Modified Guitar Amps

[mjslakeridge]

I mentioned my modified Super Twin Reverb in response to another thread, so I thought I would start my own thread and share some pictures.

I bought the Super Twin Reverb in a pawn shop probably 25+ years ago. It was in working condition, but after using it for a few years I took it to a repair guy for some new tubes. He talked me into letting him modify it to become like a regular Twin Reverb. Disconnected 2 of the 6-6L6 power tubes and modified the circuitry to allow switching between 25/100 Watts (was originally 185 Watts RMS). He used Svetlana power tubes.

Later on I built a cabinet for the chassis and removed it from the original case, because as a combo amp it was just too heavy to lug around. Even as 2 pieces, it is quite heavy. Look at the massive magnets on the 12" speakers. Then I added a small computer fan to help cool the inside of the amp head. It is powered by a small "wall wart" transformer that I plug into one of the power outlets on the back of the amp head. I used a low power transformer (6 volts I think), to not have the fan run at full speed, and it is pretty quiet. The grill cloth on the amp is not original. Originally it had a silver plastic frame holding the grill cloth, but there were some holes in the cloth and the frame was partially broken, so I built a wooden frame and added some new black fabric. I didn't bother adding Tolex to the amp head, I just painted it matt black. I believe this amp was made in the late 1970s.

Also, I modified my Fender Vibro Champ that I bought new in August, 1979. (I still have the original receipt from Roy and Candy's music store in Tulsa, OK stuffed into the owner's manual, so I checked the date this morning). I don't know the exact cost of the amp, because I bought it together with a used Les Paul copy for a total price of $250. I am guessing the amp price was $125.

The original single Fender 5" speaker did not produce enough lows, so I bought 2 Fender 10" speakers and built a new case for the amp chassis and the speakers. The hardest part was covering the wooden cabinet with black tolex using contact cement. I also re-tubed the amp and swapped out the 6V6 power tube with a 6L6 for more power. I still have the replacement 6V6 tube and I sometimes install that for recording. It is a NOS from 1954.

The picture of the Sovtek Tube Midget was just thrown in there for no reason other than it is kind of a cool amp. I haven't done any modifications to it.

Here is the link to my pictures:

https://imgur.com/a/77ui0

Someone let me know if the pictures are showing up, as I am not too familiar with the privacy settings for albums on Imgur.