Rangemaster treble booster real or clone

[wil71]

Hi,
Trying to get some confirmation on this well spent £1 item I bought today. Can anyone confirm if this is a genuine article, it is tested as working by a friend he says it sound amazing. All the signs show that it is a genuine article but just want piece of mind before it goes!!
Thanks

[J M Fahey]

Looks too new, clean and shiny to be a 60's original.
Parts are also from different eras and not vintage-correct.
Solder is too bright, should be opaque with natural tin oxide by now.
Wire also is too new.
Either it's a modern version or somebody reworked it ... heavily.
Fine with me, I would trust it a lot more than any original.

[wil71]

yes but???

Thanks for your comments.
Agree with you that it looks new but compare it to the one listed on *bay for $5000 at the moment, they are very similar bit mone os better. it is also older if you go with the serial number. also the clones are addresed jmi. Either this is a very good clone or indeed a well looked after original. By the way it has a mullard oc71 chip fitted.

[J M Fahey]

Well, an OC71 is a widely available transistor which can be had for $7.93 .
And the paper serial number label can be printed by anybody.
More than that, I see a mixture of old and modern parts , modern wire, and fresh (not 50 Y.O.) solder .
The slight rust spots on the case and a couple screws show that it was not kept unused for 40 years in a nitrogen filled bag , and if it was in an oxygen available atmosphere (vulgo: "air") solder should be covered in a thin blackish tin oxide layer by now.
Which does not happen, so as I said earlier, guts and case are incompatible, age wise.
I have new, unused 10 years old parts which are unsolderable by now , or require at least slight scratching.
I repair , among older things, old amps, and can *easily* spot non original parts and later repairs because of that.
After almost 50 years even plastic becomes brittle and loses brightness ; and the relatively abused output cord should have cracks in that knot which keeps it inside.
*Best* case, it was an original non working one, which was gutted and rebuilt with some modern parts.
Any technician experienced in old stuff will say about the same.
I started building and repairing amps in 1969, when those pedals were *new*, go figure.
By the way, compare this to yours:

And even this one does not look 100% original.

[wil71]

Thanks again for your comments Juan. Ah well, thought I stumbled on gold for a minute, Anyways has to be worth the pound that I paid for it from a boot sale.

[J M Fahey]

You *did* stumble on gold.
Just use it and you'll love it.
Of course, using it with a JTM45 or similar will be killer.
Good luck.

[wil71]

Had confirmation today on the rangemaster from a retired electronics engineer, he says that the parts are true to the period but some of the solder had been reworked and others had not, the untouched solder shows signs of the brown resin used back in the day, he also says that the germanium bits were handmade, casing screws still shows the carbon coating on them also. so I think i will be happy to call this a genuine article.
J.M. thanks for you comments on this as you are the only one so far. I guess not many folk have seen these things let alone used one or have been up close and personal with its guts.

[wil71]

Will be posting the Rangemaster to Vintage & Rare london on Wednesday to be valued and sold, so this is the last chance if anyone is interested in this. you have until Wednesday to make me an offer. PM me.

[guitician]

What does it smell like? A lot of really old items I've been able to smell had this old smell to them. They just pickup smells over the years of being stored in closets. To me it appears that the switch is new, and the polystyrene cap looks new too. Those yellow 25uf/25v caps are the only thing that is a "WOW", and if I came across a pair of NOS ones, I could make a clone that looks just like yours. Maybe someone is making fake 25uf/25v like those???
And with the price the original Rangemasters are going for, I wouldn't be surprised.

[wil71]

It smelt like an old radiogram when it was switched on for test, As for it being a clone, I guess my second opinion I get from vintage and rare will confirm if this is the genuine article or not. See post seven about the components fitted, and all I got yesterday from my local guitar shop in Bangor was WOW!!.

[J M Fahey]

you have until Wednesday to make me an offer. PM me.

*WHO* are you referring to as "you"?

So that's what it was all about?

I bet you "asked the same question" in a 1000 forums to see if somebody would bite.

No problem.
I'll make you an offer: I can trade your low serial number sticker and EBay NOS parts Rangemaster clone for 2 NOS plugs which *might* have been used by Jimi/Elvis/whoever , valued in $3000 each.
I can accept the remaining $500 in cash.

PS: referring to your Bangor Guitar shop: besides saying WOW!!!, did they make any *cash* offer?
Or al least a trade-in for something?

[wil71]

*You* I was refering to all reading this forum.
im sorry for even trying to research this thing. should have just put the thing on ebay in the beginning, it would have been less hassle.