Heavy distortion

[jeff]

 I've been playing with tube amps for a long time. All the amps I've build sound great(eventualy). But I've got a question. A buddy of mine is into playing heavy distortion. I want to build an amp for when I go over there. He uses a solid state amp with pedals and gets a great heavy distrotion sound(like mid era metallica) I wanted to build something to get that kinda sound but tubes is all I know. I love the sound of tubes, its great for rock and blues, but just adding more gain stages doesn't really do it, the sound gets harsh and peircing. Am I barking up the wrong tree trying to get that type of sound from tubes? Is "that sound" only obtainable from SS? Any suggestions/schematics?
He uses, I think, a boss overdrive pedal.
Should I just buy a pedal?

[TIMBO]

Well Jeff,This is your lucky day.I have only just completed the rebuild of the TOS and have not given it a full road test.So far i am able to dial in a pretty clean undistorted tonal sound all the way to a bloody awesome overdriven valve sound and i am sure there is much more tucked away in this multi voiced amp. I sure that T's version may not be as HOT as mine as i have different tubes in at the moment and i can see that the final voicing will depend on the tubes chosen making this a very versatile amp. I would have suggested the Plexi Gain 20 but the gain is extreme and hard to control the HUM/BUZZ.I am sure there is other builds that could suit your needs but the TOS has got a lot going for it.Good luck 

[jeff]

 Thanks for the suggestions. At this time I don't have any 12AY7s 5751s, or 5879s and don't know what a IRF820SPBF is but maybe I should pick some up. I was hoping there was something I could build wiht the parts I do have 12AX7s 12AU7s etc.

 One thing I did notice from glancing at the schematic is the caps across the most of the plate resistors. I'll try using some of those to see what happens. I've always thought those were there only if needed to remove oscillation problems but that may be a key to getting rid of the harshness.

 I was thinking also that maybe my speakers or OT are bad for getting a sound I want. One thing I did try was to use this Zoom effect unit I have and plug it into the power amp section. The sound I got was pretty good so I know the power amp and speaker combination CAN get the sound I want, given the right preamp.

 Thanks for the help, I'd like to try this some day just can't get new tubes right now. I'll try tweaking my 12AX7s some more for now.
 
                                                                       Jeff

[TIMBO]

Hi Jeff, I built Tone Junkies modded PLEXI and thought it was good and really liked the plexi side with the 6V6 power tubes. Mark Huss does a great version and think it could be a great base for tweaking http://mhuss.com/Plexi6V6/index.html

[Boots Deville]

I dunno if a 6V6 Plexi would have the kind of gain jeff is looking for.  I just built one for a guy, and it's a great rock n' roll amp, but it sounds like Jeff wants something beyond that in the gain department.

The Soldano SLO comes to mind.  Also there is the "Uber-Gain" over at AX84.com.  The designer just posted an update to the preamp schematic a few days ago.  That has been mated to a big-bottle SE power section I think, but depending on how adventurous you feel, you could try it with that 6V6 Plexi power amp.

The guy that runs diy-fever.com has some cool stand-alone preamps he's built, one based on the Mesa Mark IIc and the other on the SLO.  Go to the site and click on "Amps" in the top navigation bar and see if you can get to the links for those.  Unfortunately the links aren't working for me, but it could be the firewall I'm behind, or maybe it's a temporary problem.  He does have some youtube clips that can give you an idea if that's the sound you're after.

John