ChromeDomeAudio, LLC

To get acquainted with our design and our tonal philosophy, you can begin by thinking of of the Tone Philosopher as a completely analog modeling amplifier. All of the switches and knobs allow you, the "User" to modify your guitar tone from the control panel of your own amp. And it's about time. Instead of taking your rig into the nearest amp shop to get it tweaked to your liking, you can flip a switch until you feel good and the mood is right. And nothing is set in stone because you can "Set up" your amp each and every time you play, regardless of where, when or why.

The 40 watt Tone philosopher uses (2)EL34 power tubes. However! It can be user biased to operate 6V6GT's instead of EL34's and this will reduce the output power to the same level as the TP-20. But you will maintain the advantage of the 4, 8 & 16 ohm speaker outputs afforded to you by our superior high fidelity American made output transformer. 

It is possible for us to ship you an amplifier with a pair of EL34's and 6V6GT's ( JJ/Tesla of course) that can be swapped in and out of the amp with out having to make any adjustment. They would be sympathetic pairs, if you will.

A general run down of the SWITCHES and knobs are this;

Power and standby switches. Gain, Volume, Treble, Bass and Presence. And a big pretty vintage styled red light so you know she's on! You can change the color of the jewel lens...

The amp has six (6) fun switches. They include "Hi-Gain" "C-Cap" "T-Cap" "Slope" "M-Cap" and "-FB"

This is what they do.

The "Hi Gain" switch selects 2 different operating points for the "Gain" control (Knob) In the down position the gain control does not provide as much pre-drive to the stage controlled by the volume control. In the up position, a voltage divider is removed from the audio path, thus letting more signal enter the next amplification stage. In the up position you can hammer the tone stack driver (amplification stage) and get impressive, robust vintage gain out of the amp. It is not a metal head amplifier, but can hold it's own if tuned up.

The "C-Cap" switch has 3 positions. Down, middle (Off) and up.

In the down position, the 1st amplification stage (Gain control) has less internal feedback and thus more gain and do to the capacitor value selected delivers an emphasis mid range and high end. This could be considered a British style configuration.

When the "C-Cap" is in the upper position, the amplification stage again, has less internal feedback and again more gain or sensitivity to the input to the amplifier. However, in the up position, the gain stage has more low end emphasis added to the tonal spectrum. More low end bloom and blossom. This achieves a full bodied extremely warm tone for clean, jazz and blues playing styles.

When the "C-Cap" is in the middle position, internal feedback in the 1st amplification stage is utilized to create an extremely linear response to the amplifiers input. In this position, no frequency, low or high is accentuated or attenuated and the input headroom to the amplifier is increased as result. This options is ideal for driving the amplifier with cascaded outboard effect pedals.

The "T-Cap" switch is a dual function, 2 position switch.

In the down position, the switch selects a high frequency  point (treble capacitor) which could be considered middle of the road as far as common preamp design are concerned. This value determines the "Shelf" or frequency center of the Treble control. In the upward position a component values is selected which boots the upper mids and treble and in effect performs like a "Shift" switch, all while being adjustable by the treble control.

The "Slope" switch has 3 positions. Down, middle (Off) and up.

This switch in principal act just like the "C-Cap" switch only its functions effect the amplification stage which drive your tone controls. (Treble, Bass, Presence/Mid range) However, due to the tone controls controlling specific frequencies and associated amplitudes (Amounts) this switch offers even more diverse control over gain staging and tonal response due to previously selected circuit parameters.

In the down position, the tone stack driver (Volume control) has less internal feedback and thus more gain and do to the capacitor value selected delivers an emphasized mid range and high end. This would be considered a British style configuration.

When the "Slope" is in the upper position, the driver stage again, has less internal feedback and again more gain or sensitivity to the input from the preceding amplification stage.  However, in the up position, the tone stack driver has more low end emphasis and this come into play with the "M-Cap" options. This really helps in selecting the right amount of low end and at what point. Really low, low or low mid. The "Slope" and "M-Cap" features are great friends.

When the "Slope" option is in the middle position, internal feedback in the tone stack driver is put to use to create an very linear set of tone controls. It is this position that will allow the tone controls to be "Flattened out" the most. It also makes dialing in even amounts of preamp distortion or break up with power amp distortion. Achieving proper amounts of both was generally hard to accomplish with the average amplifier and most times happened by accident, not design.

The "M-Cap" switch is a 3 position switch.

This switch lets the user select between 3 different mid bass frequency centers, this effects the center of the frequency controlled by the bass control and the amplitude of the over all low end response of the amp. In the down position, the amplifier will have overall less low end and a lesser amount of lower mids. In the middle position the amplifier will have the maximum amount of mid bass and will net a "drive" effect or forward feel of the amplifier when the volume of the amp is increased in general. In the up position you have it right down the middle of the precious two. Not allot of low end and not allot of low mids, but a flatter response. This switch is greatly effected by the operation of the "Slope" switch and the settings of the amp before that.  The bass control has a very broad effect when used in conjunction with the "M-Cap" features.

The "-FB" switch!

This switch is fun! It is 3 positions, and offers allot.

Down, the "-FB" switch adds high end shimmer and sparkle to the amp, and more power amp gain. Not to be confused with preamp gain. In the up position the "-FB switch adds mid drive and lot of it. If you like the sound of Eric Clapton jamming on his vintage Marhsalls... Well try this.

In the middle position, there is more local feedback in the power amp, and the amplifier is more subdued. Furthermore, in the middle position, the "Presence" control acts like a mid range control. You can cut the mids or wind them out with in this position. And remember, the "M-Cap" switch will effect the performance of the mid control as well.

The TP-40 40 is a 40 watt 1x12 combo. It lends all of its attributes to its little brother, the TP-20 but offers more power, headroom and greater speaker output flexibility.  The TP-40 uses a monstrous high fidelity output transformer with a flat response from 20-20khz. In conjunction with the bigger output transformer, it offers 4, 8 & 16 ohm speaker outputs.

Versatile control configurations allow extreme tonal manipulation to suit broad and diverse tonal pallets. You can scoop the Mids and roll out the low end and pile on the chime for the Beatles "VOX" tone. Dial in the high end shimmer and low end/mid bass spank of the classic American Fender clean tone. You can add a bit of edge or grind as well if needed. Or you can wind it up to drive hard through the mid bass and mid range region, and dial in the highs for a more then authentic vintage Marshall tone from the 70's. These amps can ring chime in any configuration for an added unique quality. 

Blues, Country and Rock players are at one with this amp. You no longer have to adapt to your amp, it will adapt to you.