Ceriatone Forum

My OTS sounds great with the master volume down below 9 o'clock but when i start to crank it up it seems to get a little more of an edge that i don't like.  What is it that causes this and how can I fix it?

Adjust your tone controls to suit the particular volume you are at. The louder you get, the brighter it will appear to be, etc

what is it that causes this?

Sometimes the speakers have a lot of change in their tone between low and high volumes, some ceramic magnet speakers can get pretty obnoxiously bright when cranked up.  Also it's the absolute nature of master volume amps for a given distortion/gain level to sound excessive at high volumes.  At high volumes turn the pre gain down some.  Just try it.

Just to repeat, but in a different way what the others I think are saying. It will be necesarry to adjust the tone and pre-master gain levels somewhat as the the master volume is increased.

Also, are these observations when you are playing in a small room (bedroom) by yourself or live with other instruments? Because, I feel my HRM "seems" a little harsh when all by myself and cranked, but when I listen to it recorded live with other insturments (drums, guitars, bass) it's incredible how it just cuts through everything yet sounds so full and smooth compared to other guitars and amps.

I say this only because I tend to play more by myself in a small room than anything else and have been realizing more lately, the huge difference between live and this and the misconceptions I may have about what sounds good in a given situation and what doesn't.

Since it was never mentioned in this thread, just what speakers is the OP using?

While I agree for the most part with everything Homesick is saying, I will say that my HRM50 is like no other amp I've played. The interaction between all gain stages is not like other tube amps. The OTS in some ways is not a two channel amp, but a cascading of clean gain stages into the OD stages with the master volume.

Indeed. The heart of the D-Style design is a cascading gain setup. this especially evident in the non hrm models, as there is only one master and the ratio is used to dial more or less of the OD sound into the final mix. Very different than the standard preamp/ master setup. The OTS will remain fairly clean when pushed hard, in other words, if setup properly, the output section should remain fairly neutral. The BM is a lil different due to the PI setup,  and two master volumes, however that is another story.

My lil BF princeton had a crude switchable cascade gain feature which worked very similarly to the D Style OD.

Gregg

I should clarify.  I'm specifically talking about the clean channel of the amp.  Not the OD channel.  And I wouldn't call it brightness, rather, harshness.  In fact in a weird way, it gets better (to me) when i flip the bright switch on.  I bought all the components for Jzuckers mod list and am wondering how this will help/affect my situation.  Any input is appreciated.

the clean channel on the BM can get pretty aggressive when pushed. It really takes on the tweed side of its personality in a big way, especially if it is biased hot. You may wanna check the bias.  Also, turn the bass down a bit, and turn the presence up, which will help tighten it up. also, mine sounds better with the deep switch on when pushed like that. sounds counter intuitive, but it seems to work

Gregg

Yes, sometimes I think naming the deep switch with the term "deep" can be misleading. It definitely is more of a tightening of the lower frequencies than boosting them.

what are you guys biasing the amps at?  I am around 41ma right now I believe.  I'm running the sovtek power tubes that were in there when I got the amp.  I switched out to TAD 6L6's briefly but didn't quite like them so I switched back to the sovteks.  Maybe I had the TAD's biased to hot?  I think I had them up around 44 if I remember correctly.

Yeah, prolly a lil to hot. The OTS likes to be at biased at about 55%, which is where the TAD's like to be sat as well. FWIW my plate voltage is 445 and I bias at 37.2

Gregg