18Watt.com

Hi

I am thinking about buying the JC18 kit from TubeTown, is it even possible to do some type of José/Cali mod on this amp to get it a little hotter than the original layout ? Yeah I have built amps before and I build my own pedals so I am more than well familiar with electronics in general.

It would be cool if this amp is possible to get to sound super hot, even though it´s only 18 watts.

Thanks guys ...

Hi Tomten
Short answer: Sure you can!
If we are talking about the basic 80s Cali style mods, like changing the cold clipper to a gain stage, and adding Jose style diode clipping before the tone stack.
If you want to push it further and add a gain stage you might as well do a scratch build instead of a kit.

I built a SLO style preamp into an 18 watt power amp with parts from Tube Town, including the same transformers that's part of that kit, turned out great!
Just go crazy and have fun

Check out the Headfirst Amplification channel on YouTube if you are interested in implementing the Jose diode clipping mod to Marshall type amps. Jason Tong does a great job of showing where to put it together with a schematic. I think it's in a number of different videos but if you look for "Marshall JCM800 2204 - Headfirst Mods" you will find the schematic for his take on the Jose mod at the 38 minute mark.

Here is a link to a video at Headfirst Amps that is dedicated to
José Zener Diode clipping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GKnchp ... lification

Includes examples using a scope to show difference between symmetric vs. asymmetric clipping with zener diodes.