pre amp for gain clone as guitar amp

[guitaristz]

Another good preamp route is something like a two channel type: Rocktron Gainiac/Silver Dragon or the newer Seymour Duncan line. Perhaps run a good compressor for the clean channel and A/B.

If your already running power for your chip amp that's a great way to power the tubes enough to get some colour. The above schematic is a beautiful approach.

Tube preamps rule for tone that you, the player, can connect with. Go this route if at all possible and ASAP!

[ChrisA]

Originally posted by guitaristz
Another good preamp route is something like a two channel type: Rocktron Gainiac/Silver Dragon or the newer Seymour Duncan line. Perhaps run a good compressor for the clean channel and A/B.

If your already running power for your chip amp that's a great way to power the tubes enough to get some colour. The above schematic is a beautiful approach.

Tube preamps rule for tone that you, the player, can connect with. Go this route if at all possible and ASAP!

If you want to run a preamp tube off a small transformer, for $20.01 you can buy a "real" power transformer from Edcor that has enogh power for three preamp tubes and runs them at a real voltage (well over 200V DC) Or if $20 is to much find and old 500ma 12V power cube (wall wort) and salvage the transformer. Wire the 12V side to your 12V AC that is powering the tube heaters you will get 120V AC on the other side. Use a diode bridge and cap and the final DC voltage is about 140 at the tube plate. Cost for this can be nearly zero if you can salvage the parts of old PC power supplies and the like.

You will get the best tone by far if you go all tube. The power amp stage in a guitar amp really does add color to the sound. Using one tube in the preampis not the same.

Look up "firefly" or "high octane" at the ax84.com web site. You can build one of those all tube amps for about $250.

[guitaristz]

That Edcor company looks great. I see the preamp transformer here:http://www.edcorusa.com/Products/Sho...ct.aspx?ID=598

Still, what would be REALLY nice is that is a toroid form—like the one used in a Lee Jackson Prefect Connection preamp.
Even better would be added dual 25Vac as well for our chip.

So something like:

175-0-175) at 60mA
and
6.3V (3.15-0-3.15) at 2A
and
18V+18V at 250VA

With all the amp modellers out there this could yield something quite useful
ChrisA~ good point, still I've fine tuned/revoiced a few guitar amps via the preamp out and headphones and got some really nice tones

[ChrisA]

Originally posted by guitaristz
[B]That Edcor company looks great. I see the preamp transformer here:http://www.edcorusa.com/Products/Sho...ct.aspx?ID=598

Still, what would be REALLY nice is that is a toroid form—like the one used in a Lee Jackson Prefect Connection preamp.

Edcor will make custom transformers for not much more than the price of their stock units. Call them. All you are asking for is a one more secondary winding on top of a stock unit.

one other option is to make a voltage tippler with some caps and diodes from the 6.3 secondary. You don't need all of those amps. The preamp tubes use only 0.3 amps each of the 6.3V so there is plenty of current to support a voltage tippler.

And about the sound coming from the preamp vs. the power section. I think the real answer is that it's additive. And it continues with the speaker too. Some of that distortion you hear at high volume is the speaker cone breaking up and no longer acting as a solid, mass but something more flexible