Holden/Wasp club

[smo]

I thought I was in the 70's!

I'll bet the neighbours did too!

That's one great thing about these old WASP's - they can be used as a deterrent to volume nazi guitards. Just show 'em who's got more juice on tap.........

 

[rodl2005]

Great looking bit of gear there Alex- can you tell us a bit about her? I've never heard of that model let alone seen one!
Mine is definately the VBL. I pulled the chassis tonight and it was printed on the board.
Rod can I ask what Mesa Black Shadows reatil for? My Whardale bin is identical to an ol EV TL. I'm almost certain to go with a Celestion BL15 green label but always open to other options.
QUOTE]

Mate- I bought the "Mesa" EV 15" about 12yrs ago for about $450AUD NEW/warranty etc.. Hasn't let me down ever!! But I heard that retail they were about $799AUD-I got mine from Pro-Audioi Canberra when I 1st heard re their mail order stuff
Dunno what they'd go for now- even IF U can still get that model! I DO know that (thru a spkr repair guy here) the recone kit for them is very Expensive! :-/

 

[black_labb]

reading about it made me hook up the wasp to the homemade 1x15. been playing a little combo as the wasp isnt good for bedroom levels. just means that i dont play bedroom levels .

 

[Skyblue977]

Stirke me pink Rod - you won't beleive this- I bought a new 15" spkr for my bin from Pro Audio on Teusday! I work here in Canberra so I drove out to Fishwyck on my lunchbreak. I ended up with an Eminance B15 on the recommendation of John, their tech. This gut knows his stuf and knows these great old amps! When I left the staff would have had to wipe the drool off the SVT-RI they had on the floor!

 

[rodl2005]

HA HA!!! wallaby Blowd! I hope the B15 Eminence does the trick- I reckon it will. One thing I remember was my Spkr tech saying Eminence recone kits are HEAPS cheaper than EV's ones :-(

 

[Skyblue977]

And GO the Wallabies tomorrow against the All Blacks!
Black Labb- you need to consign your practice amp the shed and only ever use one of your Wasps - preferably the VBL.
SMO- my guitartard is as deaf as a post so no worries showing him!

 

[barroso]

wow, lovely picture. I love old amps. I own 2 old italian made Eko. a Herald III & Herald VI.

 

[Skyblue977]

wow, lovely picture. I love old amps. I own 2 old italian made Eko. a Herald III & Herald VI.

I must ask , what is it about thes old girls that make us old blokes (well me) sit up and take notice?
Do they really sound as good as we think? I'll answer that myself- YES they do!

 

[TeddySea]

I'd like to join with my wasp owning brothers. I've been playing a little guitar as well as my usual bass in the band and our levels are creeping up at a few of the pub gigs. My Marshall transistor combo is starting to rattle so I have just pulled out the old Wasp head to add to a Session pa box.
What an awesome beast. I remember why I put it away now. It is heavy!
I used to run it through a W-bin with a JBL 15" in it. Too big for an old fella like me. Needed a van. I still have the JBL and may slip it in this box.
regards

 

[smo]

I hope the B15 Eminence does the trick- I reckon it will.

I reckon it will too.

I have a pair of homebrew 1x15's that I made up ~5yrs ago - with - Eminence B15's.
And still no worries. They're a good speaker - have a lot of mids in the cabs I made, not to mention the lows.

Welcome TeddySea

 

[black_labb]

I'd like to join with my wasp owning brothers. I've been playing a little guitar as well as my usual bass in the band and our levels are creeping up at a few of the pub gigs. My Marshall transistor combo is starting to rattle so I have just pulled out the old Wasp head to add to a Session pa box.
What an awesome beast. I remember why I put it away now. It is heavy!
I used to run it through a W-bin with a JBL 15" in it. Too big for an old fella like me. Needed a van. I still have the JBL and may slip it in this box.
regards

glad that you pulled out the beast. makes you member no. 5.


so thats

#1 : Black_labb
#2 : Skyblue977
#3 : alexbbbb
#4 : smo
#5 : eddySea

 

[black_labb]

oh, care to shed some details on that one eddysea? is it a 200w model? looks pretty similar to my XL, but that may just be due to the cabinets they were using at the time.

 

[TeddySea]

My guess is it is a 200w black_labb. It packs such a big punch that our guitar player is thinking of moving away from me as HE is getting drowned out now! ;-)
I did slip the JBL 15" speaker in and it is has kicted the band up a notch with the bass leading from the front now.
We just did a gig at the Paxton Hotel near Cessnock last weekend and a fella came up to me as excited as could be to see a Wasp. Said he had one when he was 17 and reckons he's still got it somewhere in the back shed!

 

[Timi]

You should add Jansen to the club!

 

[black_labb]

You should add Jansen to the club!

if he finds the club and posts some details, i'll surely add him.

teddysea: sounds like its a wasp. check how many power tubes there are, and what type. also see if there is a model designation on the control panel, right after the holden/wasp print

 

[Slaine01]

Wow - thats a blast from the past!
I used to run through an old Holden DC208 bass Amp in my old punk/bootboy days playing at The Gladestone hotel and Hillsborough in Christchurch, New Zealand way back in the early 80's.
These amps were totally bullet proof! and kicked ass - I have never seen another one either here in Australia or NZ.
Im not surprised that current owners wont sell them - I bet they would still hold their own against anything on the market at the moment.

 

[black_labb]

wimp

after getting my 300w amp built the wasps feel like nothing. but i am a young guy who hasn't had to lug the amp around much.

i was doing some testing on my vbl. i was using a multimeter as opposed to a scope so i'm sure the output was very clipped but i got 290w out of the vbl into a dummy load. i was very impressed. guess thats what you get with 750v on the plates of 4 6550's. when i get my scope working like it should i will see how much clean power the holdens have.

 

[Tim1]

Yep, they sure were bullet proof. My first serious gigging amp was a Holden 100 into a JBL E140 in a home made cab. IIRC lots of bottom, reasonably defined but few mids and no tops - a sign of my limited cabinet building knowledge at the time rather than the amp's limitations. Never skipped a beat and got thrashed regularly.

 

[alexbbbb]

Wow - thats a blast from the past!
I used to run through an old Holden DC208 bass Amp in my old punk/bootboy days playing at The Gladestone hotel and Hillsborough in Christchurch, New Zealand way back in the early 80's.
These amps were totally bullet proof! and kicked ass - I have never seen another one either here in Australia or NZ.
Im not surprised that current owners wont sell them - I bet they would still hold their own against anything on the market at the moment.

Mine was actually given to me by a friend, just had a badly distorted sound / buzz. I just had to get it repaired and it became mine.
It is still going strong, and sitting very proudly on its stack of cabs, also made in Christchurch

I actually did see an other one of those DC208, it was with the opening bands for The Exploited when they toured the country. It made me kind of proud.

Every now and then, some Holden or Wasp amps pop up on the local auction site or in the pawn shops. Sometimes for really cheap, sometimes not at all.
There's a Holden 100 at the moment on http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instruments/Instruments/Guitar-bass/Guitar-amps/auction-257806848.htm

Link Removed

Good gear never dies!

 

[jjwow]

Hi mates! I have just purchased a Holden Wasp from EBay & was trying to determine if the 6L6's in the output stage is correct. Does anyone know what were the usual valves? I have read they usually run 4 x KT88's, 6550 or EL34, but 6L6's?

Does anyone have a scematic diagram?
Thanks & keep rockin!!!