5E3 Tweed Deluxe with switchable cascade tube overdrive installed

[justFred]

Switch off = normal 5E3 circuit...switch on = runs the normal channel preamp signal from V1A through bright channel preamp V1B for tube overdrive...normal channel becomes gain channel and bright channel volume control becomes overdrive control...bottom line you can switch between good old 5E3 to a tube overdriven 5E3 to get overdrive at lower volume or get blistering complex tube distortion at higher volumes...hard to explain but relatively simple mod that will work on many Fender tube amps...now where to put the switch???

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: 5E3 Tweed Deluxe with switchable cascade tube overdrive installed

That is cool.
Love a 5e3. I did the extra overdrive thing a different way by installing an eminence maverick.

Why don't you install the switch as a push pull on one of the volumes?
Another way would be to put a switch where the low input on the bright channel is. You can still jumper channels that way if you find you still want to do that.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: 5E3 Tweed Deluxe with switchable cascade tube overdrive installed

also...laquering the tweed looks cool.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: 5E3 Tweed Deluxe with switchable cascade tube overdrive installed

Sounds like the "one wire mod" common with Marshalls. Just un-did mine on my Marshall build. I switched it with a push pull pot on the normal channel. It was cool but more like a novelty for me. I never used it so I returned things back to original recently while I was swapping power tubes and re-biasing. No reason to remove it really, it didn't change the tone when it was not engaged but I did so anyway.

 

[justFred]

Re: 5E3 Tweed Deluxe with switchable cascade tube overdrive installed

looking but cannot find 3PDT push pull pot...will probably end up mounting the switch on the back panel...the end game is to add a foot switch with a volume pot so can do a rhythm/lead when OD on...

 

[Darg1911]

Re: 5E3 Tweed Deluxe with switchable cascade tube overdrive installed

Check Hoffman Amps for their channel switching relay board. I haven't studied it other than a brief look a while back, but I know they also have a power supply board for the relay if you want to power it from the filament supply and it can be used with a footswitch. I imagine it can be used in a few different ways. Maybe worth checking out. Google should pull it up if your interested.