dynacord BA300

[Muziekschuur]

Sure. But it's high end stuff. a Tap delay from an old lexicon still sounds mindbogling good. Maybe I'll buy a unit and try.

I allso see lots of older (very very expensive in the day) Sony reverbs turn up on fleabay for allmost nothing. The sellers usually clueless of what they have...

 

[rust_preacher]

Ex-Beate's Imperator on top of my 15" cab (with a Fane 250 W element):

I used this at rehearsal yesterday. The drummer was all smiles. Guitarist asked me to turn down which I did and we put some of the bass miked into monitors.

This setup has a very vintagey vibe and the G & L SB-2 I have tuned a step down produced a nice low-D growl. I played my custom Precision most of the rehearsal and surprisingly I got some clank if I wanted, but I rolled the tone off on the bass a bit most of the time.

The power transformer buzzes a bit but none of that is coupled to the output, so all was good.

Thanks for the trouble sending the amp over, Beate!

 

[beate_r]

Wow, with the original box...

Yes, the buzz is mechanical vibration of the mains transformer - but i found the amp reliable. Played it without any problems (except the buzz) in a seminar, each day over hours.

Anyway - if You own an Eminent 2T (very similar sound as the imperator) and an all valve Eminent 2 and the Bassking and the Mywatt...and have a G-2000 in the restore queue there is simply no use for the Imperator.

I am glad if it finally found a new owner who appreciates it and uses it regularly. I hope You'll be happy with the amp for a long time.

 

[rust_preacher]

Wow, with the original box...

Yes, the buzz is mechanical vibration of the mains transformer - but i found the amp reliable. Played it without any problems (except the buzz) in a seminar, each day over hours.

Anyway - if You own an Eminent 2T (very similar sound as the imperator) and an all valve Eminent 2 and the Bassking and the Mywatt...and have a G-2000 in the restore queue there is simply no use for the Imperator.

I am glad if it finally found a new owner who appreciates it and uses it regularly. I hope You'll be happy with the amp for a long time.

Thanks Beate. I will use it weekly at rehearsal! Is there a way to route out the signal to e. g. the Eminent II T, in case I would want to use a 2x10" together with the 15" speaker?

 

[beate_r]

The Imperator has an Output labeled as "Steuerausgang". It offers 1 V from the emitter of the last transistor stage and reqires an input impedance of at least 150 k (identical to the Eminent, but the specs there are 1 V/100 k)

I should be possible to feed that signal into fx-return (Echo playback, 800 mV/100 kOhm) or tape in (120 mV/220 k) of the Eminent. Input I or II should also be fine, maybe even preferrable if their sensitivity is adjusted - everything except fx-return is fed through the passive mixing stage.

 

[rust_preacher]

The Imperator has an Output labeled as "Steuerausgang". It offers 1 V from the emitter of the last transistor stage and reqires an input impedance of at least 150 k (identical to the Eminent, but the specs there are 1 V/100 k)

I should be possible to feed that signal into fx-return (Echo playback, 800 mV/100 kOhm) or tape in (120 mV/220 k) of the Eminent. Input I or II should also be fine, maybe even preferrable if their sensitivity is adjusted - everything except fx-return is fed through the passive mixing stage.

Thanks Beate. I will try that next week!

Jyrki

 

[rust_preacher]

The Imperator has an Output labeled as "Steuerausgang". It offers 1 V from the emitter of the last transistor stage and reqires an input impedance of at least 150 k (identical to the Eminent, but the specs there are 1 V/100 k)

I should be possible to feed that signal into fx-return (Echo playback, 800 mV/100 kOhm) or tape in (120 mV/220 k) of the Eminent. Input I or II should also be fine, maybe even preferrable if their sensitivity is adjusted - everything except fx-return is fed through the passive mixing stage.

I had a MIDI 5-pin DIN cable and tried to use the Steuerausgang from the Imperator to the "1" input at the back of the Eminent II. It seems the "Steuerausgang" follows the volume setting of the Imperator, so it was really difficult to get a comparison. I wasn't sure if there was any signal coupled into the Eminent II at all, even with the trimmer turned to maximum.

I had a limited time for experimentation, need to look at the outputs and inputs with a scope, I think.

I played the practice just with the Imperator, no issues.

 

[Fuzzonaut]

Hello,

I have an Eminent II; ss preamp, love it.
It's part of my clean rig (with the Acoustic 301), on the left. Sound is huge!

 

[rust_preacher]

The rest of all of it is very nice vintage gear too...

 

[beate_r]

Here a link to the schematics of both amps Invalid Link Removed

And yes, the Steuerausgang follows the volume and tone settings of the amp. Both on Imerator and on Eminent. The Imperator does not offer an output before the volume pot.

The probably best solution might be a adding a connection at the input of the phase splitting stage, the first valve stage, probably between R400 and C400. Both amps need to be modified for this. That connection should mix the signals of both preamps into both power stages.


Beate


BTW: in bassic.ch a Bassking T is currently in offer.

 

[rust_preacher]

Thanks Beate.

Without an oscilloscope, the signal path is hard to follow, especially with the volume and tone affecting the Steuerausgang. Besides, adding two Dynacord amps this way would not be useful for adding power, using the second amp as a slave, if the power split is this hard to control.

Since the DIN jack is a 5-pin thing, there must be a free pin to route the pre-PI signal out of the Steuerausgang.

 

[beate_r]

I assume you have the schematics of at least one of the amp at hand.

To my understanding it would be sufficient to add the connection after R400 on board 84002 - the power stage, identical in both amps. I would use a connector of its own for that - DIN connectors are easiest because the chassis is already prepared for additional connectors. To my understanding the connection must be built after R400 and not before (which would be a lot easier) becaus it would decouple the preamp stages of the two amps. That connector would carry the 6 V signal at the input of the first valve stage.

I am considering this mod to be able to use my Emi 2T as a slave to either the Bassking or the all tube Emi 2 (or the G2000 )

If we're on modding: a JFET stage with low gain, e.g. a BF245 would increase the sensitivity of the amps and it would provide the possibility to increase the input impedance to 1 MOhm. Suitable for all hybrid Dynacords and pretty easy to do.

I would have done these mods on the Imperator if there hadn't been the transformer noise.

Something else, and *really* important in all models of these Dynacord amps: the potentiometers to adjust the bias tend to fail. In case of failure, the bias voltage simply goes away, and the power tubes will play (deadly) havoc and may even destroy the output transformer. So it is advisable to a) change the trim pots to better ones (15 mm Prehs are sufficient) and to bridge the outputs of these pots by a resistor to ensure that in case of failure the maximal bias voltage will be present.

Apparantly, the Imperator also has had its bias pots changed by the previous owner, but the safety resistors were not supplied.

 

[rust_preacher]

I assume you have the schematics of at least one of the amp at hand.

To my understanding it would be sufficient to add the connection after R400 on board 84002 - the power stage, identical in both amps. I would use a connector of its own for that - DIN connectors are easiest because the chassis is already prepared for additional connectors. To my understanding the connection must be built after R400 and not before (which would be a lot easier) becaus it would decouple the preamp stages of the two amps. That connector would carry the 6 V signal at the input of the first valve stage.

I am considering this mod to be able to use my Emi 2T as a slave to either the Bassking or the all tube Emi 2 (or the G2000 )

If we're on modding: a JFET stage with low gain, e.g. a BF245 would increase the sensitivity of the amps and it would provide the possibility to increase the input impedance to 1 MOhm. Suitable for all hybrid Dynacords and pretty easy to do.

I would have done these mods on the Imperator if there hadn't been the transformer noise.

Something else, and *really* important in all models of these Dynacord amps: the potentiometers to adjust the bias tend to fail. In case of failure, the bias voltage simply goes away, and the power tubes will play (deadly) havoc and may even destroy the output transformer. So it is advisable to a) change the trim pots to better ones (15 mm Prehs are sufficient) and to bridge the outputs of these pots by a resistor to ensure that in case of failure the maximal bias voltage will be present.

Apparantly, the Imperator also has had its bias pots changed by the previous owner, but the safety resistors were not supplied.

Thank you very much for this information Beate.

As I mentioned, for the time being, the Imperator to the 1x15" is sufficient for band practice. We got a gig offer for June where we need to learn a number of new tunes, Finnish punk, of all genres... So my effoprt will most likely go to learing the new songs.

I will most likely concentrate on maintaining the Eminent II as there are symptoms turning it up to full volume, making me suspect a cap job is in order. At quiet levels, it behaves very nicely. If I go dig inside this amp, I will certainly look into the bias trimmers and the J-FET input mod. One of the inputs is already modded on that amp, but I haven't looked how, exactly.

I wish I had all the time in the world, but there's too much going on at the moment to properly dig into the inner life of these wonderful amplifiers.

 

[beate_r]

Lack of time resp. too much other project is one of the reasons why progress with my Emi 2 is so slow. BTW: one of my SG basses sounds better over the Dynacord than it does over the Mywatt (which is very sensitive on instruments and even more on playing style).

Today i have a free day and i would like to make a bass for my son playable (the Jag bass in the background of the SG)

 

[beate_r]

Let me pick this up again:

The reason they are getting cheap is that electronic/digital devices get more features for the same cost as time goes on. The early Dynacord effects are very limited, with regard to what the same money buys today.

Which effects except of course the old tape delays can be driven from the FX channels of the old Dynacords, notably Eminents, Gigants and the Bassking? I am interested in Delay and Reverb for vocals (ok, it looks that old tape recorders obeying German standards of that time would fit electrically). Does anyone have experience?

 

[neeko]

Hi Guys,
I'm the proud owner of an Imperator, which I used for rehearsals and gigs for 5 years. I love it. Unfortunately, it litterally burnt some weeks ago...The Tech guy who looked on it told it was not as serious as expected. The issue is that I have to change the power/Standby switch (which works a bit like a play/record button on a tape recorder). Does anyone of have spare parts to trade or any idea of where I could find that. I often have a look on Ebay Germany but nothing...Vielen Dank !

 

[beate_r]

You might have a look at that one: [This invalid link has been removed]

That's the guitar version of these amps. Mostly an Imperator with additional tremolo unit. To be overhauled or used for parts.

Here's another one, in better condition (although the first one looks like it neded just to be cleaned and recapped):

http://www.ebay.de/itm/DYNACORD-Fav..._Musikinstrumente_Zubehör&hash=item258b6146e1

 

[neeko]

thanks Beate. I was just given a look at Ebay.de when you replied to my post ! I bid on the first one...Let's see.

 

[rust_preacher]

Let me pick this up again:



Which effects except of course the old tape delays can be driven from the FX channels of the old Dynacords, notably Eminents, Gigants and the Bassking? I am interested in Delay and Reverb for vocals (ok, it looks that old tape recorders obeying German standards of that time would fit electrically). Does anyone have experience?

My comment on the Dynacord effects was on the early DIGITAL units they made. I have no experience on their actual sound, but I would venture to guess that today's DIGITAL effect/reverb units have more dynamic range, delay time, multi-tap, etc. capability.

As to the Dynacord/Klemt tape echos, I don't know if any of today's brands have the same "instant" blendability.

 

[Muziekschuur]

Nope. I now have a Yamaha REV7 and a Schaller echo sound (wich just came in cannot comment on that just yet). The REV7 just tears any cheap reverb nowadays apart. My Lexicon 100 is nice. But the REV7 clearly is a whole other ballgame. The older Dynacord reverb units probably will surprise you in many ways. I allso have a D&R 9,5 inch reverb wich is a so so device. But still gives me a sound not found in other devices.