Bruce's Amp-Class Design

M

mickelodeon

Member
Hi to everyone at Rig-Talk!

I'm new here but long time player/tone-seeker. I'm about to place an order for a Mod50 or Mod100 (still trying to make up my mind) and I must say that Jeff is astonishingly helpful. Customer service like Egnater's is hard to come by!

The reason I'm posting is to ask about the Marshall-based amp that comes out of Bruce's building classes. There are some videos posted on youtube of the amp and DAMN that thing smokes. What changes are there from the standard Mojotone kit that give it such a kick?
 
It is Bruces take on over 30 years of tweaking a hot rod Marshall JCM 800. The pre amp board is done in house by him.
 
I'VE HAD A COUPLE OF MARSHALLS MODDED BY BRUCE OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS
AND THEY JUST KILLED WHEN I GOT 'EM BACK....YOU JUST DON'T WANT TO STOP
PLAYING! HE ALSO DID SOME COOL MODS TO MY SOLDANO HOTROD 50 HEAD.....HE
WOULD PUT SPLIT POTS ON THE PREGAIN AND THE MASTER AND MAKE IT A 2 CHANNEL
AMP....GREAT CLEAN CHANNEL AND A RIPPIN' HIGH GAIN LEAD CHANNEL...ADD TO THAT
A DENSITY KNOB ON THE BACK AND YOU WERE OFF TO THE RACES!!
 
I made the Marshall hot rod amp in the October class.

I am very sure that the board is NOT just a mod of the Mojo board, rather designed from scratch by Bruce. It's not a printed circuit board,

What makes it different than a regular JTM 45 is that he uses the two preamp tubes to develop several gain stages.
Combined they develop the most sweetest and searing level of clipping in the preamp section.
By tapping the signal at a spot with one less level of preamp gain, you get your clean channel. As far as I can discern this is not an ultra loud clean. It is not like my regular 50W plexi where your ears are bleeding at a volume of 2 out of 10. But it is so sweet.

Through the high gain channels the amp really does smoke and is Marshall loud. It has been the go-to amp for the past month. Mine is through a 4x12 cab with greenbacks. When my wife leaves the house, that amp is cranking.

Then an extra preamp tube has been added to the chassis. It basically has unity gain for sending and receiving the effects send just prior to the power amp stage. This totally rocks because this is where you add your delay loop to your now high gain signal.

Sorry to Bruce if I've misremembered the basics. You should take the class. It is awesome.
 
I would, but it would not only cost me the $1600 for the course but also about $2000 in flights and accomodations. I'm gonna stick to buying a Mod 50 and just grab every module. I'd pretty much get them all, plus the amp, for the price of going to the seminar! :)

Someday, though... someday! haha
 
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