Adding a gain stage
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- Ashton
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Adding a gain stage
Kia ora
Have a Kaosamp eye of horus 30 watt amp
Currently pushing it with a JHS Angry Charlie as only source of additional gain/drive.....the Charlie didn't seem to have the effect i was after....have used EP boosterand SD1 in the past on my other amps to good results.
Amp has real good quality glass in form of Svetlanas etc
It is described by the builder as more akin to a classic rock amp circuit, and they build more high gain amps which this obviously not.
Wanting to know what would be work involved and cost to add an additional gain stage mod?
Or should I just look at a higher gain distortion pedal in front end
Any advice is good advice....love the amp but just want a bit more grrrrrrrrr
Have a Kaosamp eye of horus 30 watt amp
Currently pushing it with a JHS Angry Charlie as only source of additional gain/drive.....the Charlie didn't seem to have the effect i was after....have used EP boosterand SD1 in the past on my other amps to good results.
Amp has real good quality glass in form of Svetlanas etc
It is described by the builder as more akin to a classic rock amp circuit, and they build more high gain amps which this obviously not.
Wanting to know what would be work involved and cost to add an additional gain stage mod?
Or should I just look at a higher gain distortion pedal in front end
Any advice is good advice....love the amp but just want a bit more grrrrrrrrr
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- robthemac
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Re: Adding a gain stage
Adding a gain stage within the amp is doable but expensive, give relatively little tonal versatility and I'd imagine reduce resale value.
Adding a boost/OD/distortion/fuzz up front gives you a thousand options to get the sound you like, and chop and change later if you feel the need.
Adding a boost/OD/distortion/fuzz up front gives you a thousand options to get the sound you like, and chop and change later if you feel the need.
- Reg18
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Re: Adding a gain stage
I know you can buy things like the hot mods for Marshall amps, it’s like a proper extra tube gain stage that you add in place of the V1 but not sure if that would work here.
If you had the schematic I’m
Sure there will be people on here that can advise on potential mods, Mike C?
If you had the schematic I’m
Sure there will be people on here that can advise on potential mods, Mike C?
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Re: Adding a gain stage
The cheaper option is to try some different pedals: buy one and if it doesn't work, you can sell it on; rinse and repeat. Then at least you'll know whether it's an option or not. Then you can decide if you want to invest more in this amp trying to get it to do what you want, or move it on for something that does.
I had a tendency to use distortion pedals for heavy tones rather than boosting the amp, I guess that could be an option to investigate too?
I had a tendency to use distortion pedals for heavy tones rather than boosting the amp, I guess that could be an option to investigate too?
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- robthemac
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Re: Adding a gain stage
If you want to borrow a Source Audio LA Lady (boost/OD/fuzz modeller) to see what flavour float your boat, I'm sure we could work something out. It has about fifty different pedal models in it, and they sound more than good enough.
Last edited by robthemac on Tue Jan 17, 2023 11:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
- MiniForklift
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Re: Adding a gain stage
Personally I’d just go with the pedal option and leave the amp as how it was originally designed. Pretty confident you’d be able to get what you’re after with a carefully considered pedal or two running into the front
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- Ashton
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Re: Adding a gain stage
Thanks for the feedback everyone....
Me thinks ill just go with the consensus and just start trialling some distortion pedals
Have sold the Angry Charlie so got a bit of cash for some pedals now
Hooroo
Me thinks ill just go with the consensus and just start trialling some distortion pedals
Have sold the Angry Charlie so got a bit of cash for some pedals now
Hooroo
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Re: Adding a gain stage
What Reg said.Reg18 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 10:41 am I know you can buy things like the hot mods for Marshall amps, it’s like a proper extra tube gain stage that you add in place of the V1 but not sure if that would work here.
If you had the schematic I’m
Sure there will be people on here that can advise on potential mods, Mike C?
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Re: Adding a gain stage
Have you heard the demo on the kaosamp site? The Horus sounds pretty hi-gain to me (sounds bloody nice), are you getting similar gain to the demo and you just want more? http://www.kaosamp.com/?page_id=91
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Re: Adding a gain stage
I had a heavily modded Marshall jcm800 that Ryan modded for me. He added an extra gain stage. It was handy to have the gain stage there as it worked well with all of the mods that he'd done, but in reality, you could achieve the same result by using an overdrive pedal
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Re: Adding a gain stage
Er... for some of us on here, that is low gain...MikeC wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:07 pm Have you heard the demo on the kaosamp site? The Horus sounds pretty hi-gain to me (sounds bloody nice), are you getting similar gain to the demo and you just want more? http://www.kaosamp.com/?page_id=91
(assuming you're referencing the soundcloud clip)
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Re: Adding a gain stage
Yeah I wasDanger Mouse wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:22 pmEr... for some of us on here, that is low gain...MikeC wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:07 pm Have you heard the demo on the kaosamp site? The Horus sounds pretty hi-gain to me (sounds bloody nice), are you getting similar gain to the demo and you just want more? http://www.kaosamp.com/?page_id=91
(assuming you're referencing the soundcloud clip)
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Re: Adding a gain stage
Depending on the circuit you might find an additional preamp tube will add more noise along with more gain, I had an amp which had a push pull for extra gain stage and I preferred running an OD into it instead as it got the same gain but way less noise... YMMV... Try a joyo sweet baby, makes every amp sound betterer!
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