New York March NYC Meet-Up

Calzone said:
I was on my walk home yesterday, "just minding my own business," when on 81st Street near 1st Avenue I see a 54 year old, 1966, "Blackface" Fender Pro Reverb Amp on the curb being thrown out with the other trash from a highrise apartment building.

I scooped it up, walked to 1st Avenue, hailed a cab, and $15.00 later I was at my apartment with my "new" amp.

This amp was only made between 1965 and 1967, and on EBAY the price range is between $2K and $3K with a few priced close to $2.5K.

This is the good; the bad is that it is missing the two 12 inch speakers (this is a 40 watt tube amp with reverb and vibrato), a two amp fuse is missing, one chassis screw is not original, one tube shield is missing, and the speaker baffle has been modified (hacked).

Other good when I dug in and did my forensics is that the amp has a complete set of NOS tubes, the circuit is like a time capsule and is factory original with no repairs or mods, and it seems a leaky power supply electrolytic cap shorted and that is why the fuse is missing. Also the two button foot switch is missing, but I can buy a new one that is vintage correct for $39.99.

So this amp can easily be repaired and then restored. It is not as clean as the $3K amp on EBAY, but the $2k amp is not so original and I see it has non vintage speakers. My guess is my amp when repaired and set up will be like a $2.5K amp.

I have a pair of vintage C12Q's available, and if I wanted I even have a pair of Altec Lansing 417's if I want to use Carlos Santana's one time favorite speaker, but these MoFo's a mucho heavy. I was saving them for a Blackface Fender Twin that is 80 watts. The Blackface Pro Reverb is only 40 watts.

I can buy a repo speaker baffle for $83.00. So for about $200.00 in parts plus my labor I basically found $2.5K being thrown out in Madhattan. I might mod the amp by creating a new 2x10 baffle. All I need is 4 ohms impedance. It would also be kinda unique and interesting as a conversation piece. Not everyone finds thousands of dollars being thrown out.

I am a lucky bitch. LOL. I am sure this will annoy some of my Guitard friends. "You suck," they will say. Why do they love me? LOL.

Also I know that my super-stish-ions annoy Pro-Mone, especially numerology. Today's Mega and Powerball jackpots create a "3" so I decided to play 2-2 and 2 dollars on the Lotto, Powerball and Mega.

Would be really annoying if I won. How annoying would that be. LOL.

Cal
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You lucky man you. finding one of the great Fender amps. It really shows
that some people don't really know what they have and just toss it. I'm glad
you found it to restore, have fun.
 
Range-rover said:
You lucky man you. finding one of the great Fender amps. It really shows
that some people don't really know what they have and just toss it. I'm glad
you found it to restore, have fun.
Click to expand...

Bob,

Our apartment is such a mess that "Maggie" took no notice that I smuggled in yet another amp.

Would of been better if it was a Blackface Fender Twin. One idea is use the Pro Reverb as a trade.

The thing is that the 75 watt Altec Lansing 417 B's I own are not recones, and they really would do best in a Twin...

In my research I discovered that my original vintage C12Q's can't really handle the power of the Pro Reverb. Not enough power capacity in reserve, and eventually they would get blown.

Cal
 
The C12Q can't handle it, that's to bad, still a great amp. I'm glad I purchased
the Fender Deluxe amp I got, to bad with the Chemo my hands are getting bad
there that pins and needle pain in the fingers and stiffness so I don't know if I
could play the guitar now. Maybe I should pull out the old Fender Strat I got
and give it a try it might help. On the photo front I purchased a 18mm f2 for
the Fuji and it's really nice.
 
Calzone said:
Dan,

It looks like you have 8 foot ceilings. Is this true? If so you are a lucky dog. I believe my ceilings are not so tall. The mortgage got finalized finally. Now it is up to the lawyers to make a closing date. I find it interesting how similar we are. How great is it to have a brook beyond our back yards and to have state land nearby for privacy. My only worries is that wild turkeys move in. I will probably have to deal with deer. My basement though is a dry one. No sump pump. The brook is about twenty feet below. Happy-happy. Looking forward to moving into my baby-Victorian.
Augie
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Yes I am a lucky dog with eight foot ceilings. The first time we walked into this basement, I knew this space was perfect for my long term needs. Good you are dry, one less headache. Low ceilings should not be a problem for you :) LOL Your garage studio workspace will have plenty of ceiling height.

My Father in Law couldn't sell in a yard sale for $10, a Dynaco Tube Amp, Tube Preamp, and Tube Tuner that he built from the scratch kit and it ended up here. Not McIntosh (been there done that) but very very Hot as the basis for a hot rodded super high fidelity tube system. Bill was a Network Engineer at out local Bell Lab facility. He was also a "McGuyver" type of Guy who helped us immensely while we were young an financially strapped.

This year a couple of wild turkeys have sauntered into the back yard, they are easily spooked and nervous. Three skunks recently too (left thank goodness) Racoons abound, and hundreds and hundreds of deer run through our backyard daily, Ten point Bucks right now and skittery females. They will eat about anything so buy only deer resistant foliage or you will be providing a smorgasboard. At night dozens of deer ransack anything they can find, they are quite bold and used to humans. Hopefully you don't have too many.

Congrats on your happiness and enjoy the ride. Going back down to my happy playpen.
 
Nokton48 said:
Yes I am a lucky dog with eight foot ceilings. The first time we walked into this basement, I knew this space was perfect for my long term needs. Good you are dry, one less headache. Low ceilings should not be a problem for you :) LOL Your garage studio workspace will have plenty of ceiling height.

My Father in Law couldn't sell in a yard sale for $10, a Dynaco Tube Amp, Tube Preamp, and Tube Tuner that he built from the scratch kit and it ended up here. Not McIntosh (been there done that) but very very Hot as the basis for a hot rodded super high fidelity tube system. Bill was a Network Engineer at out local Bell Lab facility. He was also a "McGuyver" type of Guy who helped us immensely while we were young an financially strapped.

This year a couple of wild turkeys have sauntered into the back yard, they are easily spooked and nervous. Three skunks recently too (left thank goodness) Racoons abound, and hundreds and hundreds of deer run through our backyard daily, Ten point Bucks right now and skittery females. They will eat about anything so buy only deer resistant foliage or you will be providing a smorgasboard. At night dozens of deer ransack anything they can find, they are quite bold and used to humans. Hopefully you don't have too many.

Congrats on your happiness and enjoy the ride. Going back down to my happy playpen.
Click to expand...

Dan,

You are a lucky dog. LOL.

I forgot about skunks. How they love water.

Looks like the lawyers will try to make the closing date Thursday or Friday of next week. Closing could be Friday the 13th. I'm cool with that.

13 is a number that involves change and it seems chang disturbs most people. How boring is that. Maybe because I embraced risk all the time it could be viewed as self destructive or perhaps was a death wish, but I have had had an exciting life full of experience and adventure.

So I wonder will my neighbors find me annoying? LOL.

BTW my Baby-Victorian kinda looks like a hippy house or suggests that artists live there. It kinda stands out in the hood.

I kinda remember when I drove these $200.00 cars that I kept running for years how my one neighbor asked me not to park my car in front of his house. LOL.

They say you know you are a Hill-Billy when half the cars you own are not running. That at one time was kinda almost true for me. I owned 5 cars and two were not running.

Cal
 
Range-rover said:
The C12Q can't handle it, that's to bad, still a great amp. I'm glad I purchased
the Fender Deluxe amp I got, to bad with the Chemo my hands are getting bad
there that pins and needle pain in the fingers and stiffness so I don't know if I
could play the guitar now. Maybe I should pull out the old Fender Strat I got
and give it a try it might help. On the photo front I purchased a 18mm f2 for
the Fuji and it's really nice.
Click to expand...

Bob,

I dug in further and the vintage Jensen C12Q's could work. Change the GZ34 Rectum-fire (rectifier) to a 5U4 for a lower B+ and lower output power and headroom. There will be more sag and less attack also, not a bad thing.

Then to compress the headroom further change the 12AT7 phase invertor tube to a higher gain 12AX7 for lowering the "sweet-spot" and making the amp have less "headroom."

These two mods are just tube substitutions.

Further developments are possibly converting the Blackface Pro Reverb into a Blackface Twin Reverb. Not so hard to do, the chassis has the real estate and is the same size, and so is the cabinet. The only thing is that a mid-range knob would be omitted.

I can buy tone clone xformers from Mercury Magnetics, and the removed trannies could be recycled into another amp that I otherwise would have to buy xformers for.

The reason to build out a Twin though is for clean head-room, and to exploit having a pair of Altec Lansing 417's with original cones. Some say these are like high powered Jensen P12N's that can handle 75 watts a piece. The magnets are Alnico's.

The Pro Reverb also could do well with the lower powered 40 watt circuit and smaller output tranny. Someone who has a Pro Reverb with Altec 417's says "Carlos Santana."

The Altecs have been in my friend's attic for over 20 years out in Long Island. I also have a second pair that need reconing.

Parts I need to purchase will cost about $275.00 and then I'll have an amp worth $2.5K.

Happy-happy.

Cal
 
Dan,

Went to a loft party that was in a downtown loft on the westside that formally was owned by Bell Labs. The entire building was set up as subsidized affordable housing for artists.

In WWII this Bell Labs facility worked on the "Manhattan Project" building the atomic bomb.

So of course the waiting list is mucho long and impossible to get. What a place for an artist to live, large space, and no money.

It kinda crushed me that I could not be as lucky. So now I see myself a the lucky one.

Augie
 
MrFujicaman said:
Cal....that might be that building Diane Arbus was living in when she killed herself.
Click to expand...

MFM,

Sadly it could be.

On a happier note we will be closing on Wednesday November 18th.

I'll be busy moving and setting up the house.

What I love is that the setting is so rural. The views from the two rear bedrooms resembles rural England in that how "Escape To The Country."

Also it seems that more private broken up spaces is on trend, and what I will be doing with the garage and basement as studio work spaces is also in demand.

It kinda works out to be great that the living space is just under 1500 square feet. The addition of my studio space in the garage is another 420 square feet, then add onto that another 200 square feet for what in Britian they call an "observatory" overlooking the back-backyard.

If Dan is lurking, recommend me a 4x5 enlarger.

Cal
 
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