What is a SoundCity 120 head?
RonSonic
You have exactly what it is you think you have, which is: A large, sturdy
British guitar amp in need of service. Have it gone over and enjoy the
Beast on the leash.
ROn
R. McPherson <rjmc...@rigel.oac.uci.edu> wrote in message
news:Pine.SOL.4.05.991018...@rigel.oac.uci.edu...
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> Hello,
> Yesterday I bought a SoundCity 120 head at a garage sale.
> Yesterday I asked if anyone could tell me information about this amp.
> Several people began bidding on it. Unfortunately, that was not very
helpful.
>
> Does anyone know of a website or company that can help me find out some
things
> about this amp? For example: How old is it?, what tubes should I use?
are
> there common problems? is their a schematic available?
>
> Today I plugged it in using a 4ohm two speaker cabinet and, after getting
all
> the snap and crackle out of the eq knobs and input jack, it played for
about
> 15-20 min and then blew the 5amp fuse in the back. It was only at volume
level
> 1. It sounded very clean and smooth while it was playing. It made some
> swimming hissy sound before the fuse blew.
>
> So now I would like to know what I have. If anyone has genuine helpful
> direction to offer I would be grateful. Thanks.
>
> rjmc...@uci.edu Ron McPherson
>
>
Kent Pearson
Everybody used to joke and call them "Sound Shitty" amps, but I knew a guy who
used a modded 50 watt for a long time, got great tone and loved it. Going by
(past) substance impared memory, I believe they were made by Dallas Arbiter,
same company that made the Fuzz Face and marketed the Mellotron. Speakers
(which you don't have) were made by Fane. They were kind of the poor man's
Marshall, but probably still not cheap for that time - just cheaper. I used
one for a VERY short while and remember mine being noisy. There seemed to be a
reliability issue with those amps as well . I don't think they were made all
that well - you know, cheap labor, cheap construction, cheap selling price,
etc. I can't remember what I did or didn't know about tone back then, but I do
remember I wasn't too gassed by whatever I got out of that amp - and since I
had two full Marshall 1959 Super Lead stacks at that time and was looking at
my third, I got rid of it.
One thing I thought was weird about Sound City amps was that if you turned the
EQ pots off, you got no sound at all. Each tone knob was a volume knob in that
range. I don't understand how that works from a technical standpoint, but it
was really weird. I was semi-serious when I bid $13.00 for yours. I was
definately NOT serious when I upped the bid from $50.00 to $51.50, since I'd
have less use for it now than I did back then. Hope this 2 cents worth was
more what you were looking for.
>Hello,
> Yesterday I bought a SoundCity 120 head at a garage sale.
> Yesterday I asked if anyone could tell me information about this amp.
> Several people began bidding on it. Unfortunately, that was not very
>helpful.
>
> Does anyone know of a website or company that can help me find out some
>things
>about this amp? For example: How old is it?, what tubes should I use? are
>there common problems? is their a schematic available?
>
> Today I plugged it in using a 4ohm two speaker cabinet and, after getting
>all
>the snap and crackle out of the eq knobs and input jack, it played for about
>15-20 min and then blew the 5amp fuse in the back. It was only at volume
>level
>1. It sounded very clean and smooth while it was playing. It made some
>swimming hissy sound before the fuse blew.
>
> So now I would like to know what I have. If anyone has genuine helpful
>direction to offer I would be grateful. Thanks.
>
>rjmc...@uci.edu Ron McPherson
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
- Kent Pearson
"Fall mountains, just don't fall on me" (Jimi Hendrix - If 6 Was 9)
R. McPherson
:You've got an English head that was once in abundance during the 70's.
[]
:One thing I thought was weird about Sound City amps was that if you turned the
:EQ pots off, you got no sound at all. Each tone knob was a volume knob in that
:range.
THanks, this helps. I found some reviews at harmony-central, and I called
around local and found a repair guy who was familiar and he taught me that they
should have EL34s in the preamp and 12AX7s in the output.
I opened it up and it has some ECC83s and one ECC81 in the preamp, and some
unidentifiable (Xf2) B3E1 tubes in the output slots. So now I figure I'll label
the tubes in place, then take them all to radio shack for testing.
If anyone knows where I can get a schematic in case I have to replace filter
caps that would be great.
Dave Mosley
pitman's book has the schem (or at least, one of them). if you ask _real_ nice,
he'll send you a photocopy for $5 or so.
ECC-81 (aka 12AT7) and ECC-83 (12AX7) are probably fine where they are. the 83
should be in the reverb recovery slot, V4. (or just ahead of the 'Presence'
pot, depending on the model).
are you sure the outputs are not original mullards? with the preamp lineup,
i'd be surprised. if so, add up the cost of USED mullard EL-34's, and count
your blessings.
as for the caps, you're looking at trouble (hard to find and expensive) since
they're mostly multi-caps. IIRC, we're looking at tri-32's at 500V, and some
200 uFs. fairly easy to sub if you don't mind rebuilding, but a pain if you
want to keep it original...
speaking of rebuilding, you do have some nice partridge iron there...
TimTube
McPherson" <rjmc...@rigel.oac.uci.edu> writes:
>
>x-no-archive: yes
>
>Hello,
> Yesterday I bought a SoundCity 120 head at a garage sale.
> Yesterday I asked if anyone could tell me information about this amp.
> Several people began bidding on it. Unfortunately, that was not very
>helpful.
>
> Does anyone know of a website or company that can help me find out some
>things
>about this amp? For example: How old is it?, what tubes should I use? are
>there common problems? is their a schematic available?
>
> Today I plugged it in using a 4ohm two speaker cabinet and, after getting
>all
>the snap and crackle out of the eq knobs and input jack, it played for about
>15-20 min and then blew the 5amp fuse in the back. It was only at volume
>level
>1. It sounded very clean and smooth while it was playing. It made some
>swimming hissy sound before the fuse blew.
>
> So now I would like to know what I have. If anyone has genuine helpful
>direction to offer I would be grateful. Thanks.
>
>rjmc...@uci.edu Ron McPherson
>
Sound Citys are interesting amps, I've owned several and worked on many more.
They typically have no circuit board (pc or tag), everything is wired to
turrent strips like Hiwatts, but sloppy. Dave Reeves the Hiwatt founder was
employed by Sound City (which was actually a music store chain in the UK)
before he started Hiwatt. Most of these amps have Partridge transformers, like
Hiwatts and Orange. Many models (including the 120) had active tone circuits
which is almost unheard of in guitar amps. Seems like the 120 has 6 EL34s, and
the blown fuse is most like caused by a bad one. Seems like I recall the 120
as having 5 inputs, with the middle being both channels bridged. There are
some pics around of Hendrix playing one live. If the amp still has the
original tubes, you have a whole lot valuable Mullards.....And that is about
all I can tell you about Sound Citys.
Tim
A great amp can make a lousy guitar sound great.
A lousy amp will make a great guitar sound lousy.
A great player will sound great with anything.
R. McPherson
:McPherson" <rjmc...@rigel.oac.uci.edu> writes:
:> Yesterday I bought a SoundCity 120 head at a garage sale.
[]
:> So now I would like to know what I have. If anyone has genuine helpful
:>direction to offer I would be grateful. Thanks.
:
:Sound Citys are interesting amps, I've owned several and worked on many more.
:They typically have no circuit board (pc or tag), everything is wired to
:turrent strips like Hiwatts, but sloppy. Dave Reeves the Hiwatt founder was
:employed by Sound City (which was actually a music store chain in the UK)
:before he started Hiwatt. Most of these amps have Partridge transformers, like
:Hiwatts and Orange. Many models (including the 120) had active tone circuits
:which is almost unheard of in guitar amps. Seems like the 120 has 6 EL34s, and
:the blown fuse is most like caused by a bad one. Seems like I recall the 120
:as having 5 inputs, with the middle being both channels bridged. There are
:some pics around of Hendrix playing one live. If the amp still has the
:original tubes, you have a whole lot valuable Mullards.....And that is about
:all I can tell you about Sound Citys.
:Tim
Excellent info thank you. Yes it has the Mullards. I went to a
www.vintageamps.com website where they were discussing sound city amps and
learned that the original tubes are these valuable mullard military tubes.
Someone gave a link to a company selling them for $120 each. I couldn't believe
it. I'm glad I learned this before taking the amp to some tech who might've
just kept those old tubes and sold me some new cheaper tubes.
I've opened it and it is exactly as you describe and I don't see anything burnt
at all. There are five mullard pream tubes. But one is a CC81 and four are a
CC83s and I'm hoping that they are identical. It has 6 inputs (2 normal, 2
bright, and 2 "slave"). It has two outputs.
I'm not certain I understand why the mullard tubes are so valuable though.
One person posted on the vintage amp BBS that they put the Mullards in a box for
safekeeping and just replaced all the tubes with new ones. That sounds similar
to buying an expensive guitar that never gets played to me.
Thanks again for the info.
R. McPherson
:"R. McPherson" wrote:
:>
:> THanks, this helps. I found some reviews at harmony-central, and I called
[]
:pitman's book has the schem (or at least, one of them). if you ask _real_ nice,
:he'll send you a photocopy for $5 or so.
:
:ECC-81 (aka 12AT7) and ECC-83 (12AX7) are probably fine where they are. the 83
:should be in the reverb recovery slot, V4. (or just ahead of the 'Presence'
:pot, depending on the model).
:
:are you sure the outputs are not original mullards? with the preamp lineup,
:i'd be surprised. if so, add up the cost of USED mullard EL-34's, and count
:your blessings.
:
:as for the caps, you're looking at trouble (hard to find and expensive) since
:they're mostly multi-caps. IIRC, we're looking at tri-32's at 500V, and some
:200 uFs. fairly easy to sub if you don't mind rebuilding, but a pain if you
:want to keep it original...
:
:speaking of rebuilding, you do have some nice partridge iron there...
Thanks for the info. I'm learning more and more every day. Yes it is all
original with Mullard tubes everywhere. Now I know they are considered
valuable. Yes it has partridge transformers. It is all original and my guess
is it just needs the pots cleaned with contact clearner and a tube or two
replaced because it played fine for 20 min and then only blew one fuse.
Once I'm satisfied that I know enough to be an informed consumer, I'll take it
to a local tech guru I found and let him service it but not let him try to keep
my Mullard tubes. I'll check on that pitman schematic too. Thanks.
rjmc...@uci.edu Ron McPherson