Ampeg Reverberbrocket 1963

surfguy13

http://i.imgur.com/PpLzd39.jpg

ICBM

Is this in the wrong section?

If not… my feedback would be that it has an incorrect replacement transformer dangerously fitted without the proper number of chassis bolts and with high-voltage electrical connections "insulated" with tape and wires running outside the chassis.

Does that help?

digitalscream

Moved to amps.

@surfguy13 - if this was supposed to be a classifieds ad, then you'd definitely need to supply a lot more detail. If not...please explain anyway, 'cos it's not much of a discussion-starter

Sassafras

I'm confused.
I mean, more than usual.

surfguy13

Hi guys

Sorry for the confusion and..........I'm just as confused as you!   

OK, expalnation.  I had been directed to a link on the forum where someone had provided information on how to upload photos to the forum using Imgur, which I have just moved over to based on Photobucket crapping out all the time. At the end of the post it said you could practice uploading a photo to a particular link on the forum which I did, hence this odd photo.  I assumed this was an area of the site that was not actively used.  Clearly not!!!!  I had no intention of starting a thread, just wanted to try uploading a photo using the instructions in the post.

With regards to the transformer; yes you are dead right @ICBM, it is a replacement transformer as 90+% of Reverberocket transformers from the early 60s died very quickly and were replaced, it is rare to see an original.  This one is, I believe, from 1963 and it works perfectly, it was just the installation that left a LOT to be desired.  The wiring was indeed a nightmare and this photo was taken on receipt of the amp and before any works could be undertaken to sort it out.  I am pleased to report that the whole amp was gone through by a very experienced technician and it is now 100% as it should be and more importantly safe.  However, I really appreciate the heads up @ICBM and as you say, it was extremely dangerous when it arrived.

DJH83004

I wouldn't beat yourself up about it, we have all had issues uploading photos, it can be a bit of a lottery!
regarding the amp, you have done the right thing getting it properly sorted, I have to say ( and I'm sure IC too) I have seen an awful lot worse

ICBM

Yes, seen miles worse! At least this one *has* tape .

I assumed it was a "look at what I've just bought, surely this can't be right?" type thread . Glad to hear it's all been sorted out already.

surfguy13

Thanks for that @DJH83004. ;; Yup, uploading photos can be a bloody nightmare and particularly if you use Photobucket.  It always worked perfectly for me, although I know some people had loads of problems, and then I got an email saying that I can no longer embed photos and that was that, end of story.  Still getting to grips with Imgur but it seems to work really very well.

Likewise @ICBM and definitely wouldn't have been a 'look what I've bought thread'!!!!!!  :0) The Ampeg was a real mess day 1 but at least I was aware of that when I bought it.  Believe it or not the guy who previously owned it was a (self confessed) 'amp tech'!  Hmmmmmmm?  He'd swapped the 7591A output valves for something else (can't remember what) and neglected to tell me.  There were wires hanging down all over the place, over and under the chassis, and lots of tape everywhere.  However, it is now sounding wonderful and working faultlessly.  I will try and post a photo using my newly learned Imgur skills just to show how bad it was.

http://i.imgur.com/0AZGtea.jpg

DJH83004

Just for info, as far as I am aware there is no direct pin for pin equivalent to the 7591, so to fit an alternative say 6V6 or 6L6 the guy will have had to modify the valve socket terminations and biasing, so just something to be mindful of, in case you find a pair of NOS 7591s and fancy giving them a try for example

surfguy13

Many thanks @DJH83004, I really appreciate the heads up.  The guy did indeed modify the valve socket terminations and Chris sorted all that out for me when going through the amp.  I honestly can't remember which output valves he'd installed instead of the 7591s but they were, apparently, an alternative that was sometimes used in this amp.  However, I wanted to get it back to the original spec as the 7591s sound really nice and so had no hesitation in getting Chris to reverse everything.  It has been running a pair of NOS 70s Sylvania 7591s every happily for some considerable time now with no issues whatsoever.    I only tried the amp very briefly with the alternative output valves and it sounded OK'ish but as the wiring was chaotic and I didn't really want to run the amp until it had been gone through and all issues resolved. 

impmann

surfguy13 said:

Likewise @ICBM and definitely wouldn't have been a 'look what I've bought thread'!!!!!!  :0) The Ampeg was a real mess day 1 but at least I was aware of that when I bought it.  Believe it or not the guy who previously owned it was a (self confessed) 'amp tech'!  Hmmmmmmm?  He'd swapped the 7591A output valves for something else (can't remember what) and neglected to tell me.  There were wires hanging down all over the place, over and under the chassis, and lots of tape everywhere.  However, it is now sounding wonderful and working faultlessly.  I will try and post a photo using my newly learned Imgur skills just to show how bad it was.

http://i.imgur.com/0AZGtea.jpg

Did this amp come from the Kent/SE London area?

If so - thats my likely to be old amp! Or rather, I owned it for a brief period... I bought one very similar from Wing Music in Sidcup in around 1993 that was "owned by the amp tech". It sounded wonderful for about an hour and then went pop. It went back to the shop and the "tech" repaired it but apparently "couldn't get the right valves for it", so fitted something "compatible".
Well, it never sounded the same - it went back a couple of times until they offered me a refund and I took it. Last I heard, the 'tech' was going to keep it for a home practice amp...

In his defence, I also bought an AC30 from him that was spectacularly good and my old Antoria Gold Top (which I still want to find) was his test guitar.

surfguy13

impmann said:

surfguy13 said:

Likewise @ICBM and definitely wouldn't have been a 'look what I've bought thread'!!!!!!  :0) The Ampeg was a real mess day 1 but at least I was aware of that when I bought it.  Believe it or not the guy who previously owned it was a (self confessed) 'amp tech'!  Hmmmmmmm?  He'd swapped the 7591A output valves for something else (can't remember what) and neglected to tell me.  There were wires hanging down all over the place, over and under the chassis, and lots of tape everywhere.  However, it is now sounding wonderful and working faultlessly.  I will try and post a photo using my newly learned Imgur skills just to show how bad it was.

http://i.imgur.com/0AZGtea.jpg

Did this amp come from the Kent/SE London area?

If so - thats my likely to be old amp! Or rather, I owned it for a brief period... I bought one very similar from Wing Music in Sidcup in around 1993 that was "owned by the amp tech". It sounded wonderful for about an hour and then went pop. It went back to the shop and the "tech" repaired it but apparently "couldn't get the right valves for it", so fitted something "compatible".
Well, it never sounded the same - it went back a couple of times until they offered me a refund and I took it. Last I heard, the 'tech' was going to keep it for a home practice amp...

In his defence, I also bought an AC30 from him that was spectacularly good and my old Antoria Gold Top (which I still want to find) was his test guitar.

That's really interesting and it could well be the same amp although I can't remember who I bought it off!!  It might have been someone in Kent but it was some time ago now.

The valves that were fitted to the amp when it came into my possession were coke bottle type valves but for the life of me I can't remember what they were.  I ended up selling them as I wasn't prepared to run the amp as it was.  Mind you, nobody in their right mind would have considered running the amp as it was!  Fortunately the guy that went through the amp was a hugely experienced engineer and completely returned the wiring to the original spec which of course included re-wiring the valve bases.  Interestingly he only had to chance one cap during the process and although the wiring was an abomination the circuit and components were all in value and working well.  And it remains so today! 

I have swapped out the original Jensen C12R and replaced it with a modern Jensen alnico speaker the amp sounds much better to my ears.  These are really superb amps, very sweet and with the 7591A output valves they sound unlike anything I have ever used before. 

ESchap

surfguy13 said:

impmann said:

surfguy13 said:

Likewise @ICBM and definitely wouldn't have been a 'look what I've bought thread'!!!!!!  :0) The Ampeg was a real mess day 1 but at least I was aware of that when I bought it.  Believe it or not the guy who previously owned it was a (self confessed) 'amp tech'!  Hmmmmmmm?  He'd swapped the 7591A output valves for something else (can't remember what) and neglected to tell me.  There were wires hanging down all over the place, over and under the chassis, and lots of tape everywhere.  However, it is now sounding wonderful and working faultlessly.  I will try and post a photo using my newly learned Imgur skills just to show how bad it was.

http://i.imgur.com/0AZGtea.jpg

Did this amp come from the Kent/SE London area?

If so - thats my likely to be old amp! Or rather, I owned it for a brief period... I bought one very similar from Wing Music in Sidcup in around 1993 that was "owned by the amp tech". It sounded wonderful for about an hour and then went pop. It went back to the shop and the "tech" repaired it but apparently "couldn't get the right valves for it", so fitted something "compatible".
Well, it never sounded the same - it went back a couple of times until they offered me a refund and I took it. Last I heard, the 'tech' was going to keep it for a home practice amp...

In his defence, I also bought an AC30 from him that was spectacularly good and my old Antoria Gold Top (which I still want to find) was his test guitar.

That's really interesting and it could well be the same amp although I can't remember who I bought it off!!  It might have been someone in Kent but it was some time ago now.

The valves that were fitted to the amp when it came into my possession were coke bottle type valves but for the life of me I can't remember what they were.  I ended up selling them as I wasn't prepared to run the amp as it was.  Mind you, nobody in their right mind would have considered running the amp as it was!  Fortunately the guy that went through the amp was a hugely experienced engineer and completely returned the wiring to the original spec which of course included re-wiring the valve bases.  Interestingly he only had to chance one cap during the process and although the wiring was an abomination the circuit and components were all in value and working well.  And it remains so today! 

I have swapped out the original Jensen C12R and replaced it with a modern Jensen alnico speaker the amp sounds much better to my ears.  These are really superb amps, very sweet and with the 7591A output valves they sound unlike anything I have ever used before. 

If I remember correctly, it had 7581A's fitted when you got it (35watt 6L6GC equivalents) and you had it re-wired to take the 7591A's

surfguy13

ESchap said:

surfguy13 said:

impmann said:

surfguy13 said:

Likewise @ICBM and definitely wouldn't have been a 'look what I've bought thread'!!!!!!  :0) The Ampeg was a real mess day 1 but at least I was aware of that when I bought it.  Believe it or not the guy who previously owned it was a (self confessed) 'amp tech'!  Hmmmmmmm?  He'd swapped the 7591A output valves for something else (can't remember what) and neglected to tell me.  There were wires hanging down all over the place, over and under the chassis, and lots of tape everywhere.  However, it is now sounding wonderful and working faultlessly.  I will try and post a photo using my newly learned Imgur skills just to show how bad it was.

http://i.imgur.com/0AZGtea.jpg

Did this amp come from the Kent/SE London area?

If so - thats my likely to be old amp! Or rather, I owned it for a brief period... I bought one very similar from Wing Music in Sidcup in around 1993 that was "owned by the amp tech". It sounded wonderful for about an hour and then went pop. It went back to the shop and the "tech" repaired it but apparently "couldn't get the right valves for it", so fitted something "compatible".
Well, it never sounded the same - it went back a couple of times until they offered me a refund and I took it. Last I heard, the 'tech' was going to keep it for a home practice amp...

In his defence, I also bought an AC30 from him that was spectacularly good and my old Antoria Gold Top (which I still want to find) was his test guitar.

That's really interesting and it could well be the same amp although I can't remember who I bought it off!!  It might have been someone in Kent but it was some time ago now.

The valves that were fitted to the amp when it came into my possession were coke bottle type valves but for the life of me I can't remember what they were.  I ended up selling them as I wasn't prepared to run the amp as it was.  Mind you, nobody in their right mind would have considered running the amp as it was!  Fortunately the guy that went through the amp was a hugely experienced engineer and completely returned the wiring to the original spec which of course included re-wiring the valve bases.  Interestingly he only had to chance one cap during the process and although the wiring was an abomination the circuit and components were all in value and working well.  And it remains so today! 

I have swapped out the original Jensen C12R and replaced it with a modern Jensen alnico speaker the amp sounds much better to my ears.  These are really superb amps, very sweet and with the 7591A output valves they sound unlike anything I have ever used before. 

If I remember correctly, it had 7581A's fitted when you got it (35watt 6L6GC equivalents) and you had it re-wired to take the 7591A's

Bloody hell Gordon, you've got a good memory!!!!!    Thanks so much for that, it was really bugging me. 

ICBM

The 7581A is one of the best valves ever made...

... but not in that amp!

surfguy13

ICBM said:

The 7581A is one of the best valves ever made...

... but not in that amp!

Thankfully whatever the guy did when messing around it doesn't seem to have done any harm/damage to the amp.