Recent content by SWRGonzo

Thanks for all this info. I am guessing my V200 is the power stage of the G500. I now run it through a custom preamp using an early Ampeg design, and it sounds brilliant, and fabulously "old school".

Sid Vicious' white P.

Does anyone have an opinion on whether the tone changed with the move to PCB?

I has a great full tube tone. I drive it off the front end of my SWR Studio 220. It weighs a ton, so I don't take it out as much as I should, though.

Here is a question for those of you who have seen far more Portaflexes than I have: When did Portaflexes switch from being hand wired to using printed circuit boards?

My Zoot Horn V200 can be seen at Link Removed

Mine is a Zoot Horn V200. It is just a power amp, using 4 KT88s. It is also a gem of an amp, and extremely well built.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I (very occasionally) use an old Gibson EB0. There is no way in the world that you can get much mid out of that thing. With the treble knob on 10, it sounds "dark and gloomy". With the treble rolled off, it sounds like you are playing from the bottom of a well...

I guess you can get hung up on labels (is a tweed Fender Bassman a bass amp?), but I am going to use mine to amplify bass, a function for which I think it will be perfectly suited. That said, I haven't taken delivery of it yet, so time will tell.

Well, I'm sure that if Jess thought of the 12X series as guitar amps, he would have said so. The tech that looked over mine said the primary circuit was identical to the Portaflexes of the same era without reverb and tremolo. I haven't checked that myself yet, but the disc that comes with...

Well, Jess Oliver says they were bass amps (notwithstanding the "Xtra" features), and that's good enough for me. Check out Link Removed.

I read an interview with Jess Oliver, in which he said that any amp with a "B" designation (like the B-15) was a bass amp, even if it had "guitar" features like reverb and tremolo, and even those designated "A" (for Accordion) were the same circuit as the "B" ones, with the "Accordion"...

Well, there can't be many if Neil from Grouse Guitars has never seen one. They are all bass amps apparently. Even mine, which has "guitar" features like reverb and trem has an identical primary circuit to the ones with only "bass" features.

Yeah, the Portaflex is a rare beast in Australia. The dealer I am buying it off (who has seen lots of tube amps in his day) says it is the first one he has ever seen. In 1960s Australia (as in Britain), US made gear was too expensive for most of the locals.

Do you have to have the whole unit to join? I am buying a 1964 B12XY, but unfortunately it is just the head with no cab. If you want to see pictures, check out the Grouse Guitars (Australian vintage guitar and amp dealer) website.