SHELTON SUPERLATIVE OVERDRIVE

Features of Shelton Superlative Overdrive:

My goal with this amplifier is to make a certain boutique amplifier tone available to you.

One of the first amps I built for myself was my take on a Dumble Overdrive Special.  It took me a long time to get it sounding right, but I learned more from that circuit than from any other.  There were several things about the amp that really influenced me, from the variation on the Fender tonestack which made the controls less interactive, to the single-stage negative feedback loop to ensure that the preamp remained clean and responsive even with heavy overdrive, to the way Dumble achieved a “clean distortion” tone by cutting the bass and the extreme highs and keeping the “meat."  I still look at Dumble’s amplifiers as a standard of excellence in design and execution.  I have the utmost admiration for the man and for his creations.

I added several things to the basic Fender-on-steroids topology.  I’ve never been satisfied with a mid-boost switch, so I added an optional variable mid-boost control, so you can go from mid-scooped Fender and Marshall sounds to thick, sustaining leads.  I offer an option to make the power amp Class AB2 with MOSFET source follower drivers to prevent blocking distortion. In amps with reverb, instead of reverberating the overdriven tone, as is done in most other amplifiers, I mix a reverberated clean tone with the overdriven tone to produce all kinds of unique sounds. Reverb send and return are separately controllable, so you can control the character of the reverb, not just the amount.

This amp is a cost-conscious, but never cost-cutting, design.  I use the good stuff – metal-film resistors, PTFE-coated wire, film and ceramic capacitors, Weber and Hammond transformers, quality tubes, and aluminum chassis. I use buss grounding to minimize hum. All parts operate within their rated limits at all times, even when the power amp is overdriven.

So what about the sound?

The clean will go from Knopfleresque to SRV and most places in between, with good sustain even at low volume.  Lindley, Lowell George, and Sonny Landreth slide tones are well within reach – the overdrive channel does especially well with a volume pedal, going from slightly overdriven chord work at low settings to searing solos at higher settings.  Robben Ford and Larry Carlton tones are on tap. Even with loads of gain, the sound doesn’t lose articulation, and the amp never leaves the control of the player.

What won’t the amp do?  It's too "nice" to do death metal. It can do crunchy, powerful rhythm tones, but it won't get menacing like a good Marshall.

Interested?  Each Shelton amplifier is custom-built for a particular player.  After the amp is complete, I'll invite you to come play it with your guitar, and I'll tweak it until you get exactly the sound you want.  Send me an email and we can get started.  Note that the number of amplifiers I can build is extremely limited because of the time commitment required.