Please don´t get me wrong here,but why is it that many of you frown upon your domestic amps?
Let it be known,for the record,that working on tubers for a part time living i have the utmost respect for german engineering.
When it comes to "your" old tubers as well.
Anyways.
Klemt. Munchen. Back in the early -60s.
As a tube tech i´ve come to take an interest in Klemt made amps. Own several of them,Winston branded included. Showstars,BN-40´s,BS-40´s,Winston GA-200...PA-200...asf asf asf.
So. I ran into this BS-40 as a bare chassis over german e-bay. Picked it up cheap as "dead on arrival". Seller noted that it was "mit mod". Yeah yeah...
What touched down with me was this rather beat up old BS-40 of,what i presume,1963 vintage. (Seing the grey coloured control knobs). Complete with dustbunnies and all.
Well. I cleaned her out with large amounts of alcohol and a brush...installed a pair of EL-34´s that were missing...looked her over and fired her up.
Sure enough. Sound.
As per usual coupling caps were leaking like crazy,so..replaced a few of those right off the bat.
"Mit mod". Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
. Some Mr Handyman had replaced the stock 32uF+32uF can e-lyte with this mess...and basically had left that crap hanging within.
Enough of that already!
Don´t know how many of you are aware of it,but a Klemt BS-40 is basically just a Marshall JMP...just produced like 4yrs earlier than the JMP was an itch in Jimmys pants.
So.
I thought to myself,why not make this into a working mans JMP? One that is REAL cheap to keep and as rugged as the stocker.
Now. I was thinking along the lines..how to evolve on that and...realized that i needed to separate the two channels. Said n done..
I fabricated this real simple board that keeps a 9VAC trafo,a rectifier and a 4700uF e-lyte. That in turn runs.....
...these two buddies. Yep. A relay controlled "JMP" of sorts. Just..this time out a USABLE two channel such.
That in turn brought that i had no need for the extra two inputjacks,so these were scrapped.
Right. Working mans JMP. The stock ECC-808 are silly expensive and in my and my fellow techs ramblings up here in Sweden i´ve come across the russian 6n2p´s. In reality tubes that are real similar,just at 2 Euros a pop. Again...a WORKING mans JMP...
A differing jack was installed so that we can control the relays via a footswitch.
Lots of components were indeed replaced. Many were modified. As these 25V zener diodes installed for the powertube screens. Then a 100 Ohm resistor for each to combat EMI and RFI.
At this point i had myself a working specimen of a two channel JMP alright but....nah...just nah...
Well. Amp lacked a cab right,so i fabricated one out of regular pine.
As i pushed the envelope with the stock cathodefollower stage i soon realized that i was pushing to much amplitude inwards of that grid. I fooled around a LOT with it before deciding it was time for the bin....and ergo i remodeled that into a common anode driven stage instead.
Now. Mind you. LOTS of modifications has been pulled to this amp and the idea was,and is,a working mans JMP. Just with a greater span.
As such i deem it needed that the amp responds strongly to inbound signal. Ie; you need to be able to control it with the volume pot of the guitar should need be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgwntussQ0w&feature=youtu.beWell. There you have it. A Klemt BS-40 modified into something way more contemporary sounding.
What i´m trying to say here...you guys have TONS of these amps around. Be it Klemt,be it Dynacord be it Suprem...Hohner..whatever. They are dirt cheap as noone plays them anymore and...they ARE extremely well designed.
Use them.