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Vintage PA amps for guitar?

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9/8/2004 5:35 PM

Vintage PA amps for guitar?

I have recently become interested in obtaining some sort of inexpensive PA amp and having it modded to suit my tastes. It has come to my attention that there are a number of cool old PA amps that can be had for cheap...and that may be ideal candidates for modding. The word seems to have gotten out about the Bogen Challenger, but I assume that there are some other cool units out there. I recently saw a Bell Carillon PA amp for a good price...but I know nothing about it.

In any event, I am looking for a compact unit that is a good modding candidate and contains at least 2 6L6, EL34, 6CA7...or similar guitar oriented tube. I'm looking to get it modded to a higher gain plexi type tone...something that can get ballsy and mean. I would use this amp chiefly for recording.

Can someone suggest units that I should seek...as well as where I should look? I'm willing to dig for a steal of a deal. Thanks.

9/8/2004 6:12 PM

Steve:
There are many different brands of old tube PA's out there.Bogen is not known for having hefty iron. I'd consider Bell, Stromberg Carlson, Precision Electronics and Harmon Kardon all to be better endowed in iron. You'll have a better result in your bottom end if you have more iron in the OT.
As for finding them...Hamfests used to be one place, then there are flea markets and of course ebay. I'd try to find one that has a tube line up as close to you want to minimize the amount of retro fitting and tweeking.
Decent results can be had if you're not hung up on the "plexi look"

Marc

9/9/2004 12:00 AM

Marc had some good suggestions. I would add asking around at churchs, banquet halls and such.

If the venue is old enough they almost certainly had a tube PA amp at one time. They may still have one in service! If they had failed they often are stored rather than thrown out and then forgotten until some tubehead like us asks! I've had two units just given to me that way.

Another approach if the unit is still in service is to ask if you can tape a note with your name and phone number on it and wait until it dies. They almost certainly will not want to pay to have an old tube unit serviced and will buy something new.

Don't forget the power of networking! All my friends, family, customers and everyone else I can talk to are now well aware that I would appreciate such pieces to convert to "rock and roll". I've received several more donations that way.

---Wild Bill

10/2/2004 6:57 PM
Brutus	I once had a Bogan Challanger with 807's in it and have to say it was a nice warm sounding amp that easily could be used for guitar purposes. Also used a Stromberg Carlson in a similar manner. One way to use them is to just drive them with a micro-amp type stomp box in an overdrive fashion. No mods needed. Brutus

10/21/2004 3:15 PM
anoinimois	Why bother. The trannys in PA amps don't sound all that good for guitar in my humble opinion.

10/24/2004 11:52 PM
Dbltlk44	I think until the mid-60's or maybe a little earlier, PA trannys WERE what was in most all guitar amps; nobody made "guitar amp" trannys...whoever built the amp just used whatever spec'd tranny "worked" in the circuit { or fit the budget, whatever }. FWIW

10/25/2004 2:28 PM
Bruce /Mission Amps	What's the basis for that? Most of the vintage tube PAs I've worked on had very well made output transformers and they sounded good as OTs for guitar amps too. As a matter of fact, I'd venture to say that it's never really been the output tranny that was lacking but the actual circuitry and tone stack designs that left them them wanting as far as electric guitar goes. Bruce

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