Ceriatone Forum

I did some cleans for a sadowsky demo, all using the ceriatone. Some OD content also...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=k_rOEXfWXOg&fmt=18
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aWUSVd8Gjbs&fmt=18
http://youtube.com/watch?v=V30VyNkLK9w&fmt=18

Sounds really nice!!!  Are you finished with all the modification? 

No. I've only done about 20% of them. I have a bunch of parts on the way from mouser. They should get here wednesday. Hopefully I'll have time wednesday night to install them.

WoW...it sounds really good as it is!!!  Don't forget to post the complete recipe for those of us that are following the progress of your modifications ;D

I definitely will. Hopefully Nik will incorporate these changes into his recipe since his amp seems to be based on a particular rev of the schematic that was floating around and not necessarily the one that Robben and Larry use. The changes I'm making will make it closer to the magical version...

Nice jazzy tone, great playing (you seem to master a lot of different styles) and beautifull guitar. Must confess I do have some doubts about the OD sound though.

That has to be one of nicest guitars os that style I've ever seen.

Great clean tones, are you using any of the amps boosts?

I'm looking forward to the mods as well. Nik should offer a bag of parts, I think they'd sell.

no boosts on that clip. I tend to like the sound without the PAB engaged though that may change when I get all the mods done. I'll definitely post my mods recipe.

Any chance you could post that clip as an mp3, I surf from work and it filters out any embedded clips, but will stream mp3 files.

Saving for a OTS and really interested in the clean sounds you're getting as I'm mainly a clean/mild OD player but love the sounds several players get from their Dumbles...but can't afford one!!

That guitar sure does remind me of a Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion both in sound and shape. I have three, and they are the best guitar for the money that I've ever owned. Of course the Gibson has 4 knobs and the switch is on top on the original (where I like it).

Back to the ots. I'm having trouble finding the thread with your mod schematics. Give me a clue? Also, when I built my ots, the FET section cut out until I lowered the value of a resistor thus raising the voltage feeding the transistor. Have you heard of this happening to anyone else?

John

Blows away the HR Fusion though. I've had several of those.


Haven't heard of that. The layout is at http://www.sheetsofsound.net/images/OvertoneModded.pdf

The 220k resistor and the 270 mf cap don't do anything at all since there's a wire across those terminals as well. So snipping them off shouldn't have any effect. I talked (wrote) to NIK about this and he said he was going to correct the schematic. The 1k to 470 ohm screen resistor swap usually makes an amp harsher sounding and accents the higher frequencies.

Are you sure about that?

"Usually" might be the key word. I'm liking what it did for my amp.

Can the Overtone get those big, warm cleans that John Mayer uses to great effect on Continuum?

It sure can if you do the mods I've posted. Listen to my youtube clips.

These amps utilize a pretty standard "Fender style" phase inverter and power amp. Decreasing the resistance to the screens increases the screen voltage slightly. This reduces the impedance of the tubes and causes them to run a little hotter. This has the effect of attenuating the high frequency roll off (warm sounding) that 6L6s are known for. This is just one of the reasons that fender amps often sound so ice picky. I am convinced that many amp techs (Leo Fender included) lost the high end of their hearing which caused them to design shrill sounding amplifiers. I have substituted a spectrum of values for the screen resistor in many Fender and home made amps. If anything I would recommend going to a higher value; maybe as high as 5k for the screens, this seems to yield a more grainy sounding texture. Higher value screen resistors also tend to protect the output transformer to some extent in case of tube failure. As always; the proof is in what you like to hear and how you want to sound , so experimentation will yield the "correct" configuration for the individual player. I would also recommend trying substituting good quality 6V6 power tubes along with cathode biasing. I love the sound of 6V6 power tubes and cathode biasing in Fender style amps. I built my OTS with a Fixed/Cathode bias selector switch and I seem to leave it in the cathode bias position. I'm in the process of adding spring reverb; which I seem to be addicted to...
It would be fun to add the mods that you recommend sequentially and analyze them on the scope to see what results.

I agree with you on these points. I have 1.5k screens on my ODS and am frequently consider going from 470 to a higher number on  Fenders.

Thanks for the info JohnnyMac.