Ceriatone Forum

British Style => 18 Watt => Topic started by: Lespaulnmarshall on August 03, 2012, 10:00:18 AM



Title: 18 watt boost switch?
Post by: Lespaulnmarshall on August 03, 2012, 10:00:18 AM
Hello,
I recently bought a baby will lite iib v. 2.3 amp and I'd like to have a boosts witch for some extra gain on the amp. I can solder and everything, but I need a detailed explaination of what to do, otherwise i'm too afraid to work on the amp. I don't want to blow it up.
I've heared about a casscade mod, but that only works on tmb 18 watters right? I only have the normal channel on mine.

I know this is a ceriatone forum, and not a baby will 18 watt or guitaramplifierpcbs.com forum, but I can't find any useful info anywhere else on the internet and since you ceriatone fans often do mods to your builds I thought I might ask you guys.

Here's a schematic of the amp.
http://www.rh-tech.org/public/z_stingray_pcb_files/Baby_Will/Baby%20Will%20v2_3%20LiteIIb%20Schematic%20v6.pdf

Thanks in advance,
Maurice


Title: Re: 18 watt boost switch?
Post by: wyatt on August 04, 2012, 01:31:24 AM
There is a lot of waste in that schematic. 

Note each input uses half of the 12AX7, but they are *identical*...regardless of which input you plug into, they will sound the same and half the tube won't be used at all. They should have at least just out the two halves in parallel to thicken up the tone.

You could scrap one input and gain a whole triode to build into a boost or JCM-style cascade stage...but it can't be easily made into a boost you can switch on and off mid-song...typically to avoid "popping" it requires much more complicated switching. Note how on a JCM800, you can plug into the High gain input or the Low gain input...but you can't switch between them and you can't even plug into both at the same time.



Title: Re: 18 watt boost switch?
Post by: Lespaulnmarshall on August 06, 2012, 08:34:58 AM
Thanks for your reply, I only have one input right now. Since i didn't build the amp myself, and i haven't really investigated in it yet, i can only guess if v1's halves are in parallel or if only half of v1 is being used. But since there is only one input I guess both halves/gainstages are in paralle already.

However I did do a mod to get some extra gain from the amp. Not much, but it i'm happy with it. It pops though. But it's doesn't have to be footswitchable.

I installed a switch that switches between a 56k and 120k resestor in r24 in this schematic:

http://rh-tech.org/public/z_stingray_pcb_files/Baby_Will/Baby%20Will%20v2_3%20LiteIIb%20Schematic%20v6.pdf

If you know of a similar gain mod please tell me, i might not do it, but I'd like to know anyway.

Thanks in advance,
Maurice