switches on my Henning Bottle Rocket and the "Brown/Brit/Blow & Burn/Live/Vintage" ones on my Sig: X

Thanks, Dude! If and when you have time, can you elaborate what these do?

Does the Sat lower the volume, add sat and compression?

Cheers.
 
Junk Yard Dog":3dc7c9kk said:
Beyond Black":3dc7c9kk said:
I love the pussy trimmer knob on the back of my Yeti. Pretty much works as a third gain control. You can use the front two gain controls to set the gain and structure, and the PT to fine tune it. I like the gain structure with just a little sag. Not too lose, but enough to sound really thick. This means the front two knobs around 1 o'clock for the thickness, but that also means way too much gain. Then I'll back the PT off to around 8-9 o'clock. This backs the gain off without changing the gain structure and reducing the thickness. On the flip side, you can set the front gains to 9 o'clock and dime the PT and get and ultra tight tone/feel. It's a killer option to have.

Dude, I'm kind of regretting not grabbing a Yeti I saw for $750. It has so many features I want on an amp. This was a great description of the features and gives me something to go off of for modifications on future amps or if I grab a Yeti one day.


rottingcorpse":3dc7c9kk said:
Noise gate on the Marshall Kerry King,ENGL,DAR,etc...
Sweepable midrange on the FBM.
All the yummy mini toggles on the KSR Gemini. Lots of tones available on that amp.
Herbert and Dmoll mid cut knobs.

Awesome, thanks! So what does the sweepable range do? And what about the mid cut knobs; is that like a Marshall to Mesa mid cut knob?

Thanks, guys. Exactly what this thread is for.
Do NOT hesitate to try out a Yeti or Chupacabra! They are soooo much amp for the money. They'll do ANYTHING from vintage Plexi tones to brutal, vicious modded Marshall tones. I actually prefer my Yeti to the Fortin Cali SLP and the two Cameron Marshalls that I've had. :thumbsup:
 
Junk Yard Dog":2f4szb83 said:
JerEvil":2f4szb83 said:
The "Bright & Sat" switches on my Henning Bottle Rocket and the "Brown/Brit/Blow & Burn/Live/Vintage" ones on my Sig: X

Thanks, Dude! If and when you have time, can you elaborate what these do?

Does the Sat lower the volume, add sat and compression?

Cheers.
Yes to both. It’s “neutral” in the middle position, full effect when in the left position and half effect in the right. It does drop the volume a bit but takes it from rock and roll to all out pissed off! I am in the processing of making some shorter updates Henning demos so I’ll show it for sure.
 
JerEvil":2uc4b12q said:
Junk Yard Dog":2uc4b12q said:
JerEvil":2uc4b12q said:
The "Bright & Sat" switches on my Henning Bottle Rocket and the "Brown/Brit/Blow & Burn/Live/Vintage" ones on my Sig: X

Thanks, Dude! If and when you have time, can you elaborate what these do?

Does the Sat lower the volume, add sat and compression?

Cheers.
Yes to both. It’s “neutral” in the middle position, full effect when in the left position and half effect in the right. It does drop the volume a bit but takes it from rock and roll to all out pissed off! I am in the processing of making some shorter updates Henning demos so I’ll show it for sure.

Word! I kinda hate to say this but I watched the Blades Firebotl demo to see what his OD boost (sat switch) did and it sounds exactly like the same thing. It also sounds similar to the Era switch on the Ceriatone Chupa/Yeti.

I’m also intrigued by an amp that has Gain 1 and Gain 2 Knobs. I’ve never had an amp have that before and wondering if that is better than having one again Gain knob. Like 2 may have advantages over one.

...Look forward to that demo!
 
My Metalhead modded JCM 800 has 3 gain controls, the original preamp volume then two added gain pots from the mod. The preamp volume (gain 1) seems to effect the character of the gain, while the 2 additional pots just add gain to what you already have dialed in. The two added controls don't sound much different than each other, you could probably accomplish the same thing from just one extra gain pot.

My favorite things about the amp are a push-pull bass boost and built in noise gate. I always run it with both of them engaged, the bass boost gives a massive kick in the lows/low mids while the gate keeps everything tight and dead quiet.
 
The mid sweep knob on the FBM is kinda like a parametric midrange. It's actually more like the mid sweep on the old Neve consoles. You can boost or cut from lower to upper mids.I

Also note that on the FBM if you turn the bass,mid and treble knobs all the way down,the amp is silent. Then if you turn the mid knob up,all you hear is the mids. Now you can dial in you mids frequency without the bass or treble in the way. Then turn the mid knob off,and turn the bass up and all you hear is the bass. In essence,all of the eq controls act like the faders on a mixing console. IMO,it's The most unique tone stack I have ever seen.

The mid cut on the herbert and dmoll is kind of the same. It just has the intensity knob also which allows for more or less cut.
 
JerEvil":1ilj4rpl said:
Junk Yard Dog":1ilj4rpl said:
JerEvil":1ilj4rpl said:
The "Bright & Sat" switches on my Henning Bottle Rocket and the "Brown/Brit/Blow & Burn/Live/Vintage" ones on my Sig: X

Thanks, Dude! If and when you have time, can you elaborate what these do?

Does the Sat lower the volume, add sat and compression?

Cheers.
Yes to both. It’s “neutral” in the middle position, full effect when in the left position and half effect in the right. It does drop the volume a bit but takes it from rock and roll to all out pissed off! I am in the processing of making some shorter updates Henning demos so I’ll show it for sure.

Can't wait :rock: :rock:
 
I’ve got an Egnater Boutikit. It needs a little work. Can’t say I’m crazy about the 2 way Bright and Mid switch. I may expand those to better components to have more of an effect and also make them 3 way Switches. Also, I’m really interested in adding a 3 way Era/Sat switch ala the Chupa/Yeti/Bottle Rocket and maybe a 3 way Bright switch.

Has anyone modded an amp from one Gain knob to two: Gain 1 and Gain 2? Does that require a big change to the circuit?
 
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