Wienbrock Gaucho - Designers thoughts and some information, my story..

[JamesHealey]

Hi guys,

I hope this post isn't against the rules but as a BKP regular I thought i'd share what I've been up to for the past few years.

About 3 years ago I started working for Hiwatt UK and JMI Amplification on the assembly line and gained some valuable experience working for the Music Ground affair but I decided to distance myself from their practices (less said about that the better really) and go at it alone.. So I started Healey Amplification which I managed to keep afloat for a year or so whilst I've had some loyal customers who've ordered plenty of amps It's a real struggle doing it on your own.

So I got in touch with Wienbrock Amps at a guitar show and after having a good poke around inside their amps and being thoroughly impressed with the quality. We started to collaborate, I've been working with them now for the past 6 months, we're about to launch a new amp in Frankfurt, this amp is called the Gaucho it's an amplifier I've designed in conjunction with Rob Wienbrock and It's a beast!

It's a 20w 6V6 amplifier, it's got it's roots in the early 60s plexi circuit, but without the troublesome blocking distortion that can happen on some of these amps in the 2nd gain stage, it's also got a revised power supply and this all adds up to the biggest fattest boldest British Overdrive tone!

I hope you guys have some interest and i'd love to invite any BKP forum member down to our factory for a bash on our stuff!

If anyone has any questions about our stuff I can answer most questions :)

[FELINEGUITARS]

working for the Music Ground affair but I decided to distance myself from their practices (less said about that the better really) and go at it alone..

Joking aside the amps look nice - as does the site
Hope Franfurt MusicMesse is good for you

[Frank]

Just having a look at the Wienbrock website, there's a few tasty looking amps there! I particularly like the idea of a 1 Watt pushpull 6SN7 output stage, that's very intersting to me.

I notice a distinct preference for 6L6 output tubes though, why no EL34?

[Matt77]

Looks an interesting bit of kit
will keep an eye out in Toneworld

[sgmypod]

Cool may have to come try one

[AndyR]

Nice one, just been all round the site. Some cool looking amps there.

Hope it goes well for you :D

[horsehead]

If it's anything like my Wienbrock it'll be awesome!

[dave_mc]

working for the Music Ground affair but I decided to distance myself from their practices (less said about that the better really) and go at it alone..

Joking aside the amps look nice - as does the site
Hope Franfurt MusicMesse is good for you

:lol:

sounds good, though :)

[JamesHealey]

Just having a look at the Wienbrock website, there's a few tasty looking amps there! I particularly like the idea of a 1 Watt pushpull 6SN7 output stage, that's very intersting to me.

I notice a distinct preference for 6L6 output tubes though, why no EL34?

I have often wondered this myself, I think Mr Wienbrock has his reasons for not using EL34's although our Comanchero, Caballero and ME-5 Bass Amp will all run EL34 as an option..

I think one of the reasons for avoiding EL34's is the quality of modern EL34s is pretty bad, all the valves we use are Russian Military Spec N.O.S and hold up to the punishing voltages..

[JamesHealey]

I've just finished building a Wienbrock ME-5 2x12 combo for myself with the Gaucho circuit inside. I'm going to be running the High Brit and the Ace 50 in the combo which is a firm favourite here at Wienbrock.

It's a great speaker combo and should be tried by all who wish to achieve rock greatness ;)

[TeeBee]

Hi James,

I hope to order a new Gaucho but a combo version as opposed to the head and cab I tested one at The Den.

Both the Hobo and Gringo I tested can show the difference in the 5 pickup positions on my Strat much better than other amps.  They also have a great natural overdrive/distortion if pushed hard (volume v high) but the Gaucho seemed to be more suited to getting overdrive/distortion (I guess plexi like) when the Bright switch was flicked and VOL control turned up reasonably high. 

But the overdrive gets much better the more you push it and also the harder you dig into to the strings.  I was going to ask whether the gain could be tweaked a bit more so the VOL doesn't have to be pushed that far and so break up occurs sooner?  As my Strat has a Gibson 490 humbucker in the bridge position this usually gets there first if you see what I mean!

I believe valve amps don't work this way and need to be wound up to get the best etc. out of them. Neil from the Den has informed me better on pre-amp and power amp gain and I now have a better understanding of it than I did plus that's where I learnt you designed it as well!  It was interesting to note above why EL34 valves aren't used at Weinbrock.

[jpfamps]

EL34s are inherently a less reliable valve than 6L6 or 6V6-style valves (beam tetrodes).

Furthermore, most "designers" simply copy the Marshall 3.4k loading for their 50W amps. This loading is too low at typical HT voltages, circa 450VDC, to prevent the valves over dissipating when driven harder.

The problem with higher loading is that this causes the screen current to increase, so you need to use much larger screen grid resistors.

I find interesting as some who "designs" and builds amps how many people seem to focus on what your amp/s don't do rather than on what they do, eg why is there no master volume/ effect loop, or even why don't you build an EL34 loaded amp!

[JamesHealey]

We use a pair of 6V6s in the Gaucho and it's an 8k primary OT, with a HT of around 470v which is producing about 26w before clipping, so it's a very conservative 20w rating!

We use NOS Military Spec Russian valves which take the punishment of this high HT all day long.

EL34s are one of my favourite sounding valves but I wouldn't want to guarantee them for 90 days lol
Rob is a big fan of the Beam Tetrode Family and Kinkless Tetrodes.

No Pentodes to be seen at Wienbrock.

I also have my theory on Rob's love of 5881 loaded Marshall tones, he grew up in New Jersey and everything Marshall shipped to America came loaded with 5881s to survive the shipping, where as in the UK we used EL34s.

Food for thought? Either way our amps sound fantatic with any of the valves we use 5881, 6550, KT88 and 6V6s..

[JamesHealey]

EL34s are inherently a less reliable valve than 6L6 or 6V6-style valves (beam tetrodes).

Furthermore, most "designers" simply copy the Marshall 3.4k loading for their 50W amps. This loading is too low at typical HT voltages, circa 450VDC, to prevent the valves over dissipating when driven harder.

The problem with higher loading is that this causes the screen current to increase, so you need to use much larger screen grid resistors.

I find interesting as some who "designs" and builds amps how many people seem to focus on what your amp/s don't do rather than on what they do, eg why is there no master volume/ effect loop, or even why don't you build an EL34 loaded amp!

Haha so true, especially the FX loop.. I've tried all sorts of loops.

Interrupt loops, Series Loops, Parallel etc etc.. None of them work without screwing up the tone of the amp, so you're going to have one you need to pick the design and then work the amp around it making the amp match the loops tone sucking properties.

Sticking a Master Volume or an FX Loop into an already designed amp is always going to be an after thought and causes nothing but poor tone and or noise.

[JamesHealey]

Hi James,

I hope to order a new Gaucho but a combo version as opposed to the head and cab I tested one at The Den.

Both the Hobo and Gringo I tested can show the difference in the 5 pickup positions on my Strat much better than other amps.  They also have a great natural overdrive/distortion if pushed hard (volume v high) but the Gaucho seemed to be more suited to getting overdrive/distortion (I guess plexi like) when the Bright switch was flicked and VOL control turned up reasonably high. 

But the overdrive gets much better the more you push it and also the harder you dig into to the strings.  I was going to ask whether the gain could be tweaked a bit more so the VOL doesn't have to be pushed that far and so break up occurs sooner?  As my Strat has a Gibson 490 humbucker in the bridge position this usually gets there first if you see what I mean!

I believe valve amps don't work this way and need to be wound up to get the best etc. out of them. Neil from the Den has informed me better on pre-amp and power amp gain and I now have a better understanding of it than I did plus that's where I learnt you designed it as well!  It was interesting to note above why EL34 valves aren't used at Weinbrock.

Head and cab is always the better option imo it's far more versitile.

If you want a Gaucho that clips a little earlier this is possible, just specify it when ordering it's not a major issue :)