Thermionic Culture THE SOLO VULTURE High Gain Distortion Unit - Manual (Page 4)

© Thermionic Culture Ltd, May 2012 3
1 Introduction
The Solo Vulture is a version of the classic 2 channel Culture
Vulture.
It’s a mono unit, but it’s much more than half of a Culture
Vulture.
Designed initially for guitar use, it’s very much at home with any
instrument(s), including keyboards, bass, violin, cello, brass and
even percussion.
It has higher gain and will amplify any electric instrument to get
full effect from this new circuit. The rear input is “semi floating”
so no unwanted (solid state) distortion will be added if a
balanced source is plugged in. This input has the same gain as
the DI, but is cut out when a jack is plugged into the DI input.
The same “distortion” valve is employed (6AS6 type). The
features found only in the “Anniversary” edition are available
along with a Presence switch, extra top lift pre-distortion at high
gain settings, and a 4 position low pass filter to reduce
unwanted harmonics. The special Hi Q mid lift feature is
available on all Distortion settings.
The circuit comprises 2 switchable channels, CLEAN & DIRTY.
The Clean channel is there for comparison with the Dirty signal
and the volumes of both can be controlled by the 2 controls
under the meter. Switching between the channels is totally silent
yet solid-state free, using light dependent resistors. This means
that the true Thermionic Valve “warm” sound is fully retained.
The Clean channel can also be used for gentle (2
nd
harmonic)
distortion, though not on low level inputs.