Ceriatone 100 watt Chupacabra

1meanplexi":1vm8uu97 said:
That is the exact reason I sold mine. Zero complaits on the gain side of things. Nik said the clean would be fenderish with an option to take it to plexish tones.
Exactly what I'm looking for. When are these delivering?
 
LP Freak":3jc2pyvb said:
1meanplexi":3jc2pyvb said:
Right now... I have a 2012 QR and Love it! On the way is a 1959 SLP reish' from FJA with the molten gain "Nick Mod". The new 2 channel chup would have been 1st if it was available.
I interested to hear what the clean on the Chup sounds like. That's been on of the reasons I never bought one...I need a clean channel.
I would like to know how it balances out with the gain channel. Thats one complaint I read with the AFD 35.
 
I read that too about the AFD. I have to think that Nik really did not have a true clean channel in mind for that. If you read about the original #39 clean was never thought of or mentioned. I have a feeling that the Chup 2 will be more of a representative of a true clean/dirty.

LP, Nick said that he would contact me with the 1st run of these things. He did not give me a date/timeline :checkthisout:
 
1meanplexi":2myvg0jf said:
I read that too about the AFD. I have to think that Nik really did not have a true clean channel in mind for that. If you read about the original #39 clean was never thought of or mentioned. I have a feeling that the Chup 2 will be more of a representative of a true clean/dirty.

LP, Nick said that he would contact me with the 1st run of these things. He did not give me a date/timeline :checkthisout:
Cool, post when he does.
 
Nik mentioned that they are knee deep in their "lunchbox" style amps, and soon afterwards will work on the 2 channel Chup. But from what I have gathered from Nik, it will be more like a 2 channel Yeti versus the Chup. This will be called the King Kong. Look for it sometime in the March time frame...

LP Freak":1xhs432v said:
1meanplexi":1xhs432v said:
That is the exact reason I sold mine. Zero complaits on the gain side of things. Nik said the clean would be fenderish with an option to take it to plexish tones.
Exactly what I'm looking for. When are these delivering?
 
Great review. Just bought the modded one that was listed. My ears heard the same thing in the clips. Should be perfect for my Pearl jam Tribute with enough gain for my 80's Hair Metal tones!
 
bikerdude2":2atofzw6 said:
Great review. Just bought the modded one that was listed. My ears heard the same thing in the clips. Should be perfect for my Pearl jam Tribute with enough gain for my 80's Hair Metal tones!

Excellent buy :thumbsup: ! You are gonna love it. What mod(s) were done to it?
 
LP Freak":n8clbswy said:
1meanplexi":n8clbswy said:
I see your question went unanswered. They are external trim pot's. When I had mine I went to the lowest point and it reduced the gain. Maxed (where I had it) was all out in! It really is a nice addition.
So all three trim pots are for gain?

Sorry I missed this--one of them seems to affect the low mids, one seems to affect the high mids, and one seems to work very much like the "focus" control on the Chupacabra. It lowers the gain but sharpens the attack. Plus you have the "Peaker" switch that you can combine with the three trimmers, and you can also easily change the cap values on the "Peaker" switch to suit your tonal palette.

Hope this helps.
 
changed the 1st & 2nd stages' cathode resistors from 820ohm to 2k7 (and kept the .68uF bypass caps)
- changed the 2nd stage's grid resistor from 150k to 68k
- changed 3rd stage's cathode resistor and cap from 820ohm/.68uF to 1k5/2.2uF (plastic cap, not electrolytic)
- changed the coupling caps after the phase inverter from .1uF to .022uF
- changed the feedback resistor from 39k to 47k

- replaced the 1st gain pot, which was a push/pull pot and was acting up. The replacement is a PEC 2w military spec pot. This disabled the push/pull pot's function of taking the 82k signal ground resistor after the 1st gain stage out of the circuit. I found the gain to be too fizzy and pretty much unusable with the pot pulled anyway, so I decided to go with the non-push/pull pot.

- disconnected the "pussy trimmer" pot (which acted as the ground leg of the voltage divider after the 2nd gain stage) and replaced it with a 470k resistor. The pot is still in there; it's just not connected to anything.

non-signal chain stuff:
- moved the input grid resistor so it's connected right to the tube socket pin

- the 1M resistor to ground at the input was running through the shielded input cable's shield to ground. This just didn't sit right with me, so I grounded the resistor separate from the cable's shield.

- decoupled the 1st gain stage to its own filter cap. The multi cap cans that Marshall and most other amp makers use have two (or more) caps sharing a single ground. That means that stages 1 through 3 and the cathode follower all shared a single ground point. I wanted at least the 1st stage to be a bit isolated, so it got its own 47uF filter.
 
bikerdude2":1qasde3c said:
changed the 1st & 2nd stages' cathode resistors from 820ohm to 2k7 (and kept the .68uF bypass caps)
- changed the 2nd stage's grid resistor from 150k to 68k
- changed 3rd stage's cathode resistor and cap from 820ohm/.68uF to 1k5/2.2uF (plastic cap, not electrolytic)
- changed the coupling caps after the phase inverter from .1uF to .022uF
- changed the feedback resistor from 39k to 47k

- replaced the 1st gain pot, which was a push/pull pot and was acting up. The replacement is a PEC 2w military spec pot. This disabled the push/pull pot's function of taking the 82k signal ground resistor after the 1st gain stage out of the circuit. I found the gain to be too fizzy and pretty much unusable with the pot pulled anyway, so I decided to go with the non-push/pull pot.

- disconnected the "pussy trimmer" pot (which acted as the ground leg of the voltage divider after the 2nd gain stage) and replaced it with a 470k resistor. The pot is still in there; it's just not connected to anything.

non-signal chain stuff:
- moved the input grid resistor so it's connected right to the tube socket pin

- the 1M resistor to ground at the input was running through the shielded input cable's shield to ground. This just didn't sit right with me, so I grounded the resistor separate from the cable's shield.

- decoupled the 1st gain stage to its own filter cap. The multi cap cans that Marshall and most other amp makers use have two (or more) caps sharing a single ground. That means that stages 1 through 3 and the cathode follower all shared a single ground point. I wanted at least the 1st stage to be a bit isolated, so it got its own 47uF filter.

Wow!!!! And a bucket of chicken! Clip??????
 
Are folks out there still enjoying these amps? I've only recently been turned onto them, but they seem like they'd be pretty killer.
 
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