Silverface roots. Tweed rewired.
Roan’s mod lowers negative feedback and disconnects the tone stack for a more open and aggressive response.
Silver · MOD
American Silver 5-Watt Amp AU · VST3 · AAX / macOS + Windows
Restored, modified, and meticulously captured into a plug-in from Roan Zen Martin’s one of a kind amplifier project.
Limited-time introductory price.
Sound examples
Stella '71 Demos by Claudio Tristano
Inside the Capture
1 2 3 4 Roan’s mod lowers negative feedback and disconnects the tone stack for a more open and aggressive response.
Silver · MODPart of the signal path. Not a generic tone EQ. Silver engages it, MOD lifts it completely.
Tone StackEach pairing preserves its own circuit, microphone, and preamp combination.
Modern Condenser · Vintage TubeA stereo impulse response places the amplifier at a 15-foot indirect perspective.
Real-time stereo convolutionCreating the Stella amplifier has become one of the biggest achievements of my life, and I am so glad that I get to share it with the world through STELLA '71. Roan Zen Martin
Limited-time introductory price.
$15One perpetual license for two Mac or Windows computers.
Free trial
No credit card or email required.
Limited launch bonus
STANDALONE is our separate plug-in host. Every current owner & everyone who buys it during the introductory period gets a STELLA '71 plug-in license at no extra cost.
Before you plug in
Inside the Capture
Purchased largely by accident through a last minute, shot-in-the-dark eBay bid, this amp fell into my hands in a strange condition. Although the amp and its original speaker worked, it was plagued with issues and anomalies that led me far down the rabbit hole of negative feedback resistors, tone stack lifts, and cathode bypass capacitor values.
Prior to its arrival, a suspicious piece of masking tape labeled “To 5E1” led me to believe that the circuit had been modified to its “tweed” counterpart. Once it arrived, I was glad, but also slightly disappointed to find out that it had not yet been turned “to 5E1.” But I had already learned everything I could about how this modification worked, and someone out there wanted this amp to have a tweed circuit, so I was in no place to deny this amp of such privileges. I managed to install a switch that changed the negative feedback resistor value from 2.7kΩ to 22kΩ, and remove the tone stack from the circuit. These two mods push this little silverface far into tweed territory. This is the sound of a tiny tube circuit pushed far beyond its limits, sure to put a smile on the face of anyone who dares turn it on at volume ten. Just be warned: with the tone stack removed from the circuit, don’t expect the treble and bass knobs to do anything!
This amp has also gone through a full capacitor replacement job, where absolutely no expense was spared. This amp has been captured with Jupiter Cosmos Red electrolytics for all cathode bypass capacitors, and Jupiter Vintage Tone film capacitors for the tone stack and coupling caps.
And although I went through a lot of trouble to customize this amp, it remains fully original to its vintage origins in the places that matter. Stella '71 features its original factory speaker, preamp and power tubes, and output transformer. The sound is undeniably classic, with its modifications no more out of place today than they would have been in 1971.
I have also spared absolutely no expense during the capture process.
Although I must admit that I am partial to the vintage capture, the choice between both allows for a greater range of tone than you might expect from such a unique amplifier.
Creating the Stella amplifier has become one of the biggest achievements of my life, and I am so glad that I get to share it with the world through Stella '71. Even for those with the biggest plug-in collection, I am confident that it will fill a hole in your arsenal.