New old amp day! It's a gibson falcon from 1963. This thing is in great shape and sounds so good! The reverb and tremolo are both excellent on this baby! This is essentially my first tube amp. I do have the made in china champion 600 which I've souled up but I don't really count that. There are some great classic sounds in this amp! I'm loving it so far. It doesn't get too crunchy but it breaks up a decent amount past 7 or 8 and for me it's great, max volume is loud enough but not overly loud, maybe a little more than my usual bedroom volume which is the only place I ever play anyway. Behold:
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g429/Mandoluke/B3EE82FC-9F04-4CF0-A187-46DDFD2F9865_zpskay0yhrb.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g429/Mandoluke/99CE95D6-1D87-42BB-807B-8E8E61DE93E8_zps4ll9hlf2.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g429/Mandoluke/767BBA86-396D-4743-9A3F-ABD214173DC0_zpssv1wlqke.jpg)
The Falcon is one of my favourites! I've been wanting to build a clone for a while :)
Enjoy!
Quote from: micromegas on April 26, 2015, 06:02:16 PM
The Falcon is one of my favourites! I've been wanting to build a clone for a while :)
Enjoy!
Yeah I think it would definitely be worth a build! The previous owner had it for 20 years and put NOS tubes in when he got and hasn't performed any other service to it since. It sounds great as is and doesn't need any service. I wonder if the caps are all original... It also has the trem/verb foot switch that works great too.
Very nice grab! Never heard one of those.
It's probably due for a cap job tho... as they have a shelf life of 10 years usually.
Quote from: GrindCustoms on April 26, 2015, 06:12:46 PM
Very nice grab! Never heard one of those.
It's probably due for a cap job tho... as they have a shelf life of 10 years usually.
How would I know? It's very quiet as in not noisy, no hum. Is it just the power filtering caps that need replaced?
Quote from: Luke51411 on April 26, 2015, 06:14:54 PM
Quote from: GrindCustoms on April 26, 2015, 06:12:46 PM
Very nice grab! Never heard one of those.
It's probably due for a cap job tho... as they have a shelf life of 10 years usually.
How would I know? It's very quiet as in not noisy, no hum. Is it just the power filtering caps that need replaced?
GeoFex is always a good place to start :)
http://www.geofex.com/ampdbug/filter.htm
And it likely be anything that is an electrolytic as they dry, NP caps are usually good, though.. you might see PIO sweating but still working *properly*.
What a score! It really is in amazing shape for its age.
That is totally a beauty. Very nice, and a great choice.
Quote from: jubal81 on April 26, 2015, 06:56:04 PM
What a score! It really is in amazing shape for its age.
Very good shape! Epic craigslist find. I spent an hour and a half talking to the guy, I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the forum. He was interested in building pedals and I mentioned madbean to him.
never heard of one of these before but I bet they work marvelously! congrats
Quote from: Cortexturizer on April 26, 2015, 07:28:42 PM
never heard of one of these before but I bet they work marvelously! congrats
I hadn't either until I saw it on craigslist. It looked cool so I researched it and all the reviews were along the lines of "best tremolo ever" or "amazing reverb" so I decided to take it for a spin. I figured why not own a classic? Even if it's not that well known, if it sounds good...
Ah man, love the stylings on this. Gonna have to find some sound samples.
Quote from: Luke51411 on April 26, 2015, 07:36:20 PM
Quote from: Cortexturizer on April 26, 2015, 07:28:42 PM
never heard of one of these before but I bet they work marvelously! congrats
I hadn't either until I saw it on craigslist. It looked cool so I researched it and all the reviews were along the lines of "best tremolo ever" or "amazing reverb" so I decided to take it for a spin. I figured why not own a classic? Even if it's not that well known, if it sounds good...
perfectly reasonable :) I would own something like this in a heartbeat, I love Gibson guitars, why not pair it with a nice amp, ugh...now I have a case of GAS!
Quote from: mmlee on April 26, 2015, 07:36:29 PM
Ah man, love the stylings on this. Gonna have to find some sound samples.
It is a classy amp all around.
Dude that's gorgeous! Enjoy and thanks for sharing !
Favorite setting so far: loudness 2 reverb:10 tremolo on the reverb has such a long decay it sounds like a delay with the tremolo on. Very spacey ambient sounds available. Stick a delay in front of it for extra spacey fun! This would be a great surf rock amp. Sounds great goosed with a SHO as well!
Awesome amp, super score! 8)
Uber sweet! Congrats.
Nice score! That one is super clean. Gibson amps are great finds. I restored a '63 GA-5T Skylark recently that sounds excellent. I got it on c-list for $100! The tremolo and slightly crunched up sounds on these things are incredible.
Quote from: JakeFuzz on April 26, 2015, 10:52:53 PM
Nice score! That one is super clean. Gibson amps are great finds. I restored a '63 GA-5T Skylark recently that sounds excellent. I got it on c-list for $100! The tremolo and slightly crunched up sounds on these things are incredible.
Nice! I paid quite a bit more than that but well within the typical going rate especially for such a clean and original unit, especially considering what an equivalent fender would cost...
Quote from: GrindCustoms on April 26, 2015, 06:40:06 PM
Quote from: Luke51411 on April 26, 2015, 06:14:54 PM
Quote from: GrindCustoms on April 26, 2015, 06:12:46 PM
Very nice grab! Never heard one of those.
It's probably due for a cap job tho... as they have a shelf life of 10 years usually.
How would I know? It's very quiet as in not noisy, no hum. Is it just the power filtering caps that need replaced?
GeoFex is always a good place to start :)
http://www.geofex.com/ampdbug/filter.htm
And it likely be anything that is an electrolytic as they dry, NP caps are usually good, though.. you might see PIO sweating but still working *properly*.
That is great, lucky you!
If the seller had it for 20 years you could check back with him, see what if anything he had done to it.
dave
Quote from: davent on April 26, 2015, 11:01:20 PM
Quote from: GrindCustoms on April 26, 2015, 06:40:06 PM
Quote from: Luke51411 on April 26, 2015, 06:14:54 PM
Quote from: GrindCustoms on April 26, 2015, 06:12:46 PM
Very nice grab! Never heard one of those.
It's probably due for a cap job tho... as they have a shelf life of 10 years usually.
How would I know? It's very quiet as in not noisy, no hum. Is it just the power filtering caps that need replaced?
GeoFex is always a good place to start :)
http://www.geofex.com/ampdbug/filter.htm
And it likely be anything that is an electrolytic as they dry, NP caps are usually good, though.. you might see PIO sweating but still working *properly*.
That is great, lucky you!
If the seller had it for 20 years you could check back with him, see what if anything he had done to it.
dave
He said he hadn't had anything done. I peeked under the hood and the one filter cap I could see looked like it might be original :o I'm pretty sure I saw a 63 date code on it. It didn't look bulged or like it had leaked or anything. I didn't open it all the way up as I want to play around with it for a while before getting into any projects since it seems to be working properly.
Those old Gibson amps are great. Nice find!
That's a great looking amp.
Definitely has the 'Mojo'.
Great find. I just recapped a falcon about 2 months ago. If the electrolytics are original you really need to replace them when you get a chance.
Quote from: pryde on April 27, 2015, 11:55:24 AM
Great find. I just recapped a falcon about 2 months ago. If the electrolytics are original you really need to replace them when you get a chance.
Duly noted I will get some caps ordered next time I make an order. I think this is the proper schematic. If I understand it correctly, I'll need 5 20uf and 1 10uf 500v caps?
(http://www.0rigami.com/gg/ga-19rvt.gif)
If that is the correct schematic then I am counting 5 20uf and 2 10uf electrolytics.
I seem to remember there being 20, 20, 10uf in the filter section of the one I serviced but I could be wrong. Your schematic shows a 20, 10, 10uf in the main filter section, the rest being tube cathode caps.
Best to have a look in there to get a proper count. While you are at it, change to a 3-prong grounded plug if not already done.
Quote from: pryde on April 27, 2015, 01:38:32 PM
If that is the correct schematic then I am counting 5 20uf and 2 10uf electrolytics.
I seem to remember there being 20, 20, 10uf in the filter section of the one I serviced but I could be wrong. Your schematic shows a 20, 10, 10uf in the main filter section, the rest being tube cathode caps.
Best to have a look in there to get a proper count. While you are at it, change to a 3-prong grounded plug if not already done.
Yeah it was converted to a 3 prong plug already, the previous owner said it bit him a few times before he had that done :o
I'm a little confused about the schematic because there are a few versions of the amp and I think it changed not long after the one I have.
I see;
Four 20uF's as cathode bypass caps so low voltage.
One 20uF resevoir cap after the rectifier so high voltage.
Three 10uF smoothing caps so again high voltage.
dave
Quote from: davent on April 27, 2015, 03:33:20 PM
I see;
Four 20uF's as cathode bypass caps so low voltage.
One 20uF resevoir cap after the rectifier so high voltage.
Three 10uF smoothing caps so again high voltage.
dave
Sounds about right. I'll take a peak in there before ordering anyway. I need to build a cap discharge apparatus aka solder some aligator clips to a high watt resistor. Also I've seen mentioned to strap a resistor across the power filter cap so that it will discharge on its own when the amp is off, is this something I should consider doing?
Yes!