Heyboer VS. Drake OTs

[danelectro]

hey all

I was wondering what the pros/cons and other differences are between the commonly used Heyboers versus the Drake (made for Marshall)'s that are for sale in the classifieds. I emailed the guy selling them and he said that they are brand new, built by Drake for Marshall, and to the orginal 18watt spec. He doesnt know why theyre making them again but suspects a possible 18watt reissue??

Also the Drake trannies require 2 3/4" or 70mm center to center mounting holes.. would that fit in Graydon's chassis?

I'll probably go w/ Graydons transformers/chassis, but i wanted to know what would be involved in using these if theyd work and might be a step closer to the real thing..

thanks

[Plexi]

Compare the new Drake in the newer amps compared to the old ones.. there is alot of difference..
Richie

[Graydon]

I just received my Drake "18W" OT. While it looks like a nice little piece, it is nowhere near the size of an 18W OT as used in the original Marshall 18 watters. It is closer to the 20W but I think even the 20w has a larger OT than this one. BTW, note that the 18W OT is larger than the 20W OT and that probably has alot to do with the difference in tone between the 20W and the 18W. This Drake "18W" OT will not fit my chassis without drilling new holes.

If Marshall is getting set to reissue the 18W with the "18W" Drake OT that I got, then I think that Marshall will once again be building a modern amp in the old style, not a true reissue. Of course, it may just be a decoy to throw us off.

[Wannatone]

I got my Drake, too, and measured it first.
The tiny core looks more like a 10 watt than an 18 watt.

Primary: red - white, brown center tap
Secondary: green 8 Ohms, grey 16 Ohms, orange ground

Primary impedance measured: 5.3k

Threw it in my experimental chassis... sounded not very impressive, pretty weak bass, and sounds like there is less gain. Almost the same output power than with the Heyboer. Maybe 5% less, but it´s hard to tell.

The Heyboer sounds full and fat, with more grind.

Had recently a pretty rusty old RS tranny in the amp. Sounded the most open and airy of them all, really impressive.

I´d say the Drake could be an interesting alternative for budget projects, but would probably require some tweaking.

Adrian

[dboul]

If Marshall is getting set to reissue the 18W . . .

Graydon, are they going to reissue?

[Graydon]

If Marshall is getting set to reissue the 18W . . .

Graydon, are they going to reissue?

I have no idea. I was just referencing the possibility mentioned by Danelectro in his first post in this thread.

[danelectro]

Wow, thanks for the info. ill trust that graydon's opinion is purely objective

I'll be ordering a chassis/heyboer set as soon as i get some money together, if for nothing else because its the tried and true. I dont want to have to modify things all crazily at first

thanks again

[Plexi]

So far ,if they are considering making a reissiue, and like most of all the rest of reissiues that have crossed my bench.. they won't be close to what the old ones were.. I also might wonder,even though the trannys were made for marshall.. i believe marshall/korg has a hand in Vox amps.. and they could be used for the AC15.. or some other Korg amp. Drake also makes those.
But for some of these new amps,i've replaced a bunch of them, OTs and Power trannys in newer marshall and Vox amps. All one has to do is look at the way they made those for the JTM 30 and JTM 60.. They are reallll small. Most people upgrade there OTS from drakes to some of the others that are out there on the market..
I have no problem useing the Heyboer..I also liked the EMC both sound great.. Just easier to get the heyboers from Graydon.

If they did reissiue the 18..i wonder what they would price it at?? Less than the bluesbreaker?? I've yet to see a reissiue use quality parts or built like one of the real old amps they are copying.Seems after the JCM800s they really started going downhill on the iron..

Richie