Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
PLAYMASTER MODEL 103 GUITAR AMPLIFIER From Radio, Television and Hobbies (Australia), 1963. They published their designs for a number of amplifiers in their magazine under the Playmaster name. This was a pretty interesting DIY amplifier for back in the day – speaker driven reverb, trem and ultra-linear output transformer.
I could just bookmark these in my browser, but hey… here they are. If you struggle with complex explanations of how valve amplifiers work, here’s a collection of easy to understand valve amplifier basics from Uncle Doug. Don’t let the pets and other distractions put you off – there’s really good information in these videos. … Read more
When I started this project, I knew some people prefer to keep these amps stock. However, running something with electrolytic capacitors from 1948 seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. If one failed, it would be a nightmare to fix. In fact, if anything failed, the cramped design would make repairs extremely difficult. On top … Read more
Just to offset the amplifier posts for the pedal folks – here’s a set of three Tone Benders that I just finished. By a set I mean a MKI, MKII and a MKIII – and no I did not include a MK1.5. The layouts and info on how to build these can all be … Read more
I know, I know—this is starting to drift even further from pedal circuits with each post, but stick with me for a moment. These old Bell and Howell projector amps have quite the following, so I’ve been keeping an eye out for one for a while. The catch is, they don’t pop up on the … Read more
From the Hammond 1750 output transformer series, this is listed as a drop-in replacement for a Fender Vibrolux Tweed, 5F11 – they’re supposed to look similar to the original Fender transformer where possible. That being said – this sticks out like dog’s balls when mounted on a crusty old amp. Materials etc are also supposed … Read more
If you’re in the USA, for $75 you may as well buy the kit. otherwise, this should be a really simple build. THIRD MAN FUZZ A TRON VERO LAYOUT Spoiler alert – it’s a modded Fuzzrite. 330k resistors instead of 470k, and it’s missing a resistor that formed a high-pass filter on the output of … Read more
eBay purchase – it listed a bit on the high side, but after a quick chat the seller revised the price down to something very reasonable, so I couldn’t pass it by. External references: Tim Robbins blog. Radio Museum PHILIPS MODEL 976B, VALVE PA AMPLIFIER Made in Australia in the mid to late 1950s, this … Read more
I picked up a couple of valve PA heads on the cheap, without valves, so jotting down a few notes for later. I believe that this is almost the same as a Philips 982, based on early observations. The preamp was converted to something very similar to the Marshall 18w, with two inputs, volume, tone … Read more
Yep, another valve PA head. Adding details as I find out more about this one. PHILIPS MODEL 956B VALVE PA AMPLIFIER I’m still looking for information on this one, apart from what appears to be an almost identical amp made by Steane’s Sound Systems, Model S304 amplifier. Steane’s operated in Australia somewhere up into the … Read more