TDLX - Understanding the channels

[Gainzilla]

Hi all,

Got bored and started wondering about the TDLX. Supposedly both channels are from blackface Fender amps (Twin, and Deluxe Reverb I'm guessing. Most recorded amp of all time, etc etc). Anyway, the thing about those blackface (AB763) circuits is that the preamps are all virtually identical. Only the power section is different. So why is the Twin so undeniably clean and the DR so easily broken up? It's not just 6V6 vs 6L6 and supply voltage. I think most people use the Tremolo channel because they have an extra gain stage and seem a little hotter. The math doesn't add up, though, since the TDLX only has 2 tubes/4 possible gain stages and the DR channel is definitely hotter. Here is how I think things might be arranged inside the TDLX:

• DR side uses the "Tremolo Channel" circuit (3 total gain stages)
• Twin side uses the normal channel circuit (2 total gain stages)
• Both channels share a common input stage.

So, in a nutshell, both channels sharing one gain stage at input, Twin side only uses one additional gain stage for recovery after the tone stack, and the DR side uses two additional gain stages. All that adds up to the correct number of gain stages, and would also explain how two radically different behaving amps with the exact same preamp can sound how they do in a shared preamp module.

I think. Maybe. Thoughts?

Cheers,

Bryce