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dynacord BA300
- Thread starter Muziekschuur
- Start date
Unfortunately, they have their strengths but also some severe flaws and disadvantages, especially regarding low input impedances disqualifying them for use with passive pickups. The latest valve preamps use ECC808 tubes which are rare and extremly expensive (unfortunately even JJ did not come out with some ECC83 rewired as ECC808s...) - and it is hard to adapt the ECC83 in these densely packaged boxes. And there is this nasty biasing pot issue (which is easy to cure, but not in a vintage correct amp).
The ECC808 issue is the reason why i bought the Imperator (which requires work) instead of a fully restored Echolette BA40.
The ECC808 issue is the reason why i bought the Imperator (which requires work) instead of a fully restored Echolette BA40.
Please let me comment a bit on this one:
I bought it just a few weeks ago and did not have much time to check its sound. Today i played most of my basses through it using the read box with the Fame broadband speaker i showed together with my Echolette amp.
Quite interesting: the "fenderish" Basses, i.e. my Vester Witch (PJ-Bass) and my Flying V (MM style PU) sounded great. My acoustic bass sounded pretty well - the specific piezo sound requires a very thorough adjustment of the tone. My EB-3 clone, however, sounds terrible through this amp.
Quite interestingly, the EB-3 is really good on its little cousin, the Bassking 1. And it sounds great through the Echolette M40 and most other tube amps.
Whats the difference between the three?
Output power: the factor of 2 should not matter much in the living room, but a bit more of dynamics might be audible. The different dynamic behavior of the instruments was very pronounced through the Imperator.
The main difference is probably the input section: Bassking and M40 are all tube amps. Technically, both are small PA amps. They offer high impedance inputs for instruments (450 kOhm, 1 MOhm), and this seems to be what the humbuckers of the EB-3 seem to require, while the Pickups designed for Leo Fender seem to live quite happily with the low impedance of the inputs of the Imperator.
Anyway - this is a really great amp for probably most basses.
Beate
I bought it just a few weeks ago and did not have much time to check its sound. Today i played most of my basses through it using the read box with the Fame broadband speaker i showed together with my Echolette amp.
Quite interesting: the "fenderish" Basses, i.e. my Vester Witch (PJ-Bass) and my Flying V (MM style PU) sounded great. My acoustic bass sounded pretty well - the specific piezo sound requires a very thorough adjustment of the tone. My EB-3 clone, however, sounds terrible through this amp.
Quite interestingly, the EB-3 is really good on its little cousin, the Bassking 1. And it sounds great through the Echolette M40 and most other tube amps.
Whats the difference between the three?
Output power: the factor of 2 should not matter much in the living room, but a bit more of dynamics might be audible. The different dynamic behavior of the instruments was very pronounced through the Imperator.
The main difference is probably the input section: Bassking and M40 are all tube amps. Technically, both are small PA amps. They offer high impedance inputs for instruments (450 kOhm, 1 MOhm), and this seems to be what the humbuckers of the EB-3 seem to require, while the Pickups designed for Leo Fender seem to live quite happily with the low impedance of the inputs of the Imperator.
Anyway - this is a really great amp for probably most basses.
Beate
Needs to be tested.
On the el-me-se site i found "high" and "low" regarding to the sensitivity of the BA-300. No info for the impedance is given. Anyway - the same is to be expected as for the Imperator: great for the majority of all basses, and probably correctable for the rest.
BTW: i own another vintage amp - a Bouyer ST20, from about 1961. Fully original in perfect state - looks as if being just a few years old. The Bouyer has an input resistance of 220 k which is a bit low for the EB-3 but just acceptable. Really between Imperator and Bassking.
Anyway: it is time to add a buffer amp to the EB-3 which will decouple its PUs from the amp. I have an old prototype lying around - unfortunately using a TL071 which needs a lot of electrical power. But certainly good enough for testing and as a first step .
On the el-me-se site i found "high" and "low" regarding to the sensitivity of the BA-300. No info for the impedance is given. Anyway - the same is to be expected as for the Imperator: great for the majority of all basses, and probably correctable for the rest.
BTW: i own another vintage amp - a Bouyer ST20, from about 1961. Fully original in perfect state - looks as if being just a few years old. The Bouyer has an input resistance of 220 k which is a bit low for the EB-3 but just acceptable. Really between Imperator and Bassking.
Anyway: it is time to add a buffer amp to the EB-3 which will decouple its PUs from the amp. I have an old prototype lying around - unfortunately using a TL071 which needs a lot of electrical power. But certainly good enough for testing and as a first step .
I have the schematic. Wich allso can be found using Google.
Low impendance is 30mV
high impendance is 6,5mV
Btw Bouyer is awesome. They made some really cool looking microphones.... And really a lot of interesting gear... Nothing to sneeze about.
Low impendance is 30mV
high impendance is 6,5mV
Btw Bouyer is awesome. They made some really cool looking microphones.... And really a lot of interesting gear... Nothing to sneeze about.
Here a Dynacord REF410 cabinet...
By the way; that RED COLOR was original. The grill drawing probably not. But the red finish is a factory finish..
By the way; that RED COLOR was original. The grill drawing probably not. But the red finish is a factory finish..
That's the sensitivity of the inputs. Input impedance is a value specified in (Kilo,Mega,... ) Ohms.
Its effect on the sound is that it damps the resonance peak of the pickup.
The input impedance of the Imperator should be a bit over 100 kOhm. AFAIK, the inputs of Your old Bassking have an impedance of 1 MOhm like many (most?) instrumental amps.
Beate
One of the latest Dynacord Bassamps.... The Dynacord reference 4000. The eq and all presets are controlled by a chip and recallable...
Hi, first of all, googling i noticed that You are searching for infos on the BA-300 in other places on the net as well.
Here a link to a german forum thread where a few users (or former users) of the amp respond: Invalid Link Removed
And here it is mentioned in a review on an older Dynacord: Invalid Link Removed
Here is a summary of its features: Invalid Link Removed
(The info on that site has reference character).
Important: Dynacord might still have the schematics of that amp, and they are sending out copies of these to recent owners. That's how i obtained the circuitry of my Bassking. Just drop them an email. BTW: its phase inverter section uses the ECC81, not the ECC 82 as You recently wrote elsewhere (well, You might notice that i am pretty technically oriented for a woman...) . Its power amp seems to be identical with the power amps in Gigant I, Gigant II, A 1000, B 1000, B 1001 - which is the actual predecessor of Your amp, it mainly lacks the Equalizer section - , the G 1000, G 2000, G 2002.
One of the reasons why these amps are so rare is probably that Dynacord had widely been used by dance floor musicians, mostly the power mixers. Their reputation in the rock scene was not very good.
Beate
Here a link to a german forum thread where a few users (or former users) of the amp respond: Invalid Link Removed
And here it is mentioned in a review on an older Dynacord: Invalid Link Removed
Here is a summary of its features: Invalid Link Removed
(The info on that site has reference character).
Important: Dynacord might still have the schematics of that amp, and they are sending out copies of these to recent owners. That's how i obtained the circuitry of my Bassking. Just drop them an email. BTW: its phase inverter section uses the ECC81, not the ECC 82 as You recently wrote elsewhere (well, You might notice that i am pretty technically oriented for a woman...) . Its power amp seems to be identical with the power amps in Gigant I, Gigant II, A 1000, B 1000, B 1001 - which is the actual predecessor of Your amp, it mainly lacks the Equalizer section - , the G 1000, G 2000, G 2002.
One of the reasons why these amps are so rare is probably that Dynacord had widely been used by dance floor musicians, mostly the power mixers. Their reputation in the rock scene was not very good.
Beate
I don't have the amp in question but since there is some info here that I crave for I'll chime in if you don't mind...
There are currently four Dynacords that my band are using, then a 24-channel Dynacord mixing console from the 70-ies, and a rackmount analog rverberator. The guys are into old-school soviet music and these work well for them (they do have all sorts of all-tube marshalls, old peaveys, a silverface fender etc.). Not saying they are necessarily "better", but they do the job very well
the Dynacord Eminent I is a very decent all-round mixing amplifier with four inputs with separate tube preamps, tube mixing section and, IIRC, a dual EL34 power section. IMO, the generic Fender American Standard strat that they are using sounds better through this amp than anything else in the rehearsal room. I believe they also have a Dynacord II (or another I), but I wouldn't bet which one it is.
The two bass Dynacords that I use are the hybrid Bass-King I (from what beate said it could also be a IT, but it only says "I" on the plexi front), and, the most recent, the all-tube Bass-King T. They look pretty much like in Beate's pics.
Rest assured they sound VERY good with my Laklands. They blow the Marshall Valvestate (that we rewired after my Ampeg B200R preamp curcuit) out of the water and are easily better than my B200R as well. Also, they are not anywhere as heavy and non-portable. Also an advantage.
I used a passive PJ5 for this band for obvious reasons but when I took the 55-94 to rehearsal everybody was even more pleased (despite of a "less vintagey" tone). The amps's sound is tense, full-bodied, it envelopes the sound in the room and is at the same time very present. I sold the PJ5 recently BTW.
At this point I like the Bass-King I better. Strange, because it is a hybrid amp with a transistor preamp and a 2-input mixing section (power sections are almost identical in all of the heads only voltage supplied to the tubes differs). Could be that it has a pair of new Electro Harmonix marked Sovtek tubes whereas the Bass-King T has an old set of tubes. I can't get tubes locally so they need to be ordered, so currently I'm looking for a matched quad of EL34-s to compare the amps head to head. I'm also planning to give them a run alongside my Ampeg B200r and my friends' Mesa M-pulse 600 and Ampeg SVT Classic (that the 55-94 is particularly good with).
The EC preamp section tubes are what warries me a bit too. The technician says they will work well another 50 years and then some, however. We'll see.
most definitely! you know the detail. Respekt!
thanks for the info and the links. If there is anything else I could read, also in German, I would be most grateful. Also, if you could give me a few hints where I could snatch a Dynacord for myself at a good price...
Denis
There are currently four Dynacords that my band are using, then a 24-channel Dynacord mixing console from the 70-ies, and a rackmount analog rverberator. The guys are into old-school soviet music and these work well for them (they do have all sorts of all-tube marshalls, old peaveys, a silverface fender etc.). Not saying they are necessarily "better", but they do the job very well
the Dynacord Eminent I is a very decent all-round mixing amplifier with four inputs with separate tube preamps, tube mixing section and, IIRC, a dual EL34 power section. IMO, the generic Fender American Standard strat that they are using sounds better through this amp than anything else in the rehearsal room. I believe they also have a Dynacord II (or another I), but I wouldn't bet which one it is.
The two bass Dynacords that I use are the hybrid Bass-King I (from what beate said it could also be a IT, but it only says "I" on the plexi front), and, the most recent, the all-tube Bass-King T. They look pretty much like in Beate's pics.
Rest assured they sound VERY good with my Laklands. They blow the Marshall Valvestate (that we rewired after my Ampeg B200R preamp curcuit) out of the water and are easily better than my B200R as well. Also, they are not anywhere as heavy and non-portable. Also an advantage.
I used a passive PJ5 for this band for obvious reasons but when I took the 55-94 to rehearsal everybody was even more pleased (despite of a "less vintagey" tone). The amps's sound is tense, full-bodied, it envelopes the sound in the room and is at the same time very present. I sold the PJ5 recently BTW.
At this point I like the Bass-King I better. Strange, because it is a hybrid amp with a transistor preamp and a 2-input mixing section (power sections are almost identical in all of the heads only voltage supplied to the tubes differs). Could be that it has a pair of new Electro Harmonix marked Sovtek tubes whereas the Bass-King T has an old set of tubes. I can't get tubes locally so they need to be ordered, so currently I'm looking for a matched quad of EL34-s to compare the amps head to head. I'm also planning to give them a run alongside my Ampeg B200r and my friends' Mesa M-pulse 600 and Ampeg SVT Classic (that the 55-94 is particularly good with).
The EC preamp section tubes are what warries me a bit too. The technician says they will work well another 50 years and then some, however. We'll see.
Beate,
most definitely! you know the detail. Respekt!
thanks for the info and the links. If there is anything else I could read, also in German, I would be most grateful. Also, if you could give me a few hints where I could snatch a Dynacord for myself at a good price...
Denis
First things first; More Dynacord images...
Hi Beate, love technical women. Usually the only women I connect to.
I bought the BA300 a week ago. Still have to pick it up. But the current owner didn't mind so now I can take my wife and kids to go pick it up. It's near Eindhoven. Wich is a lovely city. So we can have some fun there.
While I was researching the BA300 (I do have the schematics here printed out (it's available on the net) I saw it was as rare as hen's teeth. So because I bought an amp wich is not working at the moment, but looks so much like an SVT I was really interested in finding out what it sounded like..
On the other hand. I have seen many other tube dynacords. And nobody seems to collect those. Allthough they are really solid amplifiers with a great sound... So since this thread was sinking away with an incredible pace I thought I'd spice it up with more Dynacord images... And now the stories come from satisfied owners. Wich is really nice. And I allso was really amazed to find the Reference series. They truely are special amps. Allthough solidstate. they are fully midi controlled and special in their own right. If you look them up and see what they costed in 1985, you're shocked to see they sank into oblivium so fast....
Hi Beate, love technical women. Usually the only women I connect to.
I bought the BA300 a week ago. Still have to pick it up. But the current owner didn't mind so now I can take my wife and kids to go pick it up. It's near Eindhoven. Wich is a lovely city. So we can have some fun there.
While I was researching the BA300 (I do have the schematics here printed out (it's available on the net) I saw it was as rare as hen's teeth. So because I bought an amp wich is not working at the moment, but looks so much like an SVT I was really interested in finding out what it sounded like..
On the other hand. I have seen many other tube dynacords. And nobody seems to collect those. Allthough they are really solid amplifiers with a great sound... So since this thread was sinking away with an incredible pace I thought I'd spice it up with more Dynacord images... And now the stories come from satisfied owners. Wich is really nice. And I allso was really amazed to find the Reference series. They truely are special amps. Allthough solidstate. they are fully midi controlled and special in their own right. If you look them up and see what they costed in 1985, you're shocked to see they sank into oblivium so fast....
The one with the red tolex is a Bassking 1, isn't it? I like this design, too. The red tolex headshell is pretty rare - usually You find the grey plastic boxes and the black headshells. Up to now i saw it mostly with the HiFi-Favorit (cousin of the Imperator intended for Guitar, basically "half a G-2000"). My Bassking has a plastic cover, but i plan to build a headshell for it as soon as it is working again.
BTW: recently i used my Echolette M40 (through a modified tape output) as a preamp to the imperator. Sounds a lot better than the Dynacord by itself.
Beate
PS: the All-Tube versions of the Dynacords (and many other German amps from the late 60s as well) use the ECC 808 in the preamp. Techically this is an improved ECC 83, but it is out of production an proces are becoming astronomical. Unfortunately, the pinout is incompatible with the ECC 83 (=12AX7). Building an adaptor is possible, but it it will be really hard to modify the Dynacords because of extremly limited space.
(Servicing these boxes is not fun at all).
BTW: recently i used my Echolette M40 (through a modified tape output) as a preamp to the imperator. Sounds a lot better than the Dynacord by itself.
Beate
PS: the All-Tube versions of the Dynacords (and many other German amps from the late 60s as well) use the ECC 808 in the preamp. Techically this is an improved ECC 83, but it is out of production an proces are becoming astronomical. Unfortunately, the pinout is incompatible with the ECC 83 (=12AX7). Building an adaptor is possible, but it it will be really hard to modify the Dynacords because of extremly limited space.
(Servicing these boxes is not fun at all).
