Bruno Super 100

[talbany]

My friend had the amp that was one serial number different and also a Music Man. It is the low plate Skyline with 25uf bypass caps. We assume the tan Dumble is the same since they are 146 and 147, sisters if you will.... unless of course you have actual knowledge of the tan Dumble.

Aaron
Super 100 is an exact replica of the Tan Ultrasound MM amp Gene had..Does it look stock to you or were those changes made after Tony built it?
The original was a low plate sky with 25uF on both V1/V2 ..Let me know if you want a schematic of an original,Ill try and dig it out..

Tony

Scott
Are you talking about this amp?

Tony

[Audiodog]

Yes. That is not the Ultrasound Dumble.

My friend had the amp that was one serial number different and also a Music Man. It is the low plate Skyline with 25uf bypass caps. We assume the tan Dumble is the same since they are 146 and 147, sisters if you will.... unless of course you have actual knowledge of the tan Dumble.

Aaron
Super 100 is an exact replica of the Tan Ultrasound MM amp Gene had..Does it look stock to you or were those changes made after Tony built it?
The original was a low plate sky with 25uF on both V1/V2 ..Let me know if you want a schematic of an original,Ill try and dig it out..

Tony

Scott
Are you talking about this amp?

Tony

[talbany]

Yes. That is not the Ultrasound Dumble.

Yeah I know
I Cannot remember who told me that the early S100's were originally clones of the U.S Dumble. Maybe Brandon or Tag? and the story goes that Tony had Genes amp and asked him to make another one and Tony did. I have some shots of an early S100 along with another amp that the schematic I posted came from and both were L,P Sky's w/ 25uF. Now did Tony deviate somewhat over the years and do different variations is not really a shocker since he did some custom work as well.Anyway my point was that that's where the S100 got it's original DNA from Tan US Dumble If this is not right hook a brother up and set me straight.


Thanks and Happy New Year!

Tony

[FUCHSAUDIO]

I've serviced a bunch of Bruno stuff over the years. His build techniques are certainly pretty rough. He depends on silicone, prayer, love and (in in some cases) duct tape and wire ties. Certainly not Harry Joyce quality, but his Cowtippers and Fender clones do sound damn nice, despite the funky build style. Most of the repairs were bum sockets, bad connections or failing (due to age) parts, like filter caps. Some passives (pots for example) are clearly surplus. When an amp has ten pots in it, and they come from many different makers, it's obvious. The amps are pretty-much Fender clones. In some cases, a Fender outboard reverb was simply grafted onto the front end of a Bassman or similar circuit, so no innovation for sure.

That being said, I've also serviced a couple of Super-100 ODS clones. Personally, I've heard none that really knocked me out. He pays little to no attention to part types, uses a steel chassis and not aluminum, no-name transformers and sloppy lead dress. In a clean amp, that's tolerable. In an overdrive amp that's not. A few had marginal stability, a bit noisy and none were all that impressive sounding.

[norburybrook]

I've serviced a bunch of Bruno stuff over the years. His build techniques are certainly pretty rough. He depends on silicone, prayer, love and (in in some cases) duct tape and wire ties. Certainly not Harry Joyce quality, but his Cowtippers and Fender clones do sound damn nice, despite the funky build style. Most of the repairs were bum sockets, bad connections or failing (due to age) parts, like filter caps. Some passives (pots for example) are clearly surplus. When an amp has ten pots in it, and they come from many different makers, it's obvious. The amps are pretty-much Fender clones. In some cases, a Fender outboard reverb was simply grafted onto the front end of a Bassman or similar circuit, so no innovation for sure.

That being said, I've also serviced a couple of Super-100 ODS clones. Personally, I've heard none that really knocked me out. He pays little to no attention to part types, uses a steel chassis and not aluminum, no-name transformers and sloppy lead dress. In a clean amp, that's tolerable. In an overdrive amp that's not. A few had marginal stability, a bit noisy and none were all that impressive sounding.

that makes me feel so much better about my builds.... Thanks Andy Happy new year, hope 2021 is a goods one for you .

M

[FUCHSAUDIO]

I've serviced a bunch of Bruno stuff over the years. His build techniques are certainly pretty rough. He depends on silicone, prayer, love and (in in some cases) duct tape and wire ties. Certainly not Harry Joyce quality, but his Cowtippers and Fender clones do sound damn nice, despite the funky build style. Most of the repairs were bum sockets, bad connections or failing (due to age) parts, like filter caps. Some passives (pots for example) are clearly surplus. When an amp has ten pots in it, and they come from many different makers, it's obvious. The amps are pretty-much Fender clones. In some cases, a Fender outboard reverb was simply grafted onto the front end of a Bassman or similar circuit, so no innovation for sure.

That being said, I've also serviced a couple of Super-100 ODS clones. Personally, I've heard none that really knocked me out. He pays little to no attention to part types, uses a steel chassis and not aluminum, no-name transformers and sloppy lead dress. In a clean amp, that's tolerable. In an overdrive amp that's not. A few had marginal stability, a bit noisy and none were all that impressive sounding.

that makes me feel so much better about my builds.... Thanks Andy Happy new year, hope 2021 is a goods one for you .

M

I chuckle, as my prototypes look cleaner...lol. We're busy, despite taking a hefty hit from Covid...we have a repair business doing well, and production has picked-up, but with the UK and Germany being on lockdown, that's impacted us a little....we keep flogging away

[Smitty]

While we're piling on Tony Bruno...

A dozen or so years ago there was a gear page shootout in DC (perhaps a bad choice of words this week and I hope that doesn't trigger NSA attention) between the Fargen Blackbird and a Bruno Cowtipper. A old Fender was included so everyone could judge whose amp sounded more like it. The gent that was hosting the shootout (I forget his name) had an amp switcher into a common cab. Score sheets for listeners. Double blind listening test. Very official. I asked if I could include a Blueverb and it faired very well, besting the Blackbird and the Cowtipper. Blueverb was the flavor of the month after that. Theres an old thread on the gear page.

Based upon how well the Bluedrive did in the double blind listening tests, the gent I sent it to who was hosting the shootout asked if he could send it to Ultra Sound because the store might want to begin selling them. That didn't work out, but oddly, Tony immediately revised his Cowtipper topology (Pro II revision) to mirror the Blueverb, which up until that point had a unique topology twist (AB763 with a direct coupled cathode follower as an input stage which fattened up the tone stack). I would be naive to think the Blueverb went to Ultra Sound for any other reason than for Tony to figure out why my amp kicked his amps ass in a double blind test. I don't feel violated. We all nick things from other builders as well as stand on the shoulders of giants. I just felt a little foolish for falling for the ruze.