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Repairing MOT on Dickerson amp

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  • Repairing MOT on Dickerson amp

    I will be getting in a day or two a beauty little lap steel amp from ebay. It is probably made by Dickerson with a pretty standard 6sj7, 6v6, 5y3 tube set, so I should be able to get it sounding pretty good. The flocking on the grill cloth looks good and the amp looks great from the front, top and one side. The problem is, it looks like it was left near a radiator or heater at some point and the MOT on one side is damaged. It is cracked and split at the joins of the wood carcase. I can always display it so that side doesn't show, however, if there is a way, I would like to repair it. I remember, when I was a kid decades ago, that plastic model car glue would actually melt the plastic parts of an AMT hot rod together. I am wondering if acetone , judiciously applied, would do the same for the celluloid based MOT.
    Has anyone out there tried anything like this? I realise the flammable nature of both products, but I have been refinishing antiques long enough to be very careful. I just don't want to make a small test to find out it melts the MOT right off.
    Any thoughts on this or some other approach?

  • #2
    Well, the amp arrived today and it is not as bad as the pictures looked. One surprise though, it is a 6L6 not a 6V6. It has a metal 6L6 which I understand cannot be replaced by a glass one. Is that correct?
    The volume pot/ on and off switch is frozen, but in the on position. I put it on my current limiter for a while and tried it - it works, field coil speaker and all. I have to find a good replacement if I can't free it up. A good deal to do on this but I am pleased with it. Will look good with my other lap steel amps.

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    • #3
      Metal 6L6 is equal to older 6L6G st coke bottle types, you can find them on ebay and I think they look and sound very nice. It is safe to use any new 6L6 in there though, the voltage rating is the only difference and is higher on newer tubes. It might be risky to try to use older 6L6 or 6L6g in an amp with more than 500 volts and with fixed bias. I have one of those bigger 6L6g in my amp right now and love the sound I get.

      I just noticed the age of this post, I wonder how the amp sounds!

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      • #4
        Well, after replacing caps, adding a three prong cord, getting a NOS 6L6 etc, it turns out the field coil speaker was shot too. Voice coil rub! It is getting harder to find speakers that you can mount an OT on, but I had one. That and a choke and it sounds pretty good. If I had to buy a new speaker and choke it would have gotten far too expensive, but I am going to run out of spare parts one day.

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