We’ve frequented the same “clone” forum and when Dave was there, he was always helpful in explaining his circuits and why he does things the way he does. I don’t think he’d have any issue with you testing/evaluating his circuit since he’s in this to learn and put into practice like yourself. Great video as usual Jason.
Reporting back in after modding my 2018 BE100 last night. I wanted to spend some playthru time before I commented. IT'S AWESOME! At first I was thinking about adding a switch to go from stock to hybrid, but after playing all day, there's no need. The best way I can explain the difference hearing it in person is it's so much more versatile and I love the response, extra gain and feel. The harmonics came to life and solos seem to sing more musically. It also took away whatever frequency that I used to hear stock that made me constantly adjust my pickup heights, it seems to be more balanced. I did end up running all Tung Sol 12ax7s in V1-V4, they work extremely well with this mod. Thank you so much for posting, now with the hybrid mod, I can get everything that I miss when I'm not playing my 1980 Modded 2203, but with the versatility of my BE, it wasn't all about the gain, it was the way the notes will bloom after hitting the notes. Before the BE I had a 3 channel Wildwood Smallbox, now with the mod, I feel like I have a really badass 100W Smallbox with so much more, kind of brought back a good open-ness to the sound, love it!
I know I’m commenting on an old video. I’m eating dinner and checking out suggested UA-cam videos. I’m glad I’m watching this. You are a wealth of information and I really like how you show the schematics and you talk it. This is a greatly informative video. Thanks man, great stuff as always.
I dig the change you made. One thing to note to everyone is that by routing the signal after the 10k resistor & .1uf you have placed a 10k in series with the 33k slope resistor for a total of 43k for the slope resistor. Keep up the great work. David Hopkins
Based on this video I decided to do this mod to my Friedman BE50DLX. I am a new to mods so I reached out to Jason for some guidance to ensure I got it right, he was extremely helpful. I managed to figure out how to put this mod on a switch so I can easily switch from the stock Friedman wiring to this Hybrid mod, why commit if you don’t have to! Also makes it easy to hear the tonal difference. The Hybrid mod sounds and feels fantastic! The extra “Zip” is definitely there, really fun. An observation is that the volume is lower with the Hybrid wiring vs stock, an adjustment on the volume knob and you are good to go. Incredibly grateful for this video and passing on your knowledge to us all. Cheers!
@@wingee Hello, I do have some notes and photos that should be helpful to you if you wan to try on a BE50DLX. Leave your email address in a comment and I can send it to you. Cheers
That’s a really interesting change! Make a profound difference with the extra gain and the high end. And such a simple mod! Both sound great but I preferred the modded version and it had more saturation and the high frequencies were coming through really nicely! Gave the amp more snarl and growl. Great work as always Jason. Thanks for sharing man! Have an amazing day!
I had the SAT switch (among other tone shaping additions)added to my SS100 and it sounds so damn good. I would be too worried to change anything. The switch adds a ferocity to the amp that is just amazing.
The hybrid approach sounds more pleasant, but the Friedman approach seems to give asymmetric clipping, which actually isn't a bad thing. Tonally, I hear more bass with the Friedman circuit. A resistor before the clipping diodes is not a new nor a wrong thing: it is described on the AMZ site as a variable saturation control for diode clipping distortion circuits. I believe his choice was a way to avoid any "interference" in the standard Marshall style circuit, i.e. no caps/resistors between the CF and the tone stack. I also think one could make a further variation on the hybrid circuit placing the 0.1u cap before the 10k resistor (to avoid switching high voltages) and using a DPDT switch to bypass the 10k resistor when the sat mode is not used. This way, when the sat switch is off, the only "interference" to the standard Marshall style circuit would be that 0.1u cap: not an "audiophile approved" approach (they hate extra coupling caps), but more than acceptable for a guitarist!
Thank you, it's really interesting. I see the traditional Jose Scheme was mounted with MPSA06 instead 20v Zener. That's why there is a 100nf instead the 0.22uf ? Thank you !
Right’o! So I’m gonna put a sat switch in my 2204 JEL… but I’m going to put another switch so I can go from the Friedman style to Hybrid. As I like to say…. Why not both?
And, is this what the JCM 900 MK3 is? I really like that amp. Its just an 800 with diode clipping. The SLX is an added tube but same concept. So is a 900 MK3 a BE with SAT?
Recently, I've been working on a DIY scratch-build Soldano SLO-50 amp build project, and I've made a lot of progress on it, I'm using some Tagboards to mount all the components.
Well the way it is wired it from the way a jose is wired with the push pull master in.( so post master) I changed the cap value to alter the tone to my liking.. The other way is perfectly fine.. Jose would have used a .22uf cap or .33 instead of the .1uf.. Most people I know don't even use the sat.. I know I don't.. I dont total like the 10k and .1 in the circuit with out the clipping engaged..
easy enough to use a DTDP toggle switch to remove the entire clip circuit when not in hybrid clip mode, then the amp is dead stock when not in SAT mode
Great video again thank you. I like both the Friedman style sounds to me "cleaner" distortion and José is more gritty and grainy. Realy like them both.
Agree, more bite. I set the levels as close as possible volume wise, I think the loudness is coming from the pronounced upper mids which cause it to poke out more.
Thank you, my favourite video so far hands down. For many reasons. A no brainer for me, the Jose hybrid is the clear winner here. When heard side by side it almost sounds as if the Freidman has suffered from a fault in manufacturing or design. I always wondered why I wasn't a fan of the Freidman tone, now I know. Thanks to you and all that helped to redesign this circuit change. Brilliant. Again really helpful to see it on the scope although really the proof is in the tone. Oh and ANOTHER nice guitar!!! PAFs in that suhr?
i guess it's just he prefers smoother amps than the old modded amps of the past,or better,his clients prefer that.Said this,most of the people don't even use sat switches.
I would love to see a video about Phase Inverter clipping and Power tubes clipping, with measurements and trying to replicate it with a 12ax7 (for a post tone stack saturation similar to power saturation) :D
HEADFIRST AMPLIFICATIONS, it would be nice if you showed how to calculate the GAIN using a calculator and formulas for each stage to see the differences in gain. Can you make a video lesson on how to do this for each stage in tube amplifiers? What is Jose Scheme you mean Jose did this to marshall amps back in the 80s to EVH marshal amps and other guitarist using the Jose mods on marshalls?
Would there be any benefit to adding this style sat switch to a 1959 circuit that has a post phase inverter master? Im trying to squeeze a little more juice out of it
Just been trying to log onto the Sloclone forum but am not able to because I can't remember my login for it, I've tried creating a new account but it keeps saying both my email addresses have been used.
Can also put a resistor between the clipping zeners and ground. Let’s you fine tune the clipping voltage even more. So much you can do with the Jose mod. Noise free distortion w/o adding a gain stage.
I just did it. Amazing. But now I think I gotta switch out the .1 cap for something bigger. Also it seems like although doing it this way sounds and feels better, I did lose a bit more volume.
Jason, does your Cali and mini board implement the Friedman design or did you change them to the hybrid design. I suspect on the Cali it’s pure Jose goodness but wondering about the mini. I can’t say I love the sat switch on my jj jr build, though maybe that’s just a taste thing. I wonder if it would it be worth modding if you did, indeed, leave the Friedman design intact on that board.
The mini is the Friedman style wiring. I made that discovery after this board was designed. You can easily implement my clipping method by lifted one side of the 33k slope resistor and the 500pF treble cap, and joining those up to the 100nF cap that is after the cathode follower
Can anyone tell me this... Is the BE100 a 2203 with all of the switches off? I have one and the C45 doesnt do much, what is it actually doing? The fat works as it should. But the SAT really brings this to life and adds that gain stage. I dont mess with the STRUCTURE or VOICE much because I find the highest gain settings and leave it there.
We’ve frequented the same “clone” forum and when Dave was there, he was always helpful in explaining his circuits and why he does things the way he does. I don’t think he’d have any issue with you testing/evaluating his circuit since he’s in this to learn and put into practice like yourself. Great video as usual Jason.
Thanks Hogie, agree with all of this. Dave is a relentless hard worker and deserves all his success.
Reporting back in after modding my 2018 BE100 last night. I wanted to spend some playthru time before I commented. IT'S AWESOME! At first I was thinking about adding a switch to go from stock to hybrid, but after playing all day, there's no need. The best way I can explain the difference hearing it in person is it's so much more versatile and I love the response, extra gain and feel. The harmonics came to life and solos seem to sing more musically. It also took away whatever frequency that I used to hear stock that made me constantly adjust my pickup heights, it seems to be more balanced. I did end up running all Tung Sol 12ax7s in V1-V4, they work extremely well with this mod. Thank you so much for posting, now with the hybrid mod, I can get everything that I miss when I'm not playing my 1980 Modded 2203, but with the versatility of my BE, it wasn't all about the gain, it was the way the notes will bloom after hitting the notes. Before the BE I had a 3 channel Wildwood Smallbox, now with the mod, I feel like I have a really badass 100W Smallbox with so much more, kind of brought back a good open-ness to the sound, love it!
I know I’m commenting on an old video. I’m eating dinner and checking out suggested UA-cam videos. I’m glad I’m watching this. You are a wealth of information and I really like how you show the schematics and you talk it. This is a greatly informative video. Thanks man, great stuff as always.
I dig the change you made. One thing to note to everyone is that by routing the signal after the 10k resistor & .1uf you have placed a 10k in series with the 33k slope resistor for a total of 43k for the slope resistor.
Keep up the great work. David Hopkins
Based on this video I decided to do this mod to my Friedman BE50DLX. I am a new to mods so I reached out to Jason for some guidance to ensure I got it right, he was extremely helpful. I managed to figure out how to put this mod on a switch so I can easily switch from the stock Friedman wiring to this Hybrid mod, why commit if you don’t have to! Also makes it easy to hear the tonal difference. The Hybrid mod sounds and feels fantastic! The extra “Zip” is definitely there, really fun. An observation is that the volume is lower with the Hybrid wiring vs stock, an adjustment on the volume knob and you are good to go. Incredibly grateful for this video and passing on your knowledge to us all. Cheers!
Hey, I wondered if you kept any notes on how you implemented it as I'd love to try it on my BE50DLX?
@@wingee Hello, I do have some notes and photos that should be helpful to you if you wan to try on a BE50DLX. Leave your email address in a comment and I can send it to you. Cheers
I recall when Joey mentioned this, glad you've tested it out, interesting and thanks for sharing
That’s a really interesting change! Make a profound difference with the extra gain and the high end. And such a simple mod! Both sound great but I preferred the modded version and it had more saturation and the high frequencies were coming through really nicely! Gave the amp more snarl and growl. Great work as always Jason. Thanks for sharing man! Have an amazing day!
Thanks Jay, I'm glad you enjoyed it. You'll have to try it out yourself man!
Great explanation thanks Jason! I prefer the traditional José style too!
There is nothing like proper voltage clamping for that tone and feel...same as in your Cali
@@HeadfirstAmps so true and man I love my Cali amp! Thanks is so much it is amazing. I can’t get enough of it!
Just did the Hybrid to a 2203x.
Great.
Didn’t even havta pull the board.
Thanks!
"In the name of science and the pursuit of tone"....LOVE IT! That should be flying on a flag somewhere!
A new tag line for Headfirst? Lol
@@HeadfirstAmps Yes!!!
I had the SAT switch (among other tone shaping additions)added to my SS100 and it sounds so damn good. I would be too worried to change anything. The switch adds a ferocity to the amp that is just amazing.
Great work Jason I have been bitten by the amp building bug and I have learned some good mods from you I hope you keep up the great work MATE
Thanks, will do!
Nice 👍 looks more fun to play too
Great Video... and a bit of Kings X thrown in!!
Ty!
Tradition style symetrical distortion:-) Thanks man, very interesting video!:-)
Excellent work here!! I'm about to do this on my 2018 BE thank you for sharing!
Let me know how you get on! A couple of guys have done the mod to their BE's with great results.
The hybrid approach sounds more pleasant, but the Friedman approach seems to give asymmetric clipping, which actually isn't a bad thing. Tonally, I hear more bass with the Friedman circuit. A resistor before the clipping diodes is not a new nor a wrong thing: it is described on the AMZ site as a variable saturation control for diode clipping distortion circuits. I believe his choice was a way to avoid any "interference" in the standard Marshall style circuit, i.e. no caps/resistors between the CF and the tone stack. I also think one could make a further variation on the hybrid circuit placing the 0.1u cap before the 10k resistor (to avoid switching high voltages) and using a DPDT switch to bypass the 10k resistor when the sat mode is not used. This way, when the sat switch is off, the only "interference" to the standard Marshall style circuit would be that 0.1u cap: not an "audiophile approved" approach (they hate extra coupling caps), but more than acceptable for a guitarist!
Thank you, it's really interesting. I see the traditional Jose Scheme was mounted with MPSA06 instead 20v Zener. That's why there is a 100nf instead the 0.22uf ?
Thank you !
Right’o! So I’m gonna put a sat switch in my 2204 JEL… but I’m going to put another switch so I can go from the Friedman style to Hybrid. As I like to say…. Why not both?
How hard is it to add this to a 2203/2204? And is it reversible?
And, is this what the JCM 900 MK3 is? I really like that amp. Its just an 800 with diode clipping. The SLX is an added tube but same concept. So is a 900 MK3 a BE with SAT?
Thanks for creating this channel!
So glad you are digging the content Shane!
Recently, I've been working on a DIY scratch-build Soldano SLO-50 amp build project, and I've made a lot of progress on it, I'm using some Tagboards to mount all the components.
Very interesting as usual! 😊
The Friedman clipping sounds more refined. Fits with the BE100 sound perfectly.
The Jose mod is more raw and aggressive.
Well the way it is wired it from the way a jose is wired with the push pull master in.( so post master) I changed the cap value to alter the tone to my liking.. The other way is perfectly fine.. Jose would have used a .22uf cap or .33 instead of the .1uf.. Most people I know don't even use the sat.. I know I don't.. I dont total like the 10k and .1 in the circuit with out the clipping engaged..
easy enough to use a DTDP toggle switch to remove the entire clip circuit when not in hybrid clip mode, then the amp is dead stock when not in SAT mode
Great video ,Jason is a Monster !!
You Sir, are too kind.
Great video again thank you. I like both the Friedman style sounds to me "cleaner" distortion and José is more gritty and grainy. Realy like them both.
Grainy is a good way to describe the José tone
The hybrid sounds more open and aggressive, a bit louder too. The bit volume bump is ironic tho because the signal is more clamped
Agree, more bite. I set the levels as close as possible volume wise, I think the loudness is coming from the pronounced upper mids which cause it to poke out more.
i have tried both methods. The BE wiring has less of a volume drop when engaged but the HF way has more clipping when engaged
Thank you, my favourite video so far hands down. For many reasons. A no brainer for me, the Jose hybrid is the clear winner here. When heard side by side it almost sounds as if the Freidman has suffered from a fault in manufacturing or design. I always wondered why I wasn't a fan of the Freidman tone, now I know. Thanks to you and all that helped to redesign this circuit change. Brilliant. Again really helpful to see it on the scope although really the proof is in the tone. Oh and ANOTHER nice guitar!!! PAFs in that suhr?
i guess it's just he prefers smoother amps than the old modded amps of the past,or better,his clients prefer that.Said this,most of the people don't even use sat switches.
Hybryd is louder… so I cannot really tell the difference in tone. Louder is always better. Great video anyway, I’m gonna put this in my amp
Wow The Friedman BE100
Fantastic!!
I would love to see a video about Phase Inverter clipping and Power tubes clipping, with measurements and trying to replicate it with a 12ax7 (for a post tone stack saturation similar to power saturation) :D
HEADFIRST AMPLIFICATIONS, it would be nice if you showed how to calculate the GAIN using a calculator and formulas for each stage to see the differences in gain. Can you make a video lesson on how to do this for each stage in tube amplifiers? What is Jose Scheme you mean Jose did this to marshall amps back in the 80s to EVH marshal amps and other guitarist using the Jose mods on marshalls?
Jason, Someone pointed me to a video of yours which the thumbnail probably said "Friedman SAT switch, is it wired correctly", is this that same video?
Is the hybrid version already included into Jose Deluxe layout v5?
Would there be any benefit to adding this style sat switch to a 1959 circuit that has a post phase inverter master? Im trying to squeeze a little more juice out of it
Just been trying to log onto the Sloclone forum but am not able to because I can't remember my login for it, I've tried creating a new account but it keeps saying both my email addresses have been used.
Send me an email, I can probably help with this
Can also put a resistor between the clipping zeners and ground. Let’s you fine tune the clipping voltage even more.
So much you can do with the Jose mod. Noise free distortion w/o adding a gain stage.
So just lift the one end of the slope from the board and attach it to the ground end of the .1uf?
And the 100k cathode
@@HeadfirstAmps I’ll give it a go .
I just did it.
Amazing.
But now I think I gotta switch out the .1 cap for something bigger. Also it seems like although doing it this
way sounds and feels better, I did lose a bit more volume.
I have 2 Jose's and my friend has a BE100 deluxe so it looks like we have to pull the soldering iron out....
Do it! ...and tell me more about those José's!
Jason, does your Cali and mini board implement the Friedman design or did you change them to the hybrid design. I suspect on the Cali it’s pure Jose goodness but wondering about the mini. I can’t say I love the sat switch on my jj jr build, though maybe that’s just a taste thing. I wonder if it would it be worth modding if you did, indeed, leave the Friedman design intact on that board.
The mini is the Friedman style wiring. I made that discovery after this board was designed. You can easily implement my clipping method by lifted one side of the 33k slope resistor and the 500pF treble cap, and joining those up to the 100nF cap that is after the cathode follower
Can anyone tell me this... Is the BE100 a 2203 with all of the switches off? I have one and the C45 doesnt do much, what is it actually doing? The fat works as it should. But the SAT really brings this to life and adds that gain stage. I dont mess with the STRUCTURE or VOICE much because I find the highest gain settings and leave it there.
No it's not. The BE is more like a gain stage in front of a Plexi, with an added Master Vol. It's more based on the Jose mod, than a 2203.
@@HeadfirstAmps I asked Dave this and he said that the BE is a 2203 set on noon for preamp. I thought that was interesting.
I was wondering if there is a way to control the 'amoun' of clipping? Maybe instead of the spdt switch use a 500k/1meg pot??
Yes, you can use a resistor in series. Something a lower than that though, around 50k I’d suggest.
I think your mod sounds better.
I has its own sound. I think you circuit sounds better
thanks man