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screamin eagle · April 16th, 2009, 10:35 PM

So I have wondered this for a while and can't really come up with anything.

The 57 tweed deluxe, or I guess the whole tweed deluxe lineage, is a great amp and a lot of its greatness is attributed to the natural overdrive and compression of the amp. No one is going to argue with this. But my question is this: why does it go to 12 when it starts to break up around 4-6? The basis for this question is centered on the assumption that Leo was constantly looking for a clean sound--which history suggests. Now I understand that this wasn't really the go to 'stage' amp in the fifties (though it was used as such in some circumstances) , but when Leo was designing these things he wasn't really looking to design an amp that was geared towards overdrive. So why: nothing til 2, 80% of the volume at 3, and beginning to clip at 4--and the volume knob goes to 12?

I do understand that it is a primitive circuit and a primitive design. But players as a whole weren't really looking for that sound (overdrive) at the time, in fact (with the exception of a few--Junior Barnard and maybe Grady Martin and Paul Burlison and a few others) it really was considered an unattractive sound at the time. So again (insert question.)

Yes I use a 12AY7.
Yes I understand that pickups weren't as hot then (none of my guitars have hot pickups--maybe a little hotter by yester-years standards, but not hot.)
And yes I have thought about the whole voltage at the wall thing--though I have not hooked mine up to a variac to test this--though I am inclined to think that even if it didn't start clipping at 4, it would at 6 or 7.

I can make sense of the popularity of this amp, with the hindsight of rock n roll.

However, does anyone have any theories as to what Leo was doing? He obviously cleaned up his amps in the proceeding years. But in the late 40's and early fifties, there weren't a whole lot of 20+ watt amps, nor the desire for them (a lot of bands were still mostly 'unplugged' at this time.) So why the control design?

April 16th, 2009, 10:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
screamin eagle Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: S. CA Posts: 161	Tweed Deluxe Contols/design question... So I have wondered this for a while and can't really come up with anything. The 57 tweed deluxe, or I guess the whole tweed deluxe lineage, is a great amp and a lot of its greatness is attributed to the natural overdrive and compression of the amp. No one is going to argue with this. But my question is this: why does it go to 12 when it starts to break up around 4-6? The basis for this question is centered on the assumption that Leo was constantly looking for a clean sound--which history suggests. Now I understand that this wasn't really the go to 'stage' amp in the fifties (though it was used as such in some circumstances) , but when Leo was designing these things he wasn't really looking to design an amp that was geared towards overdrive. So why: nothing til 2, 80% of the volume at 3, and beginning to clip at 4--and the volume knob goes to 12? I do understand that it is a primitive circuit and a primitive design. But players as a whole weren't really looking for that sound (overdrive) at the time, in fact (with the exception of a few--Junior Barnard and maybe Grady Martin and Paul Burlison and a few others) it really was considered an unattractive sound at the time. So again (insert question.) Yes I use a 12AY7. Yes I understand that pickups weren't as hot then (none of my guitars have hot pickups--maybe a little hotter by yester-years standards, but not hot.) And yes I have thought about the whole voltage at the wall thing--though I have not hooked mine up to a variac to test this--though I am inclined to think that even if it didn't start clipping at 4, it would at 6 or 7. I can make sense of the popularity of this amp, with the hindsight of rock n roll. However, does anyone have any theories as to what Leo was doing? He obviously cleaned up his amps in the proceeding years. But in the late 40's and early fifties, there weren't a whole lot of 20+ watt amps, nor the desire for them (a lot of bands were still mostly 'unplugged' at this time.) So why the control design?