Vibro King

[boots]

I've got a local guy asking me if I can build him "something like a Vibro King". I think I'm going to try to talk him into something different. It looks like kind of a funky design. Besides, I've talked myself into preferring EL34s over 6L6s, and I don't think I can bring myself to build somebody an amp I wouldn't like myself.

Anybody here have any experience with a Vibro King?

[martin manning]

What does this guy want? A Vibro King but cheaper? This is actually a pretty interesting Zinky amp, basically a Fender stand-alone reverb in front of a plate-driven TMB stack with BF opto-bug tremolo. Still in production, and done in old-style eyelet board construction. If you made an EL34 version, or at least one that could run EL34's, maybe you'd both be happy? I've never seen or heard one, but it's intriguing.

[LeftyStrat]

I've never heard one, but have seen a lot of positive comments about the amp. What might be more versatile (and easier to build) would be to build him a standalone reverb, and then build the rest of the amp separately.

EL34's with basically the AB763 preamp can sound really nice.

[Milkmansound]

my friend James has one. Its almost unusable. Very loud amp - very brittle sound. There seems to be a bit of noise that accompanies every note

I did some work on it and its a nightmare in the inside- cheap dual pots and a vast sea of orange drops. Its hand wired, but kind of a mess.

I would just make him a 40W single channel tremolo amp and put a tone knob on the reverb pot - that will get you close but without the clutter

The 6V6 drives the springs too hard, in my opinion. James keeps the dwell control backed way down so that there is no boingy sound. At that point, you might as well use a 12AT7 or 12AU7 and save real estate

- Tim

[martin manning]

I saw a lot of positive reviews, one negative. It doesn't sound too bad here: http://m.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Iss ... eview.aspx

[LeftyStrat]

The 6V6 drives the springs too hard, in my opinion. James keeps the dwell control backed way down so that there is no boingy sound. At that point, you might as well use a 12AT7 or 12AU7 and save real estate

- Tim

You might get him to try replace the 6V6 with a NOS 6K6. If they copied the original reverb, that's what was used there.

[billyz]

I have worked over a couple dozen of these, with the el84 and the 6v6 reverb. They all need the cathode bias resistor increased in value to run the tube less hard. And they need the vibrato modded to get rid of the ticking. Every time one of the crappy alpha dual pots goes bad I replace it with a CTS single.

Speakers sometimes need an upgrade . Then they can sound pretty good.
Depends on the player as to what mods I do .

Z

[martin manning]

Every time one of the crappy alpha dual pots goes bad I replace it with a CTS single.

How does that work? Do you replace the reverb recover pot with a fixed divider?

[billyz]

Every time one of the crappy alpha dual pots goes bad I replace it with a CTS single.

How does that work? Do you replace the reverb recover pot with a fixed divider?

Fortunately have not found that one bad yet. Mostly one of the tone controls where he just parallels them.

[ampdoc1]

It sounds OK, but I don't think there is anything special about the sound. And the $3500 price tag? There must be a lot of stupid-rich players to have kept that in their amp line!

[martin manning]

Fortunately have not found that one bad yet. Mostly one of the tone controls where he just parallels them.

Ah... I didn't know the others were done that way. Thanks!

[Leo_Gnardo]

As others have said, Vibro King is a kind of "hard" sounding amp, which I ascribe to 1) the alnico Eminence 10's that were standard kit in the 90's models I've worked on, and 2) clacky sounding orange drops, lots of them. Also, why duplicate Fender's 3x10 arrangement? Pick speakers that are more ear-friendly, whatever you like, and use caps for interstage & filtering that you like better. FWIW I'm a fan of Mallory 150's but make your own choice. Yes change that reverb drive to 6K6 or 12AT7 or even 12AU7, and dial down the gain & bias current in the drive to a comfortable level. EL34's in the output and you'll have an amp that's similar but different & ought to make you & your client smile instead of cringe.

Oh yeah, no need to duplicate those dual pots. I thought they put 'em in as a sort of fail-safe. Never saw any other amp except the Tone King that has those. Must be a Zinky thing.

Should be able to build & sell for well under $3500 with a comfortable labor/profit margin.

[billyz]

Oh yeah, no need to duplicate those dual pots. I thought they put 'em in as a sort of fail-safe. Never saw any other amp except the Tone King that has those. Must be a Zinky thing.
.

They use them in the Custom Vibrolux sometimes and The Prosonic too. Definitely a Zinky thing.

[BTF]

If I recall correctly, Zinky used the dual pots because he liked the feel of the duals (I too like the feel-very smooth- but I don't use them). Fender demo'ed the Tonemaster and the Vibroking for their techs at RCA Studios in Nashville during NAMM and I made the mistake of sitting in the front row. Mike Lewis played them cranked and honest to God they cleaned my sinuses out- I had a headache for the next two days . The 3x10 choice was supposedly inspired by Mike's preferred amp (might have been a Bandmaster). He said he liked the midrange response of the 3x10 arrangement.

[statorvane]

There must be a lot of stupid-rich players to have kept that in their amp line!

Pete Townsend has a few. Says one set looks so nice, he keeps it in his living room with the expensive furniture. Must be loud, says he never turns it up past "2".