Who built this??? NEW pics added

[Rick]

I was just joking when I said I almost electrocuted myself. I ALWAYS...ALWAYS drain caps before doing ANY work on an amp and if it has to be on, I ALWAYS use ONE hand.
I can do repairs if the problem is visibly obvious like a burnt resistor or a bad cap or something. I've done capjobs on some of my amps, tweaked some of my amps (bias resistors, nfb values, adding grid resistors........), bypassed/repaired pcb board traces, installed (and UNinstalled lol) mastervolumes....blah blah.. Did it all with coaching from online experts and layouts and stuff. Did some serious troubleshooting on a build from Nik with Richie. He (Richie) actually took the time to PHONE me and we found and corrected the problem...well HE did. That BLEW ME AWAY! I didnt buy the amp from Richie and he didnt know me from Adam and HE phones ME!! WOW.
Anyway yeah...dont worry, if anyone's into it, feel free to tell me where to check for how much of what kind of voltage or current, and I can safely do it.

And about a (semi) local decent tech...there is a guy in Edmonton that a lot of people like but I've seen a few things. He IS very into old tube amps and fixes a LOT of them, he doesnt PLAY though and I'm sure he still uses a scope to bias . I've seen a few amps that were brought to .

Whoa, he uses a scope to bias?!! Why the sad face???? This is an art and technique all but lost. It's also the only way where you can actually see the crossover happening on the fly. All other methods and measurements can still be done for verification, so I am at a total loss why the sad face over a guy that scopes his bias. I'd give the guy a medal or a certificate or something and try to learn everything I could from the guy. These old school hands are becoming a dying breed as much as survivors of WWII. Rick

[blaren]

Well I've heard (at forums) that the crossover notch method or whatever you call it isnt a real musical way to bias. It just seems to me that all these old guys and electronics techs are not tone chasing, corksniffing, gearheads. From what I see in a lot of amps, these techs dont really use the most "toneful" parts and even sometimes remove good parts and replace them with crap. I have a '69 bassman here now that has some CRAZY stuff going on inside that was done by one of these guys. I also recently scored a '67 YBA that had every .1 mustard replaced with an orangedrop. the guy I got it from said...that was just recapped by "blah blah" who is the best in town. Howthehell does every .1uf cap in an amp (only the .1s and EVERY.1) need replacing? I guess there IS a tech in the province who actually KNOWS what he's doing but he's a criminal.
I also see a lot of amps that were brought to techs that evidently needed ALL of the original glass replaced with EH bottles....and were charged $45ea for the $11 EH EL34s.
I AM ignorant though. Maybe biasing with tone generators and scopes IS better. I do know that I was sure glad to learn the "1ohm1W resistor and a meter method" so that I could get relatively close by myself. If I brought it to a tech I'd have to say "can you fix this amp ...BUT...please dont change the circuit, dont relieve me of any of the GECs or mullards, IF you need to change any of the caps let me know and I'll give you the correct mustards, if you need to replace any resistors, I have the correct valued vintage ones. DONT tell me it needs new filtercaps, DONT bias it for me for $50..." I think the ham radio talking, vintage radio fixing, scope biasing bugger would tell me to get the hell out of his shop and do it myself.
Where I live there are NO ampheads. I think Krinkle's brother can confirm this cause, yes Krinkle the big city is Edmonton lol. See?
I mean...there HAVE to be some people who are gearheads in the province but. I'm pretty sure that I'd be pretty hard pressed to find anyone who's ever heard of the words Ceriatone, metroamp, or even dumble or trainwreck.
The only people I trust are people like you guys. You know..actual tonechasing, ampBUILDING (not repairing) GEARHEADS.

ANYWAY....I didnt get any resistors .

Krinkle....sounds cool. It's hard to meet any bonafide gearheads around here. I get so jealous when I hear about everyone online going to AMP shows and stuff. I hate living in the sticks...sometimes.

[Rick]

OK, I guess that really clears it up. I guess not all the old hands are so valuable after all, especiall if they go throwing out your prized vintage components. My only other real thinking on it was that the O'scope can be a valuable tool in conjunction with other methods. I'm a little surprised that 'scopes seem to be in such poor regard. They are just a tool like all the other tools and a pretty neat one at that since you actually get a window through which to see what all the "gearheads" are talking about.

I somewhat understand your plight, luckily there is one other amp head where I live, but due to the same scarcity of amp heads, I got into to the hobby myself. I might not have if there were some old geezer who told me it's dangerous and leave amp repair to those "qualified". For whatever reason after building 20 some amps, I now feel I am somewhat one of those "qualified", but I do not have the old vintage components to hear what all the mojo is about, so I am seriously handicapped in that regard. I also cannot afford to buy old capacitors at 5 or 10 bucks a piece, so I guess I will never be an erudite of that discipline unless I get lucky and stumble upon a cache of these old capacitors from one of the old hands who has carelessly kept the ones he's torn out of vintage amps or has a supply not yet found.

Good luck with your identification endeavors and thanks for educating me about the nature of "hams" (being an extra class ham myself) and of old geezers who solder by day and go to bed early hoping to awaken one more time.

[CaseyJones]

Well I've heard (at forums) that the crossover notch method or whatever you call it isnt a real musical way to bias. It just seems to me that all these old guys and electronics techs are not tone chasing, corksniffing, gearheads. From what I see in a lot of amps, these techs dont really use the most "toneful" parts and even sometimes remove good parts and replace them with crap. I have a '69 bassman here now that has some CRAZY stuff going on inside that was done by one of these guys. I also recently scored a '67 YBA that had every .1 mustard replaced with an orangedrop. the guy I got it from said...that was just recapped by "blah blah" who is the best in town. Howthehell does every .1uf cap in an amp (only the .1s and EVERY.1) need replacing?

I guess your guy figured out he could sell the mustards so he killed two birds with one stone. Maybe he needed the mustards for a Marshall.

Don't diss old techs. We work with a full bench of instrumentation and decades of experience. Guitar amps aren't the entire tube universe, tube hi-fi is another area of expertise that applies. Tube transmitters yield more useful experience. Once you've been at this for a while you come to understand that there are a lot of BS theories about tone and that the truth lives in the silence between the hype. This week's "killer parts" will be next week's "toneless junk" once this week's supply of "killer parts" is exhausted.

I also see a lot of amps that were brought to techs that evidently needed ALL of the original glass replaced with EH bottles....and were charged $45ea for the $11 EH EL34s.?

Yeah, it's a reaming. BUT it's necessary to pay the rent and keep the lights on. Unfortunately we see amps every day with cooked "original" tubes, gassy junk, broken reference pins, things like that. It all averages out. For every musician who gets screwed out of $100 by a tech there are ten more who buy killer handmade amps on eBay for pennies on the dollar 'cuz that's what the market will bear. Tell me it ain't so!

I AM ignorant though. Maybe biasing with tone generators and scopes IS better. I do know that I was sure glad to learn the "1ohm1W resistor and a meter method" so that I could get relatively close by myself. If I brought it to a tech I'd have to say "can you fix this amp ...BUT...please dont change the circuit, dont relieve me of any of the GECs or mullards, IF you need to change any of the caps let me know and I'll give you the correct mustards, if you need to replace any resistors, I have the correct valued vintage ones.

I wouldn't let enyone else touch it with Mullards or Telefunkens in it. I'm ultra careful with vintage tubes, a Telefunken or a Mullard with the logo smeared or wiped right off is depreciated. My philosophy is to make things good as new or better, replacing European tubes with Russian isn't an improvement. One tech I work with routinely polishes all of the tubes in anything he services, he hoses 'em with 409 and scrubs the lettering off with a paper towel!

DONT tell me it needs new filtercaps, DONT bias it for me for $50..." I think the ham radio talking, vintage radio fixing, scope biasing bugger would tell me to get the hell out of his shop and do it myself.

It needs new filter caps.

I biased it... fifty bucks please!

Now get the hell outta my shop!

Where I live there are NO ampheads. I think Krinkle's brother can confirm this cause, yes Krinkle the big city is Edmonton lol. See?
I mean...there HAVE to be some people who are gearheads in the province but. I'm pretty sure that I'd be pretty hard pressed to find anyone who's ever heard of the words Ceriatone, metroamp, or even dumble or trainwreck.
The only people I trust are people like you guys. You know..actual tonechasing, ampBUILDING (not repairing) GEARHEADS.

Stick with it. You've come a long way in a short time. At the very least you're an informed consumer, that's a dangerous thing to be...

[blaren]

I gotta say, this is one GREAT forum. I've been a member at pp for years and years and I love that place too. Metroamp and 18watt too. I think the core membership here might be the most hardcore and experienced out there. Not just that but you guys are just "nice". PP has somewhat of a corksniffer rep but I really really love that place. I'm part corksniffer myself. I love nice old glass and mustards but...my mustards dont need to match and I'll still use white labelled or even RElabelled mullards lol. I hung out at a forum for players of a certain solidbodied gibson guitar designed by a guy named Les Paul (dont wanna name the forum site) and there were a few MAJOR dicks there.
Anyway, I dont see any condascending or flaming, or anything negative around here AT ALL. Only informed, knowledgeable people willing to help...albeit with some aprehension regarding potential safety hazards lol.
As for the old techs...I have nothing against them/you at all. They DO know their poop and I have nothing but the utmost respect for 99%. I understand that the old salts are walking around with volumes of knowledge that will soon be all but lost. I'm sure that a single old electronics tech/tv repairman probably has more electronics knowledge than all the internet amp builders combined. I'm just not sure that a lot of them (in my area) would know what I was talking about if I said I'd like a saggy-ish sounding tube amp with dumble character and some marshalesque attitude. I'd also like an ef86 channel, a half power switch (a-la DC-30), and a tube driven effects loop. I have a trainwreck clone. IMAGINE bringing THAT to an old-timer! "OK...whoever built THIS thing needs to learn a thing or two...it was a bit noisey before I started, now it sounds like a whistle blowing hockey reff trolling in a cedar skiff with a '72 9.9hp evinrude outboard". I just cant see the old gurus surfing this type of site that much and being "up-on" what's going on in the world of tube guitar amps. I think tube amp history/evolution is being made and is happening right now by people like YOU GUYS!! I think the name Richie might show-up in the history books...in the future! Nik, George, Gerald...even rockstah may be there too.
There's a funny guy...rockstah...I remember a couple years ago when he wanted to build a kit and then was chasing the EVH tone. There were people playing KILLER VH licks with tone VERY close. Rockstah used to ask some kinda silly questions tone wasnt that close and he didnt play THAT well. WELL....now, dude has all but NAILED the VH tone in his builds. He even plays WAY better than he did and best of all...he's a VERY helpful guy on forums.
Anyway....while I WISH one of you guys with a strong electronics background and a tube amp JUNKIE lived near me, that aint gonna happen.

Hey....any of you weirdos planning on being in Cancun between the 20th and the 4th?

[CaseyJones]

...there were a few MAJOR dicks there.
Anyway, I dont see any condescending or flaming, or anything negative around here AT ALL.

Oh. Then I've failed.

I see it as my duty to bring an alternative point of view to the occaisional discussion. I remember my fourth grade teacher, a she was tiny little thing, just about my size at the time! I had an enormous crush on Mrs. W. She dragged me out into the hall by my ear. She was PISSED, she kept smacking me on my shoulder and sayin', "You have a chip on your shoulder" and I had no idea of what she meant at the time. I just looked at her like, "Mrs. W. ... you're DREAMY!!"

As long as someone tells me I have a bad attitude every so often, umm, ... I know I still got it!

ANYWAY it would be easy if we all exactly agreed on everything, no point in discussing anything then, eh? We'd all have the same greasy pompadour and all play pedal steel through Fender amps with big JBL speakers or something.

As for the old techs...I have nothing against them/you at all. They DO know their poop and I have nothing but the utmost respect for 99%. I understand that the old salts are walking around with volumes of knowledge that will soon be all but lost. I'm sure that a single old electronics tech/tv repairman probably has more electronics knowledge than all the internet amp builders combined.

I wouldn't say that. I know what I know and it gets me by. I tried powering up a motherboard with 450 volts, the IC chips did smokin' backflips! I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks...

Seriously, a little background in radio is helpful. Understanding transmitters and RF is useful if you don't want your amp to be a transmitter or a receiver. Understanding oscillator circuits is useful if you don't want your amp to be an oscillator. Understanding vintage hi-fi is useful if you want tight bottom end and an amp that cuts through a mix.

I'm just not sure that a lot of them (in my area) would know what I was talking about if I said I'd like a saggy-ish sounding tube amp with dumble character and some marshalesque attitude. I'd also like an ef86 channel, a half power switch (a-la DC-30), and a tube driven effects loop. I have a trainwreck clone. IMAGINE bringing THAT to an old-timer! "OK...whoever built THIS thing needs to learn a thing or two...it was a bit noisey before I started, now it sounds like a whistle blowing hockey reff trolling in a cedar skiff with a '72 9.9hp evinrude outboard". I just cant see the old gurus surfing this type of site that much and being "up-on" what's going on in the world of tube guitar amps.

The first time I looked inside a Trainwreck it spoke to me in pretty clear language. Ken had his own distinctive style and his own way of doing things. It's like listening to (pick a musician), their tone and their style is immediately identifiable. There are guys who have their own voice as far as tone goes, it's identifiable with one note or one chord. Musicians have influences, so to techs. I can see stylistic influences in certain amps, it works out to be an expression of a point of view. It doesn't matter what your point of view is, if you build good amps they're good amps.

[RevD]

...there were a few MAJOR dicks there.
Anyway, I dont see any condescending or flaming, or anything negative around here AT ALL.

I had an enormous crush on Mrs. W. She dragged me out into the hall by my ear. She was PISSED, she kept smacking me on my shoulder and sayin', "You have a chip on your shoulder" and I had no idea of what she meant at the time. I just looked at her like, "Mrs. W. ... you're DREAMY!!"

Now I have to pay women good money to treat me like that... Sounds like your school was like mine, there were no 'Time outs'.

Regards,

Rev D

[blaren]

See what I mean??? Nothing here but NICE, HELPFUL discussion.
Call it what you want...discussion, debate, argument....I agree 100%. That's how you learn stuff. My "one who wins ALL DISCUSSIONS" thinks I'm arguing with people all the time. I say no, I'm learning. for example...if someone says "I have an express that runs on AAA batteries"...well...I gotta say "What? NO WAY....how did you do THAT?". I'm not purely arguing, I actually want to find-out more about it. I mean if someone who doesnt even play guitar and has never SEEN an amp says that then it's a different ARGUMENT but yeah.
I say that ALL the time...if we were all the same and thought the same and believed the same...well......
I think George Thorogood said it best...."Everybody funny..."
I dont mind one bit being "called-out" on something when I'm wrong and taught why I AM wrong.
Some places (forums) have members who are just un-knowledgable arseholes.
ANYWAY....I'm not just trying to blow smoke. This forum really IS unique. The membership seems SO small but SO knowledgable. It's like 99% of you could build a bassman using a coat hanger and a lightbulb but you still help an illiterate retard (like me) in words I (I mean THEY lol) can understand. Not saying that PP ot metro or 18w are that much different, there's just a bit of a different attitude here. Kinda like the difference between an huge city and a small town. Actually...the more I think about it, there are GREAT people in the big cities (PP, metro and 18)...REALLY great. If it werent for some of their awesome members, I wouldnt know the little I know now and 75% of my amps would still sound like arse or not work at all. As with all big cities the percentage of pricks seems to be a bit higher than in a village. May or may not be true but it just SEEMs that way.
All I know for sure is...I frickin LOVE you guys .
Just kidding...this site ROCKS though.
Thanks SO much everyone
about the Cancun thing...dont worry, I wasnt planning on putting anyone to work or anything lol.

[drhulsey]

... Sounds like your school was like mine, there were no 'Time outs'...

Mine, too, unless you were OUT COLD