Skully's next tube amp project: Fender PA100 + 2x12

[skullservant]

BACK AGAIN. BACK AGAIN. BACK AT IT AGAIN.

Soooo I picked up a Fender PA100 of Mr. Bluebeard himself.
It rules. With those of you not familiar, it's pretty much a Twin Reverb power section with a 4 channel input, bass + treble and volume for each channel and the volume knobs pull out to engage reverb.
Also has master volume and reverb controls.

When I got the head itself, for being a 70's amp the tolex had started to tear, and the headshell itself needed just a little bit of TLC.
BUT being ridiculous, I stripped the headshell and sanded down all the glue residue to prepare it for staining.

My friend Brandon of B Custom Cabs let me come over to his shop and we took apart the headshell (to finish the sanding) and then put it back together using pocket screws and wood glue for joints that are infinitely more sturdy than before.

To finish it all off, I commisioned Brandon to build me a 2x12 that I plan on using with the head.
It will be stained ebony, be the size of an Orange PPC Closed back 2x12, black grill cloth, recessed black metal handles on the sides.
More than likely going to load it with Delta Pro 12a's since I'm still really, really enjoying my Verellen currently loaded with the Pro 12a.

This thread is to document process and progress!

I also ended up ordering a new spring tank for the head. The original one was a little weak, and upon inspection it looks like a spring might have been removed.

Eventually I will probably want to retube it, but only after I buy speakers for the 2x12...

[skullservant]

[fiddelerselbow]

Fuck I'd love one of those. That kind of stuff just never pops up in the EU.

[odontophobia]

ohhh mama.
so stoked about this i put down my spict chicken pita to hunt and peck this shitty tone boner post

[skullservant]

Gonna fire up the head with the new tank installed tonight. So that will be fun. Excited to see if it brings new life to the reverb!

[Holy Schnikes]

Awesome find skully! I love these threads.

[skullservant]

Eh I figured everyone might get a kick out of all the stupid stuff I end up doing when I'm not on the forum haha

[Obulus]

Yeah, these build threads are the best!

Also, this:

Fuck I'd love one of those. That kind of stuff just never pops up in the EU.

[cedarskies]

My sole amp is a PA135 into a DIY Delta Pro-15A cab

iz nice

Especially loving all the channels right now since my new show has synths being triggered in Ableton by drums (headphones taped to the drums) and a MIDI footswitch allowing me to change the notes / chords and having that all going into separate PA channels gives nice control over the total mix. (channels are kick trigz + snare trigz + keyboard + vocals)

Beware: I destroyed my power transformer, and the tech believed the cause to be that I daisy chained every channel dimed into the next with the reverb also dimed in each. Apparently daisy chaining with the reverbs engaged makes bad things happen? I dunno, just warning you. The cheapest transformer I could source was $140...

[skullservant]

Thanks for the heads up duder. I haven't daisey chained the channels together but I will avoid doing it just in case. I dont want to buy a new transformer!

[Disarm D'arcy]

Fuck I'd love one of those. That kind of stuff just never pops up in the EU.

Saw one pop on eBay in Germany a few years ago when I was looking for a Fender. Ended up getting a '69 drip edge Bassman 50 watts head. Later got a Bassman 15" inch cab with JBL speaker from the '80s. Cost me less than the stupidly high price the guy wanted for his PA.

[fiddelerselbow]

Fuck I'd love one of those. That kind of stuff just never pops up in the EU.

Saw one pop on eBay in Germany a few years ago when I was looking for a Fender. Ended up getting a '69 drip edge Bassman 50 watts head. Later got a Bassman 15" inch cab with JBL speaker from the '80s. Cost me less than the stupidly high price the guy wanted for his PA.

German Ebay has some good shit. Really bothers me when people overprice shit on the auspices of it being "rare" though.

[skullservant]

Yeah. Because rarity is entirely subjective.

I'm going to try to head over to Brandon's house sometime soon (hopefully this week or weekend) to stop by and check out the headshell and get it all stained up so we can look at getting it back together.
We also talked about adding additional wood strips for bracing on the inside of the headshell to make it extra sturdy, which will be nice.

It's funny because per Brandon Fender in the 60's/70's used 'the cheapest yellow pine they could find' after looking at this headshell. He also stated they cut costs with the way they constructed the headshells in terms of their joints.

This headshell is going to look pretty awesome though. Between the grain, the old embedded glue residue, and the original marks from before it was tolexed, it's going to look pretty worn, even with stain. I'm stoked!

[theavondon]

I dug the PA-100 I used to have (that I think bob the robot still has?) and the PA-135 I had for much longer. Got both at the same time, too. You should leave the first channel stock, and then mod the other three channels. I always wanted to basically gut those three, and get someone to make a JCM pre using the three power tubes that I would have freed up. I mean, if that's even possible.

[skullservant]

Hahaha that would be killer!

Yeah I haven't given much thought to modifying any of the channels yet. It seems like it would be relatively easy to do though. I would kind of like at least ONE of the channels to have a little bit more gain, leave the other 3 stock.

This amp solves the problem of wanting to run a guitar line, a bass line, a vocal line, and programmed drums all at once though