Look what I found in the trash...and it work...but need some advice

[ampuser]

I'll say right off, I'm not an Amp or Guitar repair kinda guy but if I have to be, I will. The other day I saw this sitting
out by the road and new I had a little rarity. I asked about it. It indeed was going to be trashed so I took it home. First thing I did was look online for this brand that I'd never heard of...Noble. I found this forum and the only link or pic online of this model...here. Turns out this seems to be a 1965 Noble Peerless 323 (made by Magnatone). I got the year because it seems there's a history webpage dedicated to Magnatone Amps and its states that in 1965, Magnatone switched to Jensen speakers. As you can see, by the speaker pic below this most likely was the first year they produced this model with a Jensen speaker. Also, It has the date stamped inside where the electronics are. The year is faint but I loaded a pic up of it in Paint.Net and did some trickery and it looks like the year 1965.

The pix below are in the condition I found it in and as you'll see...the inside is stunning. It all works...with a few quirks.





I first checked the fuse and it looked good so I plugged it in and the light came on. About 45 secs later it came to life. All the tubes glowed and a familiar hum and sound came around, Potentiometer gagging. I plugged my guitar
into it and it works but any knob position was hell to keep quiet. I've never had to clean out or clean up and amp or guitar so I went about online and i found a product everyone seems to use called Deoxit. I followed the directions and it has fixed the knob issues. All the knobs can now be turned without a single noise or scratching sound. All the inputs have the same issue in that you have to rotate the input cord just right or you'll blow your ear drums out. This is one part I haven't done yet. I'm fretting about replacing the original anything in this thing. It's all stock it seems. I haven't found a simple solution for the input jacks like I did for the pots...BTW..The footswitch and tremolo system work fine also...no problems.









Unfortunately the original speaker seems to have a few small age holes in it. I can't tell what kind of difference this will make but I'm going to leave it as it is. When I play through it, anything above 4 I'd say starts to have that tearing or vibrating sound. Anything below that it sounds fine.





Surprisingly, the schematic for this model was on the backside of the protective plate. As you can see, about 20% of it has weathered away but I thought something is better than nothing so here's a pic for reference.



I'm posting this mainly for reference to anyone out there who may have one of these and is stumped as to what it could be. Also as a reference for repair. I need to know what a fix could be for the input jacks, what glue I could use to but the rubber backing back on the original foot switch and if I should have the speaker redone or just get another speaker to replace it.

Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this but it's my first time in here.

Not bad for something someone was going to throw away eh?



PS....I have loads more pics to show...close ups of the pots...resistors or whatever else if wanted.

[gui_tarzan]

What a find! EL84s (6BQ5) output tubes, the Jensen needs a re-cone and the electrolytic capacitors NEED to be replaced. Since you've fired it up there are deadly voltages stored in those caps (the silver cans) and if you're not an amp guy you should take it to someone that knows how to safely repair them. I don't know how that particular amp sounds but it should be fairly nice once it's freshened up. If the old tubes check out good they should be fine to use.

Replacing that power cord with a 3-wire cord and getting rid of that "death" cap, and replacing the electrolytic caps would be #1 on the list. And of course the speaker. Don't worry about the "collector value" if you do these simple things, in fact a tube stereo guy that I do work for said they'd rather know it's safe than keep the power cord original.

If the pots are original (and I assume they are) the date code looks like the 37th week of 1964 so yes, it's probably a 1965. Very cool!

[Diablo]

Nope, not Magnatone.
It's a Lectrolab! Sound Projects....made in Cicero Illinois.
You have an R600C model.

http://lectrolab.wordpress.com/lectrolab-models/r600/

[The Dude]

1) That's a great find!

2) I would not fully recone that Jensen unless necessary. From the pics, it looks to me like it could be simply re-edged. With the right cloth surround, you could easily cover and repair the small tears. Also, much cheaper than a full recone. I could give you better advice if we had some pics of the front of the speaker. If you do opt to swap it out, save the old one.

3) You can clean the jacks with the Deoxit also. Spray the jack contacts and run a jack in and out several times.

4) Agree with gui_tarzan: Replace the power cord with a grounded one and clip out the death cap.

[ampuser]

Thanks Diablo for the reference...very excellent to now know what I have...a Lectrolab

I'm not a amp repair guy by a mile so replacing all that, except maybe the power cord, I wouldn't even attempt to do. I don't live very close to any type of guitar/amp repair place. I could go to any number of places in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area but I wouldn't know who would be the best to choose.

I talked to my brother, who's had many old amps, and he also mentioned the cloth redo instead of re-coning it. I thought the best route woulda been to just get another 12" and keep the old Jensen in the closet. If it's not expensive I'll probably have it all done. For me this was just a find I had to share with Amp People of the Internet. I've been fiddling with guitars and amps for 20+ years but never came across something like this. As far as the value, I'm not too concerned. I can't see too many out there getting wound up over this little amp. Getting up and running properly/safely, sounds like what I need to do. I appreciate the advice. I will take it when I see what I'll be dealing with.

The input jacks, up close, form the outside all appear to be green around the nut. Oxidation or whatever. Any ideas on a particular power cord? Link me to one ya'll would prefer?

















BTW...it rained a few hours after I picked this orphaned amp up and saved it...so it was meant to be

[gui_tarzan]

Dude is right, the speaker may be salvageable but he would know better than I, that's for sure.

I use either long computer power cords or hospital-grade cords (and snip off the EIC ends) that I get when we take equipment out of service. Most computer shops have a lot of these just sitting in boxes, or you can get cords from most of the amp parts places.

[Silvertone Jockey]

Nice find and good save, like you said "it was meant to be"

[Audiotexan]

Nice find!!

Although I know you said you're not too concerned about the value...you'd be surprised!! A little "plain Jane" amp of the same vintage would still sell used for a bare minimum of $200 (USD) with everything working.

Guitar Center sells little amps smaller than this all the time without any speed/modulation functions (tremolo/vibrato) for $200 in average condition. Usually with little dinky 6" to 8" speakers.

Combine that with the fact that you've got *several* desirable features:
- tube rectifier (6ca4)
- 12ax7's in the preamp
- EL84 outputs
- original 12" Jensen speaker
and there's some out there that would just go NUTS for something like this.

So don't hesitate to treat it right (by servicing it with a good technician) as you should *easily* be able to recoup whatever 'small' investment ($100-$150) that it might take to clean this all up and put it back into 100% working order (though it doesn't sound like you'll even get close to that from the appearance/description of things)! Yours should easily go for $325-400

Whatever you do, don't let anyone talk you into replacing tubes that ARE NOT BAD. Just because they're old, does NOT mean they should be replaced!

And again, congrats on a NICE score!!