Is anyone interested in discussing amps?

For posting pictures you just need a share site, The picture needs to be on a web site, that can be your own. Lots of free options. I have stuff on my own web page like the this picture here. Also I started using an extra  page I made on facebook as it was faster than updating my web page.
 Make your self a ampfixer facebook page, you can make extra sub accounts using you existing account.  Then post your pictures there, then all you need to do is right click the photo and   "copy image URL"  paste that into the dialog box in the forums picture tool. 
 
This is my amp for last 25 years, 1972 Princeton, no reverb. I had it rebuilt by someone like you. He changed the tremolo into another gain stage, so added a Pre and Master volume as well as Midrange. I put a Celestion Vintage 30 in it too. My son is an electrician and started learning about fixing tube amps as a hobby. So he re tubed it last year as it was dying on me. 

In recent discussions with a friend of mine (who's pretty knowledgeable about amps and such) regarding my apparent lack of valves (specifically, the vox amphones being solid state), for a joke I 'shopped a pair of engine valves onto the bins.
 
...and this got me to thinking along these lines:
 
"I'm considering the possibility of designing an audio amplifier using engine valves as the amp engine.

You need to convert a little something into a big something, so if you had a high pressure air source behind the valve, and the valve was operated by a fast actuator driven by the audio signal, then the valve would open and close at the audio frequency rate and the amount it opened by would be dependent on the amplitude of the audio.

Maybe a set of different sized valves would be the way to go, driven via a multi-band frequency divider."
 
So I did a bit of investigation, and lo: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_air_gramophone
 
http://www.aqpl43.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/auxetophone/auxetoph.htm
 
http://windworld.com/tools-techniques-ideas/acoustic-amplifiers/
 
The auxetophone link contains a link to a you tube video where somebody has a working model.  I think you can tell from the video how ridiculously loud this thing was!  ("It was capable of producing sufficient volume to broadcast public music performances from the top of the Blackpool Tower, and was said to be loud enough to cause people to vacate the front rows of seats in an auditorium.")  Using an internet interest calculator thing I worked out that at the time it would have set you back over £13,000 (in today's money).
 
Anyway, hope you find this of interest :-)

 
I love amp discussions and will follow this thread, for sure.  I always learn something from following these types of threads, lead by experienced folks.  Here is what I am currently playing.  Strat, LP, 335, all sound awesome through real valves.
 
 

ston
Does any clever person here know what the limiting factor in valve size is?  They're still pretty chunky even these days, so I was wondering why miniaturised valves running on lower voltages haven't been produced yet.  Perhaps there's a scientific reason?
 
 
 
 

Russians have big fingers. More suited for stuffing sausage. (it sounds like a good idea though. I've chased tone down way goofier rabbit holes than that.) 

sure lets go Brit …..the guts of one of my amps ….only  200 made it to the US  I've been told .
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
you want some Fender ?
 
 

 

 

 

 
just a little taste to get the ball rolling  
 
Kenny

ampfixer
If you have any amp related questions post them in this thread and I'll try to answer them.

 
Cheers for the info, that was really interesting.
 

Remember, I know NOTHING about solid state. It's voodoo and I avoid it.

 
Solid state and valves both rely on electrons working their bizarre magic, it's all voodoo :-)

The Mark IIB is credited as the first guitar amplifier with a tube-buffered effects loop. 

BassDaddy
Love the pictures Kenny. Old amps  are such "caveman" technology. Love the Vibrolux, my fav amp. A Vibrolux has it's own sound, unlike any other Fenders.

Thanks BassDaddy ,    
 
my Vibrolux Reverb is a 1966 and it is one of my favorite amps to play out of …
one of these days I need to take some photos of her guts …..btw it still has the original speakers 
 
a few more photo's of my amps ….
 
the Super Champ on top is a Rivera I bought it new in 83/ 84 

 

 

 
I wore the grill cloth off my Marshall so I put the ugly metal protectors up front to  protect my speakers 
BTW , most people don't realize that this 4 input model Marshall is a super lead on one side and a Plexi style bass circuit the other 

 
 
I also have a couple of other tube amps ,they are basically the newer stuff that anybody can get a hold of pretty easy …
A Marshall Class 5 combo , and a Fender Champ 600 ….
then to  round things out I also have a few non tube practice amps …A Yamaha THR5 and a Vox Pathfinder 15 R
 
I love tube amps 
 
Kenny

Cool to see the stuff folks have stashed. Kenny, you should really be on the lookout for the 6K11 tube in your super champ. If you find a good one, buy it. Nobody is making repro's and NOS or used originals are almost impossible to find. Ampeg used them in a couple amps, but I can't think of another Fender that used them. It's a triple triode, or 1.5 12AX7 tubes if you will.
 
The Vibrolux Reverb is one of the holy grail amps, in my opinion. Good for just about any venue and real punchy with the 2x10 speakers.
 
I know a few guys with Boogies from the early years when they were still pretty simple. They were one of the first to use "board mounted" tube sockets. In their case, they drilled a big hole in the board for the power tube sockets to poke through. Then they bent the tube socket pins over onto the board and soldered them to the traces. When you see it, you think that something's missing. 

I wonder how the new Vibrolux's will sound with Celestions. LOL, you can tell which ones were gigged by the brown grill. If they have slightly green tint that tells you something too. 

A little bit of valve porn to start your day
 

Calm down Tom 

I LOVE amps. I love amps more than guitars. I have WAY to many amps but love every one of them. I collect the 1960s Jordan stage amps. I've found two. One was found stored in a closet backstage at an auditorium, it is in great shape, the other one needs some small things, pots cleaned and I need to open the cabinet and tighten the screws, you get into the heads by taking the top handle off. Those stage amps are 2x15 combos, they actually sound pretty darn good, even the OD sounds pretty good. I have not found the "one" though. I have been looking for years for a Jordan Boss amp and Boss Satellite, a powered extra speaker cab.. those are the ones you see in the ads with The Turtles and The Mamas and Papas.
My first amp was a small SS briefcase sort of thing, I think I have lost it. My second amp was a Silvertone 1485 all tube with 6x10s (Jack White). It had two output transformers and two inputs SO.. you cold use a "Y" plug and it was actually like plugging into two amps... it was REALLY LOUD and perfect for playing "I Can See For Miles", LOL.
Then I got into acoustic, someone borrowed the 1485 and it was stolen.. oh well.
In the early 90s I decided to get a Strat and amp. I got a Peavey Delta Blues and thought I was in "high cotton" until 1997 when I got the internet and realized that there was a world of other amps and I needed all of them.
I got a Fender CVR, got it modded by Bob Clear (Admiral Ballsy). He added a switch to the back to switch a NFL in/out, basically making it switchable between a Vibrolux and a Vibroverb, changed the 5881s to 6L6 (I ended up putting the 5881s back) I hated the stock alnico blues and tried some Weber C10Qs, they were better but they were too loud and too heavy. I settled on a pair of Ragin Cajuns, they are the ticket!
Then I began to learn how to build Tweed clones. I bought a kit from STF then started to buy parts and build mostly from wiring diagrams, I couldn't find anyone to teach tube electronics and I don't know that I have the aptitude to learn the electronics, though I did learn the basics of how a tube works.
My latest amp is a Mesa Boogie Mark V. I always dismissed Boogies as nu-metal amps. I didn't know about the Mark series until talking with the guitarist from CVB, Greg Lisher who told me all the tones one those albums and the Monks of Doom albums were a Chandler Tele and a Mark III... I was sold and man! What a great amp, once you read the manual three times.
I still build from time to time, I've had two amps that I can't figure out what I did wrong. One just wont play and another has a hum I can't seem to find but all the others have worked great.
For a small jam I have two SF Champs and an ABY box or a Crate Powerblock and a Tweed Deluxe cab with a Texas Heat speaker, it is voiced like a JCM-800 and with an EQ pedal and and OD pedal, it will do anything.
I still want a new Blues Jr too... I don't think I will ever tire of new or more amps. I do need more room though!
I need to take a family portrait.
 
J

Some of my favourite speakers come from Warehouse Guitar Speakers in Kentucky. I use their veteran 10's quite often, but I feel their 12" British flavoured really stand out. Good service and good pricing. I should add that for 10" Alnico speakers there's no better deal than the Eminence Legend 10/28. I can get them in Canada for about $90 each. There's nothing to compare for under $200. My #1 recommendation for a 4x10 combo amp.

"for 10" Alnico speakers there's no better deal than the Eminence Legend 10/28"
1028K, my goto as well!
Celestion has some pricey ones, I've been tempted to give them a whirl, but...
I have tried the Italian Jensen clones (I have a 4x10 cab, 2x P10Q's set up to A/B with 2x 1028's),
more expensive, different; surely but not "better".
My first build was a cannibalized '72 Bandmaster Reverb chassis, and Vibrolux like 2x10 (1028K) cab.
Modern? channel switching design, Clean and Drive (PLEASE don't say "dirty") 3 spring reverb.
"I wonder how the new Vibrolux's will sound with Celestions"
If you could A/B it with Kenny's, I'm pretty sure you'd be disappointed, bear in mind my experience with
"modern" Fenders is very limited.
But, in that limited experience, the power trannies are pretty "weak", limits output power;
cuts down on warranty work?
Maybe John has some experience/thoughts on that...
 
T