New Amp Day. Pre-1960 Gibson tube amp

[fett]

I just had to get this. I requested that it be shipped to Cyg so he can fix it for me. We shall see. http://www.ebay.com/itm/140777190788...84.m1439.l2649

[amerturk]

Looks like a victim of Katrina to me. I hope it works out for you.

[fett]

It does. It may be junk. I have great faith in Cyg. Whether he likes it or not. That amp is just about as simple as it gets. If nothing else, it looks really cool. Not only that. That amp was made for a Gibson Lapsteel guitar. I don't have a Gibby. I only have a Silvertone from the same era. I may be mad but there is a method there. Somewhere.

[Cygnus X1]

Collecting old radios and tube organ parts adds up to be able to
restore something like that Gibson.
One Hammond organ that fett sent has a perfect small 2x6V6 output transformer that will
address that issue with the field coil speaker.
If the PT is shot believe me, I have the iron.

Even old caps of that vintage that are clean and perfectly functional.
It's a tweed era amp, it is worth every penny invested and the time to do it.

I don't post everything here by any means.
Kramer players are usually in the shred camp or close to it.

I don't expect everyone to care about old school items more suited
to classic country, blues, early rock or jazz.

But keep in mind this is educational to enable me to build high gain monsters
whenever I feel like it, with confidence!

[amerturk]

I think a lot more people would be interested in seeing this old timer brought back then you think. As far as the old organ stuff....it's cool to see, but I have no interest in it other than tell me how to do it myself...

But, with the old classic stuff, I'm sure a lot of members would love to see the before and after pics.

[fett]

I don't want a fettenstein. This is one cool vintage tube amp that needs to be restored. I can deal with cosmetics. Cyg can deal with the guts. When I saw the auction it had just popped up. There was one offer. All I saw was very old amp that looked way cool. I did call Cyg. In fact, I was a pain in the ass. Something about chicken on the barbie and dinner. You guys have to understand, I didn't need Cyg's OK to buy this. I was going to buy it regardless. If I can get the seller to send it to him, it's just what we do. Shred on.

[fett]

Cyg, he's shipping it to you tomorrow.

[Cygnus X1]

Cool news fett.
Looking forward to it.

[Kramer23]

Vintage Gibsons are very underrated amps!
Congratulations

[helocene]

Sweet find, I hope you guys do pics of the restoration.
I'm partial to the BR-6F myself, those old pentode pre's were so fat and musical.

[Cygnus X1]

Field coil speaker, schem shows an interstage transformer between the 6V6 tubes.
Looks like a parallel setup.
I don't see this being restored to the exact circuit, but will use the
pentode preamp and 2x6V6GT setup somehow.
Will be researching options.

[withoutasound]

Wow, very cool!

[bongano]

I think a lot more people would be interested in seeing this old timer brought back then you think.

I certainly would

[sprocket226]

I certainly would

Me too!

[MCB67]

The older I get, the more I appreciate the "vintage" stuff. Too bad I can't be restored a bit too! LOL

[fett]

I guess that means you got it.

[Cygnus X1]

I guess that means you got it.

Well yes Francis.

:

If you checked in more often you would have known sooner!

[fett]

You have to do what you have to do. Make it work!!!! Or else.

[Cygnus X1]

Bump.
This amp is now on the bench.

[Louthedog]

LoL here's a 1949 model....

[korodesu]

Looks like a fun little amp. I had an early 60's Gibson GA-5 that my dad gave me. It was my first amp. Those little amps are a lot of fun, especially when you have a pacer and a Tubescreamer plugged into one.

[Cygnus X1]

GA-5 Skylark was essentially a Champ.
Great little amp!

I made my way through the toxic waste dump inside
and might have salvaged the power transformer.
It passed the ohms test, and the low voltage delivery tests.

Sweet wife is supposed to be working on the cab covering.
To see about cleaning it up and regluing it.
We'll see.



Ohau Lou!
That's about what these amps were, a student lap steel package.

[syncopa]

Gotta LOVE that mother of toilet seat!

[Kramer James]

Looks like a victim of Katrina to me.

My thoughts too... but that thing will surely have some soul when it's back an running

[Cygnus X1]

Well the ONLY parts salvageable were the cab and the chassis.
It wasn't just exposed to moisture, it was completely waterlogged as
someone above noted.
It literally sat in water, for a long enough time to soak everyting up to about 2".

Mrs. Cyg (OK...it's Martha) and I debated about what to do with the covering.
We decided to try to keep the "Patina" after cleaning, and gluing, and cleaning...and gluing more.
She actually found some suitcase cloth that might have worked, but it was still too thick to get
around those corners.
Since there was no way to restore it I decided to utilize the many blessings of 50's NOS parts
and build a LP Jr. (ahem...Fender 5C1 Champ) into the chassis.
The only new style parts are metal film resistors and a three prong power cord.
The caps are either very good condition or NOS Sprague bumblebees and Beauties.

Everything is wired except the power transformer.
That comes tomorrow, and since I really have no idea of what the specs of that PT really are...
keeping my fingers crossed.

All octal, she will have 6SJ7 preamp, 6V6GT power, and 5Y3GT rectifier.