heavy metal, low power guitar amp?

inforce · 16th May 2004, 02:10 AM

hi every one, first i'd like to excuse me for my bad english. I want to know if it is possible to build a high gain, heavy metal guitar amp, but with low power, around 10 Watts , i was thinking in a 6l6 single ended output seccion, but i dont know if this choice will give me the sound that i want,
and what about the preamp? should i clone one mesa boogie preamp, or look elsewere? please help me, or recomend somethig, thanks

Szyderca · 17th May 2004, 10:56 AM

Hi,

I've built an el84 pp guitar amp (15W) and its sound very nice ! But a metal sound ... forget it ! It gives u an nice warm destortion but not a metal sound ! I want to get a metal sound in mine to I wonder what sound a reverbe tank gives I think its gonna sound quit heavy with it maybe another ecc on low voltage gives u a metal sound but is a lot fot a little amp like this !

Why not str8 the MESA DUAL RECTEFIER

!

cuz this is the real sound but I konw its a lot of money to built it
so I built a small amp to and now I'm trying things out to get the sound more heavy

maybe some ideas ... reverbe tank ?

Greetz, Lukasz

drembo · 17th May 2004, 11:23 PM

check out some of the projects on this page:
http://www.ax84.com/home.html

PeteMcK · 17th May 2004, 11:50 PM

I suspect most HM sound (particularly modern) comes from the footpedals used, not the amp....

Pete McK

inforce · 18th May 2004, 02:03 AM

the sound that i'm looking is like the sound of children of bodom, therion, dimmu borgir, opeth and that kind of groups,
i already see the proyects in ax84 and i think that the high octane doesnt sound like i want, so my search continues, thanks for the replies
aaahhh and i dont want to use pedals

Szyderca · 18th May 2004, 05:51 AM

Hi,

u want that sound so u have to make a big preamp so u got all the destortion before the outputvalves so u have to experiment with tubes so u built ur poweramp and then start playing with some ecc before it

And idd no footswich !

THE HATE CREW !

Fuling · 18th May 2004, 06:18 PM

In my experience pure tube circuits gives a warm and smooth distortion, more suitable for rock and blues than death metal.
My recepy for high octane metal distortion is diode clippers fed by high gain tube circuits. You can choose between germanium diodes, silicon diodes, zener diodes and LED´s.
I guess you can also try to put some small caps or RC networks across the diodes if you want to tame the harmonics a bit.

By the way, has anyone ever tried tube diodes??

adamamp · 18th May 2004, 09:58 PM

True tube high gain(5150, Bogner etc) is not something that a new DIYer should try and build. It involves several gain stages tied together and each one increases the likelyhood of unwanted noise. It could be best to build a classic gain amp and use a pedel in front. Took me years before I could build a quiet moderate gain amp and I am still working on a super gain design. The layout and ground is absolutely critical in high gain. Each stage amplifies noise as well as the signal and having 4 to 6 gain stages is asking for real trouble if you have little or no experience with high gain circuits.

honsten · 19th May 2004, 09:31 PM

one idea is to only have one 12ax7 in the pre and one EL84 in the power section,get hold of a boss sd-1 chip and throw it in between the two valves,get them cooking-im not talking about warming them up,i mean seriously roast the things and it sould sound really wrong! do it,it works, old european makes used to do this for studios.

inforce · 21st May 2004, 07:24 PM

but, that kind of sound (the metal one) comes from preamp distortion ? or from power tube distorition?, and it is really that hard to build an 5150 or slo100 preamp?

16th May 2004, 02:10 AM	#1
inforce diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Valparaiso	heavy metal, low power guitar amp? hi every one, first i'd like to excuse me for my bad english. I want to know if it is possible to build a high gain, heavy metal guitar amp, but with low power, around 10 Watts , i was thinking in a 6l6 single ended output seccion, but i dont know if this choice will give me the sound that i want, and what about the preamp? should i clone one mesa boogie preamp, or look elsewere? please help me, or recomend somethig, thanks

17th May 2004, 11:50 PM	#4
PeteMcK diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Western Sydney	footpedals I suspect most HM sound (particularly modern) comes from the footpedals used, not the amp.... Pete McK

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17th May 2004, 10:56 AM	#2
Szyderca diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: TONGEREN	Hi, I've built an el84 pp guitar amp (15W) and its sound very nice ! But a metal sound ... forget it ! It gives u an nice warm destortion but not a metal sound ! I want to get a metal sound in mine to I wonder what sound a reverbe tank gives I think its gonna sound quit heavy with it maybe another ecc on low voltage gives u a metal sound but is a lot fot a little amp like this ! Why not str8 the MESA DUAL RECTEFIER ! cuz this is the real sound but I konw its a lot of money to built it so I built a small amp to and now I'm trying things out to get the sound more heavy maybe some ideas ... reverbe tank ? Greetz, Lukasz

17th May 2004, 11:23 PM	#3
drembo diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Orange, California	check out some of the projects on this page: http://www.ax84.com/home.html

18th May 2004, 02:03 AM	#5
inforce diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Valparaiso	the sound that i'm looking is like the sound of children of bodom, therion, dimmu borgir, opeth and that kind of groups, i already see the proyects in ax84 and i think that the high octane doesnt sound like i want, so my search continues, thanks for the replies aaahhh and i dont want to use pedals

18th May 2004, 05:51 AM	#6
Szyderca diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: TONGEREN	Hi, u want that sound so u have to make a big preamp so u got all the destortion before the outputvalves so u have to experiment with tubes so u built ur poweramp and then start playing with some ecc before it And idd no footswich ! THE HATE CREW !

18th May 2004, 06:18 PM	#7
Fuling diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Sweden (Mora)	In my experience pure tube circuits gives a warm and smooth distortion, more suitable for rock and blues than death metal. My recepy for high octane metal distortion is diode clippers fed by high gain tube circuits. You can choose between germanium diodes, silicon diodes, zener diodes and LED´s. I guess you can also try to put some small caps or RC networks across the diodes if you want to tame the harmonics a bit. By the way, has anyone ever tried tube diodes??

18th May 2004, 09:58 PM	#8
adamamp diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: East of Eden	True tube high gain(5150, Bogner etc) is not something that a new DIYer should try and build. It involves several gain stages tied together and each one increases the likelyhood of unwanted noise. It could be best to build a classic gain amp and use a pedel in front. Took me years before I could build a quiet moderate gain amp and I am still working on a super gain design. The layout and ground is absolutely critical in high gain. Each stage amplifies noise as well as the signal and having 4 to 6 gain stages is asking for real trouble if you have little or no experience with high gain circuits.

19th May 2004, 09:31 PM	#9
honsten diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: london	one idea is to only have one 12ax7 in the pre and one EL84 in the power section,get hold of a boss sd-1 chip and throw it in between the two valves,get them cooking-im not talking about warming them up,i mean seriously roast the things and it sould sound really wrong! do it,it works, old european makes used to do this for studios.

21st May 2004, 07:24 PM	#10
inforce diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Valparaiso	but, that kind of sound (the metal one) comes from preamp distortion ? or from power tube distorition?, and it is really that hard to build an 5150 or slo100 preamp?