Contour Is Great, But Can It Be Modded? Subway 44

[soundchaser59]

Subway Rocket 44

I love the contour effect, but can the frequency range that gets boosted be modded at all? Or is there a way to make the contour boost adjustable?

Anybody have a link to mods for this amp?

 

[user 21540]

Good question. I would like to have the ability to dial in more or less of it with a pot like on the 5:50 - and also have the ability to mix it into the clean channel. Probably possible but beyond my know how.

 

[soundchaser59]

I don't like it when my tone gets too bright, and this contour is a great cutting boost, but it's a little on the bright side for my taste. I like the boost and the growl, but I'd prefer to boost a lower freq band.

I'm guessing making the boost amount variable would be an easier mod.

I'd like it a lot better as is if I could use it just on the rhythm channel, but not the lead. The way it's hardwired the contour is for lead channel only. I'm thinking the Contour on the Express amps is different than this. The new contour sounds to me like it has a different effect on the tone than what I get from the old contour like I have on the Subways.

 

[user 21540]

I'm pretty sure the Contour Channel is actually just the regular Rhythm distortion plus the preset scooped "V" EQ boost kicked in on top of it. You're right though it is bright but I think it sounds good for really Hard Rocking riffing (like Judas Priest kind of stuff) whereas the regular dirt is more of mid-rangey Mark I sort of thing - good for that Santana singing lead tone. To make the boost/cut variable would mean changing component values in the EQ module inside the amp. I've had my Rocket open before to replace a pot and to fix a bad connection on one of the reverb plugs but can't remember seeing the EQ module. I know in the Blue Angel amps - where it is called a "Mojo Module" - it was epoxied so you couldn't change anything.

Talking about the F series amp, Randall Smith said with regards to the contour circuit that:
"As far as the contour, that’s another carefully voiced EQ circuit that has been in Boogies for decades except this time – to keep it simple – it’s not useradjustable. It’s preset in our classic ‘V’ curve, like the setting we’d use on an old Mark II-C for example."
I'm note sure how it's laid out in the Rocket.

 

[soundchaser59]

Maybe it would be easier to just make it switchable so that the contour is rhythm channel only? I have seen on some schematics how it feeds both channels. Couldn't one of those "feeds" be interrupted?

I've never seen anything epoxied or permanently hidden in any Mesa amp I've had open, but my experience with open Mesa amps is very limited.

 

[soundchaser59]

Or maybe putting a 5751 or a 12AT7 in V3 will tame that contour boost a bit?

 

[cradlefish]

I agree it can be a bit bright as well. It doesn't match with the clean channel if you lower the treble too much. I figured out a way to get the highs on the clean closer to match with the contour channel is by lowering the gain on clean and using the master volume.

I lowered my treble to 6 because the contour gets brighter when you crank her up. It seems to sounds better that way IMO. I may adjust it more when i rehearse with it as when the volume gets louder certain frequencies jump out more prominently.