Amps with Two Drive Settings

[Drybonz]

On an amp with two drive settings (cali texas 2 is the one I'm looking at), what is the difference between the two drives?  Thanks for the help.

[rd2rk]

Those types of amps typically have two tube "gain stages" in the preamp. The first tube stage overdrives the second either a little or a lot.

The degree to which the first stage overdrives the second allows for variation in the character of the overdrive which feeds the master/power tubes.

[MusicLaw]

@rd2rkexplained it perfectly!!

 

[Schmalle]

The Cali Texas Ch II topology is: Drive1 -> Bass, Mids, Treble -> Drive2 -> Master, Presence -> power amp.

Notice that the second drive of the Lone Star Ch II (called Gain on the real deal) has a bright cap in parallel to the pot leading to leaner sounds with lower values. 

Btw: compared to the Normal setting Thick and Thicker lower Treble knob frequency which adds mids.

 

It's a very versatile amp model that can produce tons of high class vintage tones. And it loves drive pedals.

 

Tip: since it gets most of the tone from the preamp: try the preamp model with a real power amp.

[amsdenj]

Amps with two drive controls and a master give more control of your clean and distortion tones. Amp configurations are different, but it is often the case that the first drive control will have a bypass cap. Keeping that control on lower settings and getting the gain from the 2nd control will give a brighter tone. Keeping the 1st drive higher and the second drive lower will give the same amount of gain and distortion, but will sound darker. Keeping the master lower and the combinations of the two drives higher will give preamp distortion instead of power amp distortion which generally will sound more compressed and can be more complex with even and odd harmonics caused by asymmetric preamp distortion. With modelers, you get get power amp distortion at any volume level using the amp level control. So that's more flexible than you can do with a real amp unless you use an isolation or load box. 

 

Try this: Set the master all the way up and adjust level for consistent output level. Turn up drive one to get the tone you want. Then turn drive 2 up to get the amount of distortion you want. This will be power amp distortion. Then switch to lower master and higher level to get the same overall output and again use drive 2 to get the amount of distortion you want. This will be preamp distortion. Then decide which one you like better. Of course, you can mix them. But the downstream power amp distortion will dominate the tone with the up stream preamp distortion just adding more saturation, exactly like stacking distortion pedals. 

 

[Drybonz]

Sorry for the delayed reply, but thanks for all the answers, guys... I had a vague idea of what these were doing, but this will really help me get it dialed in.  Thanks again.