Happy family!

Indeed, talking of "The" Valvecaster is rather limitative. Indeed, this project is so simple that has led to all sorts of modifications and extensions...Just google "Valvecaster" and see for yourself!

Although I am rather pleased by my Valvecaster, I decided to create a better version of it. Many reasons led me to this.

1. Design: the socket-mount is not exactly a neat work, especially given my poor soldering skills.
2. Quality: raising the anodic voltage to 12V provided a terrific boost in performance (as opposed as simple 9V anodic voltage/12B heaters). So I want more! :)
3. Performance: the top gain of the circuit is not that high. Even though this design does not lend itself to blistering saturations, I would like it to explore hotter territories than a simple crunch.
4. Versatility: I would like to be able to switch between a mellower "green" channel for rhythm and a hotter "red" channel for lead.

What I came up with, is this:


I will build two Valvecaster stages. The first one will run on a 12AT7 tube, providing middle gain and nice creamy saturation. The second stage will sport a high-gain 12AX7 tube. A foot switch will route the signal after the first stage, either straight to the output ("green" channel), or into the second stage ("red" channel).

To reach higher anodic voltages, I will employ a charge-pump voltage doubler, built on the LT1054 chip. The circuit is very easy and is basically the reference design provided by the producer.

All the build, which will start in the next days, will be performed on Vero stripboards.