Ceriatone Chupacabra 50W: contemplating PT (power transformer) swap. What would I need to take into account?

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Hey, any news on the transformer swap?

 

[2dor]

Hey, any news on the transformer swap?

Not yet. Had my old drummer reach out shortly after I posted last time & we kinda started working on getting a new thing working together. We played for about 3 years back in 2010 - 2012.
Got tied up in the groundwork for the new band & postponed the swap for a while; will definitely do it before summer's over though.

Was actually doing research on modelers again etc. Since I owned 2 of the top-dogs (FM3, QC) and had time with the other 2 as well (Helix, Kemper) I'm not keen on going back to any of them & would rather wait it out until new stuff rears its head.

What I'll do this week or the next is take the Chupacabra 50W to band practice even if my back is going to yell at me for it.

 

[Life Eats Life]

@TheTrueZoltan! if they're still working on your order, maybe worth shooting a message to Nik asking they fit in the Yeti 50W power transformer instead or ask if they can do something else about raising those plate voltages; thing is, every forum thread I read, people seem to lean on higher plate voltages for high-gain amps for those tight / massive palm mutes.

A huge ingredient of the Cameron CCV.

 

[Life Eats Life]

Not yet. Had my old drummer reach out shortly after I posted last time & we kinda started working on getting a new thing working together. We played for about 3 years back in 2010 - 2012.
Got tied up in the groundwork for the new band & postponed the swap for a while; will definitely do it before summer's over though.

Was actually doing research on modelers again etc. Since I owned 2 of the top-dogs (FM3, QC) and had time with the other 2 as well (Helix, Kemper) I'm not keen on going back to any of them & would rather wait it out until new stuff rears its head.

What I'll do this week or the next is take the Chupacabra 50W to band practice even if my back is going to yell at me for it.

Sounds like a lot of work.
I’d sell that amp & get an amp with high plate voltage transformers,
An amp inherently designed around the high plate
voltage power & output transformers.
Implemented.
.
What kinda music do you & this drummer of yours play?
That interests me more then your amp.
-Humans creating music..then.. graphs & grids doing the dirty work..ya gotta work them changes.
Keep jammin’ man

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

I had my difficulties warming up to the amp, but I never had the feeling that the bass response or overall attack is too soft. Quite the opposite - I turned the resonance control down to 9:30 to get the chugs‘ punch under control. How does the additional cap of your Chupa affect the sound?

 

[2dor]

Sounds like a lot of work.
I’d sell that amp & get an amp with high plate voltage transformers,
An amp inherently designed around the high plate
voltage power & output transformers.
Implemented.
.
What kinda music do you & this drummer of yours play?
That interests me more then your amp.
-Humans creating music..then.. graphs & grids doing the dirty work..ya gotta work them changes.
Keep jammin’ ma

I'm actually not afraid of the extra work. I mostly got it as an amp that I'd do some mods to & learn etc. I just need to find the right moment to dive inside it; harder with kids in the household running around.

We used to play Lamb of God, In Flames etc. stuff back in 2010s and our own compositions with the band which were probably in this same bucket.

This time around, we haven't settled on a genre yet etc. We've pinned up a whishlist with 3 songs/ member (we're 5 guys) and 4 of us voted for working on a song out of the 3 our frontman supplied; first one is "Fit for A King - Backbreaker".
Cool song but that low tuning is not something I jive with. Still, it's great to be able to play with a band again.

Once we get this round of songs knocked out, we'll probably each have an idea of how we fit in within the band & I expect compositions to blend stuff from each member's orbit.

 

[2dor]

I had my difficulties warming up to the amp, but I never had the feeling that the bass response or overall attack is too soft. Quite the opposite - I turned the resonance control down to 9:30 to get the chugs‘ punch under control. How does the additional cap of your Chupa affect the sound?

Nik said it made it quieter and if ever so slightly tighter.
I found that I like the amp with the Focus control engaged, even if I have to dime Gain 1.
When I run it through the Mesa 4x12, the lowend on the Chupa comes across bigger/more bloated than that of the King Kong at the same settings.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Nik said it made it quieter and if ever so slightly tighter.
I found that I like the amp with the Focus control engaged, even if I have to dime Gain 1.
When I run it through the Mesa 4x12, the lowend on the Chupa comes across bigger/more bloated than that of the King Kong at the same settings.

Yep, the low end of the Chupa is quite huge. When dialing in the amp it‘s really about making the mids stand out more and getting the high and low end under control - for example by using the Focus switch or deactivating a Bright switch. When I compare the Chupa to recordings I made with the Engl PB II, the Powerball sounds more compressed and is a little bit bloated in the low mids. When mixing I always had to clean up those low mids a little bit, but I enjoyed them when just playing guitar, really made single notes sing. I had to get used to not having that low mid bloat when playing with the Ceriatone but that‘s exactly why it sounds better in the mix than the PB.