flyswatter
Friend of Leo's
Here is the restoration thread for my recent $100 pawnshop find, a 1964 Ampeg Reverberocket, model R-12-Rb -- which I'm slowly starting to decipher and reconstruct between other projects. At first I was elated to find this model amp for so cheap, having serviced (and drooled over) a couple of Ampegs previously, but at this drier-lipped stage I must say that this is the worst case of an abused and neglected amp I have ever come across in my shop (and I've seen some doozies!).
The amp reeks for one thing. Between the dirt, gunge, bilge, blown caps, brittle wire, and sad attempts by former abusers to "maintain" the amp (something tells me Dymo tape labels on the control panel and a microwave-over power cord are not exactly 'vintage correct') it's hard to decide where to start. (One of my friends commented: it looks like it's been dunked in beer.)
Rescuing stray puppies would be so much easier.
Anyway, here's some BEFORE shots of the amp and my inital stages of R&D before I get down to more serious (and dirtier) work. I'm going to have a bunch of questions and decisions as I go along, so I hope the good folks here will check in from time to time to offer bits of advice.
R-12-RB -- BEFORE RESTORATION:
Front of cab, with original grill cloth and logo, non-original generic vinyl covering:
Rear view -- The Pros: Original reverb tank and footswitch, mostly original circuit (except 2 resistors), some original tubes that work, functioning transformers
The Cons: spewing electrolytics, nameless mystery power tubes (possibly 7591s, to be determined), grey microwavish AC-cord with broken ground pin & WTF "safety ground" soldered to a cap clamp, chassis unwelded on one end, and oddball Phillips hi-fi speaker.
Top of the amp: The silkscreening wore off over the years -- or under the beers -- so somebody helpfully tape-labelled the panel (making sure they were nice and straight!) -- oh, and replaced the original knobs with what you see here.
Pro: The components and handle are original and in no worse condition than any other amp of this vintage.
Schematic on the back panel (which, unlike the rest of the cab, has its original blue check tolex). The schematic is dry as a bone and crumbly, so I carefully removed it and am going to re-draw it (See Step 1, below).
The amp reeks for one thing. Between the dirt, gunge, bilge, blown caps, brittle wire, and sad attempts by former abusers to "maintain" the amp (something tells me Dymo tape labels on the control panel and a microwave-over power cord are not exactly 'vintage correct') it's hard to decide where to start. (One of my friends commented: it looks like it's been dunked in beer.)
Rescuing stray puppies would be so much easier.
Anyway, here's some BEFORE shots of the amp and my inital stages of R&D before I get down to more serious (and dirtier) work. I'm going to have a bunch of questions and decisions as I go along, so I hope the good folks here will check in from time to time to offer bits of advice.
R-12-RB -- BEFORE RESTORATION:
Front of cab, with original grill cloth and logo, non-original generic vinyl covering:
Rear view -- The Pros: Original reverb tank and footswitch, mostly original circuit (except 2 resistors), some original tubes that work, functioning transformers
The Cons: spewing electrolytics, nameless mystery power tubes (possibly 7591s, to be determined), grey microwavish AC-cord with broken ground pin & WTF "safety ground" soldered to a cap clamp, chassis unwelded on one end, and oddball Phillips hi-fi speaker.
Top of the amp: The silkscreening wore off over the years -- or under the beers -- so somebody helpfully tape-labelled the panel (making sure they were nice and straight!) -- oh, and replaced the original knobs with what you see here.
Pro: The components and handle are original and in no worse condition than any other amp of this vintage.
Schematic on the back panel (which, unlike the rest of the cab, has its original blue check tolex). The schematic is dry as a bone and crumbly, so I carefully removed it and am going to re-draw it (See Step 1, below).
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