100W Transformer Set, w/ chassis, tubes, knobs and circuitry $250

[Hemisaurus]

...some might call it an amp

http://musiciansfriend.com/stupid

[SpaceTrucker]

  Right? you might as well buy a bunch of those and do your own thing with it.

And why the name Windsor? It ain't a fucking car. Looking at the specs though, I want one.

Also hemi, I keep forgetting but your gonna get your teletalk. Maybe not today maybe not tommorow, But definitely  after I go to court. why is weed still a crime?

[Chovie D]

thats incredible. what was the final verdict on these? all i remember about em is hearing the hype right before they came out and then....nothing afterwards.

[Hemisaurus]

They sound good, Peavey cheaped a bit on some stuff that seems pointless to have cheaped, but they sound very Marshally.

[Hemisaurus]

Also hemi, I keep forgetting but your gonna get your teletalk. Maybe not today maybe not tommorow, But definitely  after I go to court. why is weed still a crime?

I've got this Crate to tear into first, so I won't be standing to buy the Windsor, but I can put the Crate aside when the teletalk arrives.

[Metal and Beer]

thats incredible. what was the final verdict on these? all i remember about em is hearing the hype right before they came out and then....nothing afterwards.

Stories of unreliability on the road confirmed my pessimism. Others might well have had good experiences with 'em, YMMV, etc.

[bitter]

I thought they phased these out a while back? Maybe these are the last stragglers?

[Hemisaurus]

I heard that too, though they were just phasing out the 100W heads, and leaving the combos. Then it didn't seem to happen. Maybe now it's happening. From their website, they seem to have a 15W Windsor combo, and a straight and slant 4x12 Windsor cab, and no head

On their own they have a couple of problems, like someone mentioned, but as I recall they were easy fixes, I'd need to have one on the bench to remind myself what they were though.

[dunwichamps]

shit is not worth your time

[Chovie D]

there must be seomething horribly wrong with em....
when these first came out everyone was so excited to be able to get an affordable 100watt marshall-esque head. I thought they would sell a billion of these. people were sayng they were gonna buy2-3 as backup amps and crazy ass shit like that..then they came out and there was nothing but silence and the occasional "tyhey are alright" comment. when asked about.

[Hemisaurus]

depends how you value your time?

look at the Sunn Beta, breaks down every six months, people still love it

I'm not a fan of PCB's, especially the modern idea where the tubes, and pots live on PCB's, I was OK with using a PCB instead of a turret board, but I digress.

If you spend $250 on an amp, maybe $60-100 in bench fees to tighten it up, and another $90 if you desire on a retube, not a bad deal. If you do your own tech'ing a very good deal.

I'm thinking of making a preamp rebuild service. I can rebuild peoples preamps to the spec. of their choice (within reason) charge for the parts and shipping and a flat fee for the work / utilities, so say parts & shipping & $100 or so. Tear out the PCB, drop in some valve sockets, and an eylet or turret board (with new resistors, caps, jacks and pots if necessary) and ship it back. I think the shipping would be the big cost, how much does an amp cost to ship?

For those who want to DIY, I know ceriatone sell assembled boards around the $100, that you need to add pots, jacks, and power supply caps to.

[dunwichamps]

depends how you value your time?

look at the Sunn Beta, breaks down every six months, people still love it

I'm not a fan of PCB's, especially the modern idea where the tubes, and pots live on PCB's, I was OK with using a PCB instead of a turret board, but I digress.

If you spend $250 on an amp, maybe $60-100 in bench fees to tighten it up, and another $90 if you desire on a retube, not a bad deal. If you do your own tech'ing a very good deal.

I'm thinking of making a preamp rebuild service. I can rebuild peoples preamps to the spec. of their choice (within reason) charge for the parts and shipping and a flat fee for the work / utilities, so say parts & shipping & $100 or so. Tear out the PCB, drop in some valve sockets, and an eylet or turret board (with new resistors, caps, jacks and pots if necessary) and ship it back. I think the shipping would be the big cost, how much does an amp cost to ship?

For those who want to DIY, I know ceriatone sell assembled boards around the $100, that you need to add pots, jacks, and power supply caps to.

With full insurance, shipping is 75 to 100 bucks. PCB is fine, if layed out nicely (bitchy to resolder of course), like Soldanos which have really nice PCBs

Trannies on those things are pretty crappy, cheapest supply caps, coupling caps, cathode caps. Underrated resistors or just barely their resistors. For all that work you could have built a more exspensive but in the long run bullet proof PTP amp (or even a well done PCB amp)

[Hemisaurus]

Yeah, but we're musicians, we're dirt-poor, us part-timers even poorer

I love the idea of building a full-on amp, some massive transformers and a KT-88 section, I can't afford the $300 or so for a set of crappy transformers nevermind the $600 or so for a decent set. I haven't seen MC offer a 200W or 300W set, so it's either Weber for cheap, or Hammond for middle or Mercury for expensive. Maybe if I transform enough other peoples amps, I can afford my own.

I like the sleeper amps, of all kinds, cheap amps that can be made to work robustly or an amp that looks like a Peavey but sounds like a Orange (albeit an Orange with cheaper iron). I'm the kind of guy that would drop a small block chevy into a Reliant Robin, just for laughs

I'm a confirmed tinkerer, no interest in running a business, call me a shade-tree tech.

the Robin is the 3 wheeler, the Kitten is the 4.

[dunwichamps]

Yeah, but we're musicians, we're dirt-poor, us part-timers even poorer

I love the idea of building a full-on amp, some massive transformers and a KT-88 section, I can't afford the $300 or so for a set of crappy transformers nevermind the $600 or so for a decent set. I haven't seen MC offer a 200W or 300W set, so it's either Weber for cheap, or Hammond for middle or Mercury for expensive. Maybe if I transform enough other peoples amps, I can afford my own.

I like the sleeper amps, of all kinds, cheap amps that can be made to work robustly or an amp that looks like a Peavey but sounds like a Orange (albeit an Orange with cheaper iron). I'm the kind of guy that would drop a small block chevy into a Reliant Robin, just for laughs

I'm a confirmed tinkerer, no interest in running a business, call me a shade-tree tech.

2xKt88 or 4xKT88?

You can get Dynaco 2xKt88 repo trannies for ~300 (including the shipping), by far and large the best for the kind of stuff we play. Sunn Amps built in the 60s used those iron, and they are boss. Mercs are overpriced, and you do not see the kind of performance gains the 3x cost would suggest. I almost never use Mercs in my stuff because Heyboer and Hammond are just as good and much cheaper. FYI Heyboer winds customs stuff for fairly cheap, 300 for a set of Iron (PT,OT, and Choke)

I just used those Dynaco Repo sets on Core9s Amp. Worth the bang. You just need a well designed power supply (1KV rated, 50uF min plate and screen IMO)

I just bought a set of 4xKT88 dynaco based PT and OT set for 300 bucks (no shipping as I am close to supplier) 560 B+ 10A of heater current, recto filament line, with bias tap 2. A nice choke will run you like 20 to 30 bucks. Thats not awful.

Heres a pic of the hifi amp that uses them



4xKT88 (120W of clean power, rated up to 240W of guitar type power)

[Hemisaurus]

So you know the next question is whose the supplier? I still have to get my cedist account sorted if I can.

[dunwichamps]

So you know the next question is whose the supplier? I still have to get my cedist account sorted if I can.

those are market prices, i dont get vendor discount

I got the 2xKt88 trannies from Triode Store,

http://store.triodestore.com/a4dyoutr43oh.html

http://store.triodestore.com/mq782.html

If you need 4xKT88 please email me as I would have to setup the transaction

As mentioned b4 I can pass my direct prices on from CEDist to you 2, save you money on all those nice caps and mil spec pots ( i get ~8 bucks per 2W mill spec pot)

i suggest building up the parts to build a really nice PTP amp over time. If you need a hand in a design, just send me an email Ill be more than happy to come up with a killer design for you, free of any charge, even take a crack at any of the build I have done before. Nothing sacred about them

[VOLVO)))]

I need a tube hookup, My Model T is in dire need.

[Hemisaurus]

If you need 4xKT88 please email me as I would have to setup the transaction

Sounds kind of shady to me.

[dunwichamps]

I need a tube hookup, My Model T is in dire need.

wat ya need? 6550?

JJ 120$ for a quad about 10 bucks off TubeDepot price
Tung Sol 120$ (20 bucks off TD)
Others I can get much rebate off them. All CE can get me

Shipping is a little costly tho, TD may end up being cheaper if you factor in shipping costs. Better to order a ton of shit then just tubes if your aiming to be cost effective

[dunwichamps]

If you need 4xKT88 please email me as I would have to setup the transaction

Sounds kind of shady to me.

Cant buy them on the internet I have to actually travel to the supplier in Mass and need to email him ahead of time to see when they are available.

Nothing shady persay You just cant get them without going through me at the moment unlike the 120W set of iron

[Hemisaurus]

If you need 4xKT88 please email me as I would have to setup the transaction

Sounds kind of shady to me.

Cant buy them on the internet I have to actually travel to the supplier in Mass and need to email him ahead of time to see when they are available.

Nothing shady persay You just cant get them without going through me at the moment unlike the 120W set of iron

But if you can get 300W iron, for the price of 120W iron, why not always get the 300W iron, that way you always get the extra core of the original oranges, but of course you lose the lowest impedance setting on the coil, or in other words you double the values of the output taps running with just two tubes. That also makes your other supplier happy as he's getting more orders.

[dunwichamps]

If you need 4xKT88 please email me as I would have to setup the transaction

Sounds kind of shady to me.

Cant buy them on the internet I have to actually travel to the supplier in Mass and need to email him ahead of time to see when they are available.

Nothing shady persay You just cant get them without going through me at the moment unlike the 120W set of iron

But if you can get 300W iron, for the price of 120W iron, why not always get the 300W iron, that way you always get the extra core of the original oranges, but of course you lose the lowest impedance setting on the coil, or in other words you double the values of the output taps running with just two tubes. That also makes your other supplier happy as he's getting more orders.

thats a good point but I just got the first batches in now, before I didnt have access to them until I found a supplier. There is not a lot of 4xKT88 transformer sets on the market in general. Triode doesnt supply a 240W OT or PT. This new set is little more expensive than the 120W iron, 160 per OT (PT and OT not the same price for  4xKT88 setup). I also cant get a huge discount on prices if I dont buy a lot at a time, which is not exactly doable because I do custom work with a very small overhead

[Hemisaurus]

I guess it depends on how you do things, if you can use the same set for multiple amps, then it may be easier to just order all the same set, and get your discount.  Adjust the output impedances to suit, if it's a custom wind for you, get a 2 ohm tap, so that you can always have a 4 ohm tap when using it with pairs of KT's or quads of EL34 that kind of thing.

[dunwichamps]

Yes, multi amps and different output tubes poses a problem. As of right now the 120W irons work awesome so once I experiment with the 240Ws I get a better feel but in the mean time if you want to grab a pair just let me know. I dont even know what exactly your setup would be, (bass or guitar). I dig the money thing, its all fuckin exspensive and a solid setup will put you into 1200 in parts if you go all out and get top of the line shit

[Hemisaurus]

So are you getting the 120's and the 240's from the same guy, or are you buying a set from Triode for now, and suddenly discovered this new guy.

It's all turns ratios and reflected impedance, most tubes have an optimum spec, which is rarely what they are run at, you see generic replacement Marshall transformers running from about 1900 ohm up to 2500 ohm they're all going to work about the same. Anyways grandmother eggs suck, y'know

Whilst we're on the subject of generics, what's the cheapest 100W set you've found, and where at? I see $155 from Weber, and $163 from Triode, can that be beat?