Balls Effects / Balls Amplification
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 10:49 am
WOW. Missed the PRF and figure the best way to jump back into the game is to make a current version of this thread and catch everyone up on the last year(?)'s worth of builds. Sorry for the big ole pic dump....
PEDALS
Optical Compressors:
Vertical and horizontal layout Custom Drives (klone):
Powerful Boosters:
Vintage style MkII Tone Bender w/AC125 transistors:
Rangemaster for my guitar player. He's a tremendous musician but a straight up technical nincompoop so i've been slowly building very simple gear and placing it in his hands to get him to sound great. This through a 20 watt 1x12 plexi combo and he cant go wrong:
Custom work. DOD 210 preamp (always on) into a DOD 250 overdrive:
Triple true-bypass looper:
Moon Unit delay & verb:
All red Balls Super Black (maybe for a PRFer? Not sure):
UTILITIES
Direct Box. Nothing fancy, standard 'motown box' passive DI. I used Hammond PTs for these and apparently forgot to dust before I took pics:
AMPS
K-15. First combo amp with a scratch built cab that i'd ever done and it worked well and I ironed the kinks out. It was for a friend that got a good deal in exchange for his patience. High-ish-gain 1x10 circuit that follows the basic Trainwreck Express/Liverpool format with my adaptations as needed. 2xEL84 for ~15 watts (a LOUD 15 at that) going through a Celestion Greenback.
Also for the bike-minded folks among us, I took it for a spin to my practice space so I could lay into it off an attenuator. Fit it into an old Timbuk2 messenger!
BR-20. 6G3 Brownface Deluxe style in a head with modern conveniences. Externally adjustable bias, switchable impedance, half power switch, and a couple of other tricks to keep the bias-wiggler tremolo running noise free.
T-100. Its basically a half-power Sunn Model T. All the Sunn sounds but lighter, more compact, and a *slightly* more reasonable power level. 2 x 6550. Still loud as hell, but the intent was mostly for loud cleans and it has plenty of that:
BF-15. 2 x EL84, 15 watt amp with preamp in the 60's Fender vein. Lots of clean, lots of chime, and grit if you wanna crank it. 1x12 combo with a Jensen C12N. Added post-phase inverter master volume to keep it chill when needed:
BF-15+. Very similar amp to the one posted above but with a tip in the other direction. No master volume, but an added and switchable Rangemaster/Ballsmaster style boost to the front end. Plays the same as if you had a RM pedal or amp-top unit in front of the input, but all internal. Transistor is a Soviet MЛ38a.
PEDALS
Optical Compressors:
Vertical and horizontal layout Custom Drives (klone):
Powerful Boosters:
Vintage style MkII Tone Bender w/AC125 transistors:
Rangemaster for my guitar player. He's a tremendous musician but a straight up technical nincompoop so i've been slowly building very simple gear and placing it in his hands to get him to sound great. This through a 20 watt 1x12 plexi combo and he cant go wrong:
Custom work. DOD 210 preamp (always on) into a DOD 250 overdrive:
Triple true-bypass looper:
Moon Unit delay & verb:
All red Balls Super Black (maybe for a PRFer? Not sure):
UTILITIES
Direct Box. Nothing fancy, standard 'motown box' passive DI. I used Hammond PTs for these and apparently forgot to dust before I took pics:
AMPS
K-15. First combo amp with a scratch built cab that i'd ever done and it worked well and I ironed the kinks out. It was for a friend that got a good deal in exchange for his patience. High-ish-gain 1x10 circuit that follows the basic Trainwreck Express/Liverpool format with my adaptations as needed. 2xEL84 for ~15 watts (a LOUD 15 at that) going through a Celestion Greenback.
Also for the bike-minded folks among us, I took it for a spin to my practice space so I could lay into it off an attenuator. Fit it into an old Timbuk2 messenger!
BR-20. 6G3 Brownface Deluxe style in a head with modern conveniences. Externally adjustable bias, switchable impedance, half power switch, and a couple of other tricks to keep the bias-wiggler tremolo running noise free.
T-100. Its basically a half-power Sunn Model T. All the Sunn sounds but lighter, more compact, and a *slightly* more reasonable power level. 2 x 6550. Still loud as hell, but the intent was mostly for loud cleans and it has plenty of that:
BF-15. 2 x EL84, 15 watt amp with preamp in the 60's Fender vein. Lots of clean, lots of chime, and grit if you wanna crank it. 1x12 combo with a Jensen C12N. Added post-phase inverter master volume to keep it chill when needed:
BF-15+. Very similar amp to the one posted above but with a tip in the other direction. No master volume, but an added and switchable Rangemaster/Ballsmaster style boost to the front end. Plays the same as if you had a RM pedal or amp-top unit in front of the input, but all internal. Transistor is a Soviet MЛ38a.