99J amp renovation

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I received my 99J amp in the mail today. This post is a placeholder, lol.

The amp is covered with oak-coloured shelf paper, but under that stuff is a two-toned tweed and tolex beast from approximately 1959. I will cross-reference the pot and transformer codes to try and nail down a date.

But enough of my personal life, I will also try to ascertain a manufacture time.
 

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Amp got here ok, as far as I can tell :lol: .

I lucked out with the shelf paper! The tweed is still in good shape, due to being covered and the brown "book hide" covering also has benefited from it's encapsulation. That being said, this amp saw use! there are cigarette burns on the top and discolorations to the tweed that testify to it's use. This was a gigging amp! :wink:

As Shipped:



001ugur.jpg


002jtn.jpg


003xfk.jpg


004vll.jpg
 

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The wire bale handle appears to be original. The leather Fender style handle may be later than this amp.
 

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Definitely pre-1960, at least. Aside from the older style grill, the chassis' control layout is different from my '60 99j. The inputs are a diagonally 2 over 2 in mine, not straight, and the power and standby are next to each other. That may put yours a few years earlier, maybe '57-'58? (I'm not an expert, nor do I play one on TV.)

That back has seen some serious abuse. Have you tried to fire it up (being careful with that death cap still in there!)?
 

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Thanks for the link, AH! No, I haven't fired it up yet. It has a a few caps to be swapped out. As you can probably tell, It's had one cap replaced, that ginormous orange Sprague. The others are original. :shock: It also needs a fuse, as there isn't one in the fuseholder. I figured to clean it up first and glue down the tweed and that cloth/leatherette/whatever- the brown stuff! :x :lol: I also have to pull the baffle board and install speaker studs.

I have a cap cap that would meet the requirements, but I may just do what your tech did, in the name of serviceability. It looks like a fun project.
 

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I'll have to wait til I get home to post all the gutshots for comparison. As you can tell, the turretboard isn't big enough for the components used. The cathode resistor and bypass cap for the first preamp tube "flies" from the tubesocket and is grounded to the ground lug on the input jack and the 450volt sprague has a similar ground point. Not a good idea, as jacks get loose or rusty, like this example. I can use the 20/20/20/40 can cap and run a lead from that to where the Sprague is presently or I can remove the can cap entirely and replace it with some tagstrips and radial caps.
Quite a bit of work involved with this amp, but it'll be worth it.
 

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Default said:

Someone forget the steel toed shoes at work or is there something going on with the left big toe that I DON'T want to know about.

The amp sounds like a fun project...
 

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Lesse, just watched "Stripes' the other night! "...or Sargent Hulka with the big toe..."

Oh, nevermind :lol:

As it turns out, could be me, same toe, though my nail is a little closer to coming off...don't know why, doc thinks it just might have been from pounding around the track in hiking boots...

Sorry, can't supply a complementary image at the moment.
 

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Stripped off the shelf paper and....
She has been used and abused... :twisted:

img0766q.jpg


Must have been owned by a smoker. :lol:

img0767t.jpg


How the heck do you snap off ALL the speaker studs?

img0768cw.jpg


Untouched tweed with the handle studs.

img0769rh.jpg


Grille cloth. You know, I thought this type of cloth would be almost impossible to replicate, but the gold squiggles are just a sparkle paint. The cloth itself looks like Fender oxblood grillecloth.

img0770l.jpg
 

Bill Ashton

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Just wondering of that baffle board is original, Steve... have to take a look at mine to see if there is indication of the grille cloth being fastened on the edges instead of the front...certainly possible that mounting could be original though, look at your handle, not what you see in other pictures!
 

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Nice avatar, Bill!

It looks like you've been making some progress, Steve. She'll come back better than ever!

Dave :D
 

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Bill,
It's original all the way through, as far as I can tell. Without another similar amp to compare to, I can't point to anything as being obviously replaced or added, except for that orange Sprague.

Dave,
She's coming along. The rust on the faceplate was worse than it looked on the sellers pics. There is a product called "Evapo-Rust" that you can get at Autozone, and since I walk by one on the way home today, I'll pick some up.

The brown covering on the bottom of the amp looks like two layers of cloth, but originally had a thin coating of some material. Unfortunately, when I removed the contact paper, the coating came off with it. I'll finish gluing the loose portions down and hit it with a light coat of shellac.
I have scouts tonight, but will stop off and and pick up the needed supplies.
I also have big orders pending from Hoffman and fliptops, so I can jump on a bunch of fallow projects.
And if Weber gets around to shipping my speakers, it will be a nice Easter for me.
 

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Looking forward to watching the progress here. What kind of speakers did you have Weber build?
 

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Nothing special. Just ordered 3 Weber Specials in 12", 2 ribbed cones and 1 smooth, but it's been two weeks already.
 

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Back to work, :D .

Sanded some of the chassis with 1500 grit sandpaper. Got a little carried away and sanded too much on the back edge, exposing the copper chassis. Yep, copper. If there was any lingering doubt that Ampeg provided parts to Guild, that has been laid to rest for me!
I also have to endorse Evap-O-Rust. It has no smell, it's nonflammable and cleans up with water. It takes the rust off, albeit slowly and doesn't seem to bother the paint. I'll complete the rust removal tomorrow and spray some lacquer to preserve it.
 

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Big parts order in to Doug Hoffman. Replacing the two prong plug with a 12' three prong and replenished stock of standard caps. Would be nice if everything from Hoffman and Weber came in the same time...
 
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