New Joy Zee MP3's

[PeteRH]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Kendrick-Climax-New ... dZViewItem

For anyone that is interested in hearing some MP3's of a Climax check out the MP3's at the above address.

I think the amp sounds great AND versatile but obviously a great player can make any amp sound better. I am guessing it is Terry Oubre (from all the posts I read at ampage ages ago).

I'd like to hear some comments on the sound of the amp. These amps have been canned by most...but maybe that is more based on whether you are in the kendrick camp or the ken camp or some other camp. Any discussion regarding Kendrick seems to bring out the personalities in people.

Since I started this post and am only interested in the sound of the amp and not the politics of it, can I ask that we keep to just to a tone/construction discussion. Please start another post if you want to go over that same old ken/gerald debate.

Cheers
Pete
from Australia
not related at all to kendrick

[doctord02]

The "tweed" clip doesnt sound like a tweed amp, the "marshall" clip doesnt sound like a Marshall, and the "vox" clip doesnt sound like a Vox to my ears.

All of the clips sound good tho... But they all sound like a tweeked Bassman or maybe a Super Reverb. It's got great clarity in the note definition... But the "blackface" clip seems to be the root sound of the amp.

It sounds better than I expected it to. But to my ears it's a really well tuned up Fender circuit...

[Jackie Treehorn]

I played a Climax a few months ago. It was a really good amp. They look a lot nicer in person, too. They don't have an insane amount of gain but it's adequate. They are pretty under rated, in my opinion.

[PeteRH]

They don't have an insane amount of gain but it's adequate

I was expecting a more gain from the amp since the lead channel is basically an express but I note that the ebay ad says 2-12AY7 are being used. If it has a 12AY7 in the front of the lead channel it could explain the lower gain. Some of the guys have run Y's and T's to tame their wrecks down a bit.

[Funkalicousgroove]

I can tell you that every single piece of wire used in the Climax has an electrostatically conductive insulator, and so, every piece of wire in that amp is effectively a capacitor SO whenever a wire touches another wire or the chassis it creates a small PF value shunt to whatever it's touching. Any signal traveling through any wire in that amp will have a voltage of the opposite polarity on the OUTSIDE of the insulator. Don't Believe me? Open one up and put a test signal through it and see for yourself. Who cares how it sounds if you can die from plugging into it! (By request of the person who started this thread I would like to note that the possibility of dying from such a small ac voltage through the chassis is actually quite slim-Funk)

[PeteRH]

Who cares how it sounds if you can die from plugging into it!

Thanks for the warning FunkG. I can picture the mass hysteria all round with thousands running off the stage right now abandoning their kendricks....leaving them for some poor unsuspecting victim who thinks he just found gold. Hold on.... is the "electrostatically conductive insulator" in all Kendricks or was it just special reserve for Climax amps found under the 100 year old pine church pews .

I am sorry if I sound a bit sarcastic but this just doesnt make sense to me. Please humour me with a response.

Why will they die?

I can tell you that every single piece of wire used in the Climax has an electrostatically conductive insulator

Did someone tell you this OR did you deduce this yourself? If someone told you this are you sure you got it right? What does "electrostatically conductive insulator" mean to you and how does other wire differ? Does the wire attract dust?

whenever a wire touches another wire or the chassis it creates a small PF value shunt to whatever it's touching

Doesn't all wire have inductive and capacitive coupling and that is why lead dress, layout etc is so important. Isn't that why Ken glues wires in place and down to the chassis? Isn't that why there are countless threads regarding just this point?
Side note: This is why I feel a lot of people were unhappy about the Francesca pics. With the schematic, cap types, transformer types all known the lead dress was the only secret left....until those pics.

Don't Believe me? Open one up and put a test signal through it and see for yourself.

Wish I had access to a Climax or a Wreck or a dumble for that matter. If I do find one, how do you check for the things you say.


A discussion regarding Gerald Weber always seems to bring about.....well nonsense and hysteria. War of the Worlds aint got nothing on this one.

[Dai H.]

leaves me scratching my head too, lol...

[doctord02]

well I dont know for certian. But... Funk just a day or so ago had a long 3 hr conversation with Ken, and this amp is one of the subjects they discussed.

If I were a gambling man, I'd wager that KF told him a thing or two about it.

[PeteRH]

If someone told you this are you sure you got it right?

That is why I asked the above?

Sometimes in a long long discussion things get a bit mixed up.

Also, we have all seen the story passed around the room from one person to the next and by the end the original points are lost completely....and some new stuff is added.

[chimeboss]

Suffice it to say Ive played through a few Climax amps back when the hype was in progress.
Lets just say most of you guys here probably make better sounding amps and better looking layouts for sure.
Take a look at a unworked original one.
Oh my!

That being said they can be fixed to sound great but not Trainwreck great.
Just my opinion not fuel for flames.

[Dai H.]

a guy that used to hang at ampage who has apparently had some contact with Ken related something similar (great friendly guy, gave some good suggestions, but some of the stuff he said sounded kind of "out there")

[chimeboss]

Just because someone speaks to a "guru" for three hours doesnt make it gospel otherwise we would all be writing "bibles"
Take all with a grain of salt as certain people have an extraordinary senses of humor.
KF being at the top of the list

Keep Building- Sarah Winchester

[Dai H.]

yes, I've gotten the sense that some guys perceived as "gurus" on the internet (bbs, etc.) have a little fun with people at times for their own amusement. If someone fools you though (as I am sure I've been a number of times), I don't think you can blame everything all on them if it turns out you were being very gullible, lol... IMO, anyway.

[ampdoc1]

I thought the Climax clips sounded pretty good. Those are four distinctive, and usuable tones. However, anyone who has played a TW (or good clone), knows the tone is only part of the equation. For me it's all about the feel and dynamic response of these amps. I can hear on some of the clips at this site that thing that makes TWs unique. I didn't hear that "magic" from the climax. Maybe the underwhelming bid response reflects others feel the same.

David Hicks

[Funkalicousgroove]

All kidding aside though, I am serious about the wire in that amp. It is a cloth covered wire with an additional jacket of pvc or Teflon underneath, but the outer cotton cloth isn't treated with anything, so it collects static electricity, which effectively forms a capacitor, No voodoo or magic, just physics.

Could you really die? well probably not, although there is a potential to get a pretty good shock.

Ken said he was measuring 13v on the outside of the insulator on some wires, and whatever AC voltage you put into them you'd get that same voltage on the outside of them.

As far as being upset about the pictures goes, all Ken said is that he wished someone would have asked before instead of after, and then he used those very pictures to explain his grounding scheme.

I will say that I see alot of foolishness posted on amp forums, and regardless of who posts it none of it is gospel. I don't believe in voodoo when it comes to electronics, I believe in Physics, Chemistry, and Trigonometry. I will never entertain the notion that cabinet wood makes a difference in how a head-only amp sounds (Unless it is placed on a cabinet, and then it's only affecting the resonance of the cabinet) or that using steel standoffs will have some profound effect that aluminum just won't give-This stuff isn't what makes the difference. Cooking the soup is about balancing the ingredients, about knowing the tonal characteristics of the individual components you intend to use, about knowing your outcome before you start, about paying attention to circut constants and component and wire placement, about using the characteristics of one type of component to balance, emphasize, de-emphasize, or compliment the characteristics of another component, not about poking and hoping. There is no Magic or mystery to a wreck, they just happen to be built by someone who knows what he wants it to sound like, and has the good sense to let the amp become what it's going to become and tune it from there, instead of fighting with it and swapping component after component to try to make it sound like something it's not, that's why they're all different.

FYI Ken says that if he builds an amp he doesn't like he DESTROYS it, he doesn't attempt to resurrect it.