Thermionic Culture Solo Vulture

this is the first of thermionic culture's solo series. we chosethe culture vulture as first to become a mono unit because theoriginal scheme (of nick terry's - back in 1996) was to make theculture vulture as a guitar distortion unit box, and the prototypeis still in use by edwyn collins for this purpose, without aservice or valve change! the new design is still based around theunusual 6as6 /5725 distortion valve.
the changes of electronics in the design have been developed by alocal young 18 year old electronic whizz-kid, ricky sharp. he'salso a guitar player and believes in valve electronics, ofwhich his knowledge is rather impressive. as well as adding his ownideas to the audio circuit, ricky designed the noiseless switchingcircuit which uses transistors to switch vactrols. this circuitmeans still no solid state components in the audio path whenswitching between "clean" and "dirty" channels. the final designwas supervised by vic keary, with jon bailes, as usual, creatingthe physical product designs from their concepts andprototypes.
the solo vulture must not be thought of as just ½ of a standardculture vulture, as it has special extra features, including 2switchable signal paths controllable either by a toggle switch onthe front panel or a foot switch, which makes it suitable for stageuse as well as in studios.
the clean channel goes straight from the 1st stage to the outputstage.
the dirty channel is amplified further after stage 1, then it hitsthe "distortion" valve, before the output valve.
presence and active tuneable mid lift as found on the anniversaryeditions of the culture vulture can be added to the dirtychannel.
there is also a 4 position low pass filter switch to removeunwanted high top.the presence adds 2 options of broad mid range tothe sound.
the mid lift is most effective at low current settings (see below)and can be used at all positions of the distortion type switch butis most effective with p selected. it's a high "q" control with 4active settings tuned musically and, will really emphasise theguitar, bass or other instrument in a mix or, of course, onstage.
the distortion type switch affects the way the distortion valve isconfigured. "t" is triode(smoothest 2nd harmonics). "p" is pentode(more aggressive 3rd harmonics), the most popular. sq1 & sq2 arethe bizarre "squash" settings and should be used for more extremeeffects.
the meter reads the actual current through the 6as6 type distortionvalve. this is controlled by the bias control. when the valvecurrent is 0.25 – 0.3 ma it's least distorted. very low currentgives it a thinner more broken up sound. high current and it's abit fatter and "woolly" 0.1 ma at sq2 adds an extra octave to thesound (usually).
inputs and outputs are ¼"stereo jacks. the line in on the back iswired "semi floating" so as not to degrade the signal from a daw.the high impedance di in on the front, and the line and low leveloutputs on the back are unbalanced so the ring on the jack isgrounded. single or 2 core leads can be used when connecting tobalanced equipment.
the solo vulture could help produce your own individual sound.
valve complement:
input/boost 12ax7/ecc83 double triode
distortion 6as6/5725 pentode
output 5725 double triode

■extra "sq" features for more xtreme effects;

■presence lift (broad);

■mid lift for precise sharp control (previously only onanniversary vultures);

■low pass filter on rotary switch;

■di on front will take guitars & basses with ample boost for"dirty" effects;

■clean & dirty channels to compare extra effects;

■silent switching between channels by switch on front panelor

■foot switch (not supplied) can be used via jack on frontpanel;

■stage & studio uses;•all valve signal path – no solid stateeven in switching;

■high output with simultaneous low level out for amps, etc.;

■ build - handmade in england.