EVH's #12301 is the most-discussed (and most-mythologized) Jose-modded amp in rock. Documented mods include:
- Extra V0 preamp tube
- Cascaded V1→V2 with cold clipper
- Channel-jumper switch (front-panel toggle)
- Reduced bright cap on Volume I
- Push-pull saturation switch (cathode-bypass cap toggle)
- Jose Master Volume with zener diode clipping (engaged via push-pull)
- NFB resistor moved to 4Ω tap
Beyond the canonical preamp work, the amp has `customer-specific` (Tier 4) features: a Dagnall C1999 choke swap and an alleged Drake 1202-132 output transformer. Eddie's stage rig also ran with a Variac for line-voltage attenuation — that's not a mod Jose installed, but is part of the recorded sound.
JMIL surface area: the Tier 4 features (choke, OT, bias, variac) are educational content only; they do not appear as user-toggleable controls. Toggle Tier 1 mods to hear the canonical Brown Sound preamp signature.