Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Amp Stuff => Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs => Topic started by: NO_H2O on April 24, 2022, 01:33:02 pm
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I have not been on here for a long time. I fell down the deep hole of amateur radio, got locked out, but I finally got my password straightened out and I can log in again.
I have one more AO-43 donor left (thanks to SLuckey) and my oldest sone wants to take the proceeds from selling his Ampeg VL502 and have me build a Deluxe Reverb. I think I have enough tubes, tube sockets, speaker, etc to make a go of it. I plan to buy a DR chassis, face plates and board. I of course have the power an output transformers from the AO-43 and I have a Hammond reverb tank somewhere in a box.
Any thoughts from you guys? Pit falls?
It’s good to be back in. I have lurked and read here from time to time.
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AO-43 is a good donor for a DR. Search this forum and you will find a guy who has converted several AO-43s to DRs. His name is Toxophilite.
The AO-43 reverb tank will not work in a DR amp.
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I read a few of Toxophilite thread over the last few days. Good to know that the AO reverb tank is a no go. I will add a reverb tank to my list of things to gather. First things to gather will be a chassis and boards. I will probably build the cabinet as I have the equipment to do that.
BTW Sluckey. That Pace soldering station has earned its keep here. I have put that thing through it’s paces. What a great piece of equipment.
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I had forgotten about that pace station. Glad it's getting some use. Didn't you also get a "Princess" Weller soldering station, meant for delicate work? Getting any use from that?
The AO-43 reverb tank needs a cap coupled driver. It would probably work well in an old Ampeg reverb circuit. The choke on the AO-43 chassis is the plate load for the cap coupled reverb driver. You could just duplicate that reverb driver and use the standard Fender recovery. Or you could do as I did... Use the choke in the power supply. Works well there too.
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I did get the "Princess" Weller station. I have used it 2 or 3 times for PCB work. I will just pick up the correct reverb drive transformer and another tank. Any one better than another for those?
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I'd use the mojo 125A20B and Accutronics 4AB3C1B.
https://www.mojotone.com/Mojotone-Reverb-Driver-125A20B
https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/reverb-tank-accutronics-4ab3c1b-long-decay-2-spring
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Thank you.
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@sluckey,
Re: the Hammond spring tank. I have that tank and was intending to use it in an AO-43 conversion myself. (I just posted a bunch of questions about the PT in another new thread here.)
I'm planning to use the original Hammond circuit for reverb drive and maybe try for a dwell control. Do you have any experience with that circuit or with any high-impedance reverb drive circuit?
I know Ampeg used one in the ReverbRockets, built around a 6U100, but I don't know how it sounded. Merlin Blencowe describes a hi-Z driver on his website: http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/reverbdriver.html (http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/reverbdriver.html)
Have you ever built a reverb driver for a high input impedance tank?
Rich
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I never messed with the AO-43 original reverb circuit and I've never built a reverb circuit with a cap coupled reverb tank. But I've owned an Ampeg Gemini II and still own a Magnatone 10A. Both use a cap driven tank and both sound great. Your AO-43 tank should work fine in either of those circuits. And of course it would work fine in the original AO-43 circuit.
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This should do for a chassis.
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Missed it by just that much. Chassis kit sold while I was signing up for Reverb. The search continues.
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There are other places to buy that set, if you're ok without the amp name on the faceplate. Mojotone has the chassis, cap cover (doghouse), and faceplate without "Deluxe Reverb" on it, for one.
Other US sellers will have those parts with the exact correct dimensions, but without the trademarked model names silkscreened on.