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Kay 506 Vintage Tube Guitar Amplified Exc! - $325 (Santa Clarita)
Date: 2012-06-12, 12:39PM PDT
Reply to: 8ddrf-3073629514@sale.craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
This a Kay 506 18 watt guitar amplifier. It has been modified to sound good. The original Kay circuit was not very good and had little gain. It was just lifeless. After trying a few tricks I was not impressed. So I rewired it as a Fender Deluxe 6G3 circuit. Now it kicks butt! It has a lot of gain so you can ride the edge with your Strat or just hammer it with humbuckers. It will make a fine harp amp. It has new capacitors and a Quam 12" speaker freshly reconed by Freeman-Tuell Speaker service of Dallas Texas. Has a couple of old American 6V6 output tubes, two new Groove Tubes and one new Sovtek preamp tubes and a 5Y3 rectifier. Has a new grounded power cord for safety. The cabinet is very nice with some wear and one cigarette burn. The grill cloth has a small tear. Vibrato works but it's not the greatest. No foot switch. ******************************************
Hi, this question is not about the 503; I saw that posting and it looks super cool! This is about a Silvertone 1300 I have a chance of getting. What should one pay for one of those and what are they like?? It's all original but needs some work, probably caps and maybe tubes. I can do that I worked for a company and built Magnatone clones. Thanks so much for the help!!
ReplyDeleteTyler: That Danelectro circuit in the Silvertone 1300 comes right out of the old RCA tube handbook. It is the same basic circuit as my 19848 Masco MAP120. back in those days 15 watts was considered enough to mic up the whole band LOL! I absolutely love the tone of those old big bottle Octal preamp tubes for electric guitar. They bring out every subtlety of picking and fingering dynamics. I paid $180 for my Masco about 5 years ago and paid another $120 having it recapped, three prong wired and replacing the torn 10 inch Jensen alnico (which I still have and plan to recone - you never get rid of an original 1947 Jensen alnico speaker). I'd say anything in the $200-$350 range is a good deal on one of those even if it needs some minor work. Check out the Harmony Model 200 I highlighted here a few months ago. All very similar amps with dual 6V6 power and 6SL7 or 6SN7 type preamp sections and 5Y3 rectifiers. A Flot-A-tone would be very similar as well. Just great amps - old as hell and awesome. - JC
ReplyDeleteThanks for getting back with me Jim! I'll think about scooping this one up then. I had a chance at a flot a tone afew years ago, but I didn't know much about old amps then and let it go. I was looking at your profile I'm in the LA area too Valley Village to narrow it down. Are there any good swap meets or that sort of thing here? BTW I watched a near mint Magnatone M7 go for 192 on ebay today, guy was in Chatsworth. I wanted it but I don't have room for anymore big amps!
ReplyDeleteTyler: Yeah I saw that Maggie go too. Nice deal for the buyer. I get very nervous about shipping with the Custom suitcase Maggie amps though. They are very well built and rugged but if anything is jogged loose it is a major ordeal for most amp techs to trace it down and make the necessary repairs. They are durable amps as long as they are not abused.
DeleteI don't know about swap meets other than the Rose Bowl which is a big famous one. There is one major amp show that takes place every year at the Airtel Plaza hotel right at Van Nuys airport - that is only about 10 minutes away from Valley Village. - JC
Hi Jim. Wasn't sure how to get a hold of you other than here. Love your blog! A couple of years ago I acquired a Kay Model 504 amp off of Craigslist. The schematic pasted on the inside dates 1962. I was wondering if you had a ballpark idea of how much those things go for. It had the original tubes which I have replaced(still keeping the old ones)and a power cord that was fixed via electrical tape. Since then, I had the power cord replaced with a three prong. Any info you could pass along would be great. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteOops. Forgot to put a link to my blog where I put a few pictures of the Kay amp. It's about halfway down in the post.
ReplyDeletehttp://buefordwilson.blogspot.com/2011/08/digitech-space-station-pedalboard.html