| Author |
 Topic  |
|
hateandwar
Gold Member
Australia
524 Posts |
 Posted - 02/19/2010 : 10:17:30
|
This week must be my lucky week!
Another friend of mine today gave me these two heads that have been sitting around in his garage for years. According to him they dont work. And i have no cab to test them. And since i dont know anything about valve amps i dont know exactly whats wrong with them. One of them is apparently a 100 watt and the other is a 75 watt with built in tremolo!
I pulled apart the 100 watt and it looks like theres something thats been burnt out in it. And it looks like theres some tubes missing.
I pulled apart the 75 watt and it looks like it has all its tubes, and the wiring inside looks original. theres a date inside that says its made in 1974.
These amps were made in Melbounre Australia by the way!
So im going to post some pictures for everyone to look at. and tell me what you think.
I plan on taking these amps to my uncle, to see what he thinks about them.
The front of the 75 watt
Back of the 75 watt
Some tubes from the 75 watt
From what i can see, there is 4 12ax7's and two 5881 sovtek's in this amp.
Is this good or bad?????
The cicuit board
Top
The 100 watt head...
the back
the burnt out part
So anyways, i thought i would post this to show you guys that are interested. I have more pics if you want. He also has some sort of marshall cab for sale that i might buy.
Aparently these things sound really good, so im keen to get them working if possible! 
|
|
|
Pedal Dan
Silver Member
USA
419 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2010 : 14:00:07
|
Damn Hateandwar, I bet if ya reached into a bucket of shit you'd come up with a handful of gold! Seriously, they are some cool amps! Point to point handwired and made in Aussie, WOW! If they were mine I'd recap em first, then test those tubes, then fire em up and rock! Great score!!!!  |
 |
|
|
Laurie
Double Platinum Member
Canada
4854 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2010 : 14:15:27
|
| What do i think? I think you are a lucky b@stard!! |
|
|
|
MervsMods
Bronze Member
USA
133 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2010 : 14:21:47
|
From the way the wiring looks, these amps have a serious Hiwatt vibe to them. The burned area pic you posted, looks like a tube shorted (possibly the heaters). If you know something about electronics, take ALL the tubes out, fire that puppy up and see if you have 6.3VAC on the heaters. Should be pins 4,5 and 9 (4 and 5 are shorted together). That is where I would start.
BE CAREFUL!!! TUBE AMPS HAVE VOLTAGES THAT ARE LETHAL
If you're even a little bit unsure... take them to a tech. |
Edited by - MervsMods on 02/19/2010 14:23:33 |
|
|
|
zerksies
Double Platinum Member
USA
3406 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2010 : 14:37:30
|
| Kinda nice looking |
|
|
|
Witloofboer
Gold Member
Belgium
513 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2010 : 17:07:00
|
Wooow.  You're lucky. Watch out with the voltages & good luck repairing them! |
|
|
|
DasBeef
Gold Member
United Kingdom
704 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2010 : 17:14:26
|
quote:
Originally posted by zerksies
Kinda nice looking
I'm digging the no dial look too! Awesome score dude. Hope you can get them back to their former glory! |
|
|
|
hateandwar
Gold Member
Australia
524 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2010 : 23:20:42
|
Thanks alot guys. Guess i am pretty lucky. I scored a free 'Hondo' Guitar this week, and found a "non working" PH-2 on ebay for $40, that actually works haha.
Look i pretty much dont know what im doing, and i have no cab to test them with.
So im going to bring them to my uncle. He would love this kinda stuff.
Im diggin' the retro look as well. Especially the sliders!
Also, ive never really heard of a tube amp with in built tremolo. Is this un common?
I will be sure to let you all know once ive restored them. I hope i can get both working, or at least one. Ill be happy as a pig in sh**! |
|
|
|
Pedal Dan
Silver Member
USA
419 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2010 : 02:15:57
|
Tremolo is a cool onboard effect, not often seen. I don't know if Fender was first, but they had it late 50's early 60's. Leo called it vibrato! My combo is a 2/12 Mesa Trem-O-Verb, and it also has tremolo as well as reverb! |
|
|
|
hateandwar
Gold Member
Australia
524 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2010 : 02:30:49
|
| thats cool man. one thing that sucks about these heads is that theres no reverb!! oh well thats what my RV-3 is for |
|
|
|
Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2010 : 03:25:50
|
 
I hope you bought him a few
Excellent score.
See I didn't call you any names ... 
Regards Dr. Bob |
|
|
|
zerksies
Double Platinum Member
USA
3406 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2010 : 03:54:55
|
| From the pic the sovetek 5881 are a sturdy stable tube. they are made to last not the greatest tone, but does the job, most people find them kind flat sounding.And i have never been much of a fan of electro-harmonix tubes.I think they are sovetek that electro buys and puts there name on.I would give it a retube and see what goes from there. they look like they have been repaired a few times, the 100 watt head looks like it has a newer tranformer. But as i always say try it out you never know |
|
|
|
hateandwar
Gold Member
Australia
524 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2010 : 04:45:13
|
I will be sure to buy him some
Thanks for the info zerks
I was to retube both amps completley, what brand would everyone reccomend? Price doesent really matter too much i suppose |
|
|
|
Pedal Dan
Silver Member
USA
419 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2010 : 04:46:27
|
quote:
Originally posted by hateandwar
thats cool man. one thing that sucks about these heads is that theres no reverb!! oh well thats what my RV-3 is for
Yeah, I hear ya! I'm a huge fan of digital reverb, and wouldn't mind having an RV-3. The only time I use the Accutronic spring tanks is if I'm goin' for a surf or blues vibe. My brother has a Lexicon, they make a great digital reverb. |
|
|
|
hateandwar
Gold Member
Australia
524 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2010 : 15:49:18
|
| Nice man. I always use my Rv-3 with small small Fender 15watt amp, as that too has no in built reverb. Sounds nice |
|
|
|
FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2010 : 19:21:38
|
JJ's are pretty good tonewise..but from my experience with them their QC leaves a lot to be desired,i've had a couple of tubes out of the box and the base was a bit offline with the valve especially with their EL34 and KT77 power amp tubes... T.A.D brand tubes are good as well but he's a european distributor(Germany) so i don't know how easy they are to get in OZ...some of the sovtek tubes are ok as well,i used EH/sovtek EL34's in the Musicman for years and they were good..i used to get them down the market on a sunday morning really cheap... ..obviouly it's like everything else..you can pay big money for NOS tubes like Phillips,Mullards and RCA etc...
Two of my three amps have tremolo built in..my Musicman and my Selmer combos..the Selmer has real tube tremolo in it which sounds great...you mostly find it in old amps from the 60's and 70's and some 'boutique' ones like Pedal Dans Mesa,i use a TR-2 on my board these days which is a great tremolo pedal..
I reckon if you were to use both those heads thru a stereo 2 X 12 or 4 X 12 with your RV-3 or some other stereo pedal it would sound monster....
but as others have stated BE VERY CAREFUL if your poking around inside old amps like this especially if the filter caps aren't discharged..no fingers... use a chopstick or some other non conductive item..NOT A PENCIL..and when turning off leave the standby 'on' and let the sound 'drain away' this will discharge SOME but not all of the caps stored power but still be very careful...i got zapped last year as did Witloofboer while working on valve amps and it isn't very pleasant to say the least.... we all like your posts jake and like you around the forum........
BTW ..enjoy the amps and i hope you get them going and up and running again as some of these old amps can be really good and the layout on the internals of these amps look really neat and tidy,i still think these two bad boys thru a stereo cab would be a killer sounding,compact rig especially with a 2x12....... |
Edited by - FRANZONI on 02/20/2010 19:34:47 |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
I scored two free Eminar Valve heads. For free
