A Rant - This tranny thing....

Wrongdog · Post by **Wrongdog** » Wed 12/03/03 10:32 pm

This seems to be a big topic here. I have been mostly lurking since my technical skills are lacking but I made a 18 watter from junque donator parts that rocks. I am thinking maybe I should take it to the next level when I build my AC10 I have in the works and get decent iron.

Here is my big hangup on the iron ...I am a pretty die hard Silvertone guy. I LOVE my 1482s and have a 1484 and a amp-in-case 1457 set up in a normal Champ cab (among many other amps) and sold off other many Silvertones (...and Gibsons, fenders, Musicmans, old Epi's etc). I recently fixed a buddies 1482 with a shorted OT. I put a Deluxe OT from CE Distributers (Antique Electronic Supply Wholesale) and modded it with the same stuff as MY modded 1482. Just simple cathode bypass at the 1st 12ax7 and a brite mod at the tones on each channel (470pf) and added a Weber SS 12.

I have the same set up in a head through a 1x10 SS Weber or I use a Bogner 1x12 SS Weber Cube and a 2x10 jensen RI cab. Serious geekness cool : )

The point is the Deluxe OT in the Buds 1482 is less "musical" and dynamic than my original stinkin' low quality Silvertone stock OT. It is " sterile" and more "hi-Fi". Its rocks but that is the best way I can put it in a comparison.

Are these mojo OTs you guys are always mentioning true to the Marshalls of yore?? I think the AX84 folks use the Hammonds and I wonder if they all end up sounding like Blues Jrs (not that they too bad for whipper snapper amps). I don't want "hi-Fi" or I'd get a Mesa. I want the cranky idiosyncrisies of the real deal!!

I hope you all get what I am asking.....

Post by **Plexi** » Thu 12/04/03 12:02 am

I know exactly where you are coming from..i've used many old OTs.. some sounded great.. then some were just horrible..
And many of them were from Hi-fis of old..
But nothing wrong with useing some of the old stuff,sometimes you just never know what they may sound like for a guitar amp.
I'm not a hammond fan myself..they are ok and well built, but just not my cup of tea.

I think Bruce Collins brought up about the NS trannys for the deluxes..that that had changed them,and were not near as good,as the first batch. So you may have got one of those..they now are supposed to be back to being more like the first ones..

Isn't the 1482 a 2-6L6 amp? the deluxe may be a bit small for that amp.
Maybe step up to the more 35 watter OTs.. heyboer also makes great fender OTs..

Richie

Post by **zaphod_phil** » Thu 12/04/03 7:34 am

Here is my big hangup on the iron ...I am a pretty die hard Silvertone guy. I LOVE my 1482s and have a 1484 and an amp-in-case 1457 set up in a normal Champ cab... The point is the Deluxe OT in the Buds 1482 is less "musical" and dynamic than my original stinkin' low quality Silvertone stock OT. It is " sterile" and more "hi-Fi". Its rocks but that is the best way I can put it in a comparison.

FYI, Paul Ruby says he prefers to get old iron out of junk hi-fis and radios for his amps, as he says he usually gets much nicer tone that way.

Oh and don't go calling AX84 amps "whippersnapper amps", especially when you're building an AC10!

Most of them are very loud amps, some like the HO are extermely hairy, several are 18 or 20 watters and there's even one PP EL34 50watter in there.

Wrongdog · Post by **Wrongdog** » Thu 12/04/03 11:11 am

HA! I knew that would get a "jolt" outta some folks! I meant whipper snapper amps in that a Mesa or Big Marshall sound very cool. So does a Blues Jr but I like the "sloppy" or maybe subtle idiosyncrocies (sp?) of the Deluxes, Silvertones, or any early Fender, Marshall or Dano on 10.

Oh BTW - the 1482's are 2x 6v6s, The 1485 and 1484 are 2x 6L6.

Anyone who builds amps should own a 1482 IMO. Stick a 8 ohm speaker in it (hooked to the OT 8 ohm tap), turn it to 6 and wail!!

Then turn it off and start fixing the rattles or make it a new cab, re-cap it, mod it a little - you know US geeks can't just leave it alone!!!

Post by **zaphod_phil** » Thu 12/04/03 12:16 pm

LOL!

Post by **Plexi** » Thu 12/04/03 4:06 pm

For an example, i had a friend who had a butched blonde tremolux..
Someone had cut off 2 in. of the end of the chassis,and made a small combo cab to put this amp in. he picked it up for about 40.00
Then blew up the power tranny about a year later.
He asked me if i had any junk old transformers that might work. And all i had was an old silvertone PT..
Believe it or not, but it fit perfect.. It ran the tubes at a lower voltage .about 420 plate.. It made the amp sound a heck of alot better.
i also heard the amp before and after..and it did make a big improvement in the tone.. I guess just the voltages it supplied..

Richie

Wannatone · Post by **Wannatone** » Thu 12/04/03 4:23 pm

For the 2x 6V6, the Heyboer 18 watt OT would work fine. ItÂ´s an excellent tranny at a great price. Ask Graydon (GDS Amps) for a quote.

There is a very special tranny that I would recommend for the 2x 6L6... ItÂ´s the Tweed Bassman clone with additional 4 and 8 ohm taps from Mercury Magnetics (FTBO-M). Would work with 2x 6V6, too. Just use the 2/4/8 ohm taps for 4/8/16 ohm speakers.

You could try Hammond or www.handwoundtransformers.com too. But, IÂ´ve tried a Hammond in my first 18 watt some time ago, and it got just a bit overly trebly... had to add a Vox style cut control, though.

Adrian

jhguitarlab · Post by **jhguitarlab** » Thu 12/04/03 5:02 pm

Wrongdog · Post by **Wrongdog** » Thu 12/04/03 8:41 pm

Does it rattle? Does it rawK! Heres a few of mine:

Post by **zaphod_phil** » Sat 12/06/03 4:30 pm

Wannatone wrote: You could try .... www.handwoundtransformers.com too.

Is that the guy who got a bad rap for delivering ordered goods several months late? I trust I've got that wrong...

Wannatone · Post by **Wannatone** » Sat 12/06/03 7:06 pm

zaphod_phil wrote:
Wannatone wrote: You could try .... www.handwoundtransformers.com too.
Is that the guy who got a bad rap for delivering ordered goods several months late? I trust I've got that wrong...

Hi Phil,

anything is possible, isnÂ´t it? IÂ´ve never dealt with him, though.

Adrian

Benboom · Post by **Benboom** » Sat 12/06/03 7:35 pm

Yes, that's the same guy. He's been pretty controversial. However, I ordered two trannies from him a couple of years ago and he was pretty up front about his wait time. So I didn't mind, and the units came - EXTREMELY well packaged, I must say. They appear to be nicely made as well. I can't tell you how they sound because I have not used them yet. I bought them for an 18 watter clone and then had some major shoulder trouble that kept me from even playin gmy guitar for over a year, much less wanting to build amps...so they're still sitting here, waiting to go.

All I can say is, yeah, it took a while to get them (about six weeks, if I remember right), but he told me that before I ordered them (I asked about the waiting time before ordering them), they did come, and they were well packed. They appear to be quality units, just not so good if you need them in a hurry.

Post by **Plexi** » Sat 12/06/03 10:08 pm

""then had some major shoulder trouble that kept me from even playin gmy guitar for over a year,""

Hopefully your still healing.. I can say i've heard alot of your playing, and even when your shoulder and arm was healing,and the long layoff..you still ROCK!! Can't wait till you get to post some sound files here for everyone..

Richie

Post by **zaphod_phil** » Mon 12/08/03 11:16 am

Benboom wrote:All I can say is, yeah, it took a while to get them (about six weeks, if I remember right), but he told me that before I ordered them (I asked about the waiting time before ordering them), they did come, and they were well packed. They appear to be quality units, just not so good if you need them in a hurry.

I've seen a lot of posts from different folks saying the transformers arrived several months late and then only after a lot of e-mails, phone calls, promises that they were on the way, etc. Best to be careful....

GlennG · Post by **GlennG** » Wed 12/17/03 9:04 pm

Based on my personal experience I can`t reccomend "Handwound Transformers". After buying a set of tranny`s from this guy it took 4 months for delivery. I`m pretty patient but this was rediculous. After 3 months I emailed him and asked " how much longer?" He never returned my email. After 3 1/2 weeks I started a daily email campaign demanding a refund. The emails were never answered but my transformers arrived 2 weeks later. The transformers look good but after 4 months I had moved on to another project and these are still sitting here on the shelf. I hope I can find the data sheets because at this point I can`t even remember what I ordered

I can`t imagine what long road it would be if there was a problem with the product and an exchange was required.

I`ve also seen him sell on Ebay and his feedback record is one of the worst I`ve seen.

Glenn Gertis

Benboom · Post by **Benboom** » Thu 12/18/03 12:50 am

Glenn, I guess we should just be thankful we got our trannies at all. Too bad; it could have been a good resource. So I always tell everybody that I got mine but that it took a while and that I have heard other people have had problems. I can't understand how some people's minds work...you'd think if he has a good product he'd want to get some good word of mouth.

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A Rant - This tranny thing....

A Rant - This tranny thing....