Mad Professor Amp -- Discussion / Appreciation Thread

[Eskimo_Joe]

Yep, the mighty CS-40. The best amplifier to grace the planet in my humble opinion. I love mine and use it as first choice 9 times out of 10. There are definitely a ton of sounds packed in there and the great news is that NONE of them are less than STELLAR! Rock on man!

Best,
Dean/PinkStrat

Thanks Dean! What kind of tubes are you using? Cab / speakers?

[Donner]

Yupper lets have a tour box!! me a nd Doc can take turns : }

[DocRock]

[BJF]

Hi,

I'll see what I can find from my files on settings and tubes, secret sound , speakers tested et.c and post that onto this thread.

Have fun
BJ

[Danny Boy]

Hi everyone!

I bought my CS-40 A few months ago and I'm very pleased!
I have used it both in the studio and live at different kind of stages and it works great!!
I use it with a 1/2 open back Matchless 2x12 loaded with one Celestion Gold and a Celestion G-12H.

I mostly play through the normal channel with:

Volume: 14 o'clock
Focus: all the way to the right
Bass: 10 o'clock
Middle: 10 o'clock
Treble: 14 o'clock
Tone Balance 14 o'clock
Presence: 14 o'clock
Boost: 12 o'clock
Master: Depends but mostly around 10 o'clock
Full Power on the power break.

"Off course all settings can change depending witch mood, guitar...)

Then add a touch of Red Rooster Booster and a Deep Blue Delay!

I have the stock Tubes at the moment but I'm planning to change to Svetlana C-wings (EL-34) in the future...

Danny Boy

[PinkStrat]

I use a old Hiwatt 4x12 cabinet (with the original Fanes), an Avatar 2-12 cabinet loaded with Celestion Blues and a 1-12 loaded with a Celestion G12-65. The HiWatt cabinet RULES most of the time....The tubes are all dead stock-- JJ EL-34s and 12AX7As. BTW, the CS-40 is only amplifier I own that is completely dead stock (imagine that)!

Best and Happy New Year,
Dean

[cabo]

Congrats on the score EJ,,Im sure it will bring many hours of pleasure, hopefully a lifetime. Its nice to see more folks around here with the cs40
Im using the same speaker setup as yours only with 4x12 cab, closed back.

Ill go back and forth between the normal and abnormal inputs, normal if Im using a lot of dirt pedals, and abnormal if Im really trying to work the amp.
The bass I tend to run pretty low with the closed back cab and longer scale guitars.

Approx normal settings(oclock) as they change a little depending on guitar and pickups.
V10, Focus-open triangle, B-8, M-11, T-12, ToneBal-3, Pres-11, Boost-1, MasVol-2, PowerSuck-off(arena).

Abnormal settings change a little, still with variance,, Vol goes up around 2, ToneBal back to 12, MasVol down to 10, focus to open circle. Sometimes power suck this one to get more gain out of the mas vol. Not much else changes.
I shoot for a driven amp sound somewhere between a mix of what a Model R and BBODD might sound like. My favorite two drive pedals btw.

Anyhow have a great time with the amp,

PS Id like to hear some nice tweed settings people use if there are any to share.

[Bobby D]

the more i learn about the mad professor CS-40, the more i am jonesing for one.......i would LOVE to have a Cs-40 in a 1x12 combo. BJ tells me that this may happen soon, and I am sure it will be an amazing combo.

The more I learn about the circuit design, the more I am intrigued by the amp.

One of the BIGGEST things that makes the amp special is the ability to turn it up LOUD, and yet not have people recoil from the sound.

I noticed years ago, that there were some guys who could have a really loud stage volume, but not get fired. A guitarist named Jerry Riggs (remember Riggs? they were on most of the soundtrack of that crazy cartoon movie "Heavy Metal") did some gigs in Tampa.

he had the most amazing and LOUD stage volume I had ever heard in a club. My band came up afterwards, and I was IMMEDIATELY told to turn down by the house sound guy. Jerry was easily TWICE as loud as I was.

He was running a pair of old Fender Bandmasters, dimed......except he had the treble cranked all the way down. Just a nice, big, warm, listenable sound.

From my experience, you can be LOUD, but you have to have a VERY GOOD sound, and it cannot be piercing or annoying or too treble-centric. It's hard to master.

But I think BJ has done something very special with the Mad Professor amps, and he understand this technique VERY well.......

[justonwo]

From my experience, you can be LOUD, but you have to have a VERY GOOD sound, and it cannot be piercing or annoying or too treble-centric. It's hard to master.

From my experience, that isn't so much a problem with the amp as it is with the musician. For one thing, some speaker cabinets can be really directional (especially a closed-back 4x12) and I find that you lose the ability to hear a lot of the high end unless you put your face right in front of the cabinet. Second, when you're playing loudly, it doesn't take long for your ears to shut off the highs. So you keep turning up the treble. To you it sounds ok, but to the audience it sounds icepick-y.

[Bobby D]

From my experience, you can be LOUD, but you have to have a VERY GOOD sound, and it cannot be piercing or annoying or too treble-centric. It's hard to master.

From my experience, that isn't so much a problem with the amp as it is with the musician. For one thing, some speaker cabinets can be really directional (especially a closed-back 4x12) and I find that you lose the ability to hear a lot of the high end unless you put your face right in front of the cabinet. Second, when you're playing loudly, it doesn't take long for your ears to shut off the highs. So you keep turning up the treble. To you it sounds ok, but to the audience it sounds icepick-y.

i think it's a combination of both -- a good musician AND a good amp setup that can deliver the sound i am thinking of.

you are completely right - i have heard guitarists all the time who have the most annoying, loud, icepicky treble sound, and it's truly annoying.

but it also helps a LOT to have an amp that has the ability to give you a great warm sound that still has presence and detail, not just muffled warmth.

if it sounds REALLY good, most people don't care if it's loud, which is the point. and it seems that BJ has spent a lot of time thinking about this, and designing the MP amps to be able to deliver this kind of volume with the warmth and depth needed, as well as detail and presence.....at least that's the impression I get from him after discussing it for hours.

but yeah -- i remember in the late 80s, when i had 2 mesa mark III heads, 2 4x12s, and was LOUD......and a bit too treble-heavy. Donner might have seen me back then, it was my Tampa Bay days, and i played a lot around town then, when we weren't on the road. Long live the Volley Club!

it is true, you DO get ear fatigue from standing in front of those loud amps all night