How to spec replacement OT?

[big_teee]

I've been using the Classic Tone units as replacements for a few years now. US made, price is right, paper bobbin. I think they sound great. Triode Electronics in Chicago is the main distro for them.

CLASSICTONE Transformers by Magnetic Components, Inc. - MADE IN USA -

You have probably seen them get some pretty heavy abuse?
I have.
Seem to be real tough.
I like to buy from the other supplier, amp parts direct.
Transformers
Their shipping seemed to be a bit cheaper.
So I would check overall price of both places before ordering.

[Leo_Gnardo]

What about Classic Tone Transformers?

ClassicTone Transformers By Magnetic Components, Inc.

Had a blink at this - looks good! Add another to the list of transformer suppliers. I'll call them collectively "The House of Iron".

Thank you Terry!

A long time ago @ 30 years Triode invited potential customers to send a dollar and get their catalog in the mail. I sent my dollar & nothing ever arrived. I'm over it now. Will give 'em a try for some ClassicTone iron.

edit: Amp Parts too. Terry keeps rolling out the hits hits hits hits (old 60's DJ voice) Don't touch that dial!

[bob p]

Ahhhh. Chicago iron!

ClassicTone (aka Magnetic Components) is a great transformer line. When I was in the Portage Park neighborhood, Triode was within walking distance for me. Those were the days. As far as quality and value are concerned, you can definitely find cheaper iron (Weber, China), but if you want something that's Made In USA and is kept in stock on the shelves, Magnetic Components' iron is a great way to go. You'll have to order a large quantity to buy direct from MC, and if you want onesey-twosey quantities you'll have to order from Triode or Amp Parts. I've never had a bad product from MC. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

Contrast that with MM -- I'm a long-time customer of MM, I think I started buying wholesale from them in the 1990s. Back in the day I used to coordinate group buys on Ampage, but I haven't bought an MM product in over a decade. Back in the old days before MM began their silly marketing hype, MM was a value transformer supplier. They made a wide variety of hard to find iron, and buying from them actually used to be cheaper for me than buying from Hammond because of Hammond's one-column pricing. Even though I could buy iron cheaper from MM than anyone else, I ended up being dissatisfied with MM because IMO their quality control was poor. I commonly received iron that looked like factory seconds (check for threads here about MM seconds), and given the high cost of shipping rejects back to California, I just ebay'd the seconds and stopped ordering from MM. And that was when their prices were cheaper than Hammond. But with all the headaches, I found it was easier to just buy from other suppliers, and to only use MM for iron that I couldn't get anywhere else. That was before MM started the silly hyped-up marketing and jacked up their prices to the point that their products aren't even competitive any more. Having bought maybe 50-100 units from them, I can't recommend them any more.

[bob p]

I know what you mean about the stock OTT-15 transformer. I recently picked up a like-new OTT-15 for a song, when a local keyboard player (who plays guitar on one or two songs) decided to liquidate his guitar rig. Having an OTT-15 fall into my lap quenched my desire to build an EL84 amp... at least for a while. If/when the OT ever fails, I'll just replace it with a 1608. For me, that's a no-brainer decision.

The goofy secondary wiring for hammonds isn't that hard to deal with. If you only want two impedance options it's easy enough to wire them up with a selector switch, but three impedance options can get complicated. Leo, if you're tired of dealing with the secondary setup on Hammonds, check out the 1608A. The new wiring paradigm makes the secondaries a lot easier to h ook up.

Hammond Mfg.-"Classic" Push-Pull-Easy Wire-Tube Output Transformers - (1608A-1620A, 1645A & 1650A Series)

[Leo_Gnardo]

Leo, if you're tired of dealing with the secondary setup on Hammonds, check out the 1608A. The new wiring paradigm makes the secondaries a lot easier to hook up.

Thanks bob p! I've been aware for awhile now but a couple of years ago (1996) when I built a custom bass amp for a local blues champion, Hammond's secondaries had me flustered to say the least. I got the 120W OT from Antique (didn't know about CE then) and hadn't a clue until Antique included the 'secret switch' in their catalog.(Nothing in the catalog or literature accompanying the transformer detailed the proper hookup. Once I found out, the fun started.) Having already installed a Marshall-style 4-8-16 switch I inquired with the amp's owner and he said he had no real use for the 16 ohm option so I just wired it for 4 and 8.

And good of you to mention "value." I'm sure you, and everybody should, keep that concept in mind. As you wrote "The cheapest widget isn't always the one with the lowest price." Only recently I've become aware that widget is an economist's term. For a much needed turn to humor, so is "shmoo." Wiki that one folks and I dare ya to not bust out laughing. (And just by coincidence today's Wiki featured article is the Dodo, about as near as you can get to a real shmoo.) Al Capp takes his place alongside Jonathan Swift as an incisive observer of the human condition. Who knew what wisdom was to be found in the funny pages.

[bob p]

Wiring-up Hammond secondaries isn't a big deal for the HiFi types, who don't change secondary Z as often as guitar players do, so Hammond took a LONG time to update their secondary winding scheme. I always thought that impedance selector switch was an unnecessary PITA and a kludge fix. I'm really glad to see Hammond finally got around to modifying their secondary wirings to make them more user-friendly. IMO that change was long overdue.

> As you said, "The cheapest widget isn't always the one with the lowest price."

I'm an armchair economist. and I keep trying to come up with a good one-liner to get me quoted in someone's footer, but as hard as I try I just can't compete with the one-liner wisdom of ChuckH.

[Chuck H]

Aw shucks.

The truth is, I'm a liar. No one should believe a word I say.

[bob p]

Now you're sounding like Henry Rollins.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Aw shucks.

The one about having George Washington's original cherry tree axe was good too, but also borrowed (and attributed). No problem! It's always good to get good material wherever you can. Many's the time I borrowed "His mom had to tie a pork chop around his neck to get the dog to play with him." Rodney Dangerfield, about himself. But I'll bet you half a peach Rodney borrowed it from somewhere.

As with music & circuitry, what goes around.

[The Dude]

I have a Fender Pro Junior sitting here, needs an OT. One pair EL84. Puts out 15w. Factory has them in the factory, but not in parts stock. Got an 8 week backorder. PLus they are limiting them to replacement only, meaning I have to give a serial number for the amp to even order one. NO extras to go on my shelf. To help the customer I started idly looking around for alternates. I not long ago had a Peavey Classic 20, same tubes, and PV no longer has those transformers.

If you're still looking... Ebay

[g1]

I keep trying to come up with a good one-liner to get me quoted in someone's footer, but as hard as I try I just can't compete with the one-liner wisdom of ChuckH.

Aw shucks.

The truth is, I'm a liar. No one should believe a word I say.

Now you're sounding like Henry Rollins.

Hmmm, not sure if you guys are taking a dig at my sig, or really dig it?

[Leo_Gnardo]

g-one and Chuck H, nothing to worry about. There is something mighty Yogi Berra about "Take my advice, don't listen to me."

Now where did George Washington's axe go... anybody seen it?

If you see a fork in the road, take it.

Now where's fredcapo the OP? I hope you got some help here buddy before this turned into a tag line thread.

[Chuck H]

My favorite Rodney line: "The last time I saw a mouth like that it had a hook in it."

The guy was brilliant. I don't watch TV like I use to. But when I was young (er) I watched A LOT of TV. Especially comedy in any form. I think "funny" is an important component to getting through anything that needs "getting through".

[bob p]

I was so poor growing up if I wasn't a boy, I'd have had nothing to play with.

A girl phoned me the other day and said, "Come on over, nobody's home. "I went over. Nobody was home.

During sex, my girlfriend always wants to talk to me. Just the other night she called me from a hotel.

One day I came home early from work. I saw a guy jogging naked. I said to the guy, "Hey buddy, why are you doing that?" He said, "Because you came home early."

It's been a rough day. I got up this morning, put a shirt on and a button fell off. I picked up my briefcase and the handle came off. I'm afraid to go to the bathroom.

I was such an ugly kid that when I played in the sandbox, the cat kept covering me up.

I could tell my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and radio.

I was such an ugly baby. My mother never breast fed me. She told me that she only liked me as a friend.

I'm so ugly that my father carries around a picture of the kid who came with his wallet.

When I was born, the doctor came into the waiting room and said to my father, "I'm sorry. We did everything we could, but he pulled through."

I'm so ugly that my mother had morning sickness.....AFTER I was born.

I remember the time that I was kidnapped and they sent a piece of my finger to my father. He said he wanted more proof.

Once when I was lost, I saw a policeman and asked him to help me find my parents. I said to him, "Do you think we'll ever find them?" He said, "I don't know kid. There's so many places they can hide."

My wife made me join a bridge club. I jump off next Tuesday.

I'm so ugly that I worked in a pet shop and people kept asking how big I'd get.

I went to see my doctor. "Doctor, every morning when I get up and I look in the mirror I feel like throwing up. What's wrong with me?" He said, "I don't know but your eyesight is perfect."

I went to the doctor because I'd swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills. My doctor told me to have a few drinks and get some rest.

With my old man I got no respect. I asked him, "How can I get my kite in the air?" He told me to run off a cliff.

Some dog I got. We call him Egypt because in every room he leaves a pyramid. His favorite bone is in my arm. Last night he went on the paper four times - three of those times I was reading it.

One year they wanted to make me poster boy - for birth control.

My uncle's dying wish was to have me sitting in his lap; he was in the electric chair.

[fredcapo]

It was a good hijacking...lots of useful info. Turns out as of today I also need an OT for a JCM900 and the one on Amp Parts looks pretty good to me.

What OT would you guys recommend for a JTM60?