Ceriatone Forum

Hey All Overtone users,
this is just a thought, and I have not received my Overtone yet but it would be cool if we put our heads together and made our own manual. It could include the basics of operation, various favorite settings, and maybe, for those who have the expertise, some of the mods and various tweaks that you all have done.
I am not a tech so I will have to do mods supplied by you guys and saying that, won't necessarily know at first  the what or why of what I am doing but it is a way to learn that.
Don't know what you will think of this but thought it would be a good idea...any thoughts, I really would like to hear some ideas. :)

That's not a bad idea I guess.

...there is a lot information on this forum already but to put it all together with the right structure... Not an easy task.
Are you willing to do that?

If you would start and make a draft of some kind, I can lay a hand.


 ;)

You are right- A lot of work, my thought would be, I would give it a go, grab all I could find put it in one spot in a general way in categories of some sort, and then you(we) could edit it like wickipedia until we get it right(correct). I am not a tech so I would be unqualified to address that but could put all that has been written in one spot and then we do what I suggested above. I don't have my amp yet and when I get it it will take me some time to figure out controls but this could be a fun project to try and collaborate on with everbody.

This is a good initiative. Will you realy do it?

Here is a quick guide to the Overtone.

********Front Panel:**********

FET: This input is for an acoustic guitar pickup.
NOR: This input is for an electric guitar

Volume: Sets the amount of gain for the preamp section. Use the "Master" to set overall amp volume. Higher levels of the Volume will distort the 'Overdrive' channel more.

Bright Switch: Adds a treble boost to both channels

Mid Boost:  (similar to the bright switch) Functions in both channels; adds some extra kick, especially in the overdrive channel.

Jazz/Rock: The Jazz setting is a quieter, lower gain setting.

Treble/Mid/Bass: These self-explanitory controls function in both channels. They are bypassed with the "PAB" (preamp-boost)

Drive/Ratio: These function only in the "overdrive" channel. The Drive, works in conjuction wth the "Volume" to control the overall gain or distortion. The Ratio is a seperate master volume. To set the Ratio control, go to the clean channel and set the overal clean loudness of the amp with the Master control. Then engage the "overdrive" channel and adjust the Ratio control to get an appropriate loudness of the overdrive channel.

Master: sets the overall loudness of  the amp. Raises and lowers the loudness of both channels together.
Presence: Controls the amount of negative feedback. Higher settings reduce negative feedback and give more distortion. Lower settings increase the negative feedback on the power supply and reduce distortion.


********Back Panel ************

Ground Switch: Places a capacitor between one of leads from the mains to the ground. (May not be hooked up)

ON/OFF; Controls power to the amplifier. Make sure the standby is "off" before switching on. If the tubes get fed full plate voltage (over 400v) without being warmed up first, there can be damage to the cathode part of the tube.

Standby; controls the high voltage power to the tubes. Has the effect of silencing the amp. Let the tubes heat up a few moments before disengaging the standby when first powering up.

Fuse: There are two fuses. One on the back panel and another under the chassis. The fuse on the back panel is the 'overall amp current' fuse and should be a slow blow 3A for 120v systems and a slow blow 2A for 220 systems. The other fuse is an extra saftey measure  just to protect the transformer and is a lower value (0.5A).

Speaker impedance: 4/8/16 Set this to the amp cabinet or speaker impedance.

Effects Input and output: This is a passive effects loop, There may be gain mismatch between the input of this jack and that of an effects pedal. Try it and see how it works. If you  are serious about having an active loop, you can buy or build a Dumbelator which will plug in here and will  have its own input/output into which the effects will plug.

PAB and OVERDRIVE switches on back panel: With the foot pedal unplugged, these switches control the preamp boost (which disengages the tone controls for some extra gain) and the Overdrive channel (which adds gain and distortion to the clean channel). So, they would be "ON" when set to "Manual". When the foot pedal switch is plugged in, keep these switches on "Pedal" for correct function with the foot pedal.

**********Inner Potentiometers (trimmers)***************

FET INPUT TRIMMER: located on the board near the FET input. Adjust this to change the gain of your acoustic guitar plugged into the FET input.

OD TRimmer: Located closest to the guitar inputs on the rectangular board. Adjust for the lowest setting that will produce a good overdrive tone.

Phase input trimmer. Located closest to the power tubes. Used to balance the two sides of the phase inverter tube.

Bias Pot and Bias Points: Put a multimeter lead into the red and black jack and set the meter to millivolts. The reading will approximate the milliamp current draw of the tube. Set using the bias pot, set the value to an appropriate level for the tubes installed.

Tube types: The two larger tubes are 6L6. The three smaller tubes are 7025 or 12AX7.

wow cool
that helps a lot allready!! Thanks

a few additions

Foot Pedal: Connector for the footswitch that operates the Channel and Overdrive
Speaker Connectors main and extention: (maybe a note about Impedance? are both outputs set by the impedance siwitch? a warning what not to do maybe?

ic-racer
Thank you. I was hoping someone that jnew more than I would help out, It is appreciated ;D
Burnie

This is not clear to me and I have to ask, I am assuming that this is an HRM design? Please inform me if I am wrong.

Actually it is NON-HRM. The HRM amps have three additional trimmers to play with.

does the standard Ceriatone ODS have the HRM circuit?

Nope. It´s a Non-HRM based circuit.

I view it as a collaborative effort-I know little and guys like ic-racer have been kind enough to put up great info. What about making it a sticky at the top of the forum when everyone agrees that it is complete?

I must say that IC-Racers Manual is allready very informative.
Apart from some details there's not much more one can ask for.
(apart from the really complicated amp builders/tweakers stuff maybe)

That's what I thought-how do we make it a sticky? that can be added to if need be.
And ic-racer much appreciation. I am considering building a 50 watt #124 but need more education and you have helped immensely. ;D

Send Kitarist a PM as he is running the show around here.  I'm sure he would be more than happy to.

Hi guys !
Not sure this topic has been move anywhere ?
As newbie and just got my 100W OTS, the ic-racer post was very helpfull, and the manual is a rich idea !
Here is a contribution by translate for other Frenchies. Most is comming from is-racer.
My opinion on a technical chapter for tweak and build should be a separate manual as a lot of people just want to know a starting use.
Thanks