These amps take me back. They were omnipresent in the New York Studios in the 60s and 70s, these and Gemini IIs (with 15" speakers) and other Ampegs, probably because the company was in New Jersey. The ones from the New York Studios would have the New York Guitar Club stenciled to them, and replacing the power switch would've been a key. You'd pay into the club, and get a key. Running around New York with a big amp is a giant pain, and this was an early way to deal with it. By the time I was in the studio, the techs had bypassed the keys so anyone could turn them on, and many of them didn't sound that great (lack of maintenance probably). I was always a lot happier when I saw a Fender in the studio, and eventually I bought a Mesa Mark I and carted it around myself. But those amps actually have a great sound. The Gemini II had a treble boost switch and a switch on the Tremelo speed to really go fast. Thanks for this series.
I enjoy your videos. I've been been collecting & repairing/rebuilding old Ampegs since 1972. They are normally built like tanks so it surprises me to see the filter caps flopping around like these were. I've never encountered that in my repairs but I do see a lot of shoddy repairs in the amps I work on. Whoever put the pieces of wood to hold that chassis in was a butcher, not an amp tech. Ampeg started in the 60's to "shock mount" their chassis using rubber pads or little rubber "donuts". Looks like somebody may have tried to jury rig this chassis to do something similar and it didn't work out. I also love it when they install a 3 prong power cord and don't remove the death cap. I have two Gemini's (a Gemini2 w/1x15 and a Gemini 20 w/2x10's. Both have polarity switches that weren't removed from the circuit nor was the death cap removed when the 3 prong cord was installed so if you flip that switch the wrong way it's a dead short to ground. You can't fix stupid I guess. Keep up the good work. BTW, that old amp faceplate you took off the back was obviously another amateur at work. The back cover should have foil shielding glued to it where it covers the open back of the chassis when the back cover is installed. It even has screws (clutch drive of course) to attach the back to the back of the chassis to seal the shielding up tight against the back chassis opening.
I had a Gemini I and a Gemini II too, which both needed work when I copped them off the bay. Got them inexpensively on eBay about 15 years ago, planning to repair them myself, but health problems precluded that from happening - story of my life (and my lack of knowledge). So I sold them to a local amp tech (Arcane Amp Repair), who now charges $200 an hour to service amps in Portland (seriously). I also sold him a few other "projects" at the time, that I wish I'd kept. I was going to bail on Portland, and sold most of my stuff, but I'm still hear, trying to be a farmer and self-sufficient for a living. Mr. Guitologist and Uncle Doug have helped me to understand how tube amps work, not completely, but I'm getting there. It would be worth my money to send my amps to the Guitologist for servicing (I've got some interesting vintage amps), just to (hopefully) see him do a video fixing them - what a treat that would be! The local amp techs here mostly won't let you watch, because they don't want you to learn how easy it is, or be embarrassed about how much money they charge. IF you know what you're doing it's easy, like anything else I suppose.. There are some local amp techs here that will help teach me, but learning online like this is the best, because you can watch it repeatedly. Obviously thousands of other interested people agree with me, judging from the views here! I'm thankful to have found this channel, and a few others like it, but this is my favorite, and grateful to Brad for sharing his knowledge so generously (and I dig his guitar playing too - the clean stuff anyways)!
I just pulled mine out of the pile to start the planning stage. 1965 - S/N 022047. This thing is gonna be a money pit. A previous owner lost / replaced all the knobs. =( It just goes down hill from there. :sigh: On the bright side at least Brad did a vid. Thank you, Brad!
This made me lol. I just picked up a fully functioning 1965 Ampeg Gemini G12. Original tubes, Jensen speaker, foot switch, and some goofball replaced all the original knobs.
I just picked up an old ampeg rocketverb for 200 bucks at local flee market,,,works well but been serviced except the cab is rickety its got a perfect original speaker.i love the old stuff.
Great video and nice clean work, the solder looks good... good to see the can was still good and not having to figure out an alt mounting plan for new caps. Does anyone make replacement cans? The amp sounds good on final test in part two!
Hi, I’m curious about what’s going on with the electrolytics in your power section. I see 4 F&T’s there. My G-12 is also a late ‘65 and it has 70/40/40 in the can and a 20/20 on the chassis in one wrap. (Yours had 2 loosely mounted). But if you kept the can as-is, what are the 4 other F&Ts? Thanks!
Those screws are called clutchhead screws GM used them on the older cars too around that time frame also. Oh tonight I found a Gemini 2 amp at the curb there was a car accident so I went a way I usually dont and saw the amp at the curb my luck or maybe my junk,LOL. Got home fuse was missing & put a fuse in it and the light came on switched the standby switch on and the fuse burned out. Took the back off and one speaker lead was broke.Its all complete except for the Ampeg logo and the handle is shot.Any free advice I have done some amp repair but not that much if you can help maybe a broken wire probably not but yours had one to the capacitor so maybe.The power tubes are metal 6L6S one RCA and one CBS I have only seen glass ones must be very very old tubes and also has the original 15 inch Jensen in it.So any advice should I put it back at the curb,LOLL I had a Gemini 2 when I was a kid.......................................Glenn P.
I made the mistake of selling that exact amp on eBay about 7 years ago with a broken top strap. I wonder if that could be the exact one I grew up with... anyway to find out where it came from? Paired it with a Norma electric acoustic guitar. Still have a few other jems my father passed down from the era. Thanks in advance! It would have sold from Milwaukee wi...
I have one of these amps in my shop right now to service for a friend. I'm still trying to figure out how to remove the tube chassis from the wooden case. I was hoping your video would show me, but you merely confirmed that it's difficult and then skipped over how you did it! LOL! 🤣 I'll figure things out eventually. My friend's model appears to be about 6 to 12 months newer. Many things are the same, but a few small details are different. I guess that keeps things interesting... LOL!
If you still didn’t do it, there’s a ⅛” wooden shim under the chassis on each side. (Most of the wooden parts and the plate on the chassis of his are not original, clearly) if you can get those shims out you can slide it out. It’s also very tight on the sides and also just stuck if it’s never been removed. The shims will probably break but you can make new ones. Once you remove the 2 screws on back of chassis and shims there’s nothing else holding it.
@@2tallB I did manage to remove the chassis. The overall amp has been in pieces in my shop for months now... I need to get back to this project and finish it! Yikes, it's been almost a year... That's not good! I seriously need to get moving!!! 😮
Gene Andre had a shop in nyc -- I had an amp serviced there in the 80's -- he was a former Ampeg employee I believe -- Check out the secret switch on the trem for the after beat effect -- nice - Buzz Feiten told me he used a gemini on the full moon LP !
Those caps that drive the reverb are usually huge value. I've seen them as high as 1uF on Magnatones. They go bad often. Snuggled up close to that huge resistor's heat probably isn't helping it any....but yea you can't use any old tank with those. The impedances have match on both ends...and you also have to make sure jacks are grounded correctly.
Yeah, .22 and .5 seem to be the most common value in that position. And that's my experience too, they do tend to go bad often. The problem with a cap going bad in that position is if they shorted, you end up with full plate voltage on the reverb tank inductor, which will either burn it up or shock the hell out of you when you fail to install a grounded plug.
I wouldn't do that unless I was just in a pinch though. The Novar tube base is easier to lose tubes when hanging upside down and they are more fragile, so you have to be careful not to knock them when reaching around behind the amp. I'd prefer the 7591 octal base. vacuumtubesinc.com/images/7868a.gif
Brad this video is very interesting! That faceplate came from an amp made by Eugene Andre. He was a designer with the Ampeg company. Go figure! Very little is known about him and his amps. And don't call me Shirley! Ha Ha! Why use a 7199 for phase inverter? Are those the same kind of tone sucking networks as Gibson used? They look similar. I noticed in the tremolo circuit, they used .05 uf caps for the oscillator instead of .01s or .02s. Would it change the freq. response? Will they work as long as they are the same value? Why did they not use a 12AT7 for the reverb driver? Why did they not use a transformer to couple the driver tube to the "echo" tank? Cost? I sound like a 4 year old. Daddy why this and Daddy why that? This is what 2 strong cups of coffee will do to you. Thank you so much for posting theses great videos! Thankz
Those are the same type of components, called couplets, but the circuits are far different. In the Gibsons, the tone shaping they do isn't doing the amp any favors, in this one, they're using them to simplify the building of the tone stack. If you look at the schematic, those components comprise everything within the dotted lines of the tone stack.
The reverb circuit is designed with TWO stages of gain before the tank. They use a coupling cap rather than a transformer. It's a tradeoff that probably saved some money and sounded just as good. Not sure why they would have used 6CG7 rather than 12AY7 except maybe availability and cost. The 6CG7 is an easy to find tube, even today.
You had me at surely! lol Just the way you said that made me laugh for 5 min. Please comment in Part 2, on what you find out about the amplifier that donated it's face, to hide inside the back of an Ampeg! I paused the video there to comment... Looks like a neat amplifier. I live in central jersey, not too far away from the old linden factory, but surprisingly you don't find a lot of Ampeg amplifiers around here. There aren't many pawn shops left either, but even 25yrs ago I only recall seeing a couple of em, but at the time I was only interested in Marshall's and Mesa Boogie's anyway. The schematic looks interesting, not really familiar with the 6cg7... I have a couple 7199 tubes in my Hammond H-112, I originally purchased that to gut for parts, but after hearing a few people frowning upon doing such things (you being one I believe), I decided to keep it and learn keyboards. I really enjoy amps that use tubes other than the typical 3-12AX7's pre-amp, 2-6V6 or 2-6L6 output layout, so I am excited to hear this one functioning again. Take care, Tom
Ken Fisher ran the repair department at Ampeg and he hyped up quite a few returns to way better then new. Not saying this is one of his but that face plate might be something he would do
Maybe the Andre schematic exists somewhere? I shouldn't speak for anyone else, but I would be really interested in seeing a build series. Maybe that could be a future episode or episodes on your channel? Thanks for all your hard work bringing this to us, I look forward to seeing them
Matieu Pizil I have looked everywhere on the interweb and could not find a schematic for the Andre. Drtube does have a better to read schematic for the Ampeg G-12. Thankz
If I can ever find time for such projects, I will, but the forseeable future will likely feature overhauls of existing amps or conversions of vintage hi-fi amps and such. I also have a PILE of guitars that all need one thing or another, so some more lutherie and basic maintenance videos may be forthcoming.
7591's are 19 watts. Very similar to a 6L6GB in performance with a 700vdc plate rating. Thank God JJ makes decent replacements. The 7199's on the other hand usually have to be replaced with a similar tube with an adapter or rewiring the socket. I love Ampeg amps but a full retube can cost more than what the amps are worth, especially the compactron 12 pin triple triodes. I don't know why you don't have more subscribers, your work on obscure and unpopular (but awesome) amps should draw in a larger crowd. You're the only one that does that!
Thanks for the comment, Matt. I appreciate the vote of confidence. I'd love more subscribers! share my videos with your friends and that'll be a start. :) You're right on Ampeg retubes. A full retube of most Ampegs is pretty expensive, especially if they contain a Compactron. I have a few of those Compactrons in my tube stash set aside for a rainy day, and a couple 7199, I think, but the 7199 would be best replaced with a 6GH8A, which was a very popular tube used in TV sets, hence they are ubiquitous. The socket will need a rewire, but that's it. I've used that tube in amp designs before and it is a good one. I have a zillion of those in my stash. They can tend to be microphonic on the pentode half, but they are so cheap and plentiful, finding a real good one isn't too hard. I'm a big fan of 7591 tubes in general for power. They seem to have more of a midrange breakup when driven than 6V6 or 6L6, to my ear.
Matt Fields Man I totally agree! Brad puts out more fantastic videos than any one else! My first subscription was to Uncle Doug, who I love, and through him I found Brad, and what a find it has been! I have learned so much from both! Brad is always the first that I watch! Thankz
The plate is from an Andre Universal 2 Amp, but what's interesting is that there are not many pictures of the full plate!! See: jedistar.com/andre-audio-2/
I know, right! I'm thinking about maybe pulling that out of there and replacing it with something else. Someone may want to clone an Andre Commander 2, and I have a faceplate! :D
In this day of hand wired, boutique, one of a kind guitar amps, $750 is a reasonable price. I would much rather buy an amp from you, who would make sure it was in top notch condition, rather than someone who may try to sell you a false set of goods. Are you going to do a video on this amp! Do you have an email address? Thank you so much for sharing! Thankz
Agreed. Finally left the trem clicked on for longer than 15 sec and....suddenly........Great '60's sci-fi sound effect! Mine's still got the all the original stuff, incl. Ampeg-logo'd 7591's. It's definitely ready for a service.
I looked up Dalziel Rd on google earth and it's in a shabby old industrial park. It almost looks like some of the buildings there haven't been painted since that amp was built.
Yeah, it's all metal fabricators. The whole street is full of them! One of these buildings was the Ampeg factor of the time, at least for the chassis, I'd say. www.google.com/maps/@40.6231218,-74.2659349,3a,75y,148.1h,69.14t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1smJKh_OtcdV3bCtpaLz7T8w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1
The only difference in channel 1 and 2 is that one has a 4M pot tied to a component labeled "m-1 *" ... that same jelly bean is over in the tremolo - must be the optoisolator? Just my 2c - those filter caps were disgusting. No strain relief!? Sheesh! Unbelievable...
Correct. The only difference between Channel 1 and Channel 2 is the Intensity control for the tremolo. I'll go more into that in Part 2, which should be up hopefully by tomorrow.
Same thing every time. What I want to know is how to get the chassis out of the cabinet. One frame it's in the cab, the next frame it's out. Thanks for nothing
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
These amps take me back. They were omnipresent in the New York Studios in the 60s and 70s, these and Gemini IIs (with 15" speakers) and other Ampegs, probably because the company was in New Jersey. The ones from the New York Studios would have the New York Guitar Club stenciled to them, and replacing the power switch would've been a key. You'd pay into the club, and get a key. Running around New York with a big amp is a giant pain, and this was an early way to deal with it. By the time I was in the studio, the techs had bypassed the keys so anyone could turn them on, and many of them didn't sound that great (lack of maintenance probably). I was always a lot happier when I saw a Fender in the studio, and eventually I bought a Mesa Mark I and carted it around myself. But those amps actually have a great sound. The Gemini II had a treble boost switch and a switch on the Tremelo speed to really go fast. Thanks for this series.
producerman10030 . Yes love old Ampegs. I had a 65 ReverbOrocket that i modified for 6l6’s. What a smoking amp. Amazing tome.
That’s awesome. So you were a session player in the 60s and 70s? I’d love to hear more about that!!
@@graxjpg Too young to have been working in the 60s, i did a lot of session work in the 70s into the 80s and then in the 90s and then in the 2010s
@@producerman10030 that’s awesome. Anything I might have heard you play on? I absolutely love hearing stories like the one you told.
There’s one in our studio now. Good to bring back the old days!
I enjoy your videos. I've been been collecting & repairing/rebuilding old Ampegs since 1972. They are normally built like tanks so it surprises me to see the filter caps flopping around like these were. I've never encountered that in my repairs but I do see a lot of shoddy repairs in the amps I work on. Whoever put the pieces of wood to hold that chassis in was a butcher, not an amp tech. Ampeg started in the 60's to "shock mount" their chassis using rubber pads or little rubber "donuts". Looks like somebody may have tried to jury rig this chassis to do something similar and it didn't work out. I also love it when they install a 3 prong power cord and don't remove the death cap. I have two Gemini's (a Gemini2 w/1x15 and a Gemini 20 w/2x10's. Both have polarity switches that weren't removed from the circuit nor was the death cap removed when the 3 prong cord was installed so if you flip that switch the wrong way it's a dead short to ground. You can't fix stupid I guess. Keep up the good work. BTW, that old amp faceplate you took off the back was obviously another amateur at work. The back cover should have foil shielding glued to it where it covers the open back of the chassis when the back cover is installed. It even has screws (clutch drive of course) to attach the back to the back of the chassis to seal the shielding up tight against the back chassis opening.
I had a Gemini I and a Gemini II too, which both needed work when I copped them off the bay. Got them inexpensively on eBay about 15 years ago, planning to repair them myself, but health problems precluded that from happening - story of my life (and my lack of knowledge). So I sold them to a local amp tech (Arcane Amp Repair), who now charges $200 an hour to service amps in Portland (seriously). I also sold him a few other "projects" at the time, that I wish I'd kept. I was going to bail on Portland, and sold most of my stuff, but I'm still hear, trying to be a farmer and self-sufficient for a living.
Mr. Guitologist and Uncle Doug have helped me to understand how tube amps work, not completely, but I'm getting there. It would be worth my money to send my amps to the Guitologist for servicing (I've got some interesting vintage amps), just to (hopefully) see him do a video fixing them - what a treat that would be! The local amp techs here mostly won't let you watch, because they don't want you to learn how easy it is, or be embarrassed about how much money they charge. IF you know what you're doing it's easy, like anything else I suppose.. There are some local amp techs here that will help teach me, but learning online like this is the best, because you can watch it repeatedly. Obviously thousands of other interested people agree with me, judging from the views here! I'm thankful to have found this channel, and a few others like it, but this is my favorite, and grateful to Brad for sharing his knowledge so generously (and I dig his guitar playing too - the clean stuff anyways)!
I just pulled mine out of the pile to start the planning stage. 1965 - S/N 022047. This thing is gonna be a money pit. A previous owner lost / replaced all the knobs. =( It just goes down hill from there. :sigh:
On the bright side at least Brad did a vid. Thank you, Brad!
Good luck!
This made me lol. I just picked up a fully functioning 1965 Ampeg Gemini G12. Original tubes, Jensen speaker, foot switch, and some goofball replaced all the original knobs.
Man, everytime I watch your vids I wish I was back in Kentucky where all that cool gear is. This is like a gear desert here.
Where are you?
I'm in Los Angeles... total 'gear desert' (didn't used to be tho' back in the '70's and the '80's)
I just picked up an old ampeg rocketverb for 200 bucks at local flee market,,,works well but been serviced except the cab is rickety its got a perfect original speaker.i love the old stuff.
I have a Gemini VI that has issues.. You video helped a ton. Thanks
the phone number appears to be a cell phone. it went to generic voicemail. I didnt leave a message:)
Great video and nice clean work, the solder looks good... good to see the can was still good and not having to figure out an alt mounting plan for new caps. Does anyone make replacement cans? The amp sounds good on final test in part two!
Yes, Flip Tops (www.fliptops.net/). I have purchased a couple power supply kits from them (Gemini I and V4B) with good results.
The max position detent on the Trem Intensity activates the Ampeg "Stutter Effect". Max detent on the CH1 Treble is a Bright Switch.
Loved the simplicity of the tremelo rigg the light the guitoliguists joint..
Hi, I’m curious about what’s going on with the electrolytics in your power section. I see 4 F&T’s there. My G-12 is also a late ‘65 and it has 70/40/40 in the can and a 20/20 on the chassis in one wrap. (Yours had 2 loosely mounted).
But if you kept the can as-is, what are the 4 other F&Ts? Thanks!
Those screws are called clutchhead screws GM used them on the older cars too around that time frame also. Oh tonight I found a Gemini 2 amp at the curb there was a car accident so I went a way I usually dont and saw the amp at the curb my luck or maybe my junk,LOL. Got home fuse was missing & put a fuse in it and the light came on switched the standby switch on and the fuse burned out. Took the back off and one speaker lead was broke.Its all complete except for the Ampeg logo and the handle is shot.Any free advice I have done some amp repair but not that much if you can help maybe a broken wire probably not but yours had one to the capacitor so maybe.The power tubes are metal 6L6S one RCA and one CBS I have only seen glass ones must be very very old tubes and also has the original 15 inch Jensen in it.So any advice should I put it back at the curb,LOLL I had a Gemini 2 when I was a kid.......................................Glenn P.
I made the mistake of selling that exact amp on eBay about 7 years ago with a broken top strap. I wonder if that could be the exact one I grew up with... anyway to find out where it came from? Paired it with a Norma electric acoustic guitar. Still have a few other jems my father passed down from the era. Thanks in advance! It would have sold from Milwaukee wi...
I have one of these amps in my shop right now to service for a friend. I'm still trying to figure out how to remove the tube chassis from the wooden case. I was hoping your video would show me, but you merely confirmed that it's difficult and then skipped over how you did it! LOL! 🤣
I'll figure things out eventually. My friend's model appears to be about 6 to 12 months newer. Many things are the same, but a few small details are different. I guess that keeps things interesting... LOL!
If you still didn’t do it, there’s a ⅛” wooden shim under the chassis on each side. (Most of the wooden parts and the plate on the chassis of his are not original, clearly) if you can get those shims out you can slide it out. It’s also very tight on the sides and also just stuck if it’s never been removed. The shims will probably break but you can make new ones. Once you remove the 2 screws on back of chassis and shims there’s nothing else holding it.
@@2tallB
I did manage to remove the chassis. The overall amp has been in pieces in my shop for months now... I need to get back to this project and finish it! Yikes, it's been almost a year... That's not good! I seriously need to get moving!!!
😮
7591.... Same power tubes as the Cordovox thing I fixed up. My CV was really late... last of the Tube gen... 1971.
Gene Andre had a shop in nyc -- I had an amp serviced there in the 80's -- he was a former Ampeg employee I believe -- Check out the secret switch on the trem for the after beat effect -- nice - Buzz Feiten told me he used a gemini on the full moon LP !
The guitar player for Alabama Shakes had one on Letterman a year or so ago, and on the Grammys' I think. He had the name plate covered up.
love the old ampegs. they go for good $
the grey ampeg foot switch is worth and goes with the 60's ampeg reverberocket amp.. great reverb big spring can echo, great for guitar and accordion.
Those caps that drive the reverb are usually huge value. I've seen them as high as 1uF on Magnatones. They go bad often. Snuggled up close to that huge resistor's heat probably isn't helping it any....but yea you can't use any old tank with those. The impedances have match on both ends...and you also have to make sure jacks are grounded correctly.
Yeah, .22 and .5 seem to be the most common value in that position. And that's my experience too, they do tend to go bad often. The problem with a cap going bad in that position is if they shorted, you end up with full plate voltage on the reverb tank inductor, which will either burn it up or shock the hell out of you when you fail to install a grounded plug.
You can get adapters to use a 7868 tube in place of a 7591.
Yeah, those are same tube in different base.
I wouldn't do that unless I was just in a pinch though. The Novar tube base is easier to lose tubes when hanging upside down and they are more fragile, so you have to be careful not to knock them when reaching around behind the amp. I'd prefer the 7591 octal base.
vacuumtubesinc.com/images/7868a.gif
I know you don't custom build much stuff, I've spoken to "Doug" about this. Have you ever considered building a repro of the Butts "Echosonic"?
Brad this video is very interesting! That faceplate came from an amp made by Eugene Andre. He was a designer with the Ampeg company. Go figure! Very little is known about him and his amps. And don't call me Shirley! Ha Ha! Why use a 7199 for phase inverter? Are those the same kind of tone sucking networks as Gibson used? They look similar. I noticed in the tremolo circuit, they used .05 uf caps for the oscillator instead of .01s or .02s. Would it change the freq. response? Will they work as long as they are the same value? Why did they not use a 12AT7 for the reverb driver? Why did they not use a transformer to couple the driver tube to the "echo" tank? Cost? I sound like a 4 year old. Daddy why this and Daddy why that? This is what 2 strong cups of coffee will do to you. Thank you so much for posting theses great videos! Thankz
Those are the same type of components, called couplets, but the circuits are far different. In the Gibsons, the tone shaping they do isn't doing the amp any favors, in this one, they're using them to simplify the building of the tone stack. If you look at the schematic, those components comprise everything within the dotted lines of the tone stack.
The reverb circuit is designed with TWO stages of gain before the tank. They use a coupling cap rather than a transformer. It's a tradeoff that probably saved some money and sounded just as good. Not sure why they would have used 6CG7 rather than 12AY7 except maybe availability and cost. The 6CG7 is an easy to find tube, even today.
You had me at surely! lol Just the way you said that made me laugh for 5 min. Please comment in Part 2, on what you find out about the amplifier that donated it's face, to hide inside the back of an Ampeg! I paused the video there to comment... Looks like a neat amplifier. I live in central jersey, not too far away from the old linden factory, but surprisingly you don't find a lot of Ampeg amplifiers around here. There aren't many pawn shops left either, but even 25yrs ago I only recall seeing a couple of em, but at the time I was only interested in Marshall's and Mesa Boogie's anyway. The schematic looks interesting, not really familiar with the 6cg7... I have a couple 7199 tubes in my Hammond H-112, I originally purchased that to gut for parts, but after hearing a few people frowning upon doing such things (you being one I believe), I decided to keep it and learn keyboards. I really enjoy amps that use tubes other than the typical 3-12AX7's pre-amp, 2-6V6 or 2-6L6 output layout, so I am excited to hear this one functioning again. Take care, Tom
Lots of amplifier history in the state of NJ... Ampeg, Andre (apparently), Danelectro, Sano, Gregory, to name a few...
Shirley, I do not think that word means what you think it means..
The little spring inside tie cabinet is probably to hold the foot switch like the metal strap in an old Gibson.
That is what it's for. I knew that, I just wasn't sure if it was original until I noticed the screw type used.
Ken Fisher ran the repair department at Ampeg and he hyped up quite a few returns to way better then new.
Not saying this is one of his but that face plate might be something he would do
Maybe the Andre schematic exists somewhere? I shouldn't speak for anyone else, but I would be really interested in seeing a build series. Maybe that could be a future episode or episodes on your channel? Thanks for all your hard work bringing this to us, I look forward to seeing them
Matieu Pizil I have looked everywhere on the interweb and could not find a schematic for the Andre. Drtube does have a better to read schematic for the Ampeg G-12. Thankz
If I can ever find time for such projects, I will, but the forseeable future will likely feature overhauls of existing amps or conversions of vintage hi-fi amps and such. I also have a PILE of guitars that all need one thing or another, so some more lutherie and basic maintenance videos may be forthcoming.
7591's are 19 watts. Very similar to a 6L6GB in performance with a 700vdc plate rating. Thank God JJ makes decent replacements. The 7199's on the other hand usually have to be replaced with a similar tube with an adapter or rewiring the socket.
I love Ampeg amps but a full retube can cost more than what the amps are worth, especially the compactron 12 pin triple triodes.
I don't know why you don't have more subscribers, your work on obscure and unpopular (but awesome) amps should draw in a larger crowd. You're the only one that does that!
Thanks for the comment, Matt. I appreciate the vote of confidence. I'd love more subscribers! share my videos with your friends and that'll be a start. :)
You're right on Ampeg retubes. A full retube of most Ampegs is pretty expensive, especially if they contain a Compactron. I have a few of those Compactrons in my tube stash set aside for a rainy day, and a couple 7199, I think, but the 7199 would be best replaced with a 6GH8A, which was a very popular tube used in TV sets, hence they are ubiquitous. The socket will need a rewire, but that's it. I've used that tube in amp designs before and it is a good one. I have a zillion of those in my stash. They can tend to be microphonic on the pentode half, but they are so cheap and plentiful, finding a real good one isn't too hard. I'm a big fan of 7591 tubes in general for power. They seem to have more of a midrange breakup when driven than 6V6 or 6L6, to my ear.
Matt Fields Man I totally agree! Brad puts out more fantastic videos than any one else! My first subscription was to Uncle Doug, who I love, and through him I found Brad, and what a find it has been! I have learned so much from both! Brad is always the first that I watch! Thankz
:)
I have a nice nos rca 7199 I got for free they are around you just have to look I used to have a bunch of compactrons too
Teisco Del Rey All Tube Checkmate 25 w/ cabinet, original pioneer speaker
$650
is this a good deal ?
it works , all original , two prong plugs etc.
I try to answer all questions, but I do not do appraisals, sorry.
You're the man,as good if not better than Lee Jackson
Skip the gazing to 16:00
Where do you find these old amps?
That would be telling ... :--)
The plate is from an Andre Universal 2 Amp, but what's interesting is that there are not many pictures of the full plate!! See: jedistar.com/andre-audio-2/
Seems I had a beautiful experience.of trying my microphone through all these beautiful amps...
They just got sold like cheese burgers ...
That's fast!
Meant to say,. "fast"!
New subscriber here. Really interesting video.
Thanks and welcome! I appreciate the comment.
Is that Gibson hawk for sale?
It will be once it's been serviced. Want it?
The Guitologist How much money?
Not sure yet. Depends somewhat on my final investment, but I'm guessing it'll be in the $750 range.
Audio Tech Labs i have one that isn't working right im trying to sell for $250
haha! the Andre plate blew my mind
I know, right! I'm thinking about maybe pulling that out of there and replacing it with something else. Someone may want to clone an Andre Commander 2, and I have a faceplate! :D
@@TheGuitologist I thought the same thing when you flipped it over.
In this day of hand wired, boutique, one of a kind guitar amps, $750 is a reasonable price. I would much rather buy an amp from you, who would make sure it was in top notch condition, rather than someone who may try to sell you a false set of goods. Are you going to do a video on this amp! Do you have an email address? Thank you so much for sharing! Thankz
I will do a vid on the Hawk at some point, yes. Shooting for the next couple weeks on that one. My email is bradlinzy at gmail
Hello. How do I contact you with a question about an amp?
Here are the pot switches explained -- www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/ampeg-gemini-bright-and-trem-afterbeat-switches.1771922/
Yeah, I forgot to point those out on the schematic. Thanks!
That afterbeat trem is cool !
Agreed. Finally left the trem clicked on for longer than 15 sec and....suddenly........Great '60's sci-fi sound effect! Mine's still got the all the original stuff, incl. Ampeg-logo'd 7591's. It's definitely ready for a service.
I see Ampeg didn't let the space race get away from their marketing department.
Ampeg and Gibson both jumped on the space themes for their amp names.
I looked up Dalziel Rd on google earth and it's in a shabby old industrial park. It almost looks like some of the buildings there haven't been painted since that amp was built.
Hahaha...cool! I didn't think of checking that out on Google earth. I'll have to do that.
Yeah, it's all metal fabricators. The whole street is full of them! One of these buildings was the Ampeg factor of the time, at least for the chassis, I'd say.
www.google.com/maps/@40.6231218,-74.2659349,3a,75y,148.1h,69.14t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1smJKh_OtcdV3bCtpaLz7T8w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1
Notification squad
"don't call me Shirley"
The only difference in channel 1 and 2 is that one has a 4M pot tied to a component labeled "m-1 *" ... that same jelly bean is over in the tremolo - must be the optoisolator?
Just my 2c - those filter caps were disgusting. No strain relief!? Sheesh! Unbelievable...
Correct. The only difference between Channel 1 and Channel 2 is the Intensity control for the tremolo. I'll go more into that in Part 2, which should be up hopefully by tomorrow.
don't call me Shirley.
clutch head screws
Same thing every time. What I want to know is how to get the chassis out of the cabinet. One frame it's in the cab, the next frame it's out. Thanks for nothing