Poor Master Volume Amps or Just Stupid Loud/NAD

  • Thread starter Thread starter WizardSouth-JP
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WizardSouth-JP

WizardSouth-JP

Well-known member
I've had a couple amps with somewhat lousy master volumes, but this one may take the cake. However it's crushing!
Roccaforte HG100 (I think HG stands for Hearing Grinder). 1 Channel of full blown rock amp and beyond. Loves boosts as the bottom end can sound a little boomy if you crank bass too high. Not sure what exact amp Doug was inspired by when building these suckers but it's pretty ridiculous. I am scared to death to turn it up past 9:00. In comparison I've had my Splawn Pro Stock at Noon and the Mesa Triple at Noon and the Roccaforte at 9:00 is about the same volume. :rock:

 
:lol: :LOL: ....I told ya didnt I.
Just a monster that comes on crazy loud.

Congrats on the amp
 
Yeah you did man, as first it was a little furry and wasn't digging the boost so I swapped out the 3 preamp tubes with some nice TAD high grade ones and now it's more to my liking. Still has loads of gain, I play it with the gain on 9:00 - 10:00, 12:00 is silly gain.
 
Cool amp! Congrats.

If you want to give what Doug recommends a shot, try some winged c 34's and JJ ECC83 pre amps. They sound pretty good in my Jenelle.
 
2/2 pre's were JJ, normally I like JJ but these TAD are lower noise. I think the EL34 are Svetlana if I remember right.
 
Cool.

The master is one of the things he adjusted from the HG100 to the Jenelle. Mine works pretty well.

Hey, added bonus too. You may have the Kerry Wright made head cabinet for yours. I always thought even the cabinet was really well made with mine and just heard the other day he was doing these for Roccaforte.

Man, I dig how he always used good stuff in his builds. Inside and out.

Get us some clips going! You always make killer ones.
 
Once I can get the house cleared out I will :lol: :LOL:
Otherwise the wife and kids will be running for cover. The headshell is solid for sure, I think my amp said 2005 build date inside on the chassis signed by Doug. You can play this amp at lower volumes but it just doesn't sound as good as it does when the walls are shaking. It pushes lots of air for sure.
 
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Yeah, he builds 'em to level buildings :lol: :LOL: I like that.
 
Damn man, you're not messing around, that's a seriously nice little collection of amps you got there! :rock:
I thought I was the only one who used the term "stupid loud"
 
wait til you see this with the Helios sitting on the lonely 4x12 :D
 
Congrats!! GREAT AMPS!!! :rock: :rock: Yeah I usually run the master and gain at about 9:00, should not be to hard to clear out the house, put the master and gain on noon :thumbsup: :lol: :LOL: :lol: :LOL:
 
That amp will rip your face off :lol: :LOL:He uses a linear pot for the master. Loves a little bit of boost to tighten it up.
 


got a Helios yesterday, didn't get a chance to turn it up as kids were in bed...hope to open it up a little today and see if it's a keeper
 
If it's already stupid loud at 9 o'clock on the master, where do you think that thing would start breaking up and compressing? 10 o'clock? What would that thing sound like at noon on the master? crazy! I find amps that get loud really quick like that don't usually sound that good at higher settings, but there are exceptions of course.
 
When I can clear the house for a bit I will try to see how loud I can get it. You're right, some amps the taper just sucks, and they are either dead quiet or blasting. I know they're probably may not be much different between 10:00 and 12:00 on the Roccaforte, but I am tempted to find out :lol: :LOL:
 
The Rocca uses a linear-taper pot for the master volume, which means that when you set it to noon, it is really giving you half of the signal (that is, the signal is attenuated by half). In comparison, a more common log/audio master volume will give you about 10% of the signal at noon. That's why the Rocca set at 9 o'clock is as loud as another amp set at noon.

The HG100 was based on a 4-stage preamp design by Kevin O'Connor (drawn out in his first 'The Ultimate Tone' book). Kevin was showing how to mod a JCM800 by using the cathode follower as a 4th gain stage.
 
V2a":h1sp52in said:
The Rocca uses a linear-taper pot for the master volume, which means that when you set it to noon, it is really giving you half of the signal (that is, the signal is attenuated by half). In comparison, a more common log/audio master volume will give you about 10% of the signal at noon. That's why the Rocca set at 9 o'clock is as loud as another amp set at noon.

The HG100 was based on a 4-stage preamp design by Kevin O'Connor (drawn out in his first 'The Ultimate Tone' book). Kevin was showing how to mod a JCM800 by using the cathode follower as a 4th gain stage.
Click to expand...

thanks for the info, it's a badass amp for sure
 
UberschallEL34":17rbhvg0 said:
thanks for the info, it's a badass amp for sure
Click to expand...

I always wanted one. I owned a Rocca Custom 30 (based on JCM800) for a while and contemplated turning it into a HG30, but in the end I decided I'd prefer to make one from scratch... :)
 
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