My brother is a genius!

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Lewguitar

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I know some of you think I brag up my brother Bruce to much - so don't read this post if you feel that way.

I've been working with him Sundays because his arm is immobilized in a sling and he can only use his left arm for the time being. He'll be fine...just had some tendons surgically reattached and he's mending.

But we worked together on getting two Marshall JCM-800 single channel master volume combo amps ready to ship to their buyers (one is going to our forum friend Matt at martin6stringcustoms) and what Bruce did to improve the tone of these amps just blew my mind.

Matt's amp sounds so fabulous! Much more overdrive from the high input when the volume on the guitar is dimed, but when I turn the guitar's volume down it cleans up beautifully to a nice rock ryhtym chug. Really spectacular.

The low input sounds like a vintage Vox AC-30 now...no longer weak and without balls.

This puppy chimes like a Vox AC-30 and rocks better than any Marshall I've ever owned! And it's all due to Bruce's creativity and out and out genius.

Just a great, round warm tone. I know Matt plays in church alot, so we really went for a sweet tone on this one.

We worked on these amps together and he asked me not to give away his trade secrets but I will say that he put a little network in Matt's amp that quieted these noisy beasts down to a whisper and removed the hissy hum almost completely and smoothed and sweetened the tone.

This amp of Matt's was always a great amp...but I told Bruce it was for a friend and he pulled out all the stops. We removed the circuit so we solder underneath it and although my soldering skills are not as cosmetically pefect as Bruce's, we still did a first class job.

Matt: you are going to love this amp! I asked Bruce to sign it for you inside.

I'm really glad it's going to a good home!

Lew
 
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Re: My brother is a genius!

And just when I was about to ask.

You don't play fair. I'm takin my amp and goin home.

Ha! He has some tweaks to the master volume circuit that are his and his alone. But man: what a diff they make.

Only old Marshall amps I've heard that do anything remotely like what Bruce did to this amp use an extra tube. But he's figured out a way to do it without adding another gain stage while at the same time vastly improving the tone of the lo input as well.

We grew up together and Bruce knows what I like...so to some degree his mods are tweaked for my style of playing:
bluesy rock and no pedals - just do it all with the guitar's volume control and your own taste, touch, phrasing and the way you use the pick.

But you'd like it Jolly...you could pinch of those beautiful harmonics you do so easily with this amp.
 
Re: My brother is a genius!

Lew,
When you have a family member that rocks it is totally cool to brag! I love the fact that you and Bruce are still buds and share the passion for AWESOME tone!

One day I hope to give Bruce a try. I am glad the amp turned out killer!
 
Re: My brother is a genius!

PS......


How cool would it be to turn the Normal channel on my Vibrolux into something useful instead of a side that I never plug into. It's a player's amp and not a collector's item so I wouldn't mind something useful on Normal as long as it didn't effect the Vibrato channel.

Does Bruce have any mods for this besides upping gain and verb and trem on both channels? How awesome it would be to turn Normal into a more "chimey" AC-30 (ish) beast!!!!!
 
Re: My brother is a genius!

Lew,
When you have a family member that rocks it is totally cool to brag! I love the fact that you and Bruce are still buds and share the passion for AWESOME tone!

One day I hope to give Bruce a try. I am glad the amp turned out killer!

+1

Please assure Bruce that his secrets are safe with hundreds of us!
 
Re: My brother is a genius!

Sure! I can even tell you about those in detail. Is it a Vibrolux Reverb? Lew
PS......


How cool would it be to turn the Normal channel on my Vibrolux into something useful instead of a side that I never plug into. It's a player's amp and not a collector's item so I wouldn't mind something useful on Normal as long as it didn't effect the Vibrato channel.

Does Bruce have any mods for this besides upping gain and verb and trem on both channels? How awesome it would be to turn Normal into a more "chimey" AC-30 (ish) beast!!!!!
 
Re: My brother is a genius!

^^^ Yeah! mine is a 1975 that has been fully restored to 65' BF specs.

Here is a picture of my sweet, sweet Lux!

6932d6b0.jpg
 
Re: My brother is a genius!

^^^ Yeah! mine is a 1975 that has been fully restored to 65' BF specs.

Well then:

Put reverb on both channels and change the .047 coupling cap on the plate of the normal channel's 12ax7 tube to a .02. It'll give the normal channel more gain and at that point it'll sound just like the Vibrato channel.

Then replace the 250 pf treble cap with a silver mica 250 pf cap and replace the .1 and .047 tone caps in the tone stack with a pair of .02 caps for much more of a Marshally tone.

Remove the 120pf bright cap on the bright switch and replace it with a 47 pf cap and hardwire a 47 pf cap across the volume control wiper and input. Now, that channel will be just a little brighter than it was when the bright switch was turned off and when you flip the bright switch to on, it'll be not quite as sizzley as it was stock.

Get some great speakers! I like the Weber C10Q and C10NQ and C10NT.

That should get you started!:fing2:
 
Re: My brother is a genius!

I will have to stop by Matts house when he gets it and check it out mang.
 
Re: My brother is a genius!

Cool stuff Lew. Did I mention what speakers she has been loaded with for well over a year....

:beerchug:

DSCF0228.jpg
 
Re: My brother is a genius!

Cool stuff Lew. Did I mention what speakers she has been loaded with for well over a year....

:beerchug:

DSCF0228.jpg

There ya go! Ted makes my favorite 10" speakers. I like Celestions for 12's but Weber's for 10's. Good choice! :lmao:
 
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