Amp ordering time.

[mikey5]

Hi guys. After researching tons of options for amps I have finally settled on the Chupacabra 50 (based on the Jose Mod) from ceriatone.

However I am yet being confronted with more choices. Apparently there are several extra mods he can do to make the amp brighter, more middy, or tighter. Also there is the choice of Sozo caps (whats this) and 6550 tubes.

Nik from Ceriatone asks
As for options, we have Sozo caps for like USD 20 more.

Abt voicing, did you like it? Want it tighter? Less Bright? Want to run 6550s?

I play all kinds of music from Hendrix & Aerosmith, Van Halen to Metallica.

What do you guys think

Thanks

[webweave]

Is this your first custom amp?  

Does the 6550 mod get you a few more watts? That might translate into a bit more clean before it breaks up, depends on the circuit but in my experience going to bigger tubes just makes things heavier. The circuit is more important than the tube.

Sounds like a fine choice of amps but there's no guarantee you will like it or if you like it will not grow out of it. A guitar amp is more like an instrument than a piece of audio equipment. It has to not only react with the room you put it in but also to the guitar you plug into it and your style of play. The more options you put in an amp the less you'll know what it will sound like. Can you add the options later?

Do you really need a custom amp? I have three hand built custom amps and each one does one specific thing, its a thing I love so I'm keeping them but are you ready for that?

There is little someone can tell you about your amp (provided everything is set up and working correctly) you are the expert at what you like, that's the beauty of music and being able to make yourself happy with what you can do. Sure if tons of other people like the same thing you become famous but if they don't you're still happy and you win.

I owned a huge stack of amps before I ever had my own amp built for me. Some of those amps I wish I had now. Research will give you the vocabulary but only by the experience of using amps will you know.

Good luck my friend and let us know what you do.

[Dmoney]

Sozo is a brand of capacitor. Tubular Polyester I think. I don't know too much about them. I know they have a few ranges like machine made and hand made. They are considered a premium part I think, like 716P Orange Drops. As for the tonal difference, I couldn't really say.

I find 6550's give you a nice high end. I have some =C= ones in my Sommatone. It probably wouldn't equal more watts unless the other things in the amp were converted for them. Same as how putting 2 KT88's in a 50watt EL34 amp won't automatically give you 100watts. If putting 6550's in is just a simple mod, you might be able to play around changing the valve type to EL34's or something at a future point. I may not be a limiting decision. Might be worth asking Nic about it.

I think the USA Marshall's ended up with 6550's do to lack of a reliable source for EL34's. Someone who knows more about marshall history might chime in.

[jpfamps]

A Dmoney says Sozo are a "premium" brand capacitor.

I class "premium" brand components as those manufacturers make a song and dance about in their promotional literature, usually with the acknowledgement that these components are more expensive than the standard components used by rival manufacturers.

And if you think guitar amp manufacturers are bad for this, have a look at some of the valve hi-fi manufacturers!

Sozo do several types of capacitor, however their most popular one is a "reproduction" of the Mullard "mustard" caps found in virtually all the classic British amps up to the mid 70s (eg Marshall, Hiwatt).

The key feature of these caps is that they have a polyester insulator and they have an identical aspect ratio to the old Mullard mustard caps.

Modern caps tend to be shorter and fatter so that there more tabs on the ends to connect to the leads. This reduce series inductance and this increases high frequency response.

I can't comment of the sonic properties of Sozo caps as I've not had any experience of them, and am unlikely to in the near future as they are not RoHS compliant, so can't be used in new amps sold in the EU.

Obviously there is plenty of snake oil out there; what does worry me about the Sozo caps is the page on their website that explains why their caps need "breaking in".

Regardless, in the scale of the whole purchase I don't think $20 is going to break the bank, so I don't have a particularly strong opinion on this.

[purpleplexi]

My plexi clone has Sozo caps and it's a really great sounding amp. Whether that's down to the caps I have no idea.

Sorry to be so useless  :?

[Dmoney]

here is a discussion in the 'premium' sozo vs the standard (but still a premium part) sozo. the more expensive ones being the hand made mustard cap repro's

http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13972

[jpfamps]

here is a discussion in the 'premium' sozo vs the standard (but still a premium part) sozo. the more expensive ones being the hand made mustard cap repro's

http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13972

Hmm....

Not really sure how being "all hand made" confers any constructional advantages in a capacitor.

[Dmoney]

according to the argument it gives a different tonal quality and best for use in really old marshall's.

I've made my decision about it...

[horsehead]

....and the answer is?

[Dmoney]

my decision is you probably have to try it. and I haven't. But that whole thread from amp garage is a pretty intense arguments about the sound of some expensive machine made caps vs some really expensive hand made caps from the same company. The point being the hand made ones need 100 hours to 'break in'... there is even a graph in there plotting response against time. I doubt I'm ever really going to use mega expensive sozo's for anything, but I do have a couple of sozo's, only because I couldn't get certain values as orange drops a while ago. I'm not as fussy as some people I guess, and I don't call myself a pro at all.

These arguments are just extensions of things like, carbon comp vs carbon film vs metal film resistors. which is best? I've been told by a guy who supplies parts here to totally steer clear of metal film's, but then my favourite amp has metal film resistors. some people are creatures of habit, and some people think their opinon is fact. They probably never built identical amps to A/B test resistors or caps... so... until that's done and I can hear it... each to their own.

not saying sozo's are bad of course... just that the arguments like the one in that link get a bit out of hand.