Picked up this strange crusty little thing.

kuys · #1 07-09-2010, 09:07 PM

It's a 70's Harmon Kardon "Commander" PA head that's been retooled for guitar/bass. Thing is dark and dirty and the tone is phenomenal. I got this and the Peavey Tour VB-2 and I'm loving both, but this has an amazing tone. And it's LOUD!

Could someone fix the title for me?

KramerBassFan · #2 07-09-2010, 09:10 PM

Gut shots!!

projectMalamute · #3 07-09-2010, 09:15 PM

I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers.

kuys · #4 07-09-2010, 09:29 PM

It's a little monster. Runs on 2 beefy 8417 output tubes and a 12AX7 and two 12AU7's.

kuys · #5 07-09-2010, 09:54 PM

Is there anyway to change the thread title? I didn't realize what It said till after I posted it. Looks pretty stupid. Just cut off the last two words if possible.

BassGreaser · #6 07-09-2010, 10:00 PM

nice!! how many watts is it is it

kuys · #7 07-09-2010, 10:01 PM

75 watts.

**Staccato** · #8 07-09-2010, 10:03 PM

Congrats on your little LOUD monster! Nice pix, too!

JimmyM · #9 07-10-2010, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuys

Is there anyway to change the thread title? I didn't realize what It said till after I posted it. Looks pretty stupid. Just cut off the last two words if possible.

but how will we goof on you if they do that?

well at the risk of not being able to goof on you, you should be able to edit it. click on edit, then go advanced and you should be able to edit it.

btw, nice crusty little thing little thing. i'm just glad you were talking about an amp before i clicked. i thought maybe another porno spammer got on here.

rbonner · #10 07-10-2010, 03:56 AM

Looks like some window air conditioner in that first pic

craig.p · #11 07-10-2010, 06:31 AM

Lookit them transformers!

Tank.

KramerBassFan · #12 07-10-2010, 08:44 AM

Yum!

8417's!

Sure don't hear much about those.... except for a few SG System amps and Guilds.

kuys · #13 07-10-2010, 09:26 AM

It could probably use some work though. The 8147's have a silver color on the top that looks like it's heat residue or something. I don't know a whole lot about tubes. And it you push it too hard and start going nuts it will fart a little bit. But if you keep it around half volume with the master at about 9 o'clock it hits this awesome sweet spot that has this very dark sound. It's not bright at all but it really lends itself to finger strummed type patterns. I'm a sucker for the Aug's and in that capacity it sounds awesome. I'm thinking about bringing it into a professional service center and getting it a good once over. Thing gets extremely hot while playing and I mean hot. Can't touch the top of it after a half an hour of playtime.

I'm in the western KY area and I don't actually know of any shops with really good techs. I'm willing to drive a few hours to let a true master craftsmen service it if anyone has any suggestions.

Jonyak · #14 07-10-2010, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuys

It could probably use some work though. The 8147's have a silver color on the top that looks like it's heat residue or something. I don't know a whole lot about tubes. And it you push it too hard and start going nuts it will fart a little bit. But if you keep it around half volume with the master at about 9 o'clock it hits this awesome sweet spot that has this very dark sound. It's not bright at all but it really lends itself to finger strummed type patterns. I'm a sucker for the Aug's and in that capacity it sounds awesome. I'm thinking about bringing it into a professional service center and getting it a good once over. Thing gets extremely hot while playing and I mean hot. Can't touch the top of it after a half an hour of playtime.

I'm in the western KY area and I don't actually know of any shops with really good techs. I'm willing to drive a few hours to let a true master craftsmen service it if anyone has any suggestions.

That silver is actualy supposed to be there. it is residue of the first burn in. they build a special metal into tubes, that upon first burn in eats up all residual air inside the tube and makes it a vaccum. the result of this reaction is the silver you see.

there is a name for it but it escapes me at the present time.

edit: found it here is the wiki entry on it.

To prevent any remaining gases from remaining in a free state in the tube, modern tubes are constructed with "getters", which are usually small, circular troughs filled with metals that oxidize quickly, with barium being the most common. While the tube envelope is being evacuated, the internal parts except the getter are heated by RF induction heating to extract any remaining gases from the metal. The tube is then sealed and the getter is heated to a high temperature, again by radio frequency induction heating. This causes the material to evaporate, absorbing/reacting with any residual gases and usually leaving a silver-colored metallic deposit on the inside of the envelope of the tube. The getter continues to absorb any gas molecules that leak into the tube during its working life. If a tube develops a crack in the envelope, this deposit turns a white color when it reacts with atmospheric oxygen. Large transmitting and specialized tubes often use more exotic getter materials, such as zirconium. Early gettered tubes used phosphorus based getters and these tubes are easily identifiable, as the phosphorus leaves a characteristic orange or rainbow deposit on the glass. The use of phosphorus was short-lived and was quickly replaced by the superior barium getters. Unlike the barium getters, the phosphorus did not absorb any further gases once it had fired.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getter

Rick Auricchio · #15 07-10-2010, 09:41 AM

Good for guitar, probably way too distorted for bass.

I have a Bogen Challenger 100w PA that's been in my garage for almost 40 years. Uses a quad of 7868s. Sounds great on guitar, terrible on bass.

Gotta put that on eBay someday.

SurferJoe46 · #16 07-10-2010, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonyak

That silver is actualy supposed to be there. it is residue of the first burn in. they build a special metal into tubes, that upon first burn in eats up all residual air inside the tube and makes it a vaccum. the result of this reaction is the silver you see.

there is a name for it but it escapes me at the present time.

edit: found it here is the wiki entry on it.

To prevent any remaining gases from remaining in a free state in the tube, modern tubes are constructed with "getters", which are usually small, circular troughs filled with metals that oxidize quickly, with barium being the most common. While the tube envelope is being evacuated, the internal parts except the getter are heated by RF induction heating to extract any remaining gases from the metal. The tube is then sealed and the getter is heated to a high temperature, again by radio frequency induction heating. This causes the material to evaporate, absorbing/reacting with any residual gases and usually leaving a silver-colored metallic deposit on the inside of the envelope of the tube. The getter continues to absorb any gas molecules that leak into the tube during its working life. If a tube develops a crack in the envelope, this deposit turns a white color when it reacts with atmospheric oxygen. Large transmitting and specialized tubes often use more exotic getter materials, such as zirconium. Early gettered tubes used phosphorus based getters and these tubes are easily identifiable, as the phosphorus leaves a characteristic orange or rainbow deposit on the glass. The use of phosphorus was short-lived and was quickly replaced by the superior barium getters. Unlike the barium getters, the phosphorus did not absorb any further gases once it had fired.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getter

Until I saw the edit, I was gonna say "getter" but you can ignore me at this point.

kuys · #17 07-11-2010, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Auricchio

Good for guitar, probably way too distorted for bass.

I have a Bogen Challenger 100w PA that's been in my garage for almost 40 years. Uses a quad of 7868s. Sounds great on guitar, terrible on bass.

Gotta put that on eBay someday.

At band practice today I let one of our guitarists use it with his marshal cab and Les Paul and it sounded phenomenal. I think it's been designated a guitar amp.