Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: WezV on January 29, 2012, 08:56:15 PM
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Well, less than a month to go till my wife gives birth.
Seems like the ideal time to buy a 50w non master volume vintage valve amp ;)
I put a cheeky low bid in on a Selmer TnB 50sv, should be picking it up in a few days.
Its the early 70's one like this:
(http://www.andrewsamplab.com/Amp%20Photo%20Gallery/Gallery%20Photos/Selmer/TreblenBass50SV.jpg)
it was described as having a bit of hiss and crackly pots, so it sounds like a service will be needed but that hopefully wont be any bother
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Sounds like it may need some very minimal work. Crackly pots are no biggie really and very easy to replace in older amps the hiss should also be easy to sort depending what type of hiss it is.
Nice score!
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Congratulations Wez - that's a nice new arrival for you! Will be interesting to see which of your new arrivals wins the noise competition!
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well, i have been after a new amp for a while and the wife was aware it was going to happen at some point.
there was another amp on ebay i was considering, but it was a bit far to drive so i talked myself out of bidding
cant believe a traynor YSR-1 including 4x12 speaker cab went for so little!!!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150739529171?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_500wt_1413
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Congrats for both: the arriving baby and the amp. It's a nice piece of nostalgia.
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Nice amp Wez. I always liked T&B's.
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And there was me thinking you might be gassing after some boutique amp called.. oh I don't know, Mr Rapey's Spunky Jizzler or something :D
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where do i get one of them??? ;)
SO, what are my options for making this thing usable at home volumes. I dont think i will be getting to crank it for power amp distortion very often so i am aware i wont always get to hear it at its best all the time, but i know it should be capable of nice cleans and should take pedals well :)
1) attenuator. Price may be an issue, i also dont think they are really suitable for what i want as i would probably be asking it to do too much which may damage the amp
2) fit a master volume - should allow me to get a better range of tones and could be a genuinly useful mod.
3) Fit a volume box in the effects(echo) loop. i think this is similar to fitting a master volume, with the added advantage that its not a permanant mod
4) anything else???
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how good are you at wiring? Frank JPF might be the man to talk to, I know he's working on something you might be interested it. power scaling.
volume control in the FX loop is like a standard MV depending on where the loop is in the circuit. It's an easy one. you could also try a PPIMV (post phase inverter master volume), of which there are a few options, some easier than others.
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I think i am generally ok at wiring. absolutely fine and occasionally quite inventive with guitars. ok with pedals but not always successful. and i have made a champ style amp before which works well but it was largely just following instructions
i get a bit lost when i start looking at amp schematics, but when i start reading up it generally makes sense. I have a big book on tube amps around here somewhere - will have to dig it out and see what i need to do
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nice :lol:
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a mate of mine had a selmer when i was a teenager, a bit like this one but with 1 input and 1 vol/1 tone. i think it was 30w.it was a combo 2x12 ,tall one and was an absolute tone monster.v.loud.
hope yours' sounds as good.
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if you're not afraid of putting in a small transformer and another valve socket, you could add another output stage - single ended, class A using an ECC81, around 1w.
tap the signal from one of the EL34 grids and feed it to the 1w output stage, could even have a master volume in there too. just add a switch to lift the cathodes on the EL34s to mute the normal part of the amp.
If you're local to Frank at JPF, he'll know how to do this - give him a shout.
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That Traynor was a deal and a half! & congrats mate, top notch buy
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i would have loved to try the traynor - i didnt think for a second it would stay that low.
the selmer is a lot closer, a fair bit cheaper and i know a bit about what to expect from them
i am currently leaning towards getting power scaling fitted.. but i still need to pick it up and see what other work it needs before any decisions are made
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Do you know what valves are fitted? - perhaps yellow jacket or similar adaptors for EL84s could be good for pain free lower volume cranking.
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Nice buy wez, always loved sound of these, never found one in good enough nick to buy though
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well i picked it up tonight.
I am happy. It does have a bit of background hum i want to get sorted, but it is just background noise and no where near as bad as i was expecting. the pots are just a bit crackly from lack of use. cosmetically its almost perfect, just a bit of muck here and there
will have a proper look inside at some point but i doubt any original valves are still in there - he mentioned it had been serviced about 7 years ago and had some caps replaced at that point.
very happy, especially for less than £150 :)
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very happy, especially for less than £150 :)
:o
Sounds like an absolute steal!
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I am sure I remember someone someone I played with (I can't remember who it was) having one of those back in the day. I wish I could remember more about the sound.
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well i picked it up tonight.
I am happy. It does have a bit of background hum i want to get sorted, but it is just background noise and no where near as bad as i was expecting. the pots are just a bit crackly from lack of use. cosmetically its almost perfect, just a bit of muck here and there
will have a proper look inside at some point but i doubt any original valves are still in there - he mentioned it had been serviced about 7 years ago and had some caps replaced at that point.
very happy, especially for less than £150 :)
Post some gut shots and I'll tell you if the smoothing caps on the HT line are original or not.
If they ARE original, a cap job is in order. It's worth cleaning the pots, jacks and valve bases too - Servisol lubricant spray for the pots, and non-lubricating for the jacks/valve bases. You'll be amazed at how much snap/crackle/pop can be reduced by such simple maintenance.
It's also worth replacing the bias caps while you're at it.
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Post some gut shots and I'll tell you if the smoothing caps on the HT line are original or not.
here we go
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/selmergut1.jpg)
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/selmergut2.jpg)
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/selmergut3.jpg)
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/selmergut4.jpg)
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/selmergut5.jpg)
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You've made out ok there Wez, those EL34s look like old Siemens ones - great midrange crunch and spit, snarly as fook :D
The smoothing caps are the originals, but it's tough to see what kind of shape they're in. My thoughts are that on a 40+ year old amp, it makes sense to replace all the filter caps. Also do the bias cap while you're at it.
Looks nice and clean inside too, makes a change for Selmers which are normally woefully looked after.
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Well a service and any mods may have to wait a few weeks, but i just borrowed some TAD tone Bones from a mate which are a plug and play option to reduce this down to about 8w.
BAsically the EL34's get swapped for 84's. but since it doesnt need to be re-biased to do the EL34's can be slotted back in at any time
Its still loud, as 8 valve watts should be - but the first 3rd of the volume sweep is now suitable for home use as opposed to just turning it on its lowest setting.
I think the Tone bones along with a PPIMV should let me get the most out of the amp at home volumes. Whilst it may be changing the amps character a bit its still bloody nice and the stock sounds are still available if needed.