Carolina Overdrive Special (& Tweed OD Lite reverb)

[tubenit]

The Carolina Overdrive Special was the predecessor to the Tweed Overdrive Special.  It uses a D_mble style topology but with a 5879 in the second OD stage.  It has a D_mble type tone stack.

The Carolina OD has comparable singing sustain to the Tweed OD. And with the PAB and mid engaged, it has incredible harmonics and sort of a vowel/wah tone with pick attack.

The one I have has the one tube reverb & it has VVR which is VERY helpful in getting the driven OD tone at lower volumes. The VVR is a must have for me in recording driven OD tones. I've gotten alot of compliments with this amp with the band live. It cuts thru the mix just great.

With respect, Tubenit

[tubenit]

I tried some more experimenting with this amp and wired the master volume up differently around the DPDT switch.

I can not say that it improved the amp's tone overall. However, the OD pots are more easily adjusted this way and I like that feature.

And the reverb is waaayy better which surprised me. Even richer and fuller sounding without being boingy.

The downside is the clean channel is not as smooth sounding and for some reason has a little overdrive in it now.

Just another way of approaching the same amp. This way the controls are easier to adjust. Other than the reverb, the tone is not improved.

with respect, Tubenit

EDIT:  I wanted to get the improved reverb and OD control ........... BUT recapture the original great sounding clean channel.
I did it!   It took removing the 330k resistor and adding a 330k to OD level and 100k to Mstr vol and then adding a bright cap to each of those pots. Sounds really really great to me now!  Best of both worlds.   4/16/10

TWEED OD Lite

This is like the T-Lite 5879 OD except with a tweed type tone stack.  Sounds great. Has LOTS of sustain and those Billy G type squawks when you pick it hard.

I am using a 5751 in the V1 position and the LTPI.

Soundclip of Tweed OD Lite using 5881's:

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=9575220&q=hi&newref=1

Here is a soundclip of the Tweed OD Lite using 6V6's and a PPIMV:
http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=9534655&q=hi&newref=1

UPDATE:
I've continued to experiment with tweaks with this amp. My goal was to get the clean a little cleaner and smooth out the amp tone.
I think I've done a reasonable job with that.  This amp has about the same sustain as the Tweed Overdrive Special. It has LOTS of that Billy Gibbons squawk tone.  It can sustain into feedback.  

The Tweed Overdrive Special is smoother sounding and has a sweeter and more musical tone.  This is closer to a great blues amp, IMO. If I was just playing blues, I might grab this amp over the TOS, possibly?  The clean on this amp is NOT real clean. No where close to a standard Fender AB763 or Marshall clean. But it is NOT a muddy tone in the clean at all. You can easily hear all the notes in a chord when playing, but that's true with the OD in this amp also.

[tubenit]

I converted my son's Texas Raptor into a Tweed OD Lite with reverb and it turned out better than my own version. Reverb is VERY lush on his amp for some reason.

I used the 2nd triode (12A_7) as the boost instead of the 5879 and that worked out much better for me. For some reason, it seems to allow the amp's "clean" to have a fuller/fatter tone but still be clean sounding.

I also added VVR to his amp.

With respect, Tubenit

[drumslinger2000]

Tubenit,

     nice playing on Stormy Monday.  I love sitting back behind the kit and grooving to it.  It's just one of those you don't get tired of playing or listening too.  Are all these builds in the neighborhood of 20-30 watts?

[tubenit]

The COS is about 22w.  The Tweed OD Lite is about 14w, I think.

With respect, Tubenit

[drumslinger2000]

I can't remember where i read it but is this the one that sounded pretty good with an acoustic plugged into it?

[tubenit]

Yeah, the Tweed OD Lite sounded good with my Larrivee plugged into it.  The Larrivee had a fishman piezo at that time which I have since replaced with a K&K pickup. I think I may have popped a 12AU7 in V1 and a 12AT7 in the LTPI when I played the acoustic. Really sounded nice to me.

I now play the Larrivee thru the BluezMeister and the clean on it is even better, IMO.


With respect, Tubenit

[drumslinger2000]

NICE!  Thanks Tubenit.