Amp Build: Ceriatone Kraken 50

[scottosan]

Choke arrived today aaaaaaaaand they sent the wrong one.

what did you order? 3H or 5H?

 

[FourT6and2]

Choke arrived today aaaaaaaaand they sent the wrong one.

what did you order? 3H or 5H?

Ordered a 5H. Got a 7H.

Heard about my PT as well. Turns out they fucked up the wind and had to go back and correct it and that's why it's taking so long. Hopefully when it arrives, it's built right and not some hack job.

 

[JTyson]

This is beautiful, you have got some serious iron skills

 

[Mailman1971]

Love it man. Serious.

Turn your skills and make some mad cash selling customs.

I would buy one!

 

[hstlaurent]

You have me so much amp building has I got myself a new soldering iron. And I'm ordering a kit from ceriatone as soon as I decide which one I want.

 

[FourT6and2]

Love it man. Serious.

Turn your skills and make some mad cash selling customs.

I would buy one!

lol last night I was contemplating doing a small run of these voiced to my preferences. But I mean... y'all can just buy them direct from Ceriatone. I'll think about it, though!

 

[the4thlast1]

Love it man. Serious.

Turn your skills and make some mad cash selling customs.

I would buy one!

lol last night I was contemplating doing a small run of these voiced to my preferences. But I mean... y'all can just buy them direct from Ceriatone. I'll think about it, though!

As far as the tweaks you are doing to the original ceriatone chupa design, what would be the difference in tone from stock ? So far I have owned a Yeti and a King Kong. The King Kong sounded good but there was something I liked about the Yeti a little more. There is something about single channel amps I tend to like, a lot of them have a really powerful , straight forward, pure tone.

The Yeti was very cool but I also like what I hear about the Chupa being a bit brighter, more in your face and aggressive, but I dont like when I hear people say its not as tight on the lows...So maybe something like a middle ground between the Yeti and Chupa would be perfect for me ? Is that what you are going for or no.

 

[FourT6and2]

Love it man. Serious.

Turn your skills and make some mad cash selling customs.

I would buy one!

lol last night I was contemplating doing a small run of these voiced to my preferences. But I mean... y'all can just buy them direct from Ceriatone. I'll think about it, though!

As far as the tweaks you are doing to the original ceriatone chupa design, what would be the difference in tone from stock ? So far I have owned a Yeti and a King Kong. The King Kong sounded good but there was something I liked about the Yeti a little more. There is something about single channel amps I tend to like, a lot of them have a really powerful , straight forward, pure tone.

Yeah, I agree. I really prefer single-channel 50-watters. 100s are good too. But something about the 50s sound angrier to me.

The Yeti was very cool but I also like what I hear about the Chupa being a bit brighter, more in your face and aggressive, but I dont like when I hear people say its not as tight on the lows...So maybe something like a middle ground between the Yeti and Chupa would be perfect for me ? Is that what you are going for or no.

Yeah, pretty much. At least I'm trying to. We'll see how this one sounds. The goal is to run higher voltages in the preamp so it's not as "brown" sounding. The Chupa is running pretty low voltages on the plates. That contributes to a looser feel. The Yeti does indeed have tighter lows. But it's not as aggressive and pissed off. I'm trying to find a blend of the two.

 

[SpiderWars]

Love it man. Serious.

Turn your skills and make some mad cash selling customs.

I would buy one!

lol last night I was contemplating doing a small run of these voiced to my preferences. But I mean... y'all can just buy them direct from Ceriatone. I'll think about it, though!

I build/mod amps for fun and I would be tempted to buy one of your builds they look so clean. Just don't sell to Kamran Kavian/Royal Brit.

 

[FourT6and2]

Love it man. Serious.

Turn your skills and make some mad cash selling customs.

I would buy one!

lol last night I was contemplating doing a small run of these voiced to my preferences. But I mean... y'all can just buy them direct from Ceriatone. I'll think about it, though!

I build/mod amps for fun and I would be tempted to buy one of your builds they look so clean. Just don't sell to Kamran Kavian/Royal Brit.

lol what a nightmare that whole situation is

 

[psychodave]

Dual bias supply, Interesting.

I love dual bias for a 50-watter. The 100s have individual bias per tube. No more having to pay for matches tubes! I feel like dual bias should be standard in every Marshall style amp.

I 10000% agree.

 

[psychodave]

Also, the build looks great. Awesome work as usual!

 

[JackBootedThug]

"What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger."

sorry-g.o.t. ironborn reference.....you know, they worship the kraken...

 

[FourT6and2]

"What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger."

sorry-g.o.t. ironborn reference.....you know, they worship the kraken...

Hmmm.... GoT-branded amps. lol I can make one for each house.

 

[scottosan]

Who are you going with for iron? I have some classictones coming my way shipping today. 3H choke, 100 Watt Plexi OT and Project transformer as I will be doing DC heated preamp and relays. I'm just finishing up my board layout in vision and will drill it out tomorrow after I triple check everything

 

[SpiderWars]

Who are you going with for iron? I have some classictones coming my way shipping today. 3H choke, 100 Watt Plexi OT and Project transformer as I will be doing DC heated preamp and relays. I'm just finishing up my board layout in vision and will drill it out tomorrow after I triple check everything

I've been wanting to do something like what (I think) you are doing. But I'd have to have separate gain controls (switched), separate master volumes (switched), and the input signal would have to be switched as well. And this is just to have switchable Lo Gain-Hi Gain modes. Then I'd need a loop. It seemed so simple until I really thought it out more. Interested to see what you do.

 

[FourT6and2]

Who are you going with for iron? I have some classictones coming my way shipping today. 3H choke, 100 Watt Plexi OT and Project transformer as I will be doing DC heated preamp and relays. I'm just finishing up my board layout in vision and will drill it out tomorrow after I triple check everything

Marstran (Heyboer). If they ever freakin' get here...

 

[scottosan]

Who are you going with for iron? I have some classictones coming my way shipping today. 3H choke, 100 Watt Plexi OT and Project transformer as I will be doing DC heated preamp and relays. I'm just finishing up my board layout in vision and will drill it out tomorrow after I triple check everything

I've been wanting to do something like what (I think) you are doing. But I'd have to have separate gain controls (switched), separate master volumes (switched), and the input signal would have to be switched as well. And this is just to have switchable Lo Gain-Hi Gain modes. Then I'd need a loop. It seemed so simple until I really thought it out more. Interested to see what you do.

I am using a layout similar to a BE100. I have already prototyped it in a normal chassis, although it is stupid crowded and doesn't have regulated heaters, but the switching works great. 2 button switch so clean/gain and gain boost. I have a zero loss board although it won't be foot switchable. It has a shiva clean and about 75 percent BE100. I got the project chassis and an offset headshell, so no holes to drill.

 

[harddriver]

FWIW, my 50w has ~430vdc B+ and uses 1M from the screen node and 100k to ground. My mini-Major taps from the ~490vdc PI node (cuz there is no screen node) and uses 1M with 82k to ground. Both are between 35-40v.

Yeah, that sounds about right. But it depends on the cathode voltages on V1 and V2 as well. You need to elevate the heaters such that their negative swing is above the highest cathode voltage in the preamp. Without knowing that it's a bit futile. It's typically around 35-40v. But I'd like to be sure. If you're off by 1-3v too low, then you haven't actually elevated the heaters all the way.

Would either of you guys have a layout or schematic for the elevated heaters setup? Or point me to one, I had one years ago but it's long gone. THX! Interested to hear what you think of those PRP resistors, I see you went with your fave's the Mallory 150's, might as well start with something you know you like...

 

[FourT6and2]

FWIW, my 50w has ~430vdc B+ and uses 1M from the screen node and 100k to ground. My mini-Major taps from the ~490vdc PI node (cuz there is no screen node) and uses 1M with 82k to ground. Both are between 35-40v.

Yeah, that sounds about right. But it depends on the cathode voltages on V1 and V2 as well. You need to elevate the heaters such that their negative swing is above the highest cathode voltage in the preamp. Without knowing that it's a bit futile. It's typically around 35-40v. But I'd like to be sure. If you're off by 1-3v too low, then you haven't actually elevated the heaters all the way.

Would either of you guys have a layout or schematic for the elevated heaters setup? Or point me to one, I had one years ago but it's long gone. THX! Interested to hear what you think of those PRP resistors, I see you went with your fave's the Mallory 150's, might as well start with something you know you like...

Nah, I'm using those Illinois MPWs in most of the spots. Vishay/ERO MKT1813 for the cathode bypass caps.

Elevated heater schematic is just a standard voltage divider.
There's a schematic and description here: http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/heater.html
Voltage divider calculator: http://www.ohmslawcalculator.com/voltag ... calculator

Basically, you attach R1 to a B+ node. Then the other side of the resistor goes to R2. Then to ground. Power transformer center tap goes to the junction of R1 and R2. A smoothing cap is applied in parallel with R2 to ground. Use the calculator to figure out what values to use based on your B+ node.