50Watt

[David Root]

I did a little research on fake Belton sockets. They are made in China, being sold on Ebay as "Belton type" sockets, so not actually misrepresenting them, at least not the seller I looked at.

The octals I saw good close up pics of do not have Belton on the rim where the number 3 would be. The Chinese one has the 3 but no Belton, so the manufacturer isn't misrepresenting them, just knocking them off. Otherwise it's a very close copy by the look of it. The socket moulding color may be slightly different from the genuine Belton, hard to tell, could be the lighting.

The noval sockets are easy to spot, they have much smaller soldering holes on the pins, not the long oval like the real Beltons.

So it's down to a seller knowingly advertizing the knock-offs as genuine Beltons.

This s**t all happened with Cliff jacks a while ago too. Now I am hearing about fake Alpha pots....!

As to whether Steve's defective sockets are real or knock-offs, Steve can you post a pic of one of your defective ones?

[ToneMerc]

I did a little research on fake Belton sockets. They are made in China, being sold on Ebay as "Belton type" sockets, so not actually misrepresenting them, at least not the seller I looked at.

The octals I saw good close up pics of do not have Belton on the rim where the number 3 would be. The Chinese one has the 3 but no Belton, so the manufacturer isn't misrepresenting them, just knocking them off. Otherwise it's a very close copy by the look of it. The socket moulding color may be slightly different from the genuine Belton, hard to tell, could be the lighting.

The noval sockets are easy to spot, they have much smaller soldering holes on the pins, not the long oval like the real Beltons.

So it's down to a seller knowingly advertizing the knock-offs as genuine Beltons.

This s**t all happened with Cliff jacks a while ago too. Now I am hearing about fake Alpha pots....!

As to whether Steve's defective sockets are real or knock-offs, Steve can you post a pic of one of your defective ones?

Kind of sorta....However, they are being sold by other well known vendors as well.About a year and half ago I received what was sold as Belton sockets from one of them, they backtracked and now sell only the Belton. One of their competitors which I will name (Mojo)first sold the China socket as "Belton type", but nows called it "British like".

A real Belton will have Belton and V8 stamped between pins 6 &7 on the top. Also there is a mold indentation under the bottom in front of pin 6.

TM

[67plexi]

Just to clear this up they are real Belton the defective two I had
are now in the landfill.

Steve.

[M Fowler]

I noticed the problem with ordering Belton sockets too and thought it was just me getting old. They are definitely not Belton quality.

[sepulchre]

Part Express has got the real thing, both octal and noval.

[David Root]

The last lot I got were from Steve at Apex Jr. They were genuine Belton octals and the price can't be beat, $1.99 each.

I hope he still has some.

[sepulchre]

Whoa! That's Way better than the $3.5 that PE wants!

[Mark]

I like my octal sockets to be ceramic. When I first started playing electric guitar my original Boogie Mark 1 developed a short between pins 2 & 3. The socket was well and truly charred between these two pins. A plate to heater short is best avoided.

[CHIP]

Steve, cool amp!
Besides the 135k/2.2k plates on V1, what else can you tell us about the tone stack? , such pot values, slope resistor, PI couplers ect...
I'd love to mod my 50 watt D' style amp to get some Fillmore, Allmans tone.

[67plexi]

Chip, It started out as a #183 50 watt sounded like dirt I think the old OPT is the key.
All of the pot's have high readings like the real #183 The most important is the CTS 2-35 270k treble
and 350k bass that reads 320k Next is the polystyrene caps on the bright switch 250pf and 500pf
And silver mica caps 47pf on V-2. Next the Rock/Jazz switch is a on/off/on switched to off.
And the resistors play a large role in the tone. I used CTS trimmers.
I have been told that Allaman used 15" JBL'S with a 1968 Marshall SL-50 watt.
I used a 300 watt EVM12-S Clear highs warm mid's and tight low's.
I like the 100 watt ODS amps best I have five of them. The 50 is a fun to play amp.
Would I use the 50 watt as a standalone on stage amp no way.
Today at band practice I will use a low plate 100 watt classic and the 50 watt channel switched.

[Mark]

The question is where does one get a CTS 2-35% 270K pot, I've used Ted Weber pots and been able to get some with a 30% taper.

[ToneMerc]

The question is where does one get a CTS 2-35% 270K pot, I've used Ted Weber pots and been able to get some with a 30% taper.

Pulls from Fender amps, most of the 2-35's that I have measured are around 37-40%

TM

[CHIP]

Thanks Steve.
47 pf mica snubbers on V2 ?

[Structo]

Fake Cliff jacks, fake Belton sockets, what's next?

[Mark]

I wish it were fake CTS 2-35% taper pots Tom. Thanks for the reply Mike , I learnt the hard way how important those treble pots are, once I had one in the amp it all came together and it was much easier to use.