Desert island albums, #12

Tom Waits, Mule Variations, 1999.


His masterpiece, in my humble yet entirely correct opinion.

6S-7 amp update

Okay, I decided that the amp was way out of control, overdriving too much too soon. Two preamp stages was overkill. So I replaced the first 6SL7 (two triode sections) with a 6SJ7, a single triode. (Click below for a bigger picture of the schematic.)



I also simplified the power supply rail, cutting way back on the capacitance. (Again, the original concept was overkill.) Also added a unique midrange switch and a bright/presence switch.

I quite happy with the sound. It's surprisingly loud, and it gets a little raunchy when cranked.

Desert island albums, #13

The John Prine Anthology Great Days. (Are anthologies cheating? Yes, but I don't care.)

New amp project

This is a little amp that uses two 6SL7 tubes and one 6SN7. (Both of these are twin triodes.) The two sections of the (new Chinese) 6SN7 are used as a push-pull pair, a la the "October Studio" at AX84. The 6SL7s are old tubes; one's a Tung-Sol, the other an RCA.

The power transformer is an old Triad that I have had for years. Can't remember where it came from, but I used it long ago on a crappy attempt at a Champ-like amp. (It's rated at only 40ma, so I'm pushing it pretty hard here.)

Here's the schematic. Click on it for a larger, readable version.

The amp sounds good. It breaks up at a reasonable volume and gets real nasty when you turn it all the way up. But I'm still trying to wrap my head around the sound of it.

Bass porn

1940s Epiphone B5

Desert island albums, #14

Pat Metheny's Bright Size Life, 1976, ECM.

Trio of Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, and Bob Moses. Wonderful Metheny compositions and blissful Jaco.