High Gain 1974 Marshall Goodness - Finally Tuned!

[RedPlated]

I had no idea it was boosted until LP Freak mentioned it. I went back to the video and it clearly says "SD-1" haha.

I will say that I've never really liked an SD-1 with any of my Marshalls, they usually get almost too focused. But I can tell you've set the frequencies of the amp to work with it so that doesn't happen. That's cool.

 

[glpg80]

I had no idea it was boosted until LP Freak mentioned it. I went back to the video and it clearly says "SD-1" haha.

I will say that I've never really liked an SD-1 with any of my Marshalls, they usually get almost too focused. But I can tell you've set the frequencies of the amp to work with it so that doesn't happen. That's cool.

There’s just something that happens to a 2203 circuit with an SD-1 that I love more than a hot 3 or 4 stage design. Your amp is the only 3 stage as-is circuit I’ve ever liked without a boost on recording. I even like boosting my blue channel Bogner as an always on type of thing.

Yes I tuned this one with the SD-1 ENGAGED at all times, hence the stability issues. I’ve thought about making it permanent in the amp but I kind of like having it available. It’s a small enough circuit and set as-is that I could replace the potentiometers with fixed resistors and mount the board inside without much of a problem, but the amp really does have a killer, killer blues thing going on without it engaged. That was never my intent but that’s how the frequencies play out.

I will say it’s really hard to get a clean clean out of it currently. I do have a plan for that but it’s a ways off. I want to add a dedicated low input master volume, currently it doesn’t have one. The second master volume is a solo boost.

 

[RedPlated]

Hmmm a built-in switchable SD-1 would be pretty badass. I know there’s a couple amps out there with built-in Tube Screamer circuits but I have never tried one of them. Do you do the level up, gain down sort of thing going on with the SD-1? That’s really one of the few clips I’ve heard of a Marshall and SD-1 that sounded great, for my tastes.

I definitely want to hear some of the mic’d up clips too just to hear the differences.

 

[glpg80]

Level and gain are both up.

9.5/10 and 1:00 respectively. You get a mid bump running an SD-1 all the way up and then backing it off just a bit. I learned this from early Zakk wylde pedalboard pics from his boss pedal days.

I could easily change my footswitchable low/hi input relay to switch in/out an SD-1, but you’d lose the ability to drop from 3 stages to 2 stages for a clean tone. The way I wired it currently, you could still access the 2 stage clean by still plugging into the low input on the front of the amp. I made it so that you didn’t have to have the footswitch engaged/plugged in to have a functional standalone amplifier. Whatever you plug into on the front end is what you get. If I did a footswitchable SD-1, I’d need an override switch on the back and I’d need a 7th relay which IMO I don’t really have room to mount on my daughter board design I’ve made to go from the current 5 relays to 6 relays to add the 3rd master (hi input front vol, global second master, low input master)

 

[Techdeth]

Hell ya

 

[Fret-Shredder]

Sounds fucking killer and why I love my Marshall boosted with an SD-1. Rock on brother.

 

[Kordoba]

Rocks hard!

 

[Samhain]

prefer EL-34's in Rock amps especially JMP's.

 

[SpiderWars]

Sounds great! Just my opinion but I wouldn't put the SD1 inside the amp. Everyone has their favorite boost and my favorite boost has changed a bunch over the years. Right now I'm back to "no boost" but before that it was just a subtle mid hump GEQ up front with only a tiny boost. But I'm using a variac'd plexi so...different animal.

 

[Tone Junkie]

Got that tone. Nice work. ??

 

[jasonP]

Matt! Holy shit man! Absolutely ripping tone and great playing. Sounds killer. Great job! Really enjoyed listening to that.

 

[glpg80]

Matt! Holy shit man! Absolutely ripping tone and great playing. Sounds killer. Great job! Really enjoyed listening to that.

Thanks Jason! Means a lot coming from your amp building background!

What’s cool is that the high mid bark you hear is completely adjustable - you can shift that frequency location higher or lower and it doesn’t affect your gain level at all. It will however make the amp tighter the more you dial it in, hence the bark name.

On recording it actually doesn’t seem bright enough but thats what the T Tops sound like, they aren’t as aggressive as BBs for example.

The amp is really tight, I appreciate the comments on the playing but I thought the playing was atrocious lol. Tons of mistakes and can’t even remember songs correctly. I haven’t played in over a week due to travel and it’s showing.

Thanks again guys. It’s got enough gain on tap for me. The amp is maxed out - any more would have to come from sheer volume ala typical JCM800 attitude. I’m sure it would loosen up some at volume as well. If I want more gain then I can just go to any one of my other amps.

I’ll be sure to post another clip once I’ve got everything burned in permanently. I have to drill some chassis holes to mount some stuff on the back. Now it’s a matter of determining what I want switchable and what I want permanent lol

 

[Elliott]

Incredible, well done!

 

[Briman24]

Sounds awesome! Vintage marshall tone

 

[gbsmusic]

That sounds outstanding! I want one. Great playing also.

 

[311boogieman]

There’s some heavy hitters of amp tweakers on the forum so it’s great to see it gets the stamp of approval

Yeah it sounds a lot more aggressive under a mic than it does in the room. I created a knob called the bark knob that allows you to dial in that Marshall bark regardless of where the depth, pre gain, or even the guitar you’re using are dialed in. I use the mids knob on the tonestack to then dial the level of it in the cabinet.

It’s a very tight amp tone wise, it’s not forgiving. I wanted something that still retained JCM800 roots but was just turned up to 11.

Sounds incredible. Nice work

 

[jasonP]

Thanks Jason! Means a lot coming from your amp building background!

What’s cool is that the high mid bark you hear is completely adjustable - you can shift that frequency location higher or lower and it doesn’t affect your gain level at all. It will however make the amp tighter the more you dial it in, hence the bark name.

On recording it actually doesn’t seem bright enough but thats what the T Tops sound like, they aren’t as aggressive as BBs for example.

The amp is really tight, I appreciate the comments on the playing but I thought the playing was atrocious lol. Tons of mistakes and can’t even remember songs correctly. I haven’t played in over a week due to travel and it’s showing.

Thanks again guys. It’s got enough gain on tap for me. The amp is maxed out - any more would have to come from sheer volume ala typical JCM800 attitude. I’m sure it would loosen up some at volume as well. If I want more gain then I can just go to any one of my other amps.

I’ll be sure to post another clip once I’ve got everything burned in permanently. I have to drill some chassis holes to mount some stuff on the back. Now it’s a matter of determining what I want switchable and what I want permanent lol

Can‘t wait to hear that next clip. That bark knob sounds very interesting and cool! Would love to know more detail about how it works in the circuit without giving away any secrets. Awesome stuff Matt.