18Watt.com

My new build superlite has great qualities, sweet harmonics, beautiful power tube distortion, etc, but it's a bit darker than my TMB MV build.
I'm not good at describing tone, but I'll give it a try.

At full volume and full gain, bass at 9, mid at 3 and treble maxed, it sounds a bit closer to what I want.

With my PEQ, I set to everything above 780k boosted 3db and everything below 360k cut, about 3db, it's better.

Over all I'd say it's a dark amp for what I want.
Kinda like a pillow in front of the cab.
Where should I start?

found this tone shaping tool. Between this and the schematic notes, I'll figure something out.

https://www.guitarscience.net/tsc/marsh ... pot=Linear

The Superlite TMB is not a dark amp. If you describe it as such, then I'd check your speaker choice first, and then the wiring in the tone stack next.

Every tone control plays together:

gkwallace wrote: ↑

Fri 11/29/24 5:43 pm

bass at 9, mid at 3 and treble maxed, it sounds a bit closer to what I want.

If you want the amp brighter, nearly maxing the bass is the opposite of what you want.

Mid at 3 is a darker position. Mid and high-mid affect the brightness of the amp too. Mid cutting won't help. Most of guitar's range is in the mids section.

Adjusting tone should start with all tone knobs at 50%, and tweak by ear, not preconception. That's why I don't put numbers on my amp knobs. I want people to listen when they turn knobs.

Besides that, look at the notes section in the build docs. ZP's Jalapeno tone stack is the brighter version. If you used a 25k pot for mid, or a lower value bright cap (the 500pF), that would also make it darker.

Thanks,
Josh

i meant 9 o'clock not 9 out of 10.
Bass at 9 o'clock or off.
mid at 3 o'clock
treble 10 or 5 o'clock.

With a tube screamer I can get it almost perfect with the tone turned the brightest. Both of my TS clones have a mid hump.

Basically my only issue is the bass needs to tighten up or less of it.

My V1A and V1B plate voltages are about 25v higher than the schematic. Would bringing the plate voltages down help with the flabby bass or darkness?

As for speaker choice, I agree. They are Vintage 30's. 20 or 25's would be better. My TMB MV was absolutely perfect. This new build has the speakers distorting on the low end at full volume and not the good kind. My other amp would/could not do that.

JMPGuitars wrote: ↑

Fri 11/29/24 10:24 pm

The Superlite TMB is not a dark amp.

I wired like the layout exactly as if you were looking at the back of the pots or the inside of the amp.
They layout shows pin 1 of the pots as grounds or input.
The schematic is the exact opposite.
I think everything on pin one needs to be swapped to pin 3 and 3 to 1.

No, the layout matches the schematic. Pin 3 would be the farthest left in the drawing. They're upside down.

JMPGuitars wrote: ↑

Sat 11/30/24 12:40 am

No, the layout matches the schematic. Pin 3 would be the farthest left in the drawing. They're upside down.

Been looking at other layouts and figured that out.
Back to square one.

Thanks for putting up with me buddy.

We all started somewhere. What speaker is in the amp?

Vintage 30s

That's weird. V30s are usually too bright for 18W amps. If yours are too dark, then there's probably something going on.

Before we go nuts, try this: Bass: 4, Mid: 7, High: 6 and tell us what that sounds like. Also have the volume up a little if you can.