Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

Nostalgic Distortion

Nostalgic Distortion

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So I’m kinda a Brownface/Tweed era geek... So when I came across this on Reverb yesterday it definitely sparked my interest so I decided to grab it & add to my ever growing collection of vintage Fender clones!!!

This is the ever famous 6G13 circuit found in early Bandmasters, Super’s, & Vibrolulx’s. The Normal CH is wired like a later Blackface while the Vibrato CH has the Brownface goodness & it’s been masterfully assembled using Mercury Magnets transformers, Mallory tone caps, low noise resistors, & other quality components. The cabinet was handmade & finger jointed using Baltic Birch, nothing too special but it looks nice. Other features include bias test probes, external trim pot, & the dude is shipping it with some really nice NOS Tung-Sol 6L6GT’s instead of the pictured JJ 5881’s...

You know... I was originally just looking for another 5E3 to keep at my practice space. This is why my my wife is going to leave me one day, probably right after I appear on that Horders show???
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

**** me.

That looks freaking amazing.
So how many watts are we looking at?
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

That IS gorgeous. So, it's a generic clone? No brand name?

P.S. I'll bet dollars-to-dough-nuts that the jacks labeled "Vibrato" are actually tremolo. ;)
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

very nice find man. betcha it sounds great! what output tranny did they use?
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

It puts out about 40W & no, there’s no brand name but after spending a couple days talking with him I’m fairly confident the builder knows his stuff. So I don’t have any real concerns about functionality & I’ve also gotten a 2 year warranty on parts/workmanship with it so while they obviously won’t replace faulty tubes or fix it if I tossed it out the window, but if it starts smoking for no apparent reason I should be covered...

As far as the output transformer he used a Mercury Magnetics BFBS-O4O with a 2ohm tap. However it’ll be running into a 4ohm cab for the time being. Unfortunately I only have 8ohm & 16ohm speakers in my 2x12’s currently so my plan is to switch the wiring from series to parallel in my 16ohm 2x12 effectively making it into a dual G12H-75 Creamback loaded 4ohm cabinet which should sound pretty decent?

Hopefully that will work well enough for now & I’ll track down a couple 4ohm Jensen’s sometime in the near future, then reload the cabinet with those...
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

ArtieToo said:
That IS gorgeous. So, it's a generic clone? No brand name?

P.S. I'll bet dollars-to-dough-nuts that the jacks labeled "Vibrato" are actually tremolo. ;)
Click to expand...

Of course, any Fender style amp that say “Vibrato” are actually tremolo units. However this one does have the rarer 3 valve Harmonic Tremolo which puts out some cool Univive pulses!!!

I actually have no real intention of using it anyway but I suppose it’s cool to have in case I decided I did want it???
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

I think the only amplifiers that have actual pitch shifting Vibrato, or at least the only ones that I know of, are Magnatone’s???
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

After I posted that, I think I figured out that the originals were marked that way, and the builder was simply being true to the original design. Doh! :smack:
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

ArtieToo said:
After I posted that, I think I figured out that the originals were marked that way, and the builder was simply being true to the original design. Doh! :smack:
Click to expand...

Have you ever played through an amp with true Vibrato? IMHO it’s really not a very nice sound, especially once you get a bit of gain in the signal, but I guess that could be because I’m used to Vibrato in a pedal format & running in front of the amplifier???
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

Before I answer that, let me make sure we're on the same page. Isn't "vibrato" a change in frequency? What we refer to as the "tremolo" arm on a guitar is actually a vibrato arm. But Leo got it wrong, and we're stuck with that forever. And isn't "tremolo" a modulation of amplitude? That classic old Beach Boys, surf sound? I have a couple old amps with tremolo. That's easy to do. I've never seen an amp that could waver the actual frequency. (Like the so-called tremolo arm on a guitar.) That would be difficult to do.

Edit: Come to think of it, I have a new amp with tremolo. My Line 6/Bogner Spidervalve. 112.
 
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Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

Yeah I real Vibrato should bend the pitch of whatever notes or chords that go through the amplifier & to be honest I have absolutely no idea how one would go about this as far as stuffing it into a vintage circuit? Tremolo however is a variation in volume & a shift in the panning which is typically done by using a roach. (small rubber wrapped light)

However I’m not an expert by any means so I could be completely full of it???
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

True vibrato must be quite rare in an amp. Would a Univibe effect be similar?

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

Harmonic tremolo splits the signal, and varies the amount of out of phase-ness of each side. It sounds glorious. Ever listen to The Bros Landreth (or Joey or Ariel Posen's solo stuff)? Lots of harmonic trem going on there.

If there is an analog unit that bends pitch, I've never heard of it.
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

JB_From_Hell said:
Harmonic tremolo splits the signal, and varies the amount of out of phase-ness of each side. It sounds glorious. Ever listen to The Bros Landreth (or Joey or Ariel Posen's solo stuff)? Lots of harmonic trem going on there.

If there is an analog unit that bends pitch, I've never heard of it.
Click to expand...

^^^^Yeah, what he said!!!^^^^
 
Re: Just Picked Up Something Cool I think???

Yeah, we did get off track. The amp is gorgeous.
 
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