NAD: Ceriatone Chupacabra 50w (pink & blue)

TheTrueZoltan! said:
Thanks for the encouragement, guys! :chef

I was getting a little overwhelmed and frustrated today, will try again tomorrow with fresh ears.

And I have just tried to dial in the amp with the Bright 2 switch disengaged. Much less saturation and less tight, but with the P Trimmer off and my Boss SD-1 in front I got some really promising results. Much easier to control, with less of that overcompressed and shrill-but-muffled-at-the-same-time character.
Click to expand...
Maybe a stupid question but have you tried to see what it sounds like in a mix vs you playing in isolation?

Maybe you have been!
 
Mongillo19 said:
Maybe a stupid question but have you tried to see what it sounds like in a mix vs you playing in isolation?

Maybe you have been!
Click to expand...
Yes, I have (not a stupid question at all). It sounded quite harsh and scooped when just playing, but kinda dull in the mix. :idk

I guess my ears just aren‘t useful anymore for the rest of the day. I‘ll give them some rest.
 
What I did...use the 20v diode first...it has all the gain you will ever need...
First I tried to tune the bright caps according to the pickup...(what sounds good with the pickup)
I turned the depth all the way down, but bass, treble and presence halfway...then tune the mids...
remember Gain 1 is the bass side of gain and Gain 2 is the treble side of gain...I keep the Gain 1(1 o clock) lower than Gain 2(2 oclock) and put the depth at 9o clock just to give me some chug...bass is at 5 maybe 4...remember compression gives you the bass feel and too much will make it sound tuby...
Also use the presence knob to fine tune the treble...

Try these out...it took me months to find the best sound....I could always dial good sounds but now...its just wow...

TheTrueZoltan! said:
Thanks for the encouragement, guys! :chef

I was getting a little overwhelmed and frustrated today, will try again tomorrow with fresh ears.

And I have just tried to dial in the amp with the Bright 2 switch disengaged. Much less saturation and less tight, but with the P Trimmer off and a Boss SD-1 in front I got some really promising results. Much easier to control, with less of that overcompressed and shrill-but-muffled-at-the-same-time character.
Click to expand...
 
TheTrueZoltan! said:
Yes, I have (not a stupid question at all). It sounded quite harsh and scooped when just playing, but kinda dull in the mix. :idk

I guess my ears just aren‘t useful anymore for the rest of the day. I‘ll give them some rest.
Click to expand...
Been fiddling around with the amp last night through my Suhr RL and I think that I like the tones coming out of it when I have the focus engaged (Gain 1 pulled out).
Try engaging the Focus & upping Gain1 to max. Gain 2 at about 4 on the dial with the bright switch engaged to the left.
ERA switch either left or right.
Start with all EQ knobs at noon and adjust to taste.
Pussy Trimmer at about 6 on the dial.
 
2dor said:
Been fiddling around with the amp last night through my Suhr RL and I think that I like the tones coming out of it when I have the focus engaged (Gain 1 pulled out).
Try engaging the Focus & upping Gain1 to max. Gain 2 at about 4 on the dial with the bright switch engaged to the left.
ERA switch either left or right.
Start with all EQ knobs at noon and adjust to taste.
Pussy Trimmer at about 6 on the dial.
Click to expand...
That‘s exactly my issue with the amp. I‘m getting confused and frustrated with all the knobs and switches. Turn an EQ knob from 5 to 5.5 and some other frequency range suddenly changes drastically. Compensate with another knob, and so on and so on… oh, I need just a little bit more gain… turn up one of the three gain controls a tiny bit and the EQ balance that was dialed in so carefully falls apart. Twist an EQ knob to compensate and suddenly the gain structure changes again. The amp has some great tones in it, but it‘s driving me nuts.

I‘ll be honest… if I had bought the amp from a retailer in the EU I most likely would send it back and get another Powerball II instead, or a JVM. But clearly that‘s not an option in this case, so I guess I‘ll be forcing myself to get to grips with the amp for a while and hopefully learn to love it.
 
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TheTrueZoltan! said:
That‘s exactly my issue with the amp. I‘m getting confused and frustrated with all the knobs and switches. Turn an EQ knob from 5 to 5.5 and some other frequency range suddenly changes drastically. Compensate with another knob, and so on and so on… oh, I need just a little bit more gain… turn up one of the three gain controls a tiny bit and the EQ balance that was dialed in so carefully falls apart. Twist an EQ knob to compensate and suddenly the gain structure changes again. The amp has some great tones in it, but it‘s driving me nuts.

I‘ll be honest… if I had bought the amp from a retailer in the EU I most likely would send it back and get another Powerball II instead, or a JVM. But clearly that‘s not an option in this case, so I guess I‘ll be forcing myself to get to grips with the amp for a while and hopefully learn to love it.
Click to expand...
I know what you mean. That said, if you put it up for sale on Reverb etc., I'm sure it'll sell.
If you keep it, it'll be a good mod platform; that's what I plan to do with mine.
Edit:
If you do decide to keep it and aren't shy of trying stuff out, these are some things I've seen recommended to get the tonestack shifted a bit and gain structure more like a Marshall would:

1711698711922.png


Red resistor: put a 33K one instead (or 39K like they have in the King Kong) of the 47K. This shifts the tonestack a bit (https://www.rig-talk.com/forum/threads/amp-build-ceriatone-kraken-50.190025/post-2127320)

Blue resistor: put a 330K one instead of the 470K; should tame a little bit the crazy gain levels on Gain 1.

Pink resistors: swap the 820ohm ones for 2.7K. This should also chop some of the "grind" in the high-end and smooth the amp a bit (https://www.rig-talk.com/forum/threads/amp-build-ceriatone-kraken-50.190025/post-2125307)

I've worked on the Blue one and it didn't make too much difference all by itself so I want to give the other stuff a whirl too just to find out if I like the others more.
 
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TheTrueZoltan! said:
I thought I had a great tone this morning... but in the mix it sounds somehow small and dull.

Click to expand...

In a mix everything is fighting for space within the frequency spectrum. For a guitar track to "sit in" or "cut through" a mix, it will often not sound as satisfying when played in isolation.

Likewise, a great sounding isolated track may not work well in a mix.
 
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TheTrueZoltan! said:
Your wish is my command. Here it is. It's a quite bright sounding IR.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Was just curious if I hear the same thing in your amp as I do in mine with this IR. It is more on the brighter side - I use it when I jam with songs in the evenings / at night.
 
Hey, a new day has started with the Chupacabra and I'm feeling cautiously optimistic today. I've been fiddling with the controls some more and I'm beginning to understand their impact a little better. Last night I compared the Chupa with some older recordings of the JVM OD2 Orange channel, which had previously been my favorite rhythm guitar sound. And to my surprise, the Chupa could keep up.

I think my difficulty is mainly due to getting used to it, because the Engl Powerball II I had before (and absolutely loved) had a very pronounced low mid-range around 200-300 Hz. Single notes literally jumped out at you, but these low mids were sometimes almost a bit too much for rhythm guitar chugging. However, I got so used to it over time that now it feels odd that the Chupa doesn't overemphasise this frequency band. Its mids are voiced more angry and less smooth.

I redid the test recording of the Bullet Ride snippet this morning with slightly tweaked settings and a different IR, and that sounded really good to me.

Guys, I think I'm slowly getting there! :giggle:
 
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TheTrueZoltan! said:
Hey, a new day has started with the Chupacabra and I'm feeling cautiously optimistic today. I've been fiddling with the controls some more and I'm beginning to understand their impact a little better. Last night I compared the Chupa with some older recordings of the JVM OD2 Orange channel, which had previously been my favorite rhythm guitar sound. And to my surprise, the Chupa could keep up.

I think my difficulty is mainly due to getting used to it, because the Engl Powerball II I had before (and absolutely loved) had a very pronounced low mid-range around 200-300 Hz. Single notes literally jumped out at you, but these low mids were sometimes almost a bit too much for rhythm guitar chugging. However, I got so used to it over time that now it feels odd that the Chupa doesn't overemphasise this frequency band. Its mids are voiced more angry and less smooth.

I redid the test recording of the Bullet Ride snippet this morning with slightly tweaked settings and a different IR, and that sounded really good to me.

Guys, I think I'm slowly getting there! :giggle:
Click to expand...
Nice. It's cool to read that you're getting along with it.
I think I'm also slowly settling in with mine. Really like how it feels and sounds with the Focus engaged even if I dime Gain 1 and keep Gain 2 in between 2 and 6.
The FX loop is great too - been playing with my Synergy Friedman BE-DLX yesterday and loved it.
 
Looking at some schematics on the SLOclone forum, the Chupacabra and the Gower Cali are very, very similar.
 
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