fillmore west ear killer!!!

[crazyb]

I forgot to tell you the 3 position switch next to the speaker jacks switches impedance.the top is 4 ohms middle is 8 ohms bottom is 16 ohms.If you have 4 16 ohm cabs hookem all up just once at the same time and make the earth shake.Feels like the 70's arena all over again.

Is there any way I could get you to email me pictures of the front and back of your amp?

[bennieusmaximus]

I am not very good at this computer stuff yet,but I could probably get my wife to help me out.My enclosure is somthing I made since the orig was junk,but still is cool.I kinda copied off my freinds marshal major.I'll try to do that as soon as I can.I would really like to se what an orig cab looks like.West's website does not have a picture or I would have copied off of that for my design.

[crazyb]

I am not very good at this computer stuff yet,but I could probably get my wife to help me out.My enclosure is somthing I made since the orig was junk,but still is cool.I kinda copied off my freinds marshal major.I'll try to do that as soon as I can.I would really like to se what an orig cab looks like.West's website does not have a picture or I would have copied off of that for my design.

No worries if you can't get it, I just wanted to know what the original labeling looked like so i can try to reproduce it. Can't find any photo's online.

I have a little section about all the stuff I've found on my website here

[pombagira666]

I know this thread may be dead, but I have had a west fillmore sitting around waiting to be repaired, based in the UK, and I was interested in reading the paddle power switches are considered unsafe, just wondering what a safe alternative unit would be...

[pombagira666]

or for that matter where to look for an alternative

[Gtr_tech]

I'd use full size toggles rated for the job. Whatever will fit and handle the current with a bit of overkill for safety. I'd look at a Carling or similar rated for at least 10a.
http://media.digikey.com/photos/Carl...s/2GG51-73.JPG

Since the pwr and stby functions are on the same switch, I'd use a 3 position DPDT with center off. It will be a bit fiddley since center is off, one pos pwr and the other stby, but it works fine. You just have to go thru the off pos to get to play mode....no big deal. Certain Vox amps did it this way....

[pombagira666]

west fillmore

thank you for the advice that is incredibly helpful. I'll get the amp tech to check it over, I have already flagged up the potential problem to him so he will be looking out for it. Good to know other makes such as Vox had a similar switch because I haven't never seen an amp with a power switch like the west fillmore.

[Gtr_tech]

The switches were prob'ly just obtained from a surplus parts house. They used whatever was available back then, and it helped if it looked cool. But.....if you fail to use the right parts for the job, you end up with failures in the field. Most stores wouldn't carry them, 'cause they had a reputation for catching fire. Really, they are just Sunn copies, so with some re engineering for safety they can be decent amps.

Another weak point to correct is the speaker Z select switch. They used a 3 pos "tele" style guitar switch for this, and that is a *big* no-no. Again....a signal level switch used in a current carrying application. I'd use a seperate output jack for each 4/8/16 ohm output and eliminate the switch altogether.

[pombagira666]

west fillmore earsplitter

Yes I did wonder about that as well because on no other amp do you see such a switch for ohm selection. I'll get my amp tech to check that as well, sounds like a good idea you could have two outputs at the back wired for 8 ohms and then one for 16 and one for 4 thereby bypassing the selection switch altogether.

I'm assuming you have a west fillmore? If so do you have any pics?

[Gtr_tech]

I don't own any West amps, but I've had a few come thru here for repair. They're common around here (Mi) 'cause they were built locally. Folks around these parts don't tend to think much of them due to the reliability issues, so we treat them as garage sale specials, project amps, etc. So....don't buy one unless yer prepared to have it serviced and correct the shortcomings.

[pombagira666]

well the guy I use to repair my amps I totally trust, and he is an expert at identifying the shortcomings of most amps, saying that I don't know of another west fillmore in the UK, so this will be a new one on him. Is there anything else I should let him know about, capacitors, groundings etc. Also wondering what the RMS is on these. I know they are meant to be a 200 watt amp but as I have found with many american amps they come in with a RMS that is slightly less than stated in the specifications.

[Gtr_tech]

Nope....never owned one. Got a coupla Sunns tho

They come thru here every so often for repairs. Basically garage sale specials around here since they were made locally.

[tedmich]

You can get a 20A progressive switch which avoids the "Vox cluge" at Westlabs

West Laboratories Guitar Amplifiers - Switches

next to their 2w SS RV4 CP pots....

[Gtr_tech]

Yea...thats really the way ta go.

[pombagira666]

thanks for the advance