Original Pignose 5 inch speaker load???

[imusbnutz]

Does anyone know the proper speaker ohm load for an original Pignose (9v). I inherited it from my Dad and it dates to 1974. The current speaker is a cheapo foam surround audio speaker. Being a solid state circuit I normally wouldn't worry about replacing with a 4 or 8 ohm unit but this circuit is a bit out of the ordinary. It has what looks to be a couple of matching transormers on the circuit board so I'm not real clear just what is going on here. I'd like to try and get it right. Any help would be appreciated. Russ

[52 Bill]

Your Pignose probably came with an 8 ohm speaker. If it's as old as you say, it should have germanium transistors. The two transformers are a driver transformer and an output transformer.

[Enzo]

Germanium, 1974? I think silicon had pretty much taken over by then. The Acoustic amp we toured with in 1970 was silicon. I am thinking VOcal Masters were silicon.

[52 Bill]

Enzo, you're probably right. At this point in my memory I can't remember what came in a Vocal Master, that was the one with the little white dog listening to the speaker on the front right?

[bob p]

fwiw i was surprised by Germanium too.

did you try taking a DC resistance measurement on the speaker to see if it was really an oddball? granted DCR doesn't provide a lot of information, but its a place to start.

if push came to shove, its possible to keep your original speaker and re-foam it. you can buy the foam rings in kits and its not at all hard to de-foam the old speaker and prep it for repair. i've done it with vintage stereo speakers. its MUCH cheaper to refoam than re-cone, and its probably less work to refoam than to find a suitable replacement if your speaker is an oddball.

[52 Bill]

I'll venture a guess that the foam surround speaker is not original. These things used a little cheap pre-made amplifier circuit. The original ones used germanium transistors and do have an output transformer, so if you do meter the speaker voice coil, you'll have to remove it from circuit to get an accurate reading.

[bob p]

i guess one important factor of whether or not this type of amp is worth repairing is whether or not you like the sound. do they really have any collectible value? i would be surprised if they did, as i remember not liking them back in the 70s.

[Enzo]

A Pignose is worth the price just to get the volume knob.

MAybe Germanium was more friendly to battery operation. I did not recall they made them that way. WOuld have been an egineering choice rather than a sign of the times.

[bob p]

you mean the pig's snout?

[Enzo]

yep

[larwood.amps]

Does anyone know the proper speaker ohm load for an original Pignose (9v). I inherited it from my Dad and it dates to 1974. The current speaker is a cheapo foam surround audio speaker. Being a solid state circuit I normally wouldn't worry about replacing with a 4 or 8 ohm unit but this circuit is a bit out of the ordinary. It has what looks to be a couple of matching transormers on the circuit board so I'm not real clear just what is going on here. I'd like to try and get it right. Any help would be appreciated. Russ
imusbnutz is offline Report Post Reply With Quote


Hi as it happens i've just had the back off mine and there's a row of solder plates on the PCB, and my lead is soldered onto the 8 ohm plate.Hope that can be of help.

I happen to be having a nightmare as well, i have an early 9v as well,
serial No 28315, made in LA,Model 7-100

Can you tell me what is the value of the large resistor, or whatever it is, mine got frazzled when a techie tried to show off with an adapter he'd just bought. Of course i have no color code or even No's as a ref point.
as you take the shield off the PCB, it is lay horizontally, about 5mm up from the surface of the PCB and next to the shield that covers the OP Transformer where a transistor is clipped to the side.

Hope you can help

Larwood.

[overdrive]

According to H Chatt of Pignose it is a 4 ohm speaker.

[dan___o]

I have an old one, and the speaker (code: 7-201) is ~7 ohms DCR, so probably safe to assume it's 8 ohm Impedance.

I ran it into an 8 ohm load and it puts out around 1W RMS before clipping. Not sure where they got 5W from

As for your question Larwood, if you mean R14 (Next to the transistor on the right hand side), it's 1Ω 2W.

EDIT: Wow this is an old post

[52 Bill]

I would imagine that the 4 ohm speaker rating would apply to new ones.

[overdrive]

Pignose 7-100 Speaker Ohm Rating

An acquaintance contacted Pignose with this very question a few days ago & here is the follow-up reply from Pignose/Gorilla:

Re: Pignose 7-100 QuestionTuesday, December 8, 2009 6:00 AM
From: "HChatt@aol.com" <HChatt@aol.com>Add sender to ContactsTo:

We have been using a 4 ohm speaker since the beginning.

Drive a 4 X 12, maybe, but the batteries won't last very long. Really not a good idea.

Best Regards,

HOWARD @ PIGNOSE