Hybrid Tube and IC overdrive/distortion stompbox

[ag2217]

Aron,
         I've finally settled on n old hammond tube amp theat I will be incorporating into my design. Yet, I don't know whether I should have the IC amp placed before or after the hammond section. Which oe will give a natural overdrive sound? The tube running into the IC's or visa versa? The ic part has volume and gain controls and is avariant off of the ruby/smokey amp projects. I figure with this device put together it should give a nice smooth tube sound but with a little kick. Can you give me some pointers or set me straight as to how I should proceed? If you need I can send you the schematics of both devices I'm looking to meld together...

Bill
ag2217@yahoo.com

[aron]

Could go either way, but I would put the IC before the tubes. That way it's more likely that the tubes will be the section that will give warmth to your sound. Sounds to me like a very fun project!

[petemoore]

I've finally settled on n old hammond tube amp theat I will be incorporating into my design.
 Already sounds interesting, is it an output amp, a preamp, or both?
  Yet, I don't know whether I should have the IC amp placed before or after the hammond section.
 I don't know that you have a choice, if you have an IC, I would guess it goes before the preamp and output amp.
 Which oe will give a natural overdrive sound?
 Output Amp so they and I say..lol [while being -overdriven? by preamp -booster? and...variably loaded by 'natural' sounding speakers]
 The tube running into the IC's or visa versa?
 You'll probably end up having to follow an order like:
 Source>Small signal device like IC > Preamp > OutputAmp >Speaker
  The ic part has volume and gain controls and is avariant off of the ruby/smokey amp projects. I figure with this device put together it should give a nice smooth tube sound but with a little kick. Can you give me some pointers or set me straight as to how I should proceed? If you need I can send you the schematics of both devices I'm looking to meld together...
 A General description, will probably make it easy to get interested in the Hammond part[s. Schematic first, anytime you want to take a look at a circuit. Just for browsing, I don't know exactly what a Hammond 'is', other than an old tube amp like you described, but how many watts, what was it originally intended for?
 I would read up on amps, repair/care/and maintanence for it, shop for tubes, inspect and consider caps. Very nice !        

[alextheian-alex]

I agree with Pete on the signal flow.  Best bet is to wire up a SS input stage that has a lot of headroom but still enough signal swing to overdrive the tube stages, and take the neccessary precautions against RF interference, etc.  Also use it as a chance to limit the bandwidth some... if you are going with an IC, then a high pass filter in the ground leg and a low pass filter in the feedback loop will work.  Then the tube stages.

The SS input before the tube is good to kick the first tube stage into overdrive... that way you are not wasting a triode stage that is not going to get overdriven.  Then that stage will clip itself, and drive the next tube stage into overdrive, etc.