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Post subject: New Amp Day
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 6:05 am
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Over the years I've had quite a few amps but they were all too powerful for solo practice in a small room. AND I needed something with headphone output so I could practice while the rest of humanity wasted time sleeping. :lol:

I'm fortunate to have a good friend who's been building speaker cabs and generally messing with amps and guitars since the early 70's.

His latest project was building an enclosure around a MicroCube Amp and replacing the P.O.S. stock speaker. He demonstrated his and offered to build me one and I jumped on that bandwagon.

I had to furnish him with a) used Micro Cube amp, b) 8" - 4 ohm speaker, c) Retro Speaker Cab like they used in offices/mfg. plants in the 50's.

End result is a go anywhere 8 lb, 2 Watt SS Amp. Battery or AC power, Headphone Jack, Ext. Speaker Jack and ipod Input (3.5mm or 1/4"). The Jensen Vintage 8" Speaker sounds great in a cool retro-fitted Rauland Speaker Cabinet from the 50's.

I enjoy it playing through the speaker in a small room for practice or through headphones in silent mode regardless of the time of day and it's quiet enough for a jam with an acoustic guitar. 8)

This is it sitting on top of a raised Blues Junior, just about head height while I'm sitting. Perfect... :D

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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 6:09 am
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Awesome! I really like the retro look of that cabinet, what a great idea, form and function. :D I want to do something like that with my little B&H amps.

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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 6:22 am
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shimmilou wrote:
Awesome! I really like the retro look of that cabinet, what a great idea, form and function. :D I want to do something like that with my little B&H amps.

Thanks, I felt the same way as soon as I saw my friends original version. Changing out the speaker was critical to getting decent sound. Those cabinets are readily available on ebay. - Dan

p.s. What's a B&H amp?

Our MycroCubes, the larger cab (12"x12") produced a much better sound.

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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 1:44 pm
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B&H = Bell & Howell. Little tube amps from old B&H projectors from the 40s and 50s. Fantastic sounding amps once rebuilt. The chassis are about the size of a carton of smokes.

One example, this one is a 179. I have four now, a couple of these and two other models.
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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 2:28 pm
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The matching speaker cabs are nice too.

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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:03 pm
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shimmilou wrote:
B&H = Bell & Howell. Little tube amps from old B&H projectors from the 40s and 50s. Fantastic sounding amps once rebuilt. The chassis are about the size of a carton of smokes.

One example, this one is a 179. I have four now, a couple of these and two other models.

That is so cool. No fancy FX, just raw TUBE power! The reel hanging in the speaker cab is a nice touch. :)

That looks like a pretty good size transformer and what, 4 6V6 tubes?

How much work goes into the rebuild?

BTW, I graduated from Albany High School, just north of Muncie, IN.

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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:57 pm
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Two 6V6 output tubes. The preamp tube in front of the 6V6 is a 6SL7GT dual triode, and under the alum box on the right is the first preamp tube, a 6J7 pentode. Tube rectifier 5Y3GT on the left. There are two empty sockets, not needed for a guitar amp, the 918 photo tube and a third 6V6 for the oscillator.

Since the amp is so small, it takes some time and is tedious, difficult to check and replace components, mostly because parts are stacked on top of each other with very little room to move around. The first one that I did took about three weeks, several hours a day, much of that time was figuring out the cap values as they are colored dot codes and not written like modern caps. I kept detailed notes so the subsequent rebuilds are much faster, but still takes some time. I could probably save some more time by cutting out the unnecessary parts, but like to keep them fully functional so they can still be used in the projectors. Definitely worth the effort for such a great tone.

I've been to Muncie many times, cool town, Ball State for school and work.......OK, the girls are sweet too. :D

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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 5:21 pm
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shimmilou wrote:
Since the amp is so small, it takes some time and is tedious, difficult to check and replace components, mostly because parts are stacked on top of each other with very little room to move around. Definitely worth the effort for such a great tone.

I've been to Muncie many times, cool town, Ball State for school and work.......OK, the girls are sweet too. :D


I hadn't seen this reply till now. :o Now I'm Sub-Scribed!

That does look like tedious close work, and before and after shots. Practice make perfect but how many can you use?

Albany is a tiny farm town just NE of Muncie. I packed my bags after graduation and haven't looked in the rearview yet. Not that I found better people anywhere else, different, not better.

Thanks for sharing shimmy! :mrgreen:

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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 6:09 am
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How many can I use? Well,....

Part of it is collecting, different models with different sounds. Part of it is to get the vintage tubes which is a gamble, but so far most have been very useable. Part of it is that I really enjoy working on them and bringing them back to life, a labor of love, so-to-speak. The sound of certain models like the 179 is fantastic, the kind of sound that makes it hard to stop playing, absolutely wonderful! I really like the designs, and they are unbelievably quiet, even when cranked.

Of course, part of it is the cool factor, similar to your cabs, just plain cool, and you can never have too much of that. :D

I thought about using one in it's projector, showing a 16 mm film while playing guitar. I think that would be neat for someone to try professionally, or even just for fun....I don't know, but it seems like that would be really cool. 8)

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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 6:23 am
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shimmilou wrote:
Of course, part of it is the cool factor, similar to your cabs, just plain cool, and you can never have too much of that. :D

I thought about using one in it's projector, showing a 16 mm film while playing guitar. I think that would be neat for someone to try professionally, or even just for fun....I don't know, but it seems like that would be really cool.

True, you can never have TOO much cool. 8)

I really like your idea of using the amp and projector at the same time. That kind of multimedia has been used effectively in music videos and if you've got a blank light colored wall behind you in a dark room....and an audience of inebriated folks looking for a good time...well....it wouldn't even matter if they were blind drunk or beyond hearing...a good time could be had by all!!

I get carried away by enthusiasm occasionally, doesn't mean it's not a good idea. :lol:

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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:03 pm
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They both look very nice!


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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 5:09 am
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Hah! I remember these from high school. I think we also had some of the blue colored projectors which may or may not have been B&H. 45 years is a long time back. :lol: But it was pretty reliable gear.

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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 7:11 am
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The blue ones from 45 years ago might well have been more "modern" B&H projectors, albeit with solid-state amps. Did you watch the film "Death on the Highway"? (I think it was called) :o

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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:25 am
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shimmilou wrote:
The blue ones from 45 years ago might well have been more "modern" B&H projectors, albeit with solid-state amps. Did you watch the film "Death on the Highway"? (I think it was called) :o


I don't remember that film. Was that for Driver's Ed? Actually, I think the blue series of projectors were Graflex now that I have had some time to think. Darned good projectors. Sturdy chassis but I think the blue cover was fiberglass. That may have just been the extension speaker. But the film-strip projectors were B&H for sure.

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Post subject: Re: New Amp Day
Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:44 am
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That was so far back, but I seem to recall the film from grade school, long before drivers ed....but could have been drivers ed. I do remember that it was supposed to be gory and we were all excited to see it, then disappointed that the only "gore" was a pool of blood on the road, and some unclear views of an apparent victim in the car.

I do remember clearly that the film sound was sometimes messed up, often sounding like the narrator was holding his lips tightly together while speaking in a sputtering fashion. :lol:

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