1956 Voice of Music8 watt amplifier

This was a fun one. 1956 (or so) Voice of Music 8 watt amplifier. I like that it's just called "8 Watt Amplifier". No fancy school names, nothing clever to shift more units of these babies!



Complaint was it's dead! Lights on but nobody home. That's a good thing. Always easier to fix a dead amp than one with annoying intermittent problems. In this case all those beautiful Mica Mold capacitors were just plain dead. I also replaced the filter caps and added a cap to the 300 ohm cathode resistor on the 6v6 output tubes. This helps low end response while also helping tame some hum away. So it ain't on the schematic. Who cares? Let's improve it!

Super cool slide out chassis:




10" Jensen Alnico 5 speaker! Worth the price of admission.




Some shots of the not 'mil spec' bowl o' spaghetti design:



Mica Mold Capacitors! I'd love to hear a fresh set, never have. They're almost always leaky. One read a whopping 114 vdc on the potentiometer side!



But either way, they sure are pretty. I replaced them with a set of Mojo Dijon for the preamp, and Sprague 225P polyester Orange Drop caps for the phase inverter. An amp like this can benefit from that setup, very clear and warm, but not mushy.



Shot of the filter cap. I upgraded the 470ohm 3 watt resistor with a 500 ohm 5 watt. Also used 2 watters for the 10k power resistors. I like to never see an amp again once it leaves so why not?



Cap dated 47th week of 1956!




Schematic included! I love that. No guesswork if something is burnt.





I love the speaker connectors.




How does it sound? Perfect for what I like. It's not your Neil Young rage box, it's subtle and sweet. Very open and clear sounding. This was never intended for guitar, it's a PA amp. It's the kind of thing I'd use in my living room while someone is playing a big Gibson J45 or  Martin D-18. It gets only slightly louder than one of those at full strum. Perfect accompaniment amp.

Single 5Y3, pair of 6V6 tubes driven by a 12AX7 and a 12AY7. Same tube compliment as a Tweed Deluxe but completely different sound due to a completely different circuit. So if you like something fresh and unusual, seek one out! This is a lovely amp to look at as well as play. And I like nice looking things in my living room. 

-J

1963 Fender Vibroverb. One of the rarest of all.

I had the honor to work on this old Vibroverb last month. At first glance I thought is was a reissue model cause it's so clean. I looked at it again and said "No way!" thinking it must be a kit. Then I realized I know the owner and he has pretty fine stuff.

I've never seen one in person. This goes on my bucket list of rare Fender amps like the 3x10" tweed Bandmaster here.

Amp was blowing fuses. The filter caps were bubbling so I replaced them but unfortunately the problem was the reverb driver transformer was shorted. BUMMER! Nobody makes quite the same part so I just used a new Heyboer with a large washer to hold one end on. No holes needed to be drilled this way and no one is ever going to see it anyway. Easy fix.

The original part goes into a plastic sandwich bag so the owner can decide what to do with it. Paperweight or get it re-wound? He doesn't care since he doesn't use reverb anyway.

Amp sounds amazing. First model to sport those 'brick drop' caps like you see in late 60's models.

Did I mention this amp sounds amazing? I'd go so far as to say aggressive. If cost were no object....



The culprit:





Brick drops!








Original speakers. At some point they were wired backwards! I've seen this many times....




Original milk chocolate footswitch. Mmmmmmm.....

Little Silvertone 1471. 5 watt killer!

Another gem from Indigo Ranch that's been sitting on a shelf since the 90's! This belongs to Sonic Circus as well.




It was totally dead, ripped mouse eaten speaker and all. Found a cool Utah to throw in, re-capped it and it's making music again.

Circuit is similar to your classic tweed Princeton (Champ with a tone control) and it's got a great early Eric Clapton type of sound. Smooth breakup, warm but good bite.. I particularly liked the low end. Smooth and creamy not unlike Billy Gibbons. I just want to play some ZZ Top on this amp.

Simple 6V6 driven by a 12AX7 with a compact 6X4 rectifier.

Here's a funny video of it's first few notes after 30 years of being mothballed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sumDxmeaeP0



And some photos!











Planet Capacitor, guaranteed for 1 year!!!





So there you have it. These are cheap as chips. Yes, built rather crappy but who cares. Just don't let it get wet as they are made of pressed paper! Fantastic tone. Who says you need a pine box to cut great tracks anyway?

j