Watched a military green 30w head on fleabay for over a year, then the buzzard swooped when price hit a dropped plateau and stayed over a few weeks. Stuck a C-lator in the loop. Hiwatt style tone heaven with Wreck-ish capability to go from detailed clean to Godzilla scream with volume knob or Hilton volume pedal…without going deaf! Without the 'lator it's easily as loud as any 50 watt amp I've heard, must be the massive Drake iron. It has some hum, no change with master or pre settings, so will investigate the can caps. Amp is over 20 years old, got it for less than some brand new modern production HIWATT heads go for. Can't see the can's values, they were deliberately mounted to hide them. All original parts, every one inside. Looks like nearly all Piher resistors. One thing that it does that i've never seen… at power off the light bulb stays lit for well over a minute before finally going out. The solder joints, parts leads, tranny codes and values of the tone caps are all dabbed with blue machinist's dye. All but one of the mustards in the power section are completely covered in blue. So HAD was not the only secretive builder…
I'm up to four D-clones in my stable to play my Kalamazoo Heritage guitars through…but I didn't build 'em. All are stuffed with VOS tubes every position…50w HRM, 50w 124-ish, 100w SSS "Nik" and a 50w 102 inspired build from fellow TAG forum member, Jack Kivolowitz. His build does not follow traditional D-layout, particularly the PS board, but it's quiet as a church mouse and has some of the very nicest touch to play through I've ever experienced. The clean channel is gorgeous, and the dirty one sounds just like the clean channel taken to the next level(s). Amazing.
Said so a year ago, now again…how grateful I am to have the opportunity to learn from the TAG tone monster builders! Sooo THANKFUL I am! A great amp is also a great teacher to it's player. I learn to play better from every amp I have in my stable, something new almost every time.
Boutique amps for boutique guitars!
Mav
Harry Joyce #3 meets C-lator...
Moderators: pompeiisneaks, Colossal
Re: Harry Joyce #3 meets C-lator...
Would love to see some photos . . .
Re: Harry Joyce #3 meets C-lator...
Not having much luck with the picture thang, so here's the link to the auction. There are some partial gut shots in the description. The preamp tube order is interesting...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/200932600835?_t ... _841wt_663
Will yank the chassis out to get some voltages, but frankly it's hard to tell all the pre positions, I discern which is V1 and the PI, but with the v2 and V3, I'm not exactly sure on those. I did figure out that the hum I mentioned only happens when i put my multi effects pedal in the loop, I adjusted the gain down to unity within the TC Nova system, that quieted things down to an acceptable level. If I leave the loop empty or jumper it with a patch cable the amp runs very quietly.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/200932600835?_t ... _841wt_663
Will yank the chassis out to get some voltages, but frankly it's hard to tell all the pre positions, I discern which is V1 and the PI, but with the v2 and V3, I'm not exactly sure on those. I did figure out that the hum I mentioned only happens when i put my multi effects pedal in the loop, I adjusted the gain down to unity within the TC Nova system, that quieted things down to an acceptable level. If I leave the loop empty or jumper it with a patch cable the amp runs very quietly.