TW Expression

“All Access”
 User Manual
Thank you for the purchase of the Ceriatone TW Expression All Access guitar amplifier!

Here, we hope to explain how best to use your new amp.

Table of Contents Page

1) About the TW Expression All Access 2

2) Quick Setup 3
3) Front Panel controls 4
4) Rear Panel controls 6
5) Tube complement and bias adjustment page 9
6) Frequently Asked Questions page 12
7) Setting up Original TW Express 13
8) Settings Templates 14

1) About the TW Expression All Access

Ceriatone has offered the sought after Trainwreck Express amplifier, designed by Ken
Fischer, for many years, with our take being called the Ceriatone Expression. It has been
well received, but it is time to freshen up the model.

The original is known to be a gainy, touch sensitive amp that responds extremely well to
guitar volume control, and pick attack. It also blooms and feedbacks beautifully, when one
masters the amp.

In our quest to make the amp more versatile, and in line with current needs to better
manage volumes, as well to use with multitudes of effects pedals, we have come up with
the TW Expression All Access.

Namely, we have added these wonderful new features to the amp:

1. Channel Switching
To allow for Clean Channel, while the OD Channel retains the original circuit

The original design of the amp has an unused 12AX7 triode. We use this triode to
achieve the Clean channel, so that the design stays very true to original circuit.
 2. Buffered Effects Loop
We have added a transparent buffered loop, so that you can use your favorite pedals
with the amp.

3. Post PI Master Volume

For you to better control volumes, to even play in your bedroom!

4. Tube / Solid State Rectifier Selection

A cool addition to be able to have Tube Rectification, which the original TW
Expression does not have!

5. Voicing and Gain Switches

Several options to make the amp even more versatile for your enjoyment!

We hope that you find value for money in this update of the classic amp. More importantly, I
am confident that the original intent and tones of the classic amp is preserved.

We always strive to bring you the best!

Rock on!
- Nik S Azam
2) QUICK SETUP (for instant gratification)

1) Plug your guitar using a 1/4” instrument cable into the upper I input on the right of the
front panel
2) Plug a suitable power cable from the rear panel MAINS cable inlet to your wall
power receptacle
 3) Plug the amp into your speaker cabinet using 1/4” speaker cable
4) Set the IMPEDANCE SELECTOR to the match the impedance of your speaker
cabinet
5) Set all rotary tone and gain controls on the front panel to 12:00 (clock face)
6) Set VOLUME controls at just above minimum, with PPIMV set to full
7) Set front panel POWER switch in the ON position (down position, with adjacent
STANDBY switch in the “STANDBY” mode) for 60 seconds to allow tube filaments to
warm up. Select the Rectifier to be in SS (Solid State) mode first.
8) Set front panel STANDBY switch to “ON” mode
9) ROCK!!!!!!

3) FRONT PANEL CONTROLS

From left to right:

1) POWER 2-way toggle switch
2) STANDBY 2-way toggle switch
3) RECTIFIER 2-way toggle switch
4) INDICATOR Pilot Light
5) POST PHASE INVERTER MASTER VOLUME (PPIMV) control
6) HI CUT control
7) PRESENCE control
8) Bite 2-way toggle switch
9) BASS control
10) CHAN 2-way toggle switch
11) CHAN LED
12) MID control
13) MID BOOST 2-way toggle switch
14) TREBLE control
15) GAIN CHAR 3-way toggle switch
16) VOLUME 2 control
17) BRIGHT 2 3-way toggle switch
 18) VOLUME 1 control
19) BRIGHT 1 3-way toggle switch
20) INPUT jack
21) FOOTSWITCH jack

POWER two-way toggle switch powers the amp on and off.

STANDBY applies high voltage to the vacuum tube anodes (and screen grids) during use of
the amp. To ensure long tube life, first power the unit on with the STANDBY toggle switch
in UP position for approximately 60 seconds. You can then switch to DOWN (“ON”) to use
the amp.

RECTIFIER allows you to select Solid State or Tube rectification, for the amp. The tube
rectifier used is a GZ34/5AR4. Please put the amp to STANDBY first, before toggling this
switch!

INDICATOR will illuminate when the amp is powered by turning the front panel POWER
toggle switch to the ON position. If INDICATOR does not turn on, check your power cable
connections, and then the fuse on the rear of the unit.

POST PHASE INVERTER MASTER VOLUME (PPIMV) is a master volume control that
acts after the phase inverter. This allows you to still have preamp and phase inverter
distortion, but at lower volumes. When this control is maxed, the PPIMV is bypassed, thus it
will be like a stock circuit.

HI CUT allows you to fine tune the highs of the amp. When set higher, more and more high
frequencies are cut

PRESENCE adjusts the high frequency response of the power amplifier using negative
feedback. Use this control to add sparkle and clarity to your tone.

BITE allows you to select between 2 Presence capacitor values, ie 0.1uf (Left) and 0.47uf
(Right). Stock TW Express amps come with 0.1uf capacitor.

BASS adjusts low frequencies

CHAN This switch manually switches between Clean and OD channels, without use of the
footswitch
CHAN LED The LED turns red when you are in the OD channel

MIDDLE adjusts the mid frequency response

MID Boost is a 2 way switch, that allows for selection of a higher valued Treble capacitor,
like in Dumble amps. With the mid boost engaged, you can have a thicker sound, and stock
sound when it is off.

TREBLE adjusts the high frequency response

VOLUME 2 sets the overall volume and gain of the OD Channel, ie the stock circuit of the
original TW Express.

GAIN CHAR this is a 3 way switch that allows different gain levels, useful for you to fine
tune the OD channel. Middle is stock TW Express, which is the gainest.
To the Left would be the least gainy, so you can use it for light crunch sounds a la typical
Marshall, for example
To the Right would be in between, useful for medium gain sounds.

BRIGHT 2 is a 3 way selector which selects the bright capacitor value for the OD channel
Volume Control. You can select none (Middle), 100pF (Right), or 500pF (Left). These are
original values per TW.

VOLUME I adjusts the overall volume and gain of the “CLEAN” channel of the amp.

BRIGHT 1 is a 3 way selector which selects the bright capacitor value for the CLEAN
channel Volume Control. You can select none (Middle), 100pF (Right), or 500pF (Left).

INPUT I Plug your guitar in here.

FOOTSWITCH Plug the footswitch here to select Channels

4) REAR PANEL CONTROLS

From left to right:

1) SEND ¼” instrument jack

2) LOOP ON OFF switch
3) RETURN ¼” instrument jack
4) IMPEDANCE SELECTOR three-way rotary selector
5) SPEAKERS ¼” speaker jacks (x2)
6) NEGATIVE FEEDBACK (NFB)
7) BIAS TEST probe jacks (x2)
8) COM probe jack
9) FULL / HALF 2-way toggle switch
10) HT FUSE
11) MAINS FUSE
12) MAINS IEC cable inlet

SEND is the Send jack of the effects loop, which is a SOLID STATE BUFFERED type, in
this amp. A ¼” instrument cable is used, to the Input of your effects.

LOOP ON OFF switch is to turn the Buffered Loop on or off.

RETURN is the RETURN jack, accepting the Output from your effects, using ¼” instrument
cable.

IMPEDANCE SELECTOR three-way rotary selector. Set to the position that matches the
impedance of your speaker cabinet.

NOTE – if you are using two speaker cabinets in parallel (ex – two 16 Ohm cabinets), set
the impedance selector to half that of a single cabinet (in this case, 8 Ohms).
SPEAKERS ¼” speaker cable jacks. Use a ¼” speaker cable to connect your speaker
cabinet to the amplifier using these jacks. If you use one speaker cabinet, either jack is
acceptable.

NOTE – never turn your amplifier to OPERATE mode (“1” / DOWN position on STANDBY)
without connecting the amplifier to a speaker cabinet or suitable dummy load! Failing to do
so may damage your amplifier!

NEGATIVE FEEBACK (NFB) is a 3 way switch to select different NFB resistor values:
Middle (100K) will be least NFB, so your amp will sound gainiest/loudest at this setting.
Left would be most NFB, while Right would be an in between value.

FULL / HALF switches the power output of the power amp. HALF mode configures the
power tubes to run in triode operation, and this negates any need to reconfigure the
IMPEDANCE SELECTOR.
Please turn the amplifier to STANDBY before toggling this switch

BIAS TEST and COM multimeter probe jacks – use this for external bias current
measurements (see Section 5)

HT FUSE 0.5A SLO BLO fuse – used to protect your amplifier from voltage spikes or
excessive current draw. Replace only when necessary.

MAINS FUSE SLO BLO fuse – used to protect your amplifier from voltage spikes or
excessive current draw. Replace only when necessary. 3A is used for amplifiers used with
a 120VAC country supply, and 2A is used with 240VAC.

MAINS IEC cable inlet – plug a suitable IEC power cable into this inlet to power your
amplifier
5) TUBE COMPLEMENT AND BIAS ADJUSTMENT

V1 V2 V3 BIAS POT V4 V5 V6

From left to right:

V1: 12AX7/ECC83 (Input stage Bright and Normal channels)
V2: 12AX7/ECC83 (stage 2 and tonestack cathode follower)
V3L: 12AX7/ECC83 (phase inverter for power amplifier)
V4-V5: EL34 (power tubes)
V6: GZ34 (tube rectifier)

BIAS ADJUSTMENT CONTROL IS INDICATED BY THE RED ARROW

To measure your power tube bias, carefully follow these steps with the amplifier in
OPERATE, MASTER at minimum, Rectifier set to SOLID STATE, and connected to a
speaker load (not doing so may damage your amplifier!):

1) Turn on a digital multimeter (DMM), and set it to read millivolts (mV) in the 100mV
range (this will vary from DMM to DMM)
2) Plug a black probe into the color-coded jack on your DMM, and do the same for a
red probe
3) Insert the black probe tip into the COM probe jack. This is GROUND in the amplifier.
 4) Insert the red probe tip into the V4 probe jack on the left. This measures bias for V4.
Write down your measurement
5) Repeat step 4 for V5, Write down your measurement for each

To calculate bias, there are two pieces of information you need to know: your amplifier’s
power tube plate voltage, and the published value for maximum plate dissipation for the
power tubes used in your amplifier. To save you some time and energy, here are those two
values:

- Approximate V4 and V5 plate voltage for TW Expression All Access amp

= 400 VDC with Solid State Rectifier chosen
- Maximum plate dissipation for EL34s
= 25W

…and now some math. The formula for calculating bias is as follows:

𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

× 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 × 1000
𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒
= 𝑏𝑖𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 (𝑚𝐴)

In most cases, amplifiers are biased between 50% and 75% dissipation. We bias the the
amp to approximately 43mV on a DMM, which is 70% dissipation.

An example is as follows:

25𝑊
× 75% × 1000 = 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 43 𝑚𝐴
400𝑉𝐷𝐶

You might wonder why your DMM is set to millivolts and not milliamps – simply, we have a 1
Ohm resistor placed between your probe jacks and ground to convert a current reading to a
voltage reading. That way, a bias current of 43mA measures as 43mV on your DMM.

NOTE – Only set your DMM to mV for measuring bias on the amplifier. Not doing so may
damage your DMM.

Now that you know how to calculate bias, all you need to do is:
 1) Follow steps 1-5 on page 9
2) Calculate what bias voltage reading you will set your tubes to (in this case, we will
use 43mV)
3) Place your red probe in the LEFT BIAS jack, and the black probe in the COM jack.
4) Turn the bias potentiometer shaft SLOWLY until your DMM reads 43mV
5) Wait 1 minute
6) Recheck all power tube bias measurements
7) Readjust bias potentiometer shaft if necessary

Note that, the bias above is when SOLID STATE (SS) rectification is selected. When Tube
Rectification is selected, the plate voltages inside the amp will be lower, due to the drop
introduced by the tube rectifier.

However, this has already been compensated, for bias, by a resistor inside the amp that
changes values when you toggle the Rectifier switch. Hence, you do not have to rebias for
Tube Rectifier operation.

A FEW COMMENTS ON BIASING

Due to the nature of vacuum tube amplification, there are inherent risks when biasing your
amplifier. Extremely high-voltages are present, and vacuum tubes reach high temperatures
during use.

The risk of electrical shock and/or skin burns should ALWAYS be kept in mind. Therefore,
bias at your own risk, and only while paying attention and taking all precautionary
measures.

Biasing should only be done on a clean workbench with no distractions. Do not wear loose
clothing or any jewelry. Take your time, and think carefully before each step.

Again, bias at your own risk. Ceriatone Amplification is not responsible for any damages or
injuries resulting from user biasing.
6) FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do I hook up this thing?

- See Section 2, beginning on page 3.

Is the FX loop series or parallel? Active or passive?

- The FX loop is series, and is a buffered solid state type

Can I substitute different tube types?

- Although you can try 12AT7s, 12AU7s, 5751s without any harm, the
design is optimized for 12AX7s, and are therefore the only recommended
tube in the preamp positions.
- Please use only GZ34/5AR4 for the tube rectifier
- Please use only EL34s for power tubes. While other tubes might work,
knowledge, and mods might need be required. Please consult a qualified
technician for any mods.

Do I need to use a matched and balanced phase inverter?

- It is not necessary. Feel free to experiment with different tubes (of the
same type) in your amp, though!

I’ve read that the components used in this type of amplifier are really important. What is
inside my amplifier?

- We use a combination of parts custom-made for us to our specifications

(power transformer, output transformer, choke, high-temperature / low-
ESR electrolytic capacitors) and those used in our British series (1/2W
carbon composition resistors, 1W carbon film resistors, TAD Mustard
capacitors, high-voltage silver mica capacitors, Belton tube sockets, and
Alpha potentiometers, Cliff jacks). Finally, we occasionally use NOS
components from our vast surplus parts collection in locations they work
well and complement the voicing or enhance the performance of the
amplifier.
 7) How to achieve the original TW Express circuit?

For the original TW Express circuit:

a) Rectifier – Solid State

b) Hi Cut – 0 (no cut)
c) PPIMV - Full (defeated)
d) Bite - Left (0.1uF)
e) Channel - OD Channel
f) Gain Character - Middle (gainiest) None
g) Mid Boost - Left (Off)
h) Bright Cap - To Taste
i) Volume 2 (OD Channel Volume) – To Taste, but try 11-1 o’clock first
j) NFB – Middle (100K NFB resistor)
k) Power – Full power

You can also mix and match these settings, to create your own sounds! Enjoy!

8) Settings templates

Please resize, and print the templates below, to make your settings templates