Ceriatone, Getting close.....

[Mjh36]

I hate this amp. Jumped on Reverb and there was a mint KK. Impulse bought it. Fingers crossed.

 

[Zado]

I hate this amp. Jumped on Reverb and there was a mint KK. Impulse bought it. Fingers crossed.

Was it Nik's work or made by someone else AFAYK?

 

[Mjh36]

Was it Nik's work or made by someone else AFAYK?

The ad said it'll be boxed and shipped like it was new from Ceriatone, has the buffered FX loop, footswitch, t-shirt, etc., and everything works, so should be good to go. He recently got it like me, about 13 month wait, played it and wasn't the amp for him and boxed it back up. He's more of a 5150 guy which is cool too. But I can understand, sounds like where I'm at with the AH-100 Deluxe, it's ok just not the amp for me. I'm pretty sure the KK will have more bite and kerrang to it that I want. Plus the lower gain stuff sounds more promising. It'll be here next week and I can do a comparison.

I mentioned earlier that I was hearing something wrong in the amp, something out-of-phase or something. I can't seem to replicate exactly what I was hearing the other night so I think I'm ok. It's sounding fine as far as I can tell. I was just changing so many variables at once I think, removing a capacitor, changing tubes, changing IR's, that I was probably hearing things. It sounded like my IR's were out-of-phase but I checked that. But sounds as normal as it should be now.

 

[Zado]

The ad said it'll be boxed and shipped like it was new from Ceriatone, has the buffered FX loop, footswitch, t-shirt, etc., and everything works, so should be good to go. He recently got it like me, about 13 month wait, played it and wasn't the amp for him and boxed it back up. He's more of a 5150 guy which is cool too. But I can understand, sounds like where I'm at with the AH-100 Deluxe, it's ok just not the amp for me. I'm pretty sure the KK will have more bite and kerrang to it that I want. Plus the lower gain stuff sounds more promising. It'll be here next week and I can do a comparison.

I mentioned earlier that I was hearing something wrong in the amp, something out-of-phase or something. I can't seem to replicate exactly what I was hearing the other night so I think I'm ok. It's sounding fine as far as I can tell. I was just changing so many variables at once I think, removing a capacitor, changing tubes, changing IR's, that I was probably hearing things. It sounded like my IR's were out-of-phase but I checked that. But sounds as normal as it should be now.

The KK is based on the Yeti, which isn't their most bite-y design honestly, it's quite smooth in the upper hand, but I'm no expert about the AH/BE design, so I can't really compare the two kerrang-wise, I guess that as you long as your gain and bright switchs are set properly you can get into good kerrang territory. With gain lowered it sounds very good, that's for sure.
What bugs me is the problems you had with your AH amp, it's very rare to see Nik's build being somehow faulty. Was is directly shipped from him?

 

[Mjh36]

How about posting gut shots of the pedal.

Sorry I missed this, here's a pic of the pedal when I was working on it. Ended up going with a yellow instead of red. I have it all sorted now I believe. Amp is sounding OK, I think I was hearing things when I said it sounded out of phase, or I had something set wrong in my chain I don't know. Playing today it sounds healthy through real cabinets and IR's so I think we are good.

 

[Mjh36]

The KK is based on the Yeti, which isn't their most bite-y design honestly, it's quite smooth in the upper hand, but I'm no expert about the AH/BE design, so I can't really compare the two kerrang-wise, I guess that as you long as your gain and bright switchs are set properly you can get into good kerrang territory. With gain lowered it sounds very good, that's for sure.
What bugs me is the problems you had with your AH amp, it's very rare to see Nik's build being somehow faulty. Was is directly shipped from him?

Yeah I was hearing about the whole Yeti thing on the KK, and I've seen posts that people opted for more of a Chupacabra voice for Channel 2. If I need to go that route, I've looked over the layouts of the Yeti and Chupa and it really is a few resistors and capacitors in one area, I bet I could re-voice it with confirmation from Nik.

Either way, I think it'll be brighter than this BE nonsense. There's also this low midrange you can't dial out. Circuit-wise I'm no expert either, just tinker with pedals etc. I'm thinking even with the Yeti being darker than the Chupa, it's still in traditional Marshall territory. Which I guess a BE is too, but the Yeti/Chupa doesn't have those 500pf plate capacitors that I had to remove on the AH, plus it has bright caps on the gain pots, Friedman doesn't do that either.

I like that the KK has a gain knob on Channel 1 too. The KK is a 2 channel amp, but basically 3 with the Solo and Era switch. But I bought the AH for the even-more featured 3 channel aspect, with channel 3 having it's own gain knob. However, the AH has basically a NMV clean channel, and I like to use a loadbox and record silently at night, but it's hard to dial in good cleans that way. It goes into overdrive almost immediately, which can be a good thing I get it. But with the KK I should be able to dial back the gain and get some decent cleans again.

I never hear of any problems with Nik's amps I know what you mean. I did get the amp shipped straight from Ceriatone. The AH-100 Deluxe is probably one of more complicated of their amps and it's just one wire that was missed. Happens... however when you test it they should've heard that the switch only had two sounds instead of three. And for the footswitch, when we were diagnosing the problem, they actually have those pre-made and get them shipped to them. So technically that wasn't their workmanship on the footswitch. Just so happens that one tiny LED leg touching the inside will make your amp go haywire switching back and forth!

 

[Springfield Scooter]

I have both a Yeti, and a Chupa.
Both 50 watt.
I plan on selling one, imjust not 100% certain which one, as I love them both!
Right now, Im leaning on keeping the Yeti, and selling the Chupa.
Difficult decision!
I plan on ordering one of their 5E3 offerings after that.

 

[Zado]

Yeah I was hearing about the whole Yeti thing on the KK, and I've seen posts that people opted for more of a Chupacabra voice for Channel 2. If I need to go that route, I've looked over the layouts of the Yeti and Chupa and it really is a few resistors and capacitors in one area, I bet I could re-voice it with confirmation from Nik.

Yeah, that's one good selling point when it comes to Ceriatone, you can mod the hell outta em. I still haven't found the need to mod my Yeti, but if I HAD to mod it, I'd make it more abrasive and raw in the upper register.

Anyway, hope you'll have more luck with the KK, as long as you don't compare it to a Cameron Atomica (which is,according to internet rumors, the amp the KK should be somehow designed after, which imho isnt) it should be a very good amp!

I never hear of any problems with Nik's amps I know what you mean. I did get the amp shipped straight from Ceriatone. The AH-100 Deluxe is probably one of more complicated of their amps and it's just one wire that was missed. Happens... however when you test it they should've heard that the switch only had two sounds instead of three. And for the footswitch, when we were diagnosing the problem, they actually have those pre-made and get them shipped to them. So technically that wasn't their workmanship on the footswitch. Just so happens that one tiny LED leg touching the inside will make your amp go haywire switching back and forth!

Yup, any test should have revealed the problem, maybe they're busy AF atm and the thing slipped off. I guess any mortal can do mistakes right?

 

[Mjh36]

I have both a Yeti, and a Chupa.
Both 50 watt.
I plan on selling one, imjust not 100% certain which one, as I love them both!
Right now, Im leaning on keeping the Yeti, and selling the Chupa.
Difficult decision!
I plan on ordering one of their 5E3 offerings after that.

Yeah you just got your Chupa right? What makes you lean that way?

 

[Mjh36]

Yeah, that's one good selling point when it comes to Ceriatone, you can mod the hell outta em. I still haven't found the need to mod my Yeti, but if I HAD to mod it, I'd make it more abrasive and raw in the upper register.

Anyway, hope you'll have more luck with the KK, as long as you don't compare it to a Cameron Atomica (which is,according to internet rumors, the amp the KK should be somehow designed after, which imho isnt) it should be a very good amp!

I got lost trying to figure out the whole Atomica/CCV/King Kong thing. Never heard those besides a few clips. What's the differences?