This is from the pile o' bigass amps at Southside Guitars.
Not going to get all technical, nothing new to write. I just wanted to share some photos of this behemoth!
This was a "just get it going" job. It didn't take much. I just replaced the electrolytic caps. Fortunately that quartet of beautiful GE 6L6 tubes was in great shape. Most of the preamp tubes were good too. I replaced the first stage filter caps and one of the new ones was bad! 120 cycle hum and low b+ voltage around 380 or so. Good indicator it's the first stage. Replaced it and voila.
How are these amps? They're like a janky ass Fender that looks soooooo glam. Made well enough and not one bit better! I've worked on many including the "Earth" amp series built later. They were made in NYC. This one boast a 2x15" cabinet. I cannot imagine anyone in 2021 being interested in hauling one to play in sad backroom gigs where they have no chairs but 200000 watt PA systems that sound stellar, but please, someone start a band with these as the backline so we can see a real film, no filter photo!
Tremolo and reverb are good and lush. Get yerself a fuzz box and a wah wah and write yourself the ticket to the sun baby!
The hardest part about working on these amps is getting the chassis out of the head box. There's literally no room at all! I always wind up pulling the power tubes out then taking a dead blow hammer to knock out a piece of wood that holds the back grill in place cause it is dead in the way of your power transformer!
So if you come across one, re-cap it, bias it and test test test it before you put it back in the box. It's like a forest grows around the damned thing minutes after you box it up and if something is wrong, a gotta open it back up again!!
Go big kids! You have strong backs still!!! And big amps are kinda cheap these days!!!
J
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