freestompboxes.org

oldgravity wrote:Looking at this again, I realized that the wiring to the mains inlet is not heat shrunk - exposed high voltage. Isn't that really bad practice, and wouldn't something with exposed HV be illegal to sell? This is British, so you're looking at 220-240v just out in the open for any gut-shooting fool (not you, CJ) to potentially kill himself. Maybe threat of electrocution is the goop for the 21st century?

99% of the amps out there are the same way. It's fine.
Your not supposed to be poking around in it anyway.
If you have your car running and you pop the hood and
touch the fan you'll get hurt...

RnFR wrote:i was trying to figure exactly what was going on from the laney factory schem, but it's drawn like the 7th level of the light cycles from the Tron video game.

I have found it perfectly intelligible.

Basically that "Klipp" circuit is like the LTP “differential amp” phase inverter circuit (common cathode + common grid amps) of generic tube power amps, with the difference that only one of the outputs is in use and the plate resistor values are kinda skewed. Also, the B+ voltage powering the circuit is reduced considerably to lower the headroom and consequently have the circuit clipping a lot earlier than usually. In comparison to a typical common cathode gain stage the differential amp circuit will clip rather symmetrically and quite a bit softer.

There is no traditional gain control either. Instead the overdriven signal from the differential is mixed in with the clean signal (taken pre OD) using a potentiometer as a mixer. The potentiometer pans in between fully dirty or fully clean, providing various degrees of something “in between” at the other settings.

There is practically no low frequency attenuation at all before the overdrive stage so the dirty sounds will practically be that buzzy and fuzzy mud that early SS fuzz pedals as well are famous (or infamous) for. The fuzzyness is really not the circuit's fault but just an archetypical tone of any overdriven gain stage driven with full-bandwidth signal. Kinda really shows that having tubes and having a novel circuit doesn’t help if the foundation itself is a total failure.

Like everything, these amps have their fans but very few are among them.

teemuk,
You should do more "reviews" of amp and FX gear. I don't think there were two positive qualities
out of the properties you evaluated. Also, your descriptions indicated a distinct lack of bias.
It seems the Laney folks still don't have engineers with ears. Marketing told them what it needed
to look like to garner the beaux-teek look that's all the rage. Design apparently ended there.
Laney...

Clearly these Valve Klippers are certified hammered dog $hite. For my tastes.

Noel Grassy.

teemuk wrote:

RnFR wrote:i was trying to figure exactly what was going on from the laney factory schem, but it's drawn like the 7th level of the light cycles from the Tron video game.

I have found it perfectly intelligible.

congratulations. the version i tried to read was about 5 inches wide. you've got more patience than i do.

the parallel misbiased gain stage does sound a lot like the Garnet Stinger. i wonder if the laney guys lifted the idea? and it does sound remarkably like a silicon fuzz- even with the tubes, but not quite as good as i remember after a few caucasians! is there such a thing as tone goggles?

This a full blown tube pre-amp, that happens to possess the ability to be used as a traditional pedal (with caveats).

Use it with a power amp! If you're sticking it on the floor with the rest of your pedals - well, then you deserve any bad tone that comes bleeding from your speakers.

And I question the taste of anyone who says the Klipp sounds shite. Perhaps the early Sabbath records scared you.

sunburnedgoat wrote:And I question the taste of anyone who says the Klipp sounds shite. Perhaps the early Sabbath records scared you.

The soundclips I've seen/heard of this thing don't sound anything like early Sabbath.

culturejam wrote:
I sure do like the look of toroidal transformers.

soulsonic wrote:

sunburnedgoat wrote:And I question the taste of anyone who says the Klipp sounds shite. Perhaps the early Sabbath records scared you.

The soundclips I've seen/heard of this thing don't sound anything like early Sabbath.

The comment I was responding to was the one made specifically about the Klipp amplifier. Which is what I was referring to.
Also, of course the clips you heard don't sound like Sabbath. Someone playing the actually Klipp amplifier used on the s/t Sabbath album probably wouldn't even sound like Sabbath to many people.

Anyway, the Valve Klipper is more a traditional pre-amp than a stompbox, and should be approached as such. That's all I'm saying. So to get back on topic, it looks like a great box. And the asking price of around $375(?) might be a lot for a stompbox. But for something that can be used as the pre-amplifier section of your rig is relatively nominal.

I wouldn't consider something like this to be used as a preamp into a poweramp. There's no tone controls! A control for volume and fuzz isn't much of a preamp. I know exactly what you're saying about it being a preamp, because they just copied part of the Klipp preamp without thinking how they could actually re-design it to be a workable standalone fuzz box...

I'm sorry, but no one looking for a good tube preamp to use with a power amp could possibly take something like this seriously. You would need an outboard eq to even make the setup usable, and then you'd be wishing the thing was in a rackmount chassis instead of being a floor pedal. The best it has going is as a unique tube fuzz box, but it hasn't been optimized to be used in such a way, so it's just a mess.
Is it a proper preamp? NO
Is it a proper fuzz box? NO
So, what is it? It's what happens when you hack the crap fuzz out of a mediocre amp and try to sell it as a fuzz box... even though you can't really use it like a fuzz box.

Also, Tony Iommi did not use a Laney Klipp on the first Black Sabbath album. From what I've seen, most people aren't entirely sure if he used that model much at all. He definitely used the Supergroup model throughout his career with 70's era Sabbath.

From the builder of the Klipper: "It is designed to be connected directly to the amp's input, it becomes part of the preamp and not the pedalboard, like adding a distortion channel to your amp".

So not a pedal, and not exactly a preamp, I'll give you that one. Basically, a device that lets you turn your amp's front end into a Klipp (or close to it) without internally modding it.

"Crap fuzz". Well... that's like, your opinion, man. Quite a few people actually dig the Klipp. Surprise!

You wanna argue Sabbath trivia all day? Iommi's use of the the Klipp in early Sabbath is well documented. I said "early Sabbath" in my first post. 2nd post was intended as more a point about the lameness of giving thumbs up/down on the ability of gear to reproduce classic sounds based on poor quality video demos. "That doesn't sound like XXX band!!!!" When it's video of some dude ripping half assed blues runs or sloppy song versions. You know what I'm talking about. And as a matter of fact, I was never even implying that this Valve Klipper was some sort Sabbath accuracy machine anyhow. I made a sarcastic side comment about someone's dislike of the Laney amplifier. Fucking Hell.

I won't continue this argument any further. Clearly you're a True Believer in regards to this thing, and any attempt at convincing you why I feel the way I do about it would be a wasted effort on my part.

Iommi first used the Klipp on Vol 4 and continued to use it until the Dio era, when I believe he switched to Mesa. Very distinct sound. Can't comment on the Valve Klipper. Passed it up when my name came up on the list due to some financial troubles, but those that have them rave about them.

Fausto has recently generously posted schematic for Valve Klipper on his site.

beedotman wrote:Fausto has recently generously posted schematic for Valve Klipper on his site.

What a waste of half a valve.

"Generously" posted his copied design. Congratulations!