The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    there a two different kinds of these, if yours has a single front stripe, it is the high-power dreadnought version.

    two stripes is the regular version then.


    I found a repair-shop for mine, it should be ready soon, I will come up with some more pics then.


    sweetest Amp it is, mine has the 12" Rola field-coil speaker.




    check this neat add from the forties, where the dreadnought is mentioned.


    all the best with your restauration then.





  2.  

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  3. #27
    Hey Willy,

    welcome! Here is the schematic for your viewing pleasure!

    All the best with your project!


  4. #28

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    Thanks for the schematic! Cool that it has some of the voltages listed.

    Here is the cool guitar I had with it when last working. I sold this flamed beauty quite a few years ago.

    Willy O1946 Epiphone Electar Zephyr Amp-53epiback-jpg1946 Epiphone Electar Zephyr Amp-53epibody-jpg1946 Epiphone Electar Zephyr Amp-53epifront-jpg

  5. #29

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    Nice post. I have shied away from vintage amps except from reputable dealers.

    I assume all the old caps have to be replaced, and 3-prong wiring?

    Any other things that need to be done to make it safe and reliable?

  6. #30

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    I am sooooo disappointed ...


    received my Amp from the technician today ... it is said to be from 1941 and not 1946 ...

    which is cool.

    not so cool: the local technician with 30 years experience and a passionate approach towards vintage amps

    really f'ed up my dear Epiphone amp.



    when I plugged it in today, it took 15 seconds to warm up, 'til I heard the same intensive white noise as before,

    now in conjunction with a nice humming sound. So loud, that playing is no pleasure no more.

    And the amp does not react on the guitar's volume knob as before ... it is way too quiet 'til the very last

    5 percent and gets very noisy all of a sudden then.


    I am angry and frustrated.

    mostly, because I left my dear Gibson GA-50 amp there today, to be "repaired" as well ...

    I will go there tomorrow and pick it up !


    I am so angry, that I do not want to talk to the technician at all, to be honest.


    Everything has been "said" imo, I am going to send the amp chassis to someone else then.


  7. #31

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    Quote Originally Posted by Filmosound 621
    I am sooooo disappointed ...


    received my Amp from the technician today ... it is said to be from 1941 and not 1946 ...

    which is cool.

    not so cool: the local technician with 30 years experience and a passionate approach towards vintage amps

    really f'ed up my dear Epiphone amp.


    when I plugged it in today, it took 15 seconds to warm up, 'til I heard the same intensive white noise as before,

    now in conjunction with a nice humming sound. So loud, that playing is no pleasure no more.

    And the amp does not react on the guitar's volume knob as before ... it is way too quiet 'til the very last

    5 percent and gets very noisy all of a sudden then.


    I am angry and frustrated.

    mostly, because I left my dear Gibson GA-50 amp there today, to be "repaired" as well ...

    I will go there tomorrow and pick it up !


    I am so angry, that I do not want to talk to the technician at all, to be honest.


    Everything has been "said" imo, I am going to send the amp chassis to someone else then.

    Sorry to hear this! Find out exactly what the tech did / replaced.

    My first thought on the difference in volume is he may have replaced the volume Pot with a modern taper pot (potentiometer). The original pot is a 500k audio taper. Taper is how much resistance the pot has at it's 50% sweep point (halfway turned up). Vintage pots were usually 30% taper (30% of their rating at halfway up). Modern audio taper pots are 10% taper, so you have to turn them way higher for the same volume. A linear taper pot can also be called a 50% taper. I actually had some custom pots made for the amps I build that have 30% taper (but mine are 1 meg pots, wouldn't help your amp).

    The white noise you describe is usually a bad plate load resistor on one of the pre-amp tubes. Although it could just be a noisy tube, the symptom of it coming on after warmup makes me think that is the culprit. These are resistors that connect the high voltage to the tube plates and reduce it down. Usually 100k 1/2 watt carbon composition resistors, but I see on this schematic they are 390k on the first 2 tubes and 56k on the phase inverter (3rd preamp tube). That makes a very low 95 volt plate voltage on the first 2 pre-amp tubes. Now I am getting even more motivated to get my amp out of storage and on the bench!

    Regarding 1941 vs 1946....look at your speaker and find the 6 digit code in the format 285xxx. The 4th digit is the year (1 = 1941 and 6 = 1946). the final 2 digits denotes the week, so 285646 is a Rola (285 manufacturers code) built the 46th week of of 1946.

    Willy O

  8. #32

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    thanks for chiming in, Willy.

    the problem with the schematic: I have a different amp ... mine is the the Dreadnought Version, of which has got a higher output

    and different power consumption as well.

    there are no visible codes left on my speaker, I have to ask the tech, how he knew the amp is from 41 and not 46.



    I have a detailed invoice about what has been done to the amp.

    but with my poor understanding of anything electronically, with the language barrier in between, it is all too much for me.

    with my short attention span, I get mad at stuff like this too quick, this is why I am no electrician ...


    I just gave the amp another try, I shouldn't have done that, that is going to ruin my mood.

    all I want at this time is a competent amp technician.

    but this thing is too big, to have it shipped safely.


    thanks again, kind regards

    Jan

  9. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by Minnesota Willy
    Sorry to hear this!
    hey Willy.

    after some thinking what has happened so far and looking at your text and the invoice in front of me,

    it seems obvious, what went wrong.


    It has been the biggest fault from the beginning, that I did not spoke with the technician but with his secretary, when I delivered the amp.

    Always in a hurry, I filled out the repair order form rather shortly and wrote "big Service" with a rather high maximum possible amount of money, to cover the service.

    I did not wrote "Amp makes lots of white noise" on the order form, because I thought, a test of function would reveal all problems the amp might have.

    So, this test of function never did happen, is what I read from the detailed invoice.

    It reads "acoustic test okay" - I believe he switched off the amp again, before it even got running, which takes about 13 sec. ( I just measured it ... )

    I believe, he thought, the amp is dead quiet, when he turned it off ...


    You are right, I believe, he soldered a part with a wrong value into the amp, which messed up the guitar's volume knob control.

    Thank you so much, you have really brightened up my mood now.


    I highly encourage you, to get this amp up on your bench and running.

    among the special amps, that I own, this one is special.


    thank you, kind regards

    Jan

  10. #34

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    just recently found this zephyr complete dreadnaught control panel one of my stuff pile boxes . had it for 20 yrs or so bought at a music flea market just cause it was quool looking here in buffalo, n.y. never knew what it was until i found this site looking for info. serial # 9562
    Attached Images Attached Images 1946 Epiphone Electar Zephyr Amp-epiphone-zephyr-004-jpg 1946 Epiphone Electar Zephyr Amp-epiphone-zephyr-002-jpg 

  11. #35

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    Quote Originally Posted by theawfulegg
    just recently found this zephyr complete dreadnaught control panel one of my stuff pile boxes . had it for 20 yrs or so bought at a music flea market just cause it was quool looking here in buffalo, n.y. never knew what it was until i found this site looking for info. serial # 9562

  12. #36

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    the Dreadnaught is one cool amp ... it has 30 Watts and the special Rola Field Coil Speaker,

    it has been the HP amp, priced at around 200 US $ in the late forties.


    update from mine, # 9749 built in 1946: the 2nd technician killed the amp in full, it is not working any longer.

    but: I have an appointment with the 3rd. technician soon.


    I would still love to get schematics for the amp, I found this in between:


    ( click for large )






  13. #37

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    with all the research for the Zephyr Dreadnaught amp, I came across this picture:

    backside of the famous "harvest" album, right in the centre: the dear Epiphone amp.






  14. #38

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    Looks like Ben Keith played his steels thru that Epiphone.