HAMMOND 1640 SEA

[Colas LeGrippa]

Hi  , look at my smile........I just finished to mod a guitar SE amplifier, with a preamp which is kinda mix from Marshall and THD, and power amp from my own with 2 X 6550 in parallel, biased to 100mA @270V, each tube. for this purpose I have ordered from Hammond a  H U G E    HI-FI  OPT no. 1640 SEA , rated for 200mA with a primary of 1,250k .
I had first built this amp with 1 X6V6 and a Mercury Magnetics  OPT, which was good but not powerful enough. I must say that this new amp is awesome, amazing and jaw dropping !
The HAMMOND OPT cost me  40% less  ( I live in Quebec which helps ) and sounds 40% better ! So if you have any hi fi trannies lying around, don't be shy to use them for guitar........
if you have room to fit them in !

Colas
 

[Colas LeGrippa]

I forgot to mention an important mod I've done: replacement of the Jensen 12'' speaker by an EMINENCE Red Coat ''The Governor'' model. Twice as loud, minimum. Very cool British blues tone. I have in stock 1 X10'' EMINENCE Patriot ''Raging Cajun'' model and I will build a 4 X 10 cab . I just love Eminence speakers, cheaper than Celestion, in general.

Colas

P.S.: my second post without a question 

[sluckey]

I've got a question? Who's been kissing all the gals while you've been so busy? 

[Colas LeGrippa]

evrytime I receive an order, a girl comes to my bench sayin' : mon chérie, voici une commande pour toi !'' , then I kiss her to thank her for her nice service, and she asks so, I show her my soldering gun and when the solder is ready to melt, if it is hot enough, it sticks everywhere it goes and the parts are welded together.

Colas.

[stingray_65]

I forgot to mention an important mod I've done: replacement of the Jensen 12'' speaker by an EMINENCE Red Coat ''The Governor'' model. Twice as loud, minimum. Very cool British blues tone. I have in stock 1 X10'' EMINENCE Patriot ''Raging Cajun'' model and I will build a 4 X 10 cab . I just love Eminence speakers, cheaper than Celestion, in general.

Colas

P.S.: my second post without a question 

Those new Eminence speakers are very efficient compared to the Jensens and can EASILY sound twice as loud.

My personal favorite Eminence speaker is the "Wizard", especially when put in an AX84 cab
http://www.ax84.com/corecabinets.html

I've built 3 now and will build a 4th very soon.

[Tyrannocaster]

In my experience, the combination of hefty output iron and a high efficiency speaker (provided it sounds good, LOL) is an unbeatable one. I've even wired a Plexi cirucit using ultralinear taps on a Hammond 1650F (amp used EL84s) and it is a killer. I like dirt, and i was afraid it would be too clean, but that experiment made me realize that I like the sound of tubes distorting more than output transformers. Now, whenever I can do it, I use Big Iron and think of Marty Robbins.   I like the Eminence Legend GB series, personally.

[Colas LeGrippa]

Yep. it is my turn now to gain some experience concerning big OPT and good speakers. When I first started in amp building, I've spent one year tweaking an old Traynor amplifier trying to get the mojo out of it until I realized the speakers were crap...................

Colas

[stingray_65]

neat link to speaker efficiency, sensitivity and perceived volume

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-efficiency.htm

I love on line calculators! they make me feel almost half as smart as PRR 

[Colas LeGrippa]

PRR is God, we just can't expect to be as smart. At max, we can expect to be sitting to his side at paradise of knowledge.
Thanks for the link.