Blue Dog
The making of ~Blue Dog ~
In the beginning>>
A few years ago, i started to design and build a guitar valve amplifier. My objective was to create a beautiful looking /sounding amplifier able to capture a warm vintage sound reminiscent of the 1950/60s.
Based on the WEM Dominator/18W tone. Using the EL84 valve in the pre amp I added tonal variety and flexibility to the circuit, as there was scope for tone tweaking. The circuit is based on the all-time vintage classic, 18W Marshall Watkins.
After many hours of toiling away and tweaking various aspects of the project Blue Dog was born!
Effectively it's two 18watt mono amps in one, the idea being to use the stereo out on my Boss G8 stereo effects board. The circuit is a push/pull configuration using a pair of EL34 valves. I have also included a switchable power supply rectifier circuit which is able to switch between a silicon bridge rectifier and a GZ34 valve, a separate circuit for the line out, using a EL84 valve. I also added a VVR (variable voltage regulator), and a switchable headphone output.
Speakers used are 10" Fane Blue, the amp sounds amazing, it packs plenty of punch and power.
