Jess Oliver's legacy - AMPEG PORTAFLEX CLUB part 9

[beans-on-toast]

I'm not aware of anyone selling exact repro vintage logos. The fliptops one is the same one from Loud that everyone else sells. Loud redesigned their logos and trademarked them when they bought Ampeg. They decided to made it look more modern.

I've always thought that it would be interesting to scan one and have it reproduced on a water jet machine. It could then be relic'ed. Then there are those 3D laser printers that will do one in plastic. It can then be plated. I've bought them on ebay but they are pretty rare and the price just keeps going up. For now, ebay is the least expensive option.

[P Town]

The logo on my '63 B15 is mostly missing. I think the broken one from my '67 B12XTC is complete. Does anyone know if they are the same? Also, if anyone could supply a nice repro, (or original) I would buy it.

[kuratacus]

as i said i'd like to get a full original logo and do a silicon mold and make replica's out of resin and paint them to look old and tarnished. even put the pins in the right spots. the more modern from flip tops is nice. shiny eye catching. but it's not original

[christw]

P Town, I have the same baffle mounted logo style on my '67's but I'm not sure if it's the same as the '63. Yours was mounted on the cab, right?

[Farfetched]

Originally Posted by kuratacus

as i said i'd like to get a full original logo and do a silicon mold and make replica's out of resin and paint them to look old and tarnished. even put the pins in the right spots. the more modern from flip tops is nice. shiny eye catching. but it's not original

someone should get on this. i'd be interested in one.

[johnnyt]

I've noticed the '63 logo is slightly different than the later ones. I could attempt to pull one off, if someone was serious about a casting.

[JimmyM]

#329 Ras Keita

Hasn't posted yet, but PM'd about joining. Hopefully he'll post about it with a pic.

[kuratacus]

Originally Posted by Farfetched

someone should get on this. i'd be interested in one.

i am willing to give it a go, as i said probably a resin based cast, or polystone. painting them to look tarnished would be pretty easy. dont think i ever saw one that never looked dull. were they chromed back in the day or just zinc plated?

Originally Posted by johnnyt

I've noticed the '63 logo is slightly different than the later ones. I could attempt to pull one off, if someone was serious about a casting.

my 63 logo is the same as the 61 logo of my rocket. havent seen any later years next too mine to compare. all images i've seen online look the same. I'm serious about casting them but wouldnt want you to pull one off, or even have someone else intact logo to make a mold of. if i broke it i'd feel terrible. Thats why i wont attempt to remove mine.

as i siad before i have the old logo from my Rocket, but am missing the M. anyone want to donate an M to a good cause? or a broken logo

[kuratacus]

Originally Posted by beans-on-toast

I'm not aware of anyone selling exact repro vintage logos. The fliptops one is the same one from Loud that everyone else sells. Loud redesigned their logos and trademarked them when they bought Ampeg. They decided to made it look more modern.

you know it's funny, if you look at the A the new repro's have the top left corner rounded more (along with the A hole) where as the original is a sharper corner. well thats not so funny. BUT the modern version of the 70's A logo has the old school Ampeg logo and the shape of the A hasnt changed. odd that if they "modernedized" the old logo they only did it with the chromed logo

[portaflexer]

I don't know if this helps or not, but Fliptops sells a logo kit (they also sell them individually).

http://www.fliptops.net/catalog/p-10...aflex-logo-set

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by kuratacus

i am willing to give it a go, as i said probably a resin based cast, or polystone. painting them to look tarnished would be pretty easy. dont think i ever saw one that never looked dull. were they chromed back in the day or just zinc plated?

Just a little history from Mark Mark Gandenberger at Vintage Blue.I found this on his blog last year. Jess Oliver told this story to Mark.


"The “font” used for the Ampeg script logos and Portaflex amplifiers (as shown below) was designed by Henry Konarsky. According to Jess Oliver, Mr. Konarsky was “a good friend, artist and guitar player. He also did several of our catalogs and we kept him in amplifiers“.

Below is a drawing of the logo.

[Farfetched]

Originally Posted by portaflexer

I don't know if this helps or not, but Fliptops sells a logo kit (they also sell them individually).

http://www.fliptops.net/catalog/p-10...aflex-logo-set

Thats the more modern logo. It looks ok, but noticeably different than the vintage ones.

[lowstar]

hello everybody,

first, thanks to all the contributions of the knowledgeable people in this thread, i´v been skimming through a lot of posts and learned quite a lot.
now, to my question: i´m in the process of recapping and refurbishing my early 70ies european b15n, and have some questions. this is how mine looks like inside:

and here is the schematic to go with this amp:

now, as you can see, somebody who worked on this amp before installed an xtra electrolytic can cap inside. the trace that comes from the yellow wire of the 40/40/40 cap (the one going to the preamp tubes) has been cut, and by using this can cap and two 10K resistors, an extra "stiffer" power supply (plus filtering) has been generated for V1 and V2 going to the anode resistors (470K/220K).
has anybody ever seen something like this ? was this a mod that was once considered "good" ? maybe there was excess hum before, and this double r/c filter was installed to get rid of it ? should i leave it like it is, and just change the 40/40/40, the 30µf/600 and the 10/100 pair plus the 25/25v, or convert it to completely original ?

thanks and cheers,
lowstar

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by Farfetched

Thats the more modern logo. It looks ok, but noticeably different than the vintage ones.

They aren't too far off.

This is my 61 R12R with old and new logos:





And my 67 B15 with an original vs my 65 B15 with a replacement:






The newer logo is slightly smaller, I think, but it's hardly noticeable to anyone who isn't as obsessed as us on this forum

[JimmyM]

I wish they'd do a run of those metal logos, though. The plastic looks good but those old metal logos have character.

[coreyfyfe]

The fliptops logos are metal.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by coreyfyfe

The fliptops logos are metal.

They are? I thought the one on my cab he made is plastic with chrome stuff on it.

[beans-on-toast]

Originally Posted by kuratacus

i am willing to give it a go, as i said probably a resin based cast, or polystone. painting them to look tarnished would be pretty easy. dont think i ever saw one that never looked dull. were they chromed back in the day or just zinc plated?

I'm serious about casting them but wouldnt want you to pull one off, or even have someone else intact logo to make a mold of. if i broke it i'd feel terrible. Thats why i wont attempt to remove mine.

On the vintage ones, I believe that the pot metal has a plating over it of copper and then chrome over that. Pot metal is zinc based. You can get zinc based solders to repair damaged areas from cracks, pitting, and scratches.

I've bought plating supplies from Caswell plating. They have a wealth of information on the subject on their site. If you were to cast the logo, they would have info on how to plate it if that is the direction that you wanted to go.

You may not need to remove the logo to cast it. I've used a dental casting product. Can't recall the name. It came in a side-by-side syringe type applicator that mixed the two parts as it was squeezed out. It dried into a hard rubber material. In the case of an Ampeg logo, you could use a product like this and make the mold of the logo with it on the amp. Then peel it off.

[beans-on-toast]

A lot of the logos seem to break between the m and the p.

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

They are? I thought the one on my cab he made is plastic with chrome stuff on it.

They list them as chromed metal, at least.