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Vintage 1970 Standel Amp

C

Cryhavok

Mar 24, 2008
96
0
Iowa City, IA/Terre Haute, IN
#1
I just won an auction for a late 60's/early 70's Standel bass amp. Supposedly it doesn't work, but the seller claims he never tried to fix it and doesn't know whats wrong with it. For only $10 (+$20 shipping), I figure it couldn't hurt to try.

It looks like the model number says MC2G or something similar, which would make this a 1970 model (according to Standel's site), and the serial number starts with 70-. Standel has all their vintage schematics, so assuming something is wrong in the circuitry, I might be able to fix it.

So does anyone have any troubleshooting tips, or ideas of what exactly to look for? I've got a good deal of electronics know-how, but I've never taken apart/repaired an amplifier before. I'll try to get some more details and pics once I actually get the head.

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Also, does anyone know anything about Standel amps, particularily the vintage models? Are they powerful? This one looks to be 240W, but who knows. Do they have good tone?
 
#2
Cryhavok said:
Also, does anyone know anything about Standel amps, particularily the vintage models? Are they powerful? This one looks to be 240W, but who knows. Do they have good tone?
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As far as 1970 vintage SS amps went they weren't bad, but SS in 1970 wasn't much to get excited about. I used to make good $ replacing Standel pre-amp modules. Their parts were epoxy encapsulated, supposedly to make them more durable. The downside was that if a transistor blew you couldn't replace it, but in 1970 in some quarters it was felt that a transistor should last 100 years, so there would never be a reason to replace one. Murphy's Law won, and when the inevitable occured instead of replacing a 50 cent transistor one had to put in an entire pre-amp module. Ka-ching. :D
 
#6
billfitzmaurice said:
As far as 1970 vintage SS amps went they weren't bad, but SS in 1970 wasn't much to get excited about. I used to make good $ replacing Standel pre-amp modules. Their parts were epoxy encapsulated, supposedly to make them more durable. The downside was that if a transistor blew you couldn't replace it, but in 1970 in some quarters it was felt that a transistor should last 100 years, so there would never be a reason to replace one. Murphy's Law won, and when the inevitable occured instead of replacing a 50 cent transistor one had to put in an entire pre-amp module. Ka-ching. :D
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hey bill, how well do you think this amp would sound with one of your DR280s, assuming I get it working? Ive been thinking of building one, just havent committed yet. :D
 
#7
Cryhavok said:
hey bill, how well do you think this amp would sound with one of your DR280s, assuming I get it working? Ive been thinking of building one, just havent committed yet. :D
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I can't say, it being 20 odd years since I heard one, and the ones I heard were loaded with the pre's I built to replace the originals.

Yeah, and if I recall, they actually used halves of plastic boxes for the cases of the modules...... I remember seeing the little hinges and snaps ............ very professional looking...(not).
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Exactly, little parts boxes. Standel was very much a cottage industry brand.
 
#13
I used Standel back in the mid 70's. Not bad stuff. Go hunt for the schematics online - iirc, check for standelamps.com.

Pretty basic designs, shouldn't be too hard to get up and running. I'd put that thing in the 80 to 125 Watt class.

I thought about bidding on that thing for a bench project. If you get too stumped, I might be interested in assisting.
 
#15
Got the amp finally. The model is MC2BP. Unfortunately, it didn't come with a power cord (which the seller mentioned), so I'm trying to scrap something together. Awkwardly, the jack on the amp is a female outlet, so I need a male-male power cable to plug it in. It looks like the internally wired cable was snipped off. Once I get a power cable (which I should have later today), I'll see if its running and maybe get some pics up of the insides. It all looks good on the inside, no wires or solder joints seem broken. It's really dirty and dusty, but everything still looks intact. Luckily, there aren't any of the Standel epoxy modules, its all straight up PCBs in the open. :)

Edit: Oh I also still have no idea of the power capabilities of this thing. The writing near the output jacks simply says "8 ohm output", or something like that.
 
#17
Hi.

Cryhavok said:
Unfortunately, it didn't come with a power cord (which the seller mentioned), so I'm trying to scrap something together. Awkwardly, the jack on the amp is a female outlet, so I need a male-male power cable to plug it in. It looks like the internally wired cable was snipped off. Once I get a power cable (which I should have later today), I'll see if its running and maybe get some pics up of the insides. It all looks good on the inside, no wires or solder joints seem broken. It's really dirty and dusty, but everything still looks intact. Luckily, there aren't any of the Standel epoxy modules, its all straight up PCBs in the open. :)
Click to expand...

As discussed in detail in another thread, a cleanly cut power cord usually indicates that a tech has cut it for a reason. The reason being that the equipment is faulty somehow. I'd clean the insides first and if You must perform the first start-up by yourself, at least give us some good pics of the inside so if there's a clear problem you reduce the chance of injuring yourself.

What ever You do:

NEVER MAKE A MALE-MALE POWER CORD, NEVER

Also make sure that the breakers, fuses, whatever You have in Your house wiring works, I have a hunch that you'll need them. If it's fuses, have a few spares handy. And a flashlight if the outlet You're using is in the same circuit as the lights. I'm not kidding either, been there in the total darkness myself. In fact a couple of times in my "old shop".

Pay special attention to the heat-sink as Paul there pointed out. Now I don't know that particular design, but if it uses TO3 package discretes, I'm willing to bet that those have been removed or at least unsoldered.

Please don't electrocute Yourself.

Regards
Sam
 
#18
Yeah I realized the jack on the amp was output, so I wasn't dumb enough to make a male-male power cord. I soldered in a new power cord, so I could see if it works or not. Don't worry, didn't kill myself :) It seems like the power transformer or capacitors are bad because I'm not getting any power out of that section of the amp. My main computer is dead at the moment, so until I get that figured out, I won't have any good pictures of the insides. I do have a co-worker who is interested in helping me with it, so I'll see what he has to say.

Oh and as far as the heatsink goes, it was just dangling off the standoffs. 3 of the 4 screws were missing. It's not directly attached to the circuitry that dangles there, but I'm not sure that it was in the first place (though it would make sense that it was...). Eitherway, I got a few replacement screws.
 

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