My coolest vintage tube amp!

[Mike Stehr]

Look at this one!!!! (No affiliation...)
I think I like yours better (and no doubt it sounds better) but this one is more powerful! And it uses a seldom seen output tube with a name sure to make immature people snicker

Look at this on eBay:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=172449265786

RARE Vintage U.S. Army Military Signal Corps VCA RCA? STEREO Tube Amplifier

The amplifier has the shock absorbent footies from Robinson Aviation. The amplifier may have been used in a area with heavy vibrations. Aircraft? Shaker table?

 

[primosounds]

An audio buddy of mine had an amp that was out of a submarine, i am pretty sure. It was for amplifying the sonar signals. That thing was maybe 20" x 20" and at least 60 pounds, PP 6L6. It had British transformers, Ferranti i think. I changed out the coupling caps for him. We did it in his listening room since it was a beeyutch to move.
The wiring and soldering were all specified by the engineers to be able to withstand certain parameters and to pass visual inspection of every joint.
Unfortunately, milspec doesn't mean HiFi. but you gotta admire the build quality!

 

[larryderouin]

Reversed.

 

[Redboy]

A few of us were at @doucanoe's place yesterday for a very informal audio shindig, and I brought the old amp along.

@ejfud brought some RESOs, and we lashed up a system...

Dang!

For a bone stock, seventy-something year old amp, this thing was amazingly well behaved. It didn't overheat, hum, buzz, or throw off any odors... In fact, it was dead quiet on these efficient speakers, and sounded really really nice!

 

[kward]

I need to build me a SHTF amp like this one.

 

[Redboy]

I need to build me a SHTF amp like this one.

She's a beastie!

It's such a nice little amp that I wonder about cloning the circuit as monoblocks, with some nice output iron... I'm just gonna file that idea away for a someday build.

 

[drtool]

Well if you do Redboy.

 

[onwardjames]

Very nice, Redboy. Wish I could have heard that pairing.

Oh, and that tapestry on the wall saying "Shaker Village" ?? There's a Shaker village literally 3 miles down the road from my house.

Funny.

 

[lordgarth]

Please don't be fooled by these vintage tube amps like the ones in my avatar, WE 124B's. Yes they are rare & somewhat unique, but that doesn't they sound good. No comparison to my Mc225's.

 

[Redboy]

Please don't be fooled by these vintage tube amps like the ones in my avatar, WE 124B's. Yes they are rare & somewhat unique, but that doesn't they sound good. No comparison to my Mc225's.

That's an... interesting comment, but not particularly informative.

Do you mean newer amps are better than older amps? Or McIntosh amps are better than WE amps?

 

[Pio1980]

Most likely a piece gear for telecom or mobile industrial use. This is a good example of how "point-to-point" wiring should be done. Compare that with typical consumer grade equipment of the same age.

Tagboard, actually, like McIntosh and others.
Marantz 8/8B was exemplary point-to-point with loomed wireup.

 

[Pio1980]

View attachment 851613 View attachment 851615 View attachment 851617 View attachment 851618

I used to see a lot of this stuff in the postwar surplus penny-a-pound days. Survivors like this are a special treat for me.

 

[Pio1980]

Tagboard, actually, like McIntosh and others.
Marantz 8/8B was exemplary point-to-point with loomed wireup.

Marantz 8


Marantz 8B

 

[Redboy]

I used to see a lot of this stuff in the postwar surplus penny-a-pound days. Survivors like this are a special treat for me.

Penny-a-pound would be so much fun! It'd be harder on the back than it used to be, though...

 

[Leland47]

Hey Redboy, nice looking amp!

Made me look at the Military Stuff on that auction site...

This might bend the rules a bit...but I looked on that auction site and found one (exactly?) like yours....NIB!

I thought that amazing enough to post about it here.

 

[Pio1980]

The last example I picked up of something like this several years ago from a salvager I've done biz with since a teen (now defunct and deceased), a Hammarlund Super Pro SP-210 as a Sig Corps BC-1004-C allwave communications receiver in 1950s surplus cdx. Paid $60 for it with the proper original tubes, minus the power supply and umbilical, which I subsequently acquired in a swap.

 

[lordgarth]

That's an... interesting comment, but not particularly informative.

Do you mean newer amps are better than older amps? Or McIntosh amps are better than WE amps?

The Mc's are better than WE.

 

[Pio1980]

The Mc's are better than WE.

Mac made some contract amps that weren't by any means audio grade, so it depends. Otoh, their fully spec'ed amps found their way to odd applications like shaker tables and such. WE made gorgeous gear, but suited to purposes that may not have required fidelity oriented response.
Horses for courses, but some thoroughbreds found themselves pulling wagons.

 

[AdamAnt316]

Military stuff is fun!

Also have a T-195 transmitter, which complements the R-392 receiver (second pic above) as part of the AN/GRC-19 portable transceiver set. Well, "portable" if you have a Jeep handy, anyway. Set weighs damn close to 200lbs! Here is a picture of the AN/GRC-19 set in its "natural" habitat:

(Not mine, sadly. My AN/GRC-19 will probably live near my radio bench, once I work out how to best feed it 28VDC@50+ amps; this might do the trick)

 

[Pio1980]

Mac made some contact amps that weren't by any means audio grade, so it depends. Otoh, their fully spec'ed amps found their way to odd applications like shaker tables and such. WE made gorgeous gear, but suited to purposes that may not have required fidelity oriented response.
Horses for courses, but some thoroughbreds found themselves pulling wagons.

Same may be true for random transformers from UTC and other prestige mfgrs, so beware.