There's more gain available with an OTS than there is with a Plexi. That said, you may need to cut some of the bass response with higher gains to stop it turning to mush. Try an Xotic RC which has Bass / Treble controls with boost.

Absolutely gorgeous tone.

Which version of your OTS was that - what are the main tweaks on this one?

I've had my Overtone up and running for 7 Months now, no problems & I'm very happy.

Switched it on this morning for a little 30 minute twang, no problems.

Switched it on this evening - no HT. Checked fuse and HT fuse had blown.

Replaced it with a 1A Fuse (closest I had to hand), powered it up and all was well.

It may be nothing but has anyone else blown a HT fuse in one of these before? Should I look out for other symptoms?

The Fuches Verbrator is a 'Dumbleator' and 'Reverb unit' combined.

I use one 'in the loop' and really like it.

Most people agree that a buffered FX Send / Return is required to connect standard pedals / rack gear into the Overtone (or most D-Style amps).

The Kleinulator or new C-Lator does this.

The Fuchs Verbrator gives you a buffered FX Send / Return & Reverb at the same time.

The Reverb can be 'dialled out' if required, leaving you with a 'Dry' FX Send & Return.

The FX Send / Return from the Verbrator can be switched between Series and Parallel The default is Parallel mode, meaning that your TONE can remain intact without passing through numerous AD/ DA stages.

I've currently got mine setup with a Rocktron Intelifex providing Delay / Reverb although sometimes just delay with the Verbrator providing the reverb, it works really well.

The consensus is Reverb / Time Based FX do not work as well when placed in front of the amp......there again rules can be ignored!!



 

6PS Series can be obtained from these people

http://www.audiocap.co.uk/ps-series-polyester-600v-orange-drop-49-c.asp

They also stock F&T for PSU Capacitors

What voltage rating did you get?

I can only see 350 volt in axial.

Did you go for these or did you move to Radial format?

Erwin

Thanks for your input on this.

I've ordered a few extra caps to experiment with the power supply.

I'm going to add 2 x 50 uF in parallel with the 2 x 100 uF that are already there - understand the series / parallel calculation with caps being opposite to resistance.

I'm also going to experiment with increasing the 22uF caps to 30uF.

Thanks once again

Exocet

Erwin

That's a really useful article and I think that it describes the sound that I'm hearing quite accurately.

Next question!!

Is sag designed into this circuit or have I got some capacitors that are out of spec?

My only doubt about whether it is sag is that I'm only playing at low volumes (1 - 1.5 on the master), I would have thought that sag would be more likely at higher volumes when the PSU is under more strain?

Does your OTS produce the same sound as mine when you 'pop the stings' in OD?

Were the jzucker mods that added 2 x 50 uF Caps designed to reduced sag? I need to see if these were fitted to my OTS although I bought mine after Nik adopted the mods, I need to check.

Thanks Erwin

I did the heater wires a while back, that definitely improved the OD tone but that was before I discovered the issue with 'popping' the strings with my fingers when in OD.

If the problem was Phase Inveter related - why does my basic OD sound good? It's worth trying but I don't know how to adjuect Phase INverter (I'm guessing that you adjust for a 'balanced output'? Never done that before. I am using a 'balanced tube' in the PI position.

Filter Caps on the low side? Can you expand a bit more?

Thanks

Marc

I've been using my OTS for a couple of months now and in general I'm quite impressed with the overall sounds (Clean and OD).

By tweaking the internal trimmer down and varying my picking I've been able to get nice 'traditional D style' lead sounds - close enough for my liking anyway. If I crank things up a bit and pick harder, it screams as well.

However, there is one sound that absolutely sucks on my amp and that is 'popping the strings' when in OD.

If I do this in clean, it's great, nice and dynamic and tuneful, but in OD I get some really nasty harmonics that 'clash' for want of a better word almost to the extent that the harmonic is as loud as the fundamental note being plucked.

If anything the effect is worse at lower OD levels than higher and is present wherever I play the plucked note on the neck.

I've experimented with different valves in V2 including a nice NOS 5751 with no success and my OD trimmer measures 25K from wiper to ground (I am definitely not cranking the trimmer too high i.e it is at the 9 - 10 O'Clock position.

My thoughts are:

1. Power Supply to V2 possibly on the low side?

2. Perhaps I need to cut the bass response when  OD is engaged by changing a coupling cap value between before OD1 or between OD1 and OD2.

My guitar by the way is a Japanese Telecaster with Dimarzio Twang King and Chopper T pickups.

The amp was built by Ceriatone, no complaints other than this.

Just interested if anyone else has noticed the same thing?

Agree with the above, the FET input isn't the way to go.

As Hywel says, the OTS is not a gain monster and the internal trimmer is the best option for making it 'scream'. The internal trimmer sets the level going into V2a; for the Dumble sound most people set this to 9 - 10 O'Clock or 25 - 28 KOhm to ground when measured with a meter. At this level, V2a doesn't clip, it compresses.

The level control on the front panel governs the level intpo V2b, V2b is where the clipping nomally occurs if you are after the Dumble sound.

So crank the trimmer and V2a will clip as well.

Other options, break the LNFB loop on V1b, this will make it a little less refined, also look at changing the PAB to Megaboost (an alternative way of cutting teh tonestack out of the equation). Do a search on Ampgarage for Megaboost (IIRC it invloves lifting the ground connection from the Mid pot).

In my expericence, the OTS provides some very refined overdrive at reasonable volumes, but if you drive it too hard the sound gets very compressed - some might like this but I don't.

If you are U.K based, I found a company called afcustomcabs
http://afcustomcabinets.weebly.com/

Mark who runs the outfit is very good, he builds all kinds of amp related cabs.

2x8 ohm speakers connected via the jacks on the amp = 4 ohm total load and not 16.

Brown Note who make  D - Style amps / kits sell the dual primary OT..not cheap mind.

http://store.bnamp.com/dtrset.html

They do a Bluesmaster amp kit as well......more expensive than Ceriatone.

It's probably the same amp that you saw in the video clip...Billy Yates playing a 57 Strat?

I have a Fuchs Verbrator with my OTS 50

I quite like it but I haven't used it at Gig levels.....not more than 2 on the Master volume.

The level adjust in Parallel mode is as you suggest a return level for the Verbrator Loop. The Verbrator In / Out within the OTS Serial Loop is Unity Gain...so no change in volume??

I find that the Verbrator adds a touch of compression but I wouldn't say that it 'sucked tone'