A single schematic of "the Jose mod" has circulated through guitar forums, build threads, and YouTube tutorials for 20+ years. It is the schematic most builders, clone-amp manufacturers, and DIY kits derive their work from. Per Dave Friedman (Headfirst Amps Panel #11, Dec 2025), it is also a poor representative of how Jose actually built amps.
What's wrong with the famous schematic (per Friedman, panel [26:27, 62:25]): 1. C7 is missing. The single most-important high-frequency-cut cap after V0 (see c7-hf-cut) is not drawn on the schematic. Friedman has serviced ~60 Jose amps and most of them have C7 in place; the schematic implies it isn't there. 2. The output coupling cap is too fat. The schematic shows a large output cap that Friedman associates with only one amp he's ever seen (Andy Brower's, now Mixita's) — most Joses don't have this cap value. 3. It's a snapshot of one amp, not a recipe. Friedman [26:48]: *"that might have been a particular amp. So, who knows how it was tweaked for someone."* The schematic is widely treated as canonical but is most likely a one-off trace from a specific amp Jose built for a specific player at a specific point in time.
What this means for the modern builder: if you build the famous schematic literally you will get *an* amp that's "Jose-shaped," but it will sound noticeably different from the ~60 amps Friedman recalls being typical of Jose's actual bench practice. Specifically: - Without C7, the amp will be ice-picky and unpleasant in the top end at high gain. - The output coupling-cap value affects the low-end character through the tone stack. - Several Jose-typical details (the 250pF input-end ceramic cap, the 68k-to-ground voltage divider, the 4Ω-tap NFB) appear on Friedman's recall but vary or are missing in the schematic.
JMIL's position: the lab does not derive its Tier 1 mod values from the famous internet schematic. The values reflect a synthesis of (a) the Friedman-stated bench-practice typicals, (b) tear-downs of specific surviving amps (EVH #12301, Mick Mars Dr. Feelgood, John Sykes 1987, etc.), and (c) period kit instructions where they survive — with each mod's documentation explicitly flagging where the public record diverges. Treat the famous schematic as a starting point for one specific amp, not a recipe for "the Jose mod."