Ceriatone Forum

Hello,
I've been a member on this site for awhile now and never really had anything to say/post until now.
I built my OTS about 2 years ago and it was my first amp that I put together myself. I messed around with other amps doing cap jobs, resistor swaps and transformer upgrades before so I had time to practice my soldering skills.
I started researching amps online in an effort to find something different than everyone else was playing and that is what brought me to the "d" style amps.
After I built my OTS I enjoyed the clean sound I could get but I never could dial in the right settings on the OD so it kinda got sidelined as my Gear acquisition Syndrome grew, and grew rapidly. I ended up building a Tweed 5E3, Tweed 5E7, a couple Dr. Z's- Stangray and Z-wreck and most recently a BFDR. Needless to say my past two years have been kinda busy! To make a long story short I came back to the OTS recently cause I always felt a little let down by that project. I purchased a smartulator and then got a hold of the OTS manual and the reccomended settings and man :o!!  Now I know what I was missing this whole time.
Guitar-cable-OTS-smartulator-delay= WOW!!! :chairdance:


In the end everyone needs to experiment to find their own sound and I kinda get that now. I have acquired a lot of amps for my collection along the way and all of which do their own thing. My wife definitely thinks I have a problem but i'm lucky my musical friends appreciate it. ;) LOL!!
For all those folks considering this amp out there: when dialed in,  this amp can hang with the best of em'.
It puts a smile on my face now every time I engage the OD for some lead tones.


Drew

Glad to hear you are happy now. No one deserves to have an OTS and not like it. ;)

Was there one thing that really made the difference or was it many things? The O/D is definitely very sensitive to level settings.

Hey there
glad you found your sound!
Which amp out of all the other builds would be your next favorite after the OTS?
And why?
Just curious, my wife is worried for me as well!

Todd

SoundPerf,
I actually lent it out to a friend and he messed with the settings a whole lot. When I got the amp back he had left the volume fairly low and just cranked the Master. It was nearly impossible for me to get any good overdrives at this level! I just got frustrated and moved on.  Once I cranked the vol and lowered the master and turned off the bright and the deep.... thats when I realized how special this am really is.
I'm such a moron for not getting these settings right before.
Your so right in saying how sensitive the OD on this amp is to level settings as I finally get that now.

T wilcox
There really is no clear answer to your question. I wish I could narrow it down to a clear winner in the other amps. I can tell you though that the Z Wreck does get a lot more attention both from me and fellow players. The Z Wreck is pretty awesome but it needs a lot of volume to bring that awesomeness out otherwise it kinda sounds a bit thin when quiet. I must confess I think this amp gets the majority of my playing time.

The Stangray does clean quite well and is probably a clear winner for straight up cleans.  Very bright with  a lot of jangle when using a tele. I would say this amp is built for Teles and it really brings out all things I love about teles- this amp should come with a warning...WARNING-you may find yourself playing a whole lot of country when using this amp- LOL!

I think the 5E7 is the coolest out of the lot when overdriven. Man... that think will make you play a whole lot of Pete Townsend and early who stuff. It has an airyness between the notes and killer sustain.

The 5E3, well it does the tweed thing pretty well and I bust it out from time to time but I don't find myself drawn to it- awesome amp though and I love it for its simplicity.

Hope this sheds light...
I can post some pics of the bunch if people want

Pics are always welcome here.

Thanks for the response, I probably should take a break since i just barely finished my last build but am already thinking about which one will be next!


Todd

where did you get the manual from?

For the OTS?

yes

It's freely available on the ceriatone website.