Sweet new custom head build...

Phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria

watch where you point that sabre
..not me who did the building :laugh2:

It's a low-to-medium gain head with some sweet Fenderish cleans. Gain-wise it can do the Plexi-type thing (Class A/B) or sound Vox-ish (Class A) and has a blend knob at the back that blends Class A/B & A...

Goes from jangly rock (rock 'n Roll, blues & AC/DC) to early (70's) Priest/Maiden type tones with the gain cranked...the cleans are just great sounding & really lush/full/sweet..


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Specs:

40 Watts (4/8/16 ohm speaker outputs)
Solid Teak-wood dovetailed enclosure with leather handle
Tubes: 3x12AX7 / 4xEL84
Class A/AB Switching/blending
Cathode Biased
2 Channels + Lead Boost
Switches between Pentode/Triode modes
Built in tube monitoring/matching
Pre & post gain control on lead channel
Separate volume control for clean channel
3-band passive EQ
Footswitch out
DI/XLR out with speaker simulation
Spring Reverb with level control
Volt-meter
FX loop

I'm not the greatest clean player, I've screwed around on the clean channel & the tones are incredible...just wish I knew how to do a bit more with them. Hopefully this amp will inspire me to learn lol. .. but with some gain it's a treat jamming the blues (sweet, warm & "hollow" sounding) & crashing/jangly 50's-70's stuff sounds nuts too ...this absolutely crushes for both. AC/DC, Zep, Skynrd, SRV ..it's all in there.

It's also shockingly responsive and the slightest angling of the pick/change in fingerboard pressure (digging in) is immediately obvious tone-wise although it stays warm & super sweet right through and never ever sounds even remotely harsh or clinical. The lead tones are amazing, vintage & fat ...and with the gain cranked it's liquid smooth with a ton of sweet sustain & really tasty overtones.. (yes ..it will do shred :D)

All in all this is a joy to play (and behold) and quite a big departure from all my other amps sound-wise...the DI out works great and actually sounds pretty awesome as well...all in all I look forward to spending some quality time with this baby.. :bigthumb:
 
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Re: Sweet new custom head build...

4 el34 and only 40w output? sounds interesting.
 
Re: Sweet new custom head build...

Wow, that is too nice to ever leave the house....
 
Re: Sweet new custom head build...

40w out of four el84's is running them hot! betcha it sound nice though
 
Re: Sweet new custom head build...

What brand is the amp? Someone has just made the box obviously.

I like it and if it was mine i would do a graphic finish on it haha.
 
Re: Sweet new custom head build...

Thanks all! I bought it from a guy I know locally who makes/mods stuff himself (mostly just for his own use). He makes killer hi-fi tube amps as well..

@Mincer: Yeah, you're right haha .. it's probably not going to, for one thing ..Teak is'nt lightweight! Secondly, I can't see myself using this with my (death/doom metal) band...although it actually does get pretty METAL :p with the volume cranked & gain up ..not what I want it for though :laugh2:

@Kramer: ha...you'd do a graphic finish on anything. All it needs is a bunch of spiderman stickers slapped all over it :rolleyes:

@Dankstar: It sounds pretty awesome with pedals...OD's included. But I prefer plugging straight into my amp's and this one's no different. But like I said ..cranked it will do anything, it really works those power tubes.. gets blistering loud too..
 
Re: Sweet new custom head build...

Just recorded a couple of little mono clips from the speaker-emulated XLR output (silent recording with my loadbox in place).. just raw amp tone with a bit of it's own spring reverb (@ about 10 o'clock)..no other fx.

Setting: Pentode mode , centered @ 12 o'clock between Class A & A/B modes,

Treble: 1 o'clock
Mids: 1 o'clock
Bass: 10 o'clock
Gain: 2 o'clock
No Boost
Pre: 2 o'clock
Master: 11 o'clock

Excuse the crappy playing.. (I have'nt been doing much of that lately :p )




Triode Mode:

 
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Re: Sweet new custom head build...

Messed around some more..(working on my 70's porn score chops!) this time with my middle pup ('lil Screamin Demon) & dialled the pre-amp level back/cranked the output tubes for a funky kinda sound..EQ & other settings are about the same as the clips above except I pushed the treble up to about 3 0'clock & dialled the presence back a fair bit as well (9 o'clock)..



This is a pretty different amp to dial in than the rest of my hi-gain stuff ...so I'm still experimenting, but it's got a lot of sounds in it that I like and has a really 'smooth as butter' feel to it which is awesome to experience while playing. The speaker sim ouput does a decent job for recording, but it does slightly alter the tone...a bit more compression/less treble/sparkle or something maybe...nothing too drastic though. Still should sound just fine in a mix & def a lot better/more useable than the speaker sims in my other amps.

After I switched the pre tubes for JJ's it got a bit darker & thicker than before, but dialling back the pre level and messing around with the pentode/triode & Class A / A/B switches changes everything around quite a bit..so I'm pretty happy with the JJ's in there now (and russian 6P14P output tubes). Got a bit gainier too :p .
 
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Re: Sweet new custom head build...

Thanks..yeah, that's pretty handy though I've hardly used anything in there yet..just tested it to see if it works a couple of times.

Kinda had my hands full dialling it in ..mostly because I'm not really familiar with low gain/vintage sort of amps in general...never owned (or even played :laugh2:) one with less than 'Brutal' levels of gain before :p

Plus.. between the Class A - Class A/B dial, pre & post gain levels, triode pentode switch etc this one actually has more fiddly stuff than most of my high gain heads which are more 'set your EQ & crank the gain to where it feels good' type heads...
 
Re: Sweet new custom head build...

Ok..one last clip to round it out ..this time with the neck pup (SD Hotrails). All clips are with my Jackson Dinky btw (Deathbucker bridge/lil Screamin Demon middle/Hotrails neck)

Some minor EQ adjusments ..& added a bit of presence (it's up @ almost 3 o'clock) and reverb (@about 2 o'clock)..switched the amp back to Triode Mode as well..

 
Re: Sweet new custom head build...

That's cool. Now you just need to throw a Vintage 30 in an old 50's organ cabinet.

Screenshot_2017-11-26-10-54-32.jpg
 
Re: Sweet new custom head build...

Yeah, it would look sweet on top of something like that. Right now it's going into my metal-grilled Camo 4x12 ..which is a bit of a mis-match looks-wise :laugh2:

Also, I may have solved my 'dialling it in' issues ...turns out I had a bad output tube :laugh2: Maybe not totally dead but shorted out in some way or just on the way out. I'd noticed that volume was still bleeding through with the master turned right down to zero and I asked the guy who made it about that. He said it should'nt be happening & to check my output tubes. The set I'd popped in it were a "stop-gap" used old set I'd pulled from another amp (thought they still worked) while I ordered a new set of 6P14P's online. Those came in yesterday, so in they went right away ....and boom ...dead silent on Zero! No more sound leaking through...controls more responsive & it also got a bit brighter & tighter ..sounds like sugar!
 
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Re: Sweet new custom head build...

Thanks! It sounds awesome with all the dirt pedals I've tried in front of it..everything from mild OD's to full-on metal distortion, also sounds sweet/lush with delays & modulation-type effects in the loop. I'd say it takes pedals just great :)
 
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