18watt TMB Plexi- Cascade Channel (High Gain)

[guitarz418]

how do you cascade the amp?

[paulj0557]

Oh', forgot to say what I did w/ that gutted Sound City. I took a 1969 Marshall schematic and duplicated it wire for wire and then I just started taking old caps, wax, spragues, you name it ( of course the SS is loaded with mustard caps which are my personal favorite. Capacitor brands DO matter. It was my personal amp so i could give a squat about part reliability, I was going for tone. The Partridge transformers in the SS sounded great! That amp was incredible. It's somewhere in Hollywood now..

[paulj0557]

When I was 15 ( 30 years ago) I gutted my Sound City 120 ( except for that first gain stage on the plate .0022 uf mustard Phillips cap was a so perfect! - yes capacitor brands DO matter!) My initial cascade didn't work well with the SS120 but in a Later 50 watt Sound City head it sounded perfect w/ a phase inverter master volume.

Amp building is not difficult and if you get a good supply of old parts you can really get creative. One of the easiest mods is to experiment w/ cathode caps & res.

[chiliBartas]

is this amp off?

[Wilq59r]

this tone is fucking gold

[metart93]

Hey man, im looking into buying one of these amps, and i was wondering if you knew what the differences are between the plain old 18 Watt, the 18 Watt TMB, and the 18 Watt TMB EF86.

Any help would be greatly appreciated dude!

PS, congrats on puttin that thing together, sounds killer!

[FingerLickinGravy67]

could you jump the 2 channels of the normal and the tmb like they do with plexis and get more gain that way? on plexis they mostly do it for diferent sounds and blend but these are different...like plug into normal 1 and put a jumper from normal 2 to the tmb ...never seen someone do that on these amps before, wondering if it'd work.

[diesect33]

Nice man! I'm looking into building amps at some point and i'm starting mods. Any points of reference/resources you'd recomend?

[ROCKxGUITARxPADAWAN]

Anthem by Trivium? Nice!

[hvrock13]

Hey man, I just ordered this kit, without mods of course.. But I was wondering if you could tell me the dimensions of the chassis? I found a cab on ebay, and the dimensions seem like it might fit, but it's a larger cab. If anything I think the TMB is on the smaller size, so I doubt height is a worry. If you could get back to me quick that'd be great, the auction ends in a day.

[pinkypimpalicous]

Ok my man, got my Marshall back today, with this supposed Lee Jackson mod, with new tubes (el34s and 12AX7s) and this mod....SOUNDS COMPLETELY STOCK! They stressed I would still need an overdrive pedal but then what the hell was the point of the mod and the fact I was charged $500 for the fucking mod???? WHAT A SHIT LOAD OF FUCK! I asked him if they did the one wire mod and he looked at me funny and said he had no idea what I was talking about. ASS!!!

[tapper45]

@pinkypimpalicous

demand your money back.

unsatisfied with the service, you don't have to pay.

the law is on your side.

you don't pay for steak that you don't want.

don't pay for the amp mod either.

you can really harass the place that did it.

bad word of mouth is the kiss of death for them.

enter negative posts on craigslist about the quality of service.

my buddy has a t shirt business and whenever somebody we know has a problem we put it on FREE tshirts and give them out = TAX BREAK!

[pinkypimpalicous]

@tapper45 wow....I really appreciate your advice. The guy indeed got hostile when I busted him for his lack of work, to be honest. He showed me a bill and it didn't even say anything about mods and the amp sounds completely stock, which sucks. I still have to throw an MXR Distortion + and 10 Band EQ to give me the gain I want. Its not bad, but its certainly not what I paid for. I still owed him a couple hundred for the "mod" but after I confronted him about it, he stopped asking me for it.

[Ureallydontknow]

@pinkypimpalicous you asked him to cascade the channels and he did. your mad cause it didn't sound like how you want it to sound. but when you dropped it off you didn't say make it sound awesome, you just told him to cascade the channels. thats another example of people who dont know what they are asking for and get mad at the tech who is following orders from the customer who "knows exactly what he wants". have you even tried putting a clean boost in front. your guitar volume is more to blame.

[pinkypimpalicous]

@Ureallydontknow you couldn't be more wrong. First of all, the 1978 Marshall JMP 2204 is ALREADY CASCADED. He did NOT cascade the preamp, the Marshall factory already did that before they sold the freakin thing! I told the motherfucker I wanted the amp to sound like Randy Rhoads' amp, word for word and when I got it back, it did NOT. I know exactly what I am doing, as far as pedals, guitar volume, guitar brand, pickup, etc. The amp should have sounded, without pedals, like a 1959RR.

[Ureallydontknow]

@tapper45 the argument is good on both sides. I agree that there is a huge mark up in custom work or any handmade pedal. I sell pedals. always lookin for suckers to buy something overpriced and so is the next guy. but if you come to me for work and you dont pay for my time then you are a grade A scumbag. worse than me, who is just looking for stupid rich people, your ripping someone off after you promised to pay. if you think were scumbags, just stay away.

[Ureallydontknow]

@tapper45 the argument is good on both sides. I agree that there is a huge mark up in custom work or any handmade pedal. I sell pedals. always lookin for suckers to buy something overpriced and so is the next guy. but if you come to me for work and you dont pay for my time then you are a grade A scumbag. worse than me, who is just looking for stupid rich people, your ripping someone off after you promised to pay. if you think were scumbags, just stay away or do your own mods.

[punkeratheart]

Wow, that actually almost sounds like a high-gain 6L6 amp, in a good way I mean. Very clear at the highest saturation points. Excellent job. I was actually looking at ordering one of these. I had an older one that I screwed up trying to cascade the TMB channel in to the EF86, and I couldn't get it to work so I swapped it for an old hammond, but now I want another 18 watter. Are you far from RI? I'd like to be a customer of yours if you are still doing this.

[pinkypimpalicous]

I am freakin serious, dude. You got a hell of a talent. I just sent my 78 Marshall JMP to an amp tech, I been waiting for 4 weeks and its gonna cost me $350 to do what you did to your amp. I really hope you get back into mods, run a business from your home! Take advantage of this gift you have :)

[call1800ksmyazz]

@pinkypimpalicous

Damn, that's a ridiculous price to charge for something like this. But I know that's what most techs/modders charge. I dont know if you have checked out my other videos but you should. I used to design and build effects pedals too and I was actually selling those out of my house for a while.  I was also selling modded Valve Junior heads. I also have a video of the VF-10 amp that I designed from scratch and built and that came out great.

[pinkypimpalicous]

@call1800ksmyazz Yeah thats amazing, man. I see sites that these guys in Canada want you to SHIP your amp to them and not only pay between $400 and $600 but you gotta risk losing your amp head and them running with your money. Then add on shipping prices. Its a shame, and its so limited to find a good amp tech. I had to search for years to finally get lucky and find one by word of mouth. You do outstanding work, please keep it up :)

[punkeratheart]

@pinkypimpalicous I do some modifications in my area, and I have NEVER asked anyone to ship me their amp. It's just not the way you do it. If i was building and selling amps, I would have an ebay store like Jim Frenzel, that way paypal covers everything so people are safe, but doing mods, you really gotta find someone local.......OR........OR......­..you can learn to do it yourself! $350 to cascade two stages that are already there in a PTP circuit? It's a 1 hour job!

[pinkypimpalicous]

@punkeratheart oh dude, I got majorly boned. My amp is STILL in the shop, now he is telling me he is doing a Lee Jackson Mod and I been waiting since last we spoke and before that. I am so pissed. $350 for this crap! You see why you should get back into modding? Because of assholes like who I have to deal with :(

[punkeratheart]

@pinkypimpalicous I still do it from time to time, but I have kinda gotten wrapped up in building solid wood cabinets. I enjoy it more, and it's something that fewer people are doing, so I can actually add something to the local music scene. I play through my own cabs, and I love the results, maybe even more than the circuit mods.

[punkeratheart]

@pinkypimpalicous Man, I just lisened to this and a few other vids from this kid, and I want HIM to mod MY amps! Seriously, this kid's good. I can't do what he did here, I just get it wrong. This is not the simple bare bones circuit that used to be the majority of 18 watt amps, although being a PTP circuit in a big chassis helps. Still, this kid had me beat when he was 15.

[MYTUBEISAPUSSY]

@call1800ksmyazz

7 hours x 50 bucks = 350 $ .....iz the labor not the parts that makes modding seem to be expensive.

it is rather ridiculous to charge 850 $ for a stinky normal original amp kit of a 18W amp like many on the web do ! better off buy a used one out of the paper ads & mod it !!!

[pinkypimpalicous]

If you were 15 and modding amps, you seriously should be working somewhere like LA Sound Design. You could be making a fortune! You could even charge people $500 an amp to do this to their amps. You are sitting on a gold mine, man.

[call1800ksmyazz]

@pinkypimpalicous

Wow thank you so much, I'm now 18 and in college for electrical engineering and hopefully my future leads me back into amp modding/building. I really appreciate the complement!

[gemather]

Hellon,

like i asked my guitarist, didnt you use a treble boost to individualise your guitar signal from the state of art the amp is build in?

[DaOtherResngit]

would thisamp be loud enough for a high school auditorium?

[cudamax2343]

Wow Real nice Sound! That Thing Rocks

[danstortion]

What a voice... very strange.

But a great amp!

[68LPC]

please please please. make another video without the pedal or atleast tell us how much the pedal is boosting the signal/what kinda pedal it is

[DLOWSHIT]

No pedal was used he used the stock Marshall input then modded it to output to the TMB stage. That way you use all the tubes and get more gain.

[BluesRocker52]

Which speakers do you have in that Avatar cab? Sounds great. Could you do a video with as clean a sound as you can get through your amp? I'm interested in one of these but amp concerned it may not have enough clean headroom for what I am required to play. Thanks...

[TheSoyuken]

amazing!!

[SearchInSun]

Hi hey did you buy this off auction on ebay or did your build yourself? Thanks

[MYTUBEISAPUSSY]

IN ALMOST EVERY COUNTRY

you can by 1000's of these kits for DIY

there is a heck full of websites offering exactly what you see here !

type in 18W-kit tube kit or something like that.....

[klextacy]

Awesome tone, man! Really nice job on the amp.

[x3vanG21x]

totally dig the tone. i'm in the early stage of a ceriatone dizzy30 build right now. after its up and running im gonna open it up and hot rod it.

how's ceriatone worked out for you?

[bobadaddy]

running these amps naked is kinda scary. there's lethal voltage running through so many components

[ci4]

not really... it has a closed metal case = earthed = safe....

[gabdeusex]

its less dangerous than mains outlet in the walls :)

[TheGatheringStorms]

gabdeusex:

An amp is is much more dangerous than a wall outlet. I've been shocked by wall outlets many times. If you get a really good shock it could leave your arm numb for a while, but you'd have to do something really stupid for it to hurt or kill you (not to say it couldn't happen).

But touch the leads of a big capacitor or a tube on an amplifier and you're in for a world of hurt. I'd still say it probably wouldn't kill you. Then again, a 9 volt battery can kill you, if used properly.

[TheGatheringStorms]

I don't understand why people are always so afraid of electricity... I know it can be dangerous, but if you just understand some basics and know what you shouldn't touch, there's really nothing to be paranoid about.

Rules of the thumb: the bigger it is, the more dangerous it it. Just because it's off, doesn't meant it's off.

You know what they say: people fear what they don't understand. If you're afraid of electricity, it's probably because you just don't understand it.

[Ureallydontknow]

if the house is wired wrong you die. so when you go to your friends house with your amp dont touch the grounded chassi until you inspect his wiring

[Acidrain1993]

dude this is sick. where did u get this amp and how much was it? i want one NOW. also how much would this mod cost?

[TotalAmputation360]

thats not a mod its just jumping the two channels

[rousejeremy]

Awesome

[bgkyt1]

can you give a location for a schematic or diagram of the plexi mod? I also would like to hear it without the pedal...thanks

[GroovyGuitar02]

me too want some more information on the mod !

[yoyodunno]

That sound warms my heart lol. Sounds great, I want to build my own marshall clone too, i'm just not sure which one is the best for that high gain british tone.

[GroovyGuitar02]

you should try the 2061x : mini-plexi . sounds really like a 1959 but 20w !

[punkeratheart]

I know I'm late to the party (replying to a year-old comment) but check out some of the kits at Triode Electronics. The best "High-Gain British tone" is subjective, but they have really good marshall kits. I play punk, little blues, dirty reggae, and even some borderline metal tones, but not modern metal. "High-Gain" to me is a JCM-800. I can't imagine needing more gain than that, and it's clear and articulate, multi-dimensional and defined, even at full-throttle,and it can get VERY saturated.

[yobhsiFehT]

What kind of OD pedal did you have in front?

[and1424]

Hey!

Post a clip with the cascaded gain stages, but without the overdrive pedal so we can hear the difference.

[rasomaso]

So how do you engage the cascade mode?

[patchcords]

Your amp sounds great !

[Tomislav448]

sorry mate, but in my opinion anyone who plays a guitar through an amplifier amd sets the middle control (middle is the guitar's frequency area) is just a simple ignorant fool.

cool amp though

[PA28140]

Are you saying the middle control is good turned up or down..

[gwaryourself]

hahaha yes. derrr-Tomislav-derrr

[koflan]

I like to think that the sound that comes out of the amp is what's important, not what the line on the knob looks like.

[mlakerman]

nice crunchy sound :D

[waldroc942]

Nah. Putting an overdrive pedal in front of the amp just messes it up too much. Sounds like someone jumping around in a bucket of gravelly concrete or something. Detracts too much from the sound of a good tube amp. But that's just my opinion, and it may just be that it was not a good recording. I'm a purist and just like the sound of a cranked valve (tube) amp on its own.

Colin

[gwaryourself]

fuck yeah

[guitarlad24]

pedals are cheating

[SPAMMYWHOSPAM]

trivium sucks ass ;)

[YouSpamTard]

Great sound. years ago, I took and old Marshall head and added an ecc83 to it. I ran the signal through half of that ecc83, then ran that boosted signal through the other half of the ecc83, then I ran that back into the original amp stage, or maybe it was back into the original pre-amp stage? Its been years.

What cabinet are you using and what speakers? What pedal are you using? Thanks a bunch. You got a killer great sound going on here. Crunch without noise, that is where its at! :)

[JacoThe2nd]

Can you just jumper the TMB and the normal channel to 'cascade' it? Or is there more to that? I'm planning on building one of these puppies :D

[slash65]

There's more to that. Jumping channels on a plexi is like using both pickups on a Les Paul (or really any other guitar) so it won't give you a lot of extra gain. The Cascade mode takes the gain from the normal channel and adds the gain on the TMB channel to it. Nik at Ceriatone can do it for you.

[66Metalforlife66]

Sounds good

[dinesalone]

thats a great tone, serisouly.

[adimirea]

It's a great modern tone; i really like it; i think i will try to make one; i am having second thoughts between building a low-watt tube amp or buying one (epi valve jr, blackheart, peavey valveking, crate V series... there are plenty out there)

Anyway, good video it helped me. And don't listen to those noobs criticize this amp :)

Tube-sweet distortion is in there. Oh and try to crank it sometime, and use JUST a booster pedal (that just raises the signal, without changing it, to hear the amp)

[fabzzzxxx]

good fat sound great !!!!

[ltdan123]

sounds like shit.

[takitezy7]

Throw away your pedal. Get an attenuator (eg. like the ultimate attenuator). Make sure you have a G12H in your cab. CRANK IT! If you could hear what im talking about you'll be slapping yourself silly!

[ltdan123]

sounds like crap with the mids all the way down, let it get some of that marshall roar! sounds way too tinny.

[tkrotz]

Nice Queenswrekian riff, and nice amp, too, dude! Don't let the naysayers bring you down! What is the tube/ transfomer complement?

[ly32193]

ahaha hes going thro puberty thats great lol

[FuchsTone66]

Do some sound clips without the overdrive pedal. Let us know how the amp really sounds. OD pedals cut bass and boosts mids which will make any amp sound decent in overdrive mode.

[likawildcougar]

that sounds REALLY good

[Diisafatslag]

TRIVIUM WTF

[T3hVid30Cr1tic]

Fuck those posers.

[Diisafatslag]

ok :)

[T3hVid30Cr1tic]

I think there was some confusion.

LOL

[Diisafatslag]

kk. shit amp

[DKMGDash]

scooping your mids ftl

[AirHendrix91]

Lawl, nice.

[pcollenYT]

What type Avatar cab, open of closed back, and what speakers. The amp sounds nice and crisp...notes/chords are distinct even at high gain, not muddy. Ceriatone amp, hey...

[wfd57fatman]

Now let be demonstrate the components under the chassis. This large lead is the filter capacitor just after the rectifier stage. With a firm left hand grip of the chassis, I will now touch this lead with my car keys held with my right hand... PPPZZZZzzzzzzzzttttttttttt...P­Tttpppfffffffzzzz.. *Pif*

[Shaun32887]

Wow, for a 15 year old this is pretty incredible.

But yes, for the love of God, add some mids.

[ErlendG]

What's up with your voice?

[call1800ksmyazz]

It wasnt deep at the time I filmed this. I was 15 here, I am 16 now and yes my voice is a lot deeper.

[NoelTheMole]

yeah man, a little mid would be nice

[zenshift]

try adding some mids dude.. just a little... roll of the bass

[syn5643]

Best girl guitarist ive ever heard

[call1800ksmyazz]

Wow... im a guy lol.

This was just before my voice got deeper.

[syn5643]

my bad, sorry.

[hammy022]

LOL LOL LOL

Ouch.

[kwm488]

Hi

your amp sound is great. i like this high gain distortion. where do you live? USA?

i am plaining to bulid Plexi 100 and 18w TMB also. do you mind to give me some idea? are you follow ceriatone 18w TMB layout to do?

thank

[Gywhard]

sounds divine!

[AndY198017680]

Nice sound.

We are the fire! =P

[pgahiwatt]

Thanks for all your help.You ROCK!Your website is pretty cool,too.All the best,man.

[call1800ksmyazz]

Thanks and same to you.

[pgahiwatt]

Can this mod be done to the tmb 36 watt? If so,is it the same procedure?

[call1800ksmyazz]

Yea Should be the same.

[pgahiwatt]

Have you tried this mod with the tmb ef86?

[call1800ksmyazz]

No, the way I showed you will not work with the EF86 and results using the EF86 will be unwanted (too much hiss from excess gain).

[pgahiwatt]

is it an internal mod or are you jumpering them through an a/b/both box?If its internal could you please let me know directions for mod?Thanks,Phil.

[call1800ksmyazz]

Its an internal mod that allows you to feed the Normal channel through the TMB channel. Send me an email at kerrynet32[at]hotmail[dot]com and I will give you the diagram for the mod.

[lotagu]

Hey dude i just added you on my hotmail. Look for wd002(at)hotmail(dot)com. I build amps too and specialize in Marshall too. I want to build a TMB...Would love to talk to youy

Thanks

Lou

[WarBeer]

Was this amp a "kit"?

[matthewmundell]

wow

thats awesome

how old are you ?

[call1800ksmyazz]

I am 16. Built it/recorded this clip when I was 15.

And thanks! Its a great amp and now I have a head cab for it so its all enclosed.

Kerry

Affectronix

[marshallEVH]

have you got any pedals?

[evhgl87]

wow. your tone has that grind without the thin-ness and lack of punch, with the tube warmth all over it at the same time. very nice job man.

sounds alot like my 6505+ that ive modded. biased resistor changed, biased 35mA, installed a MM choke replacing the cathode resistor, upgraded to a MM Output trans, heavy-duty input jack, and chunked the mallory caps off of the phase-inverter tube and went with larger spraque orange-drops.

like i said, sounds awsome dude! Ill vid soon =]

[ez45]

such a sweet amp and such a gay song.

[FastRedPonyCar]

great work man! so did your mods convert the amp into a 2 channel of sorts amp? or does the mod just at more potential gain to what the amp would have stock? What's the difference between this one and the EF86 model?

[call1800ksmyazz]

Well the amp was already 2 channels. 1 is the normal channel, and the other is with a tonestack and master volume. The cascade switch mod made it more of a 3 channel amp.

The EF86 model has a more Voxy normal channel with chimier cleans. The EF86 is a pentode tube (rather than the 12ax7 which is a dual triode tube) and is the tube used in early Voxes.

[kev2pogi]

wats ur EQ settings dude

[call1800ksmyazz]

Look at the video information and it tells you everything you need to know.

[Arlabester]

oh... dayum, you built that too?

[call1800ksmyazz]

yea

[Arlabester]

no, kerry hand builds these amps. he makes these by himself, and even designs them. im pretty sure hes using an avatar g212 with one celestion v30 and one g12. i think he may be using a TS9.

[call1800ksmyazz]

Hey Jack. Naa, not a tubescreamer. I dont like tubescreamers. Its a Marshall Bluesbreaker overdrive I built.

[PLUMBdogg]

bb-1's kill tubescreamers.

[snapascrew]

lol i could tell, im 14

[XCaptainJohnnyX]

dude turn the mids up, stop with the scooped mid crap, do this video again with all the eq's on 7

[call1800ksmyazz]

I only had scooped mids for this one clip because it was for high gain. Dont get so uptight

[XCaptainJohnnyX]

nevermind i checked out your other videos, i like the high gain one with the mid cranked. is this one of the pre-build Ceriatone amps? also, what kinda speakers are you using?

[call1800ksmyazz]

No, I built it myself. I build lots of amps. The speakers are a Hellatone 60 (broken-in Vintage 30) and Hellatone 30 (broken-in G12H30).

[XCaptainJohnnyX]

awsome work man

[XCaptainJohnnyX]

what other amps you build so far? any replicas besides the 18 watt?

[call1800ksmyazz]

Well I mostly build and sell pedals. But I recently finished my first amp design, the VF10. Theres soundclips of it on my Youtube account if you want to check it out. I also modify the Epiphone Valve Juniors into killer amps.

If you want to check me out, my website is (I have to type it like this so it lets me post this comment): affectronix[DOT]tk

[snapascrew]

are you 14?

[call1800ksmyazz]

Im 15 almost 16