I finally cured the piercing brightness on Channel 2 ....

Hi my name's Isaac, I'm new to the forum but I've been checking it out for a while looking for tips and maybe a cure for the brightness in the Ace.
I knew it had the sound I was looking for, I was just unable to find a way dial out the high icepick tone.
I finally found it. Basically Channel 2 is based on a JCM 800.... compare the schematics for the 2. The similarities are amazing!!!
So I just followed some of the mods used for JCMs and tweaked to my taste. Here's what I changed...

1. On the Input Jack I wired a 220k resistor from Input wire to ground. This helps tame the treble the amp is seeing from the guitar and will beef up the tone.

2. Next I wired a 270p cap to the outer lugs of of the Treble Pot. 330p is recommended for the JCM. This cuts the ratty highs. You can now go past 9 o'clock on the treble knob woooooooooeeeee!!!

3. Next I changed R38 from the 39K value to 56K. This is the "slope" resistor and sets the eq slope thickens the mids. I was able to get creamy mids with this value. Don't go overboard. 47k might be good enough for rhythm players.

4. Finally the biggest improvement came from changing R44 from 10M to 4.7M. No more piercing highs. The Presence knob is now usable past 9 o'clock. I think any value between 4.7M and 10M will work. It's just trial and error finding a happy medium. All I know is that the stock 10M had the piercing tone that could only be dialed out by turning the Presence down and diverting the highs to ground.

5. I removed C6 (180) and C7 (750) caps and replaced with 150p and 270p cap. These are a 'bright' cap system. the higher the value the more treble is heard at lower volume settings. I did this last after I was sure I liked how the amp sounded at gig volume.

My amp sounds great. I'm just so happy with the sound that I don't find myself tweaking knobs anymore. I'm actually playing
guitar. Very easy mods, I'm surprised no one else has posted any mods. I had heard of the hollywood mod, but this amp doesn't need more gain. It needs a treble and presence mod.

Try these mods, but if you just want to cure the icepick tone try #4 and you'll get a usable presence control.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the info....I'm sure there are a LOT of folks looking forward to this mod .

As for me, I'm going to file this one for later....I'm pretty happy with my Ace at the moment. :mrgreen: I'll tackle some of these when I have some extra time....

Yeah!!!!.....when will that be.... :shock:

Thanks again!

Looks like I'm he only few that likes the treble and presence on the stock Stiletto Deuce IIs. Not sure about them Aces though, never tried them out before...

I dunno. My Deuce plugged into a good closed back 4x12 is pretty beefy sounding, nothing shrill about it at all. Then again, the mod was specified for an Ace........

I guess I should specify that I have an Ace in the 1x12 combo with a Vintage 30. I've had it for about 2 years, I gig regularly and have recorded with it in studio. To me it always had this presence tinny thing that could never be dialed out on the drive settings. So I kinda just lived with it. The Clean channel is great I guess the presence helps with the clarity on that one. But Channel 2 would sort of give an ear fatigue quality. Mod #4 really helped out, presence sounds more like a guitar's tone control than just a control that adds ultra high frequencies. Yeah I guess you could say it's like a tone knob now.

Word of caution...it's an easy mod just watch out for the orange relay box that's next to it on the left. DO NOT get the soldering iron too close to it you could damage the relay switching system. :shock:

I've heard good things about the Deuce versions. I already had a half stack which is a Bogner Ecstacy 101b and Bogner 2x12 great tone but too loud for some venues. I needed something smaller and the ace was more for me than a lonestar or shiva would have been.

Thanks for some very interesting mods, I have to ask this: as you have both amps, can you duplicate the xtc blue channel on the Ace? if so what settings (er pre mod if possible)

Thats cool. Hope to here more mods for the stilettos in the future.

amused said:

Thanks for some very interesting mods, I have to ask this: as you have both amps, can you duplicate the xtc blue channel on the Ace? if so what settings (er pre mod if possible)

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The XTC blue channel is just, well, it's pretty awesome. It's got a quality like the Ace's crunch where you can turn the guitar volume down and it cleans up, but it's more "fluid" i guess. But I got my Ace sounding really good. My wife was able to listen to me play at moderately loud volume and really thought it sounded great. She said it sounded "full and even" Before she couldn't be in the same room for more than a minute because her ears would ring.

I guess I got spoiled by the low mid growl of the XTC and yearned for that with this amp. Now I got it. Oh and I did try different speakers, cords, and settings before doing this mod. Gotta say this was the cheapest most effective fix. Oh and for my lead solo boost I'm using a DOD 250 clone I made in the loop. It adds an eq change in the lower mids and a bit more gain to the power tubes so you don't really have to crank the solo volume. The Solo function on the Ace ads more a tiny bit more gain but your tone remains the same.

wow, that's interesting! Thanks for sharing this info..

I'm curious how much effect it has. Can you post your settings for treble/precesce/mid on channel2, and what were the settings before the mod, so I can see how much impact it has ? Is it now controllable in the full range ?

Dit it have much impact on your clean channel ?

.. or maybe you can post a youtube video ;-)

alie123 said:

wow, that's interesting! Thanks for sharing this info..

I'm curious how much effect it has. Can you post your settings for treble/precesce/mid on channel2, and what were the settings before the mod, so I can see how much impact it has ? Is it now controllable in the full range ?

Dit it have much impact on your clean channel ?

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Only #1 will affect both channels. It's kinda like in between a low input and high input.
Pre Setting on my Channel 2

Crunch Setting Pre Mod Post Mod
Gain at 1 o'clock 1'oclock
Treble at 10:30-11 o'clock 1o'clock
Mid at 12 12
Bass around 11 12
Presence 9 or 10 o'clock depending on guitar 11-12

Tite Gain Pre Mod Post Mod
Gain 11 o'clock 11'oclock
Treble 11 o'clock 11-12
Mid 12 1 o'clock
Bass 11-12 11
Presence -9 o'clock 10-11

Fluid is same as Tite settings but it focused on upper mid responsiveness. Master Volume is around 11 o'clock, Output at 12, Loop is around 10-11, Spongy settting on Diode.
Voice of the channel changes to lower mid crunch #3 mod controls the mid voice. Settings are kinda similar (pre vs post) just sounds more balanced than high end all the time. I was listening to the new Alice n Chains album while doing the mods. May explain the lower mid emphasis. I generally keep my gain setting lower so I don't lose note definition and play at moderately loud volume. Not a bedroom player. I played it yesterday with the loop disengaged....WOW. Just WOW. Like a cranked old Marshall out of a 1X12. I played a Strat, and a few Les Pauls out of it.

I might post a vid this weekend, don't have camera now.

Hi there

Intresting reading

I changed the V1 and V2 tubes to JAN-Philips 5751 and the power tubes to JJ KT77 and it made a huuuuuge difference in my Stiletto ACE

Now the amp i smooth and twangy at the same time. Not even my Telecaster sound harsh anymore.

/Stefan

If there was any ear piercing brightness on my ace head it was caused by engaging the loop and not having a hot enough signal feeding into my rackmount processor. I recently discovered this problem and adjusted my ACe heads master volume knob up a bit to get that signal smokin!!

loop bypassed or engaged it don't matter no more; they are both warm sounding to my ears now

wow thanks!

Will be nice if you'll have some time to show us your 'renewed' amp on YouTube.
The posted settings are settings I could never achieve with my current amp. I'm happy with my amp, but if I could improve the quality of it, by decreasing the treble, that would be nice!

Yeah, I'm still loving it. I'm fixing to install either a rotary switch or mini-switch (can't decide) to be able to switch the slope resistor values. I rigged a 6 way rotary in a old pedal enclosure I had lying around. I put a 33k,39k,47k,51k,and a 56k. I've been playing the amp with loop in and with loop disengaged, here's what I found.
I did not like the 39K. This is the stock value and had too much high mid.
33K was cool, had a scooped quality...kinda single coil scoop. Like it on the crunch setting.
47k on the tite setting was pretty cool. It had an 80's vibe going on... Jake E. Lee, George Lynch tone.
51K on tite still had 80's vibe but fuller, not as crunchy/crispy.
56k on tite had a thicker mid voice, single note riffs were great on this setting.

I tried using a 100k pot as a varible resistor (contour) knob but forgot to ground it and got shocked. Not bad but it definitely woke me up. I'll stick with the switches :lol:

I really like 33k, 47k, and 56k. By installing a switch I'll be able to tailor my sound even more.

surferdeac said:

If there was any ear piercing brightness on my ace head it was caused by engaging the loop and not having a hot enough signal feeding into my rackmount processor. I recently discovered this problem and adjusted my ACe heads master volume knob up a bit to get that signal smokin!!

loop bypassed or engaged it don't matter no more; they are both warm sounding to my ears now

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You are totally right. Whether using a pedal or rack device, you have to find the right loop volume and have the channel master volume at least around 11 or the tone will be weak. With loop off you can hear the tone "beef" up around 10-11. How are you liking your Ace Head???

Thank you berumen77 for sharing your mod info with us

berumen77 said:

How are you liking your Ace Head???

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I really enjoy it.

berumen77 said:

guess I should specify that I have an Ace in the 1x12 combo with a Vintage 30

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It is a different beast having a head an ace head/cabinet separate than having the ace combo at least the 1/12 combo. It was a no brainer for me to choose the ace head with a rec cab over the combo ace (of course you are spending a little bit more dough but its worth it and its also nicer carrying two medium heavy objects 2x 12 rec cab and an ace head than carrying a super heavy combo amp). I personally felt that the stiletto cabs although very nice sounding are a tad more ear piercing all things being equal and aren't as "BEEfY" sounding on the low end and because of that don't do as good of a job complimenting the natural crisp high end frequency response that this amp possesses. at least from the standpoint of comparing the 2x12 stiletto extension cab vs the 2x12 rec cab. Both the rec and stiletto 4x12 cabs sound KILLER/(not as ear piercing with this head. the Combo amp didn't sound as good (more ear piercing) to my ears as the ACE head with a cab combination (especially the 4x12 rec cab) .

I also found that when i do ocasionally feel the amp is to bright its usually when i am using it in my small recording room (practicing) and i am right next to my speaker. If i use the amp in a bigger room with other instruments it sounds killer. When i am working on my recordings and put my extension cab in my homemade isolated semi -soundproof amp enclosure and MIc it into my monitor speakers/pro tools set up It sounds even more killer

other things that have helped me with regards to smoothing out the high end of this amp
jj gold pin ax7's in v1 v2
str 450's power tubes
playing with my volume and tone knobs on my guitar
adjusting my gain on channel 2 depending on how loud i am playing my amp
keeping my treble at 9 presence off and going from there
using my rackmount processors eq and cutting some of the frequencies around the 10 khz range give or take a couple khz's
breaking in my speakers.

berumen77 said:

I knew it had the sound I was looking for, I was just unable to find a way dial out the high icepick tone.
I finally found it. Basically Channel 2 is based on a JCM 800.... compare the schematics for the 2. The similarities are amazing!!!

Click to expand...

Where'd you find a schematic for the Ace? :?:

Old BF Shred said:

Where'd you find a schematic for the Ace?

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http://www.sendspace.com/file/p9i1rk

http://www.sendspace.com/file/adof5f

http://www.sendspace.com/file/d0h8ah

Very cool! Thanks

surferdeac said:

If i use the amp in a bigger room with other instruments it sounds killer.

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I have found that when I play a gig, and the amp is LOUD, the brightness is never an issue.
I think one of the best features of this and most of Mesa's amps, is that they are designed to shine at gig levels.

They are the true "working man's" amp. (IMHO, of course!)