The Dilemma with Vintage Equipment

andrewsrea

andrewsrea

Well-known member
A few tonal problems led me down the rabbit hole of renovating my vintage 1964 Fender Vibroverb 30w tube amplifier. I am the second owner and have owned it for over half its existence.

Less than 100 of this model were produced and mine is #3 produced in January 1964, making it one of the first. To make things more interesting, it contained certain factory deviations from the AA763 or AB763 schematics, which means that Leo Fender was still experimenting with it. The dilemma of gear like this is making functional / tonal decisions, while maintaining its authenticity and history. In as such, I keep all original parts and copious notes.

She is back in great shape, pictured below with the pedals that suit the amp. The big repairs were new F&T filter caps, removed the original (leaky) oil-in-paper cathode caps and replaced with new electrolytics, and swapped in a matched pair of late 70's Phillips 6L6WGC output tubes. I have an eclectic mix of hand-picked vintage preamp tubes installed. Absolutely zero noise with the guitar volume on zero and the amp volume on '5', with rich cleans and Blackface bite when kicked up. The reverb and tremolo are drool worthy.

Its currently sporting a Weber 15F150 (early 60's 15" ceramic magnet Jensen clone), but I have the OEM JBL-D130 15" safely stored. The JBL isn't pedal friendly and a one-trick pony.

Anybody else on the forum have a classic amp or guitar?

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I don't have any old amps because I build my own, but I've worked on a few. I love old Marshalls in particular. A friend is coming around this week with a very original '60s Princeton Reverb. He wants to try some different speakers instead of the stock Oxford which is apparently looking a bit frail. He says it's extremely quiet noise-wise which may mean that the filter cap module thing has been replaced, but from the pics he sent me it still has an unmolested board.

The main thing is we want to replace the PT because it has an unoriginal stand-up PT - it probably had a US PT and we need a 240V transformer here. And I'll make the AC cord safe if necessary.
 
I had a 71 or 72 Ampeg VT-22 until recently. I've got plenty of very loud amps but that one was loud in a way that was not fun to play at all.

I've got a 71ish sunn solarus in the basement that needs serious work.

And I had a 1984 JCM 800 2204 for a long time that was my main amp . I don't miss it at all
 
HamishR said:
The main thing is we want to replace the PT because it has an unoriginal stand-up PT - it probably had a US PT and we need a 240V transformer here.
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Matt from musicalpowersupplies.com winds transformers for me, to my specs. They are pristine and IMHO, better than Mercury Magnetics and much more affordable. My last request for a horizontal mount from him, he was waiting on a supply of covers and I made do with an upright for an original design build.

Mojotone also has a Princeton clone PS that will do 240v.
 
Harry Klippton said:
I had a 71 or 72 Ampeg VT-22 until recently. I've got plenty of very loud amps but that one was loud in a way that was not fun to play at all.

I've got a 71ish sunn solarus in the basement that needs serious work.

And I had a 1984 JCM 800 2204 for a long time that was my main amp . I don't miss it at all
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Nice amps. The Ampegs of that era were pokey and ear busters. The Sunn Solarus is a very nice 50w plexi clone. Also loud. I've repaired too many Ampegs to count (mostly SVTs) and only one Solarus ever graced my bench. Mainly because I was East Coast USA and they were West coast. I am now in the Mid-west and seeing more of the Cali equipment.
 
Diynot said:
Probably need to replace the tank since it goes into howl mode on occasion.
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Nice amp! I've worked on its Gibson counterparts in the past.

To fix the reverb 'howl,' cut a piece of carpet scrap the size of the tank and double side tape it under the tank. Then this: https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/reverb-tank-bag-17-long-handmade-black-tolex . Unless there is a ground loop, what you are experiencing is microphonics - interchange between the speaker and the pickup motor (mini transformers) in the spring tank.
 
Feral Feline said:
A little 5w vintage TREND amp.

'69 SG Special

1932 AlCoA

F-hole acoustic, year? Maybe late 40s early '50s. It belonged to my Dad, unknown provenance, but probably along the lines of Harmony, some budget student guitar of its day.
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Nice! That SG is a rare axe. Not too many made for those years. The Trend amp I believe is made by Valco, same people who made Silvertone, Supro and Ward Airliner. Good tone, but some had offbeat / hard to find tubes.
 
andrewsrea said:
Nice! That SG is a rare axe. Not too many made for those years. The Trend amp I believe is made by Valco, same people who made Silvertone, Supro and Ward Airliner. Good tone, but some had offbeat / hard to find tubes.
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Yeah, I lucked out with the SG, I paid a pittance for it years ago before the Internet told people what the hyped value of things were/are, less than $400. It might be a '68, the serial-number itself and various records couldn't determine for certain whether it's a '68 or '69 but most evidence points to '69.



My TREND was made in Canada, and to the best of my research was made by Pine (aka PEPCO - Pine Electronic Products Company), which made stencil amps for many different brands. I found it in a dumpster, even though it still worked at the time.

Here's the tube-info from inside the amp:

img_5764-jpg.293018
 
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I have been rocking a Sunn 200S for 10 years, great amp ... currently it needs new tubes and some love. I think it's a '70 or '71.
The Musicman HD 130 and the Dynacord Eminent II have been with me for about 15 years now, I think. Not sure what years those are.
The HD130, I use for bass, the Dynacord as a mixing amp for different inputs, mainly mixed table top stuff (little synths, noise boxes, etc.) and a Theremin.

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Fuzzonaut said:
I have been rocking a Sunn 200S for 10 years, great amp ... currently it needs new tubes and some love. I think it's a '70 or '71.
The Musicman HD 130 and the Dynacord Eminent II have been with me for about 15 years now, I think. Not sure what years those are.
The HD130, I use for bass, the Dynacord as a mixing amp for different inputs, mainly mixed table top stuff (little synths, noise boxes, etc.) and a Theremin.

View attachment 79267
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Ow, my ears
 
Fuzzonaut said:
I have been rocking a Sunn 200S for 10 years, great amp ... currently it needs new tubes and some love. I think it's a '70 or '71.
The Musicman HD 130 and the Dynacord Eminent II have been with me for about 15 years now, I think. Not sure what years those are.
The HD130, I use for bass, the Dynacord as a mixing amp for different inputs, mainly mixed table top stuff (little synths, noise boxes, etc.) and a Theremin.

View attachment 79267
Click to expand...
Looks like a bassist's dream rig!

For your Sunn 200S, NOS 6AN8's are becoming rare and I'd suggest hopping on one before it is too late. You running 6550 output tubes in that?
 
I have a '66 Champ that was my father in law's. He used to use an electric ukulele type thing from it in the 60's. I used it for a couple gigs!

I also have a '68 Deluxe Reverb and a '68 Bandmaster head, both of which I bought in the 2000's and get regular use by me and my son.
 
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