hiwatt in a box

[moshe_dol]

hi i would like to convert the tubs in the hiwatt dr 103 amp clean channel and soldano slo 100 clean channel to transistors. which  type and kind ill have to use ?

thanks

[g.]

check this site for inspiration

http://www.runoffgroove.com/

[Ben N]

Good luck with that. IMHO, the cleaner the tube amp, the harder it is to sim, whether in analog or digital. Still, check out Catalinbread's new SFT, which is after that huge, mostly clean tube amp sound. (OK, so it's a 70s Ampeg SVT/V4 he is after, not a Hiwatt -- same idea, really.) It's got a bunch of jfets in it, and I'm sure somebody somewhere is trying to reverse it as we speak.    A Barber LTD may not be too far off, either, especially with, say, LED clippers and a panel mount midrange.

[liquids]

Sorry to hijack, but I see this sort of request on here from time to time, but I fail to understand how to simulate a clean channel...into a clean amp.  Maybe it's a misunderstanding due to semantics, but I'd like to understand...

I do understand wanting to simulate the sound of certain amps clipping...via similar components and circuitry to the original, or different means of clipping...with tweaks for the fact that it's still a pedal and the variety of amp (frequency curves) it may be run into.

Along those lines, I get wanting to simulate a master volume (like an old marshall) amp in pedal form, one that goes from cleanish to overdriven, depending on how you run it...

But I don't understand how to simulate a clean channel.  I understand the Barb(er) EQ, which Barber designed to get a more 'blackface' EQ specifically out of tweed amps...and then added other tweaks for different tones, like the tonemender.  But That's an EQ simulation, not a 'clean channel.'    And If you run such a pedal first into a tweed amp, and then into a blackface amp, well, it's going to have a very different sound result...  

So unless you are running into a PA, you'll definitely need to take your original amps curve heavily into account.  Copying the amp's tone stack can only get you so far, IMO, since tone stacks are highly dependent on other factors, and also presumably you will be running the pedal into an amp with it's own tone stack EQ curve that should be accounted for.  

So to me, if you want a specific amps clean sound, you might design it for a specific purpose or sound, in conjunction with a particular amp to use it with (or a PA), more than saying you want a 'clean channel simulation.'  With this, you might need to know what frequency curve you are looking for as an end product, and the frequency curve of what you will be using to amplify said pedal, to see what needs to be cut/boosted, relatively speaking....or you could tweak by using your ears.  

That's not to say I don't think it's a wonderful thing to try to get one amp's tone with stompboxes.   After months working with jfet stuff, I started checking out some tube pedals, and the Matchless Hotbox 'clean channel' in particular got me thinking:  what would it be like to build a clean 'preamp' type pedal, with some basic concepts like cathode bypass caps and filtering, all designed to get a voxy/beatles/chimey type EQ sound out of my current (clean, modded fender) amp?  I've had some satisfying results, thought I'm not A/Bing against another amp (or original schematics) as much as going for the sound in my head and records.  I'm sure what I have would work horribly with many other amps and rigs, since I'm designing it around my particular amp...

Anyone with more insight into what I'm missing about wanting to convert amp X's clean channel to 9v, please clue me in.  

[markeebee]

I guess it depends on the definition of 'clean'.  That'll be the semantics you mentioned. 

Surely 'clean' is just an absence of 'drive'. Like dark is just an absence of light.  So by aiming to recreate a Hiwatt, or whatever, we're aiming for some kind of sonic 'late afternoon' type thing.  And many people would consider voxy/beatles/chimy sounds to be 'clean'.  In a kinda teatime sort of way. 

Nope, sorry, really lost the plot of this one....