Hey Chuck,

That's great.  I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of the amp given your first hand, extended experience with the Fuchs and Two Rock amps.

Wo wo.... I'm not saying this amp is getting into the Wreck spectrum of raw mayhem.....no way.  Here is what I have been testing for the past few days.

For the Ford/Carlton flavors the internal OD trimmer is VERY important in determining that tone.  If you check out the amp settings of F/C and set the Overtone similarly you WILL get in the ballpark.  After that it is OD trimmer to taste, guitar and pup combinations, SPEAKER (did I say that loud enough..lol) and massive amounts of talent in that style of playing which unfortunately I can't do very well.  Right now I have the trimmer at 10 oclock and sounds great.

Now, If you up the OD level with a Greenback, V30, Wizard, Sammi 40 or 50, G12H30, you WILL get Marshall tones with plenty of bite and lower mid punch. 

I've yet to try EL34's in the amp.  That might be interesting, too.   Who knows there may be a little "wreckage" hidden away in there in a more refined, sophisticated way..lol

Hey Marin,

Sure, the Overtone can do any of those tones.  My D'lite can do them too...   The problem is "I" can't do them.....lol.   
What I am finding with the Overtone is with the OD trimmer set to anything past 9 oclock the amp gets a little too bright with the PAB engaged and since the tonestack is lifted there is no way to dial it out.  It makes for great Marshall bite but I'm persistant to getting Larry and Robben Dumble tones.  Time for tweaking.

Hey Bilbal,

Geesh,, new amps, new zendrive.....lol.....must be nice.  That's it... I'm emailing Nik and Alf tomorrow.

Chris

Marinblues,

Which amp are you refering to when you say "it"?  I haven't listened to any of those clips yet and I'm at work now so I will check them out later today.  Moss has come up with a few variations on the basic D'lite theme so there is going to be some differences in tones.  It may be time to do a little tweaking. 

Right now I'm trying to get a handle on what Nik has put together with this amp.  It's a bit of a "mutt" comprised of several flavors of the various dumbles out there.  I would love to sit down with Nik and rap about this amp.  If you're listening man how about chiming in and giving a few hints as to what you were thinking with this circuit.  Whatever, your reasoning it ended up sounding pretty frickin good.

Great post Whitewave.

The speaker plays such a big part in the stereotypical dumble tone.  Don't discount the effect a suitable speaker can impart on your tone.

Yes, I've been searching high and low for a G1265 and none are around.  Hey, you have two....riiiight????Buddy-O-pal....

Well, I was messing around with my DD-20 in the loop and hey, it doesn't sound too bad.  In or out I don't notice much if any negative effect on the tone.  For live, I run the amp (all my amps)  through a Weber MASS 50 (set to bypass) and into my wet effects and into the return loop of a Traynor YCV 40wr with another RW&B and an extension cab off of that.  It sounds better than you might think and in this capacity the Traynor works very well with the preamp bypassed. 

The amp jives very well with my assortment of dirt pedals,...RC booster, AC booster, BB, Blues Devil, and my favorite (lol) Bad Monkey

I have been eyeing the Flexloop for a while as well.   Let me know what you think when you get it.  I was looking for a loop for my D'lite but I went with the Ironsounds buffered DIY loop.  I works perfectly.  There is also a lot of literature for a Dumbleator out there so that is an option as well.

.....two G1265 's eh???

Ha ha...love watching my fellow amp freaks squirm.....lol...

OK  OK....here goes a preliminary report of my impressions of the amp.  I have had the Overtone for more than a week now and have been playing it and A/B'ing with the D'Lite.  I only had one chance to get it up to gig volumes at a jam the other night so most of my observations are of the amp at less than perfect (lower volume) conditions.

That said,, Let me first dispell the sentiment that there might be something wrong with the amp.  Trust me there is NOTHING wrong with the Overtone.  If a negative thing could be said about the amp is it has far too many great and useable tones and it's going to take much longer than a week to get aquainted with this multitalented amplifier.

Let's begin with the cleans....

Like the D'lite you have two distinct flavors of clean at your disposal.  With the clean volume down and the master up there is a lot of beautiful sparkle and jingle like any good blackface and the bright switch in conjunction with the tone stack can get you all kinds of variability on that theme.  If you crank up the clean channel volume (about 2'oclock) and keep the master low the cleans warm up (like all similar amps) but the range of clean from dark to sparkle can be finely adjusted with the tone tack, bright switch and the deep switch, which itself adds a very attractive scooped tone where the amp is warm yet sparkly on the top end.  Engage the PAB and your mids come alive for a lot of cut in a big band setting.  I don't know why but the treble pot in the tone stack remains somewhat interactive with the PAB engaged.  It made me think of the 5E3 tone/volume interaction and actually makes for a nice jazz tone....lol.  Between all of the switching options and interactivity there are seemingly limitless permutations on the tones you get in the clean channel alone.  
If I were to make a generalization on comparing the cleans of the Overtone to the D'Lite it would be that the Overtone is bigger and bolder.  The mid focus is very present but there is also the ability to dial in more highs and significantly more lows if desired.

The OD channel.....

The jury is still out on this one.  Not because of anything bad but for the most part I haven't had all that much time to dig into it.  In it's stock form the amp is tailored for humbuckers ( like all of these D flavoured circuits) and the wide range of the aforementioned functional clean tones goes for the OD channel as well.  On similar settings as the D'Lite the Overtone sounds very um ....similar...I mean VERY close.  However, I think it's just my style of playing but I just can't seem to get that "chewy" ScottL tone thing happening (on either amp).  The Overtone has quite a bit more punch than the DL so it can do the Marshall grind very nicely.  Again, I have to get into the amp more before I can really say any more.


The FET input??.......haven't even tried it yet....so no comment.


Build quality......

I've put together quite a few amps and I know I couldn't do any better than this.  I don't think there are any components that I would substitute on the basis of poor quality.  Maybe a few Kiwame resistors....lol (I'm on a Kiwame kick these days).  I don't know if it's just me but aren't there a few too many Vishay Dales in here??  I always like to see a dash of CC's for flavour....well, maybe not in this amp.  
The chassis is well made and is plenty strong enough to support the rather hefty transformers.  I like the fact there are eight bolts to help distribute the hanging weight on your cab.  One should consider bracing if you are going to be rough on the cab.




Last but not least......

If you can, try as many different tubes as a possible.  I've settled on Mullards and Syls for pre's and Winged C's for the power section.
 Speakers, too. I am using an Eminence RW&B but as soon as I find one I'm going to try a G12-65 as that is the standard by which all D style amps are played through these days.

Sorry, but you'll have to wait a bit longer for some sound clips.

All in all,  the amp is a tweakers seventh heaven but as stock it can hold it's own to any of the goliaths  out there.

And finally...lol   At the recent jam there were several BF Fender's, a signature Two Rock,  a Maz 18, a brown Vibroverb RI and my D'Lite and the Overtone (just the chassis).  The Two Rock and the Overtone were the stars of the party and not to elaborate but .....I don't see any need to be buying a $10,000 Two Rock anytime soon...

To be continued......


ChrisL

Hey Folks,
I received the Overtone but I didn't get a chance to really test it out other than at low volumes.  Thus I can't comment subjectively quite yet.  BUT, I will say based on my experience with the D'lite and my old modded Bassman head I had..... THIS amp is a winner.  Full review, pics, and clips soon to follow.

ChrisL

 The Sovteks don't have the same characteristic 60 volt drop @ 125 mA DC as a typical 5Y3 so by specs they aren't a 5Y3.    Watch your B+.  Their designs are very different as well and I think Sovteks  decision to call it a 5Y3 was a "sneaky" thing to do...lol

I'm no expert but it just depends on the amp and it's components.  There is a lot of speculation on the subject.  The 5Y3 will drop more voltage than a 5U4 so you are going to have a higher B+ so you will probably have to adjust your bias resistor value.  Also, a 5U4 has a higher capacitance value so your power cathode cap should be doubled.
The most important spec to check is how much draw your PT can safely handle.  A 5U4 requires a full amp more than your standard 5Y3.

Also, consider a 5V4....similar "less sag" characteristics as a 5U4 without the extra amp of current draw.

I hope you don't have a sovtek 5Y3 in there now.   

Thanks guys.  Nik said my Overtone is on it's way....a "special" cab build is in order.

I just finished this cab for the D'Lite.  Logo plate is just a test as the good ones are being made now.  Great amp.

Hey, thank you for posting this.  Good stuff.

Was that on TGP?