I'm gonna start by saying that to my knowledge the Gomez El Sonido is being removed from production and what I'm posting in no way is intended to put down anything that Gomez makes. His products are quality top to bottom and overbuilt to last.

I was commissioned over the holidays to take Buddy Dughi's Gomez El Sonido and make it sound more stray cats era Setzer like. Having once sold Gomez amps or rather just the El Sonidos I knew what he was talking about his being too bright and blackface like when I went to pick up the amp from him at the Moon Eyes car show. When I got there Buddy/The Hot Rod trio were rocking, Buddy was using his new gretsch and the El Sonido. The Tone was beautiful, clean and jangly but the amp's response was almost like a black face twin and the amp was turned up loud (they were playing right in front of cars draggin)

so I needed to replace the stock output transformer that is on the El Sonido, which is a well made american transformer but a generic bassman reissue that is NOT built to the original blonde 6G6-B bassman output transformer spec..

with a Mercury Magnetics blonde bassman 6G6-B OT ( MM FO50BM-1) that is an exact clone of the original according to Paul Patronette of MM (and ten bassman amps built so far are pretty darn spot on IMO)

so the exchange was made and the results were exactly as I'd expected. Gone was the sterile grunt I hear associated with a blackface bassman's normal channel, and instead the amp now has more defined low mids and growl when turned up to 4-5 with the highs slightly warmer but very articulate(less brash more fidelity)

This amp has a massive low end that even with the bass control turned down to 1, is overpowering with a gretsch hollowbody. I'm thinking it could do with a better power transformer too but ehh, I just corrected some values. here is the well laid out gomez circuit board. Dario does EXCELLENT WORK in making these things look like the originals (obviously he likes to code his wiring colors different than fender did but who cares he uses good stuff)

but I dont like having all mallory film caps in the amp when it comes to playing with a gretsch hollowbody (great choice for surf plank guitar players)as it feels too "brown". Anyway as I said the normal channel in this amp has far too much low end and a simple fix is cutting the PI caps from .1uf to .047uf. I used one 716 orange drop cap and one Sozo mustard. I dropped the Bass cap from .1 to .047uf with an orange drop and clipped out the metal oxide slope resistor with a same value Carbon film. This removes the snarky element in the mids of this amp and smooths out the tone of your fingers on the fretboard. Again only as it relates to using filtertrons on a maple hollowbody, to me it matters and ends up a "sum of all parts" when going for the setzer tone on a new amp and doing the preamp thing infront of the amp that is driving through the amps circuit. (another reason for swapping in the xicon metal film cap and removing the mallory film cap)

side note: while Gomez was trying to stay true to the Bass channel's .002uf "treble bleed cap" (sends the highs to ground) per Leo fender's idea for a bass guitar, it is a horrible thing to have on a guitar amp so that needed to be clipped out. While this is all that is needed on an original 63' Blonde 6G6-B bass channel to open it up nicely for guitar, for some reason on the gomez it lets ALL the high end of this channel through and it needed to be tamed with a 250pf silver mica ( i stacked a 100pf and 150pf in parallel). The bass channel is now gorgeous and with its extra gain stage becomes a perfect channel for early Stray Cats era grindy twang or for me the ultimate brown fender sound for Dynasonics)

the final cherry on top was getting the horrible JJ ECC83 out of V=3 and replacing it with a Ruby 12AX7-C5. These tubes dont last more than a year before they go microphonic BUT they remove the woofy lows that the JJs have and in return give more definition to the wound strings and a bit more bark in the upper mids. This particular preamp tube in conjunction with the the reissue small bottle 6L6 pwr tubes ( reissue Tungsol 5881s) is a perfect recipe for dialing setzers tight woody bass and gritchy upper mids with the re301 space echo.

last move per buddy's request is removing the El sonido faceplate in exchange for a reissue fender brownface plate and Fender 61' logo.

just gonna keep my mouth shut..

Looking good TV! How do I get that described Bass Channel goodness from my Blondeshell...eh? Billy Brain set to fry?!?

Tavo has been living, breathing and eating this specific amp circuit for years. While I am sure he has had assistance and guiding to figure what makes the difference and how to do it...He has had his nose in these amps, more specifically his personal 6G6-B's for quite some time. I'm sure when TV says he doesn't know about amps...he is saying he wouldn't be able to build one from the ground up or he is being a modest dude!

Good job, Mr. Tavo! I like the Sozo/Orange drop combo. Its sort of like when I solder a JRC4558D on top of a RC4558P in a Tubescreamer. All of the snobs are satisfied at once!

That settles it. (like it wasn't settled before). When I come up with the cash... my next major purchase... a Blondeshell. Not a Marsh (altho I dig the tube/SS rectifier switch), not a Gomez, not even a vintage Fender (unless I get lucky.) a BLONDESHELL. Save at least one chassis for me, brother Tavo. My next major purchase.

I'm done pussy-footin' around...

just gonna keep my mouth shut..

-- slimJim

Then why mention it?

Nice Tavo!

Sean its true I dont really know that much about the why part, I just know how. Cant even explain it any more than I do here and if you spent 5 minutes with me talking about amps you'd know I've got nothing to pretend about. Guys like JBgretsch, Snorklemonkey and Billy Zoom are the ones to get details about electronics. I just do what I do, hear what I hear.. and it works. I am lucky to have guys like Chris/Wilbur enterprises (mod from guitarpcb), Todd Crockett of grumpytoad effects and rawnster from ampgarage helping me know what it is I'm designing. I guess if I cared about the why part, I'd sound more intelligent but I am only interested in the end results.

I should have done a before video but here is a quick clip just playing in open G and you can watch my strumming hand dig into the guitar going straight to a guitar cable and the amp. nothing between me and the amp except for mediocre guitar playing. The amp jangles like hell and crunches at a downstroke now, before it just hit back at you with a big clean mallet. Its setzer'liscious now

just gonna keep my mouth shut..

-- slimJim

I recommend you strive for consistency in this endeavor.

Hahaha.. If you only knew how quick I could turn the tables..

whats your point Slimjim other that just wanting to be a jerk about everything I post about? its obvious its entertaining to you as you started the same shit on the thread about rat pedals and why Baxter lets you get away with calling people pussies on this thread is beyond me.

Hahaha.. If you only knew how quick I could turn the tables..

-- slimJim

SJ, everyone here is wise to your games. We have all seen how you turn the tables on yourself and tell us that you are clever for doing so. So I know how quickly you turn your tables. I also know how empty and meaningless they are. And I know how little you are interested in adding anything genuine to any conversation that goes on here. You've pissed away any claim to the benefit of the doubt. I don't understand why anyone would ever take you seriously on any subject for any reason... sound of dreck being scraped off the bottom of a shoe

Hahaha.. If you only knew how quick I could turn the tables..

-- slimJim

Grow up man.. The tables are already turned. You make yourself out to be a rotten, sad, little know it all. Leave Tavo alone. It is getting old.

Whats this guy got againt Tavo? Hmmmm

The pussy boy comment was douchebaggery at its finest. No really take it as a compliment. As of late you have really perfected it. Got it down to a science and mommy would be proud.

Brush off your knees roadjunkie, no one likes a peepee sucker.

Now, my crowning moment as you claim hasn't happened, it would be if I feel like posting schematics.. Oooppsss. That would be not nice... Maybe I won't.

Actually, lots of people like peepee suckers.

But no one likes a troll...

no one likes a peepee sucker.

-- slimJim

Really? How old are you?

I think you need to find another forum to hang out on.

Naw.. This one is the best to hang at.

Naw.. This one is the best to hang at.

-- slimJim

I agree...

But some people bring it down a few pegs.

I agree with that too. Thank Jesus our Lord and Savior we have people to keep these people in check with reality..

So what awesome stuff are you working on SlimJim? Or will I just hear crickets chirping?

He's not a troll just an insignificant dick. I know he would never say what he just said to my face. He pussied out the last time we had words and he would again. I don't know what your problem is and I don't really care just go find a corner in your room and stop breathing.

Don't you have a Top Hat to build or design another blondshell or some other clone of a clone to work on?

Answer my question slimJim. What do you do? I see Tavo making cool stuff. What do you do? Huh, internet tough guy. Can't answer a simple question? Cat got your tongue? Pacifier lodged too deep in your yap? What do you do?