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Overdriven B-15 at low volumes... how?


Walker
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I got an Ampeg B-15 (heritage) a few weeks ago, my first all-valve amp. It's glorious.

I want to get a slightly overdriven tone at low volumes (kids in bed volume level). I don't want to colour the signal at all, just add a bit of grit. Nothing too manic.

It doesn't have gain control, so what's the best way to do this with an all-tube amp? I don't want knacker anything through ignorance.

Do I need a clean boost pedal to push the pre tubes? Or is there some other better way? I want to keep things as simple and 'natural' as possible.

Cheers

Chris

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Pushing the preamp with a clean boost works on most valve amps. It's not the same sound as turning the amp up but can be good for a little grit. The two channels on the Heritage might respond differently, as I think the 1964 channel has two gain stages and the tone controls before the volume control, while the volume control in the 1966 channel comes after the first gain stage.
(I don't have a B15 myself but I'm building a preamp based on one, so I've spent a bit of time looking at the schematics)

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Yeah, a clean boost is the easiest, even though you are only overdriving the preamp. I found that on my active bass, turning the bass up fully, which would normally be an unusable tone, overdrives my valve amp beautifully, and is not too bass heavy.

In terms of boosting the amp with a pedal, I had great results with my DHA VT bass pedal, but not so much with the Markbass Super Booster

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