JF Chiefton

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ricky

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So I haven't tried any new modules lately and was on the classifieds and saw that Corium had a Chiefton for sale at a nice price. So I figured "What the hell" and picked it up. It is one of JF's new models.
WOW! What a refreshing difference from all of my other mods, and I must admit that I have plenty.....
Similar to the Voxless but much more versatile. First of all it is a hell of a lot louder than the Voxless. I always struggled with balancing the Voxless with my other mods, but the Chiefton is way louder. Instead of the mid switch it has a regular mid knob. On a lot of mods I am hesitant to turn the mids up b/c they can get kind of honky. Not on the Chiefton. It can be cranked and it tends to warm it up and add a nice gain. The mod also has a lot of bottom end. Even with the bass knob all the way down it still has bottom. With the eq set at 12:00 it is a really clean Vox-y sounding mod with that classic chime to it....think British Invasion. Turn the gain up and it has a nice break up ala' John Scofield. However if you then crank the mids up, it smooths out the gain and can get sort of Marshall-y. There is s similarity in a lot of my mods. I have three that are totally unique to me:Rob's Dumble clone, Salvation's buddy and now the Chiefton. Totally a cool mod!
 
+1, love our custom Chieftain module (haven't heard JF's, but I imagine it's similar to a real Matchless as ours is), from Vox to pretty Marshall it's all there via the Mid Control. Chieftain's have a unique tone-stack, with pre bass and mid, and post treble.

Try it with a Marshall 4X12 with the mids up, and with a Vox style open back with Blues or Greenbacks/H30's with the mids down, great preamp!

ricky said:
So I haven't tried any new modules lately and was on the classifieds and saw that Corium had a Chiefton for sale at a nice price. So I figured "What the hell" and picked it up. It is one of JF's new models.
WOW! What a refreshing difference from all of my other mods, and I must admit that I have plenty.....
Similar to the Voxless but much more versatile. First of all it is a hell of a lot louder than the Voxless. I always struggled with balancing the Voxless with my other mods, but the Chiefton is way louder. Instead of the mid switch it has a regular mid knob. On a lot of mods I am hesitant to turn the mids up b/c they can get kind of honky. Not on the Chiefton. It can be cranked and it tends to warm it up and add a nice gain. The mod also has a lot of bottom end. Even with the bass knob all the way down it still has bottom. With the eq set at 12:00 it is a really clean Vox-y sounding mod with that classic chime to it....think British Invasion. Turn the gain up and it has a nice break up ala' John Scofield. However if you then crank the mids up, it smooths out the gain and can get sort of Marshall-y. There is s similarity in a lot of my mods. I have three that are totally unique to me:Rob's Dumble clone, Salvation's buddy and now the Chiefton. Totally a cool mod!
 
"haven't heard JF's, but I imagine it's similar to a real Matchless as ours is....."

Who is "ours?"
 
My bass player/studio partner and I build our own, just for our own use as we're not in the module biz.

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ricky said:
"haven't heard JF's, but I imagine it's similar to a real Matchless as ours is....."

Who is "ours?"
 
djdayson said:
My bass player/studio partner and I build our own, just for our own use as we're not in the module biz.

You and your partner should do a write up on how you build such a module. I've seen many posts about this rig and your modules but no real specifics.

Starting a how-to thread in the DIY section with proper explanations would be really helpful for other non-commercial DIYers.
 
We simply follow the real amp's schematic as much as possible within MTS's framework, and if you can read schematics and are qualified working on high voltage tube gear, they are relatively easy to modify seeing the power supply, switching, and I/O is already done for you.

The MTS format allows for up to five gain stages and a cathode follower (up to two gain stages are in the host), so at that point you put them where you want them, create your tone stack, and tune with biasing your gain staging, adjusting your plate and cathode bypass caps, your bright cap, and your filter caps etc.

People should start with a good how to build and modify tube amps book.
 
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