The Vintage Guitar News and Views, June Edition
Amps and the general scheme of things. 
I get questions concerning amps all the time, some easy to answer and some a little harder to answer. Here in this issue of The Vintage Guitar News and Views I will lay some very basic groundwork for you to digest concerning guitar amplifiers. Class A amps have low distortion and low power output with full power always flowing to the amps tubes, these style amps consume a lot of power and have great sustain, think of the Vox AC 30 as one example.
Class B style amps turn Ac power into current and have more distortion are more efficient energy wise. Class A/B ,which most Fender amps are and most B class amps give the best in design of both sustain and breakup or distortion ( natural) , they are cheaper to build, reliable and easy to work on.
The output stages being one .the push pull style can be summed up as to whatever one tube is doing in the circuit the next tube is doing the opposite in operation ,hence the name "push pull " Capacitors or "caps" as they are commonly called store a charge and block out or taper low frequencies and allow higher frequencies to pass through the circuit, There are several different caps available in amps , the "vintage " paper caps, then the mylar caps,electrolytic caps,and the most common used today the mylar caps. They all do the same job in the circuit but some people prefer one type over another.
Hard wired or point to point amps are generally more expensive although almost all "vintage " amps are wired this way. this is where each component is linked to the next inline via the solder joint and is not attached to a circuit board of any kind. The circuit board in most amps built since the 1960's is usually made of a fiber material and most components are attached to the board .
Speakers have changed over the years also, the best by general consensus are the alnico magnet type of speakers, but in the mid 1960's the ingredients used to produce these magnets became to expensive and newer magnet material(s) were developed with a combination of oxide(s) and ceramic (s), these are pretty much the norm today.I like the blue back celestions myself.
Then there were the manufacturing companies that produced amplifiers( to many to list) but makers such as Oahu,Gibson,Supro,Danelectro,Rickenbacher(Rickenbacker today ) ,Fender, Magnatone, Alamo,Vox ,Marshall,Gretsch,Kelly,Music man,Mesa, and hundreds of other companies. My personal amps consist of my Magnatone M-10,Gibson GA-5, Fender Vibroverb, 1960 Concert amp, and my Fender Bassman, all different but all the same , I still search for really cool amps to offer my clients as well as myself.
As far as tubes go, some work better than others and some work better in different spots along the amp circuitry, you have to experiment and mix and match until you get the desired effect out of tube placement and that can and is a whole article within itself.So until next month, may all your days be memorable, may all your friends stay true and may all your riffs be killer, Greg at Greg's Guitars.
I get questions concerning amps all the time, some easy to answer and some a little harder to answer. Here in this issue of The Vintage Guitar News and Views I will lay some very basic groundwork for you to digest concerning guitar amplifiers. Class A amps have low distortion and low power output with full power always flowing to the amps tubes, these style amps consume a lot of power and have great sustain, think of the Vox AC 30 as one example.
Class B style amps turn Ac power into current and have more distortion are more efficient energy wise. Class A/B ,which most Fender amps are and most B class amps give the best in design of both sustain and breakup or distortion ( natural) , they are cheaper to build, reliable and easy to work on.
The output stages being one .the push pull style can be summed up as to whatever one tube is doing in the circuit the next tube is doing the opposite in operation ,hence the name "push pull " Capacitors or "caps" as they are commonly called store a charge and block out or taper low frequencies and allow higher frequencies to pass through the circuit, There are several different caps available in amps , the "vintage " paper caps, then the mylar caps,electrolytic caps,and the most common used today the mylar caps. They all do the same job in the circuit but some people prefer one type over another.
Hard wired or point to point amps are generally more expensive although almost all "vintage " amps are wired this way. this is where each component is linked to the next inline via the solder joint and is not attached to a circuit board of any kind. The circuit board in most amps built since the 1960's is usually made of a fiber material and most components are attached to the board .
Speakers have changed over the years also, the best by general consensus are the alnico magnet type of speakers, but in the mid 1960's the ingredients used to produce these magnets became to expensive and newer magnet material(s) were developed with a combination of oxide(s) and ceramic (s), these are pretty much the norm today.I like the blue back celestions myself.
Then there were the manufacturing companies that produced amplifiers( to many to list) but makers such as Oahu,Gibson,Supro,Danelectro,Rickenbacher(Rickenbacker today ) ,Fender, Magnatone, Alamo,Vox ,Marshall,Gretsch,Kelly,Music man,Mesa, and hundreds of other companies. My personal amps consist of my Magnatone M-10,Gibson GA-5, Fender Vibroverb, 1960 Concert amp, and my Fender Bassman, all different but all the same , I still search for really cool amps to offer my clients as well as myself.
As far as tubes go, some work better than others and some work better in different spots along the amp circuitry, you have to experiment and mix and match until you get the desired effect out of tube placement and that can and is a whole article within itself.So until next month, may all your days be memorable, may all your friends stay true and may all your riffs be killer, Greg at Greg's Guitars.
Posted by Greg's Vintage Guitar News at 5/31/2009 3:29 PM 
Categories: Gretsch,Guild,Takamine,vintage guitar,amps,amp parts.,Fender Gibson,collectible guitars,Silvertone,vintage amps
Tags: collectible guitar sales vintage prices vintage guitar news
Categories: Gretsch,Guild,Takamine,vintage guitar,amps,amp parts.,Fender Gibson,collectible guitars,Silvertone,vintage amps
Tags: collectible guitar sales vintage prices vintage guitar news
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