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KevinL mentioned putting two .oo1 uf caps in series where C1 was. Excuse me if this is a dumb question, but does that make C1 a total capacitance of .002? I'd like to tone down the bassiness in mine as well.

Moid

Caps in series are calculated like resistors in parallel. Caps in parallel are caclulated like resistors in series.

So , that would be 0.005 for 2 - .001 caps in series.

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Stephen
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Nope.. 2 .001 in series equals 500p
Thats a tone squeezer.

The reciprocal of the equivalent capacitor of a series combination
equals the sum of the reciprocals of the individual capacitance.

" The equivalent Capacitor is always less than any individual
capacitor


1/C = 1/C1 + 1/C2 +..
1/c= 1000+ 1000
1/c = 2000
C = .0005 uF

500p = .0005uF

LooseChange is right. I stand corrected.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Okay, thanks for the electronics/math lesson. I'll post the tweaks I've made as soon as I can tabulate them. The latest was the addition of a ceramic, hemp cone tone tubby. I'm still in awe over that speaker! Rich, creamy tone and a bass response I've never heard in any other speaker. Highly recommended.
Moid

Maybe, but I tried many different values in there and the bass was always loose and muddy. With the 500pf it's tight. I do play it with humbuckers and a 2x12 closed back cab with Vintage 30's though.

I also ended up putting in a full tone stack with mids control and removed the master volume.

My Lightning is now pretty much a TopHat King Royale with 2 EL84's. A high/low gain switch, and a bright on/off switch. I also used a 100k plate resistor on V1.
It's not really a Lightning anymore but I like it way better. Voxy cleans and crunch to nice overdrive when cranked.

I totally get what you did. With humbuckers and a closed back 2x12 I would consider that option too. I play mine through a 1 x 15 open back and I always need to cut the lows. In another amp I built I added a universal bass cut control to the amp.

I like the fender type tone control too. I just put a fixed 8.2k resistor in for the mid. I am considering adding a switch to bypass it for more mid cut.

I think I captured the essence of this in the attached drawing. I did not include all the mods in the thread, just what seemed to be the favourites & agreed ones.

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Stephen
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That's stock value in the 30watt. I'm gonna try some of these mods in the dc-30 to improve on it. Thanks for the tips!

So you don't find that losing a gain stage on v1 makes the amp less punchy and wimpy? Would wiring the 2nd gain stage of v1 to a 3pdt switch to switch in/out also work?

I don't find it less punchy at all. There's more usuable gain range. There's plenty of gain but also more headroom.

I've got the 30 watt iron coming next week so I can give you guys the scoop on these clean mods at 30 watts. I'm thinking it's going to be the amp I've been really wanting to add to my collection. I love how it sounds now but it doesn't keep up with my drummer. I have the feeling the 30 watt version of my cleaned up Lightning will have no problem.

It's easy to disconnect the parallel stage and see if you like it. I found putting C4 on a switch and changing C12 to 22uf to be the best changes, but all the changes I did played a part in the amp being more usable and versatile throughout the volume and gain ranges.

Change C4 to a .47 and switch in the 22uf in parallel. The .47 gives a nice smoothness.

I've been tuning in to this thread for a while now and following it with some interest, but I have got to say that my lightning build (following pretty closely the layout here, with the listed component values) is an incredible amp. It is the only amp I have where I don't want to touch a thing! The bass on this thing is so tight that my bassist is considering having me build him one also. The tone controls are a little weird at first but give an amazing range, and the volume/master controls get you anywhere from super clean to AC/DC crunch. Just my vote for the stock version..carry on! Jeff

Nice to hear. I am going to change the stock layout and schematic to include a cut control now. It can be optional.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Jeff, What are you using for a speaker?

I bought a quartet of celestion g12c30 on ebay for like $80+shipping. They are the el cheapo celestions that I assume go in other manufacturers cabinets or something. I thought when I took the first one out of the box and the whole thing weighed like 8 oz " Oh well you get what you pay for", but I put a pair in a 2-12 and they sound really, really good. They have super tight low end, I took the back off the cab just to get a bit looser sound. The breakup on them is nice and tight. I don't know how they perform if you really crank them but I bet as a quartet they can take a good bit. I use the lightning through these for tight crisp sound and then run my deluxe reverb with it to balance it out with a warmer tone. Never been happier with my tone! Although I do of course have something else brewing on the bench .

I also have tried the Eminence red fang and the texas heat with this amp and they are fine but I do prefer the celestions. Jeff

Hey,

Resurrecting this thread. Did the drawing I did capture the essentials of cleaning up the Lightning?

I'm going to experiment on the TC-15

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Well, I just ordered a new set of Orange Drops to replace the Mallorys, along with a 500 pf silver mica cap. It was the only 500 pf I could find at Antique Electronics (tubesandmore.com). Is silver mica an ok choice?

Incase not, I ordered two .001's to put in series.

I also ordered a .0015 uf to try.

I like the gain, but I'd like the tighter Voxy bass.

It's encouraging to see my understanding picking up. I know what C1 refers too!

Silver mica is good. Us them in many places in this amp. I do use Mallorys for it by personal choice becasue it's a bit smoother I think.
Put in a Clean / Mean toggle for 22uf cathod cap on V2 and waiting for an opinion on it.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

I wasn't sure which kind of toggle to get. What did you use?

Miniature 5A , DPDT.

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Stephen
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