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Topic: Rickenbacker amp, B16A, in the restoration process. |
Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 15 Nov 2017 8:02 am |
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Rickenbacker B16A Supersonic, Very rare, I have only seen two in my entire life, the one I had back in the 60's and this one, the one I bought several years back from a guy who had two. I acquired it from him, un-restored, it was not cheap.
These are vintage 64 or 65 era, 4x10's , very similar to an early Bassman and Super reverb. 2 x 6L6's giving up +/- 45 watts. It is said that the bread boards were built by Fender for Rick, they are really very similar if not the same.The chassis are a bit different though, bent into shape, a grade of copper.
The first one I had way back, I blew the OT, it appears that anyone that had one of these experienced the same issue, probably an underrated OT. When I acquired the current one, it has a Hammond 8 ohm OT, it's wrong. It needs a 2 ohm like the Super Reverbs. I also acquired this one without speakers, my choice. I have 4 x Eminence Alnico PR10's which will go nicely with this amp.
I recently acquired the new 2 ohm OT from forum electronics guru Ken Fox. After waiting around for several years it's time to get this baby gig ready.
It works and works well, even the tremelo circuit. No reverb, didn't come with reverb. It has Normal and Bass inputs with two channels, non tremelo and tremelo.
It runs at around +460 VDC , thats plenty , right up there with those mighty early Fender amps.
I have all the stuff I need, E-caps, speakers and now the 2 ohm OT. I guess over the next month or so, in-between "life" I'll get this amp back to stage ready.
I do need a new handle as the one on it is make shift. Also the original knobs are nowhere to be found. I have 3 or 4 which are ok but the others are broken. I am thinking fat AMPEG knobs from the B15 or Gemini era will work .
I wonder if any of you have seen these, owned one or worked on them ?
Here it is: *
* pay no attention that green wire, it was a wrapped additional 16 ohm OT wire tap.
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Emmons L-II , Fender Telecasters, B-Benders , Eastman Mandolin ,
Pro Tools 12 on WIN 7 !
jobless- but not homeless- now retired 9 years
CURRENT MUSIC TRACKS AT > https://tprior2241.wixsite.com/website |
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Chris Reesor
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 16 Nov 2017 12:42 am
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Sharp looking amp, Tony. Chicken heads could look good there, maybe.
Have you found a schematic for it?
_________________
Excel Superb U12, MIJ Squier tele, modified Deluxe Reverb RI, Cube 80XL, self built acoustics & mandolins |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 16 Nov 2017 1:59 am
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Hey Chris yes there are some "close" schematics, but not exact. The one I have has a solid state rectifier while all the schematics show a 5U4 circuit . They are very simple designs, easy to figure out. Very similar to the early Fender designs. Basic 6L6 and 12AX7 stuff. The good news is the PS is rock solid at +460, even without the new caps . So it has a good heart !
I have located Ampeg B15 large black Stove Knobs , I think I will go with those as they are close in size to the originals.
Soon I hope...
_________________
Emmons L-II , Fender Telecasters, B-Benders , Eastman Mandolin ,
Pro Tools 12 on WIN 7 !
jobless- but not homeless- now retired 9 years
CURRENT MUSIC TRACKS AT > https://tprior2241.wixsite.com/website |
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Bill Sinclair
From:
Waynesboro, PA, USA
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Posted 16 Nov 2017 8:14 am
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| I like it a lot! It will set you apart from all the bassman clones out there. |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 16 Nov 2017 10:41 am
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| Bill Sinclair wrote: |
| I like it a lot! It will set you apart from all the bassman clones out there. |
Ha!
Well it's certainly not a clone ! 
_________________
Emmons L-II , Fender Telecasters, B-Benders , Eastman Mandolin ,
Pro Tools 12 on WIN 7 !
jobless- but not homeless- now retired 9 years
CURRENT MUSIC TRACKS AT > https://tprior2241.wixsite.com/website |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 16 Nov 2017 12:33 pm
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| Cool amp! I always dug that silver Tolex back in the day. Ric amps are often overlooked and severely underrated nowadays. One of the first, if not the first makers of guitar amps. After all, how could you market an electric guitar without an amplifier? |
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John Limbach
From:
Billings, Montana, USA
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Posted 17 Nov 2017 4:57 am
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| Jack Hanson wrote: |
| Cool amp! I always dug that silver Tolex back in the day. Ric amps are often overlooked and severely underrated nowadays. One of the first, if not the first makers of guitar amps. After all, how could you market an electric guitar without an amplifier? |
Which is why they had to come up with this one. It came with my 1934 A22 as a package deal. I restored it so I could hear what the Frypan actually sounded like back in the day. No on/off switch, no volume, no tone, just plug it in and go. My A22 doesn't have a tone control so what you hear is what you get straight from the pickup through its volume pot. Sounds good with very flat response. One of these days I'll put it on the sweep generator and spectrum analyzer and see what its actually doing.
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 17 Nov 2017 6:00 am
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wow talk about basic, holy cow !
I think that circuit precedes the RCA tube book! 
_________________
Emmons L-II , Fender Telecasters, B-Benders , Eastman Mandolin ,
Pro Tools 12 on WIN 7 !
jobless- but not homeless- now retired 9 years
CURRENT MUSIC TRACKS AT > https://tprior2241.wixsite.com/website |
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Chris Reesor
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 17 Nov 2017 10:17 pm
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That is really getting back to basics. Thanks for posting that very interesting circuit, John.
Makes me wonder when those five and seven pin based tubes went out of use in favor of octals.
I see some 47 and 53 tubes for sale on ebay, so she should be good for a few more years yet.
The input jack appears to be at the cathode positive dc potential; I'd like to see how the pickup and guitar volume control are wired, since they seem to be directly connected to the bias circuit,unless there is a blocking cap on the guitar.
_________________
Excel Superb U12, MIJ Squier tele, modified Deluxe Reverb RI, Cube 80XL, self built acoustics & mandolins |
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John Limbach
From:
Billings, Montana, USA
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Posted 18 Nov 2017 6:42 am
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Let me see if I can find it. It was designed for the first A-22 Frypan. I've played my 1934 through it a bit and it sounded pretty darn good.
How about that household type screw-in fuse. Must not have had the good ole 3AGs then.
I changed out the electrolytics and the two coupling caps. Put on a three-wire cord and added a dropping resistor inline with one side of the transformer to drop about 10 volts off the line voltage. Closer to 1934 line voltage. Runs cooler and the tubes should last longer. The resistors have changed values some but left them in because they are old, old, style vintage types.
So, back to the pickup wiring. No tone control on the earliest Rick's (like mine) and no tone shaping in the amp (except for the passband response of the coupling caps) so what came out was pretty much what went in. The wiring is simple.
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 18 Nov 2017 12:31 pm
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I had a Transonic 100. Good-sounding amp, but a beast to move around because of it's trapezoidal shape. Sold it to George Bradfute, Nashville Cat.
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Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps |
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