Small Tube Amp?

fronobulax

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jp said:
Just like with Harry Partch's creations or Ben Franklin's Galss Armonica, it would be fun if someone did build one and record with it.

Nor quite sure what you meant but Dean Shostak (here) plays a Glass Armonica and does concerts, at least on the East Coast. So someone has made and recorded it. He also plays a (real) Hurdy Gurdy.
 

Jahn

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capnjuan said:
Glad to see your F30 move Jahn,

Very best regards Teleharmonium,

cj

Yep, I have amps on the mind now that an electric is coming to replace the F30. Hmm, ES135 with a Twin 'Verb. Would be interesting to hear it spit out of one of these lil wonders, but that's for another wallet, another day.
 

hideglue

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Agree with the recommendations of the SF Champs or Vibro Champs. Great amps. But if you're inclined to go new, I 'd suggest either the Crate (yes, Crate) V1512 or the Fender Blues Jr- my personal favorite lil amp. Both are 15 watts and both are quite usable either at home volume or at a jam volume.
 

capnjuan

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Jahn said:
Yep, I have amps on the mind now that an electric is coming to replace the F30.
I or anyone here would be glad to offer suggestions. There are a lot of cheeses in Naked City; camembert, roqueforte, limburger....

If we on a budget here (under $300), strongly suggest you consider the venerable Silvertone 1482: 2 X 12AX7s in the front-end - quiet, reliable, good-sounding tubes and 6V6 outputs ... a straight-forward, easy to maintain circuit.

If you get a hankering, post up for feedback...there are amps out there like the legendary Ampeg Reverberocket that use the obscure, now-unfindable 6U10 and the Harmony herd full of odd-ball tubes.

The other way to do this is check Groove Tubes, Electro-Harmonix, JJ Tesla, and a few other sources to see what tubes are now in production or for which there is New Old Stock on hand. Otherwise it's:

Jahn: "Hi everyone, this is my Weinerammer....back in the day it was quite an amp ... see... the light even still comes on...."

Yours,
 

Jahn

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hmmmm not a bad idea. i can keep a narrow electric guitar case under the sofa downstairs, and put a tiny combo amp on the bookshelf that i can reach for when just toodling round, versus the big beast rig upstairs...i saw your link to that Silvertone that went for $350ish, mebbe round the holidays I'll hint at this as a gift!
 

teleharmonium

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Cheers capnjuan,

and those are some nice amps you have. I hope to join you in the Gibson tweed club at some point.
 

capnjuan

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Thanks TH: both of them look good and work well; re-built power supplies, fresh Webers, attention to detail. Plugged in, no one is going to mistake me for Jimi H. or Jimmy P.

The amps sound pretty good but I solder better than I play ... would that it was the other way around ...

Best.

cj
 

FNG

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hideglue said:
Agree with the recommendations of the SF Champs or Vibro Champs. Great amps. But if you're inclined to go new, I 'd suggest either the Crate (yes, Crate) V1512 or the Fender Blues Jr- my personal favorite lil amp. Both are 15 watts and both are quite usable either at home volume or at a jam volume.

Hey hideglue or anyone else..


I hear good things about the discountinued Crate Palaminos...

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=487825


I have 5 watts stuck in my brain...looking for something that I can get the tubes working without killing my ears...also maybe some harp action also.

Any input?
 

proffrog

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nobody recommending Guild RT amp?

Unless I missed it in my early morning scan (just got up here in London) of this interesting thread, I don't see anybody putting a word in for Guild's offerings in the land of amp heaven - I have a '64 98 RT which sounds real sweet to me, and I understand is a pretty much identical model to the Ampeg Reverberocket, which was made next door.

About 15 watts, loud enough for pub gigs , but maybe a bit big for home noodling with the volume up beyond 5.

Btw, it just occurred to me that threads like this one, are just like the conversations I had last night in the bar between sets - it's good to be able to carry on freeflow talk on arcane stuff about gear and sounds.. thanks guys, managed to put off starting work for a bit longer
 

capnjuan

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Re: nobody recommending Guild RT amp?

proffrog said:
Unless I missed it ... I don't see anybody putting a word in for Guild's offerings ... I have a '64 98 RT which sounds real sweet to me, and I understand is a pretty much identical model to the Ampeg Reverberocket, which was made next door.
Hi Proffrog; no, you didn't miss the 98, nobody's mentioned it. I think another member has one and he says nice things about it. Is this it? 2 X 6V6? [IMG:320:182]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/capnjuan/Guild98T.jpg[/img]
from a member's site: http://www.ggjaguar.com/98rt.htm (no commercial use intended, cj)

They share the same 3X6SN7/1X6SL7 - 2X6V6 tube lineup:Reverberocket V. 12R


If the circuits are the same; your amp is very similar to the later 12R Reverberockets and are fortunate; there are still NOS tubes around for it. Folks with the earlier Ampegt R2 and R3 models suck wind finding a 6U10 - a triple triode that Ampeg used I guess to save space (another socket) and reduce load on heater circuit.

Thanks for mentioning a Guild amp; any pics of your amp?

cj
 

capnjuan

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Jahn

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You guys drew me in! I decided that the blue guitar coming needed a blue amp to go with it, so after consultation with the knowledgable Cap'n, I scored an Epi version of the Gibson GA-5T Skylark. Paired with the ES135, should be fun!

es135fullfront.jpg

87ff_3.jpg
 

jp

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Hey Jahn,
I'm really interested in your impressions of the ES-135. I eyeballed those and the ES-137s for a long time, but Guild necks just always feel so much more comfortable to me. If only they had a slim 60s neck, I might have considered one. I still love the resonance of my Guild Starfire and T-100, though.

teleharmonium,
I'm a big fan of Raymond Scott as well!

And capn,
Your dazzling culture-laden rhetoric brings me to believe that you perhaps have your own cheese collection sequestered away amongst the vintage amps!
 

Jahn

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Will do, I'll definitely share impressions once it comes! I dropped by 30th Street Guitars last night to play a few select twangers, and the best of the bunch was a 60's Guild Starfire V with a bigsby and out of phase pickups. The problem was that the gauge of strings on there were too light - I like em beefier, coming from acoustic - and as a result i think the tone would beef up too. They didn't have a ES135 or ES137 there, but an ES125 was present and it was ok, but a bit too much TLC was needed for that one to get up to playing spec to really make a call on that model as a whole compared to the well-setup Starfire. The Starfire destroyed a Fender Starcaster there, for what it's worth - that 70's bullet neck on the Fender was the worst neck I think I've ever played, hehe!
 

capnjuan

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Thanks for the compliment Jahn but I'm gonna hold off accepting until you get your tone blaster in the house and cooking. Schematic of Jahn's amp; a variant of the Gibson GA5 Crest T:
[IMG:640:480]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/capnjuan/GibsonGA5TEPI.jpg[/img]
GA5 Bigger Drawing Here 2X12AX7s, and a 6BQ5 with 6X4 rectifier. His model may have a 6EU7 instead of one of the 12AX7s, except for heater wiring, the same twin triode or, oddly, one 12AX7 and a 6CA4.

The schematic shows one twin triode (V1-12AX7 drawn as halves) and a single triode - the lowest to the bottom edge in the schematic - that is drawn suspicously like a 6CA4 that the tube diagram at upper center IDs as a 12AX7. So far the schematic doesn't match itself; remains to be seen what ships in the amp. :twisted:

The little gadget hanging out to the left center looks to be the oscillator network pre-packaged in epoxy...a labor-saving device instead of the assembler soldering in a bunch of small parts over and over. This amp's chances of being a Tone King lie in its simple circuit and Class A output; 6BQ5 to ship, an EL84 is a drop-in replacement. In essence, yet another remake of Fender's venerable Champ but with Tremolo.

Congratulations Jahn ... you're a tube Jerk now!!
 

capnjuan

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jp said:
.... perhaps you have your own cheese collection sequestered away amongst the vintage amps!
I do but I don't like to talk about it :oops: but I was proud of you when you outted your collection to us 8)
 
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