Wurlitzer 120 model tube amp - any use?

Started by Mann, June 16, 2005, 04:11:07 AM

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Mann

Hi, I have an old Wulitzer 120 model electric piano which is in a quite bad condition mechanically (my first piano from 60's...) and it's got a tube amp with a small speaker (working-maybe). See the attached schematic.
I've been thinking about restoring it but the mechanical parts like the new reeds are very expensive. What about the amp could it be used as a guitar amp (complete rework of course) ?
I'm no expert so I can't say anything about the schematic.
I am - though- building a madamp tubeamp kit right now...
See the attacment:
http://www.18watt.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5170[/img]

Regan

I'm not sure, but that may be worth money as is to a collector, enough to buy you enough parts to build an amp or two anyway.
Regan

toneman

yes, it *IS* a collectors item.
the amp is a hi-fi amp, not *just* a "guitar" amp.
it's a full range, full frequency amplifier.
it's about 8 to 10 watts... plenty good for synth practice amp.
It's even got it's own spealer!!
is Wulitzer still in business??
if it is, i'm sure U can get the reeds and felt hammers to rebuild.
Again, in fully restored condition, these beauties can sell on
ebay for $300 to $500.
can U cay "SuperTramp"???
staytuned
tone
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petemoore

I'd hang on to it.
 I don't see why some sort of auxillary input couldn't be snuck in.
 The only thing about that is you're probably going to want to run a boosted/Fuzzed guitar as source, and while the speaker may sound great for this, it wasn't designed for a guitar source and it's life could be limited.
Convention creates following, following creates convention.

Mann

Just thinking about the whole thing. I know that the piano itself is a rarity
but not quite so valuable that I'd consider restoring it - mechanical parts.
I've opened it several times through the years and cleaned the whole thing etc.

dadude

I used to have one of those oldies. I sold it one ebay and told people it was in really, really bad shape. I even made jokes about the condition. The part were the speaker was water logged.

It sold for like $350. I heard that when it showed up at the guys house it came out of the box in pieces.

I would see how much it would cost to get it up and running and get top cash for it.

8)

anotherjim

I can't see the schematic in that link. The one I found has a nasty high DC voltage on the input pentode stage to bias the electrostatic pickups. There is a phono input that just blends into the phase splitter so I suppose you can just pull the pentode out and provide a preamp in its place feeding the phono.
There would probably be extra work though. Replace aged electrolytic capacitors. Ensure proper mains AC input safety ground.
This scheme is presumably a USA ungrounded model...


ThermionicScott

Quote from: anotherjim on November 28, 2020, 11:06:34 AM
I can't see the schematic in that link. The one I found has a nasty high DC voltage on the input pentode stage to bias the electrostatic pickups. There is a phono input that just blends into the phase splitter so I suppose you can just pull the pentode out and provide a preamp in its place feeding the phono.
There would probably be extra work though. Replace aged electrolytic capacitors. Ensure proper mains AC input safety ground.
This scheme is presumably a USA ungrounded model...

Old thread, but it would be pretty simple to turn those guts into a mini tweed Deluxe.  I'd replace the 12AU7 with a 12AX7 and adjust R10/R11 accordingly for extra fun.  :icon_cool:
"...the IMD products will multiply like bacteria..." -- teemuk

iainpunk

cool thread, just looked in to Wurlitzers for the first time.
those Wurlitzer PU's are interesting! are there any HV static guitar pickups at all?
the HV easily done with an electric flyswatters circuit, and some filtering to filter out the 18kHz of the driver ofc.

cheers, Iain
friendly reminder: all holes are positive and have negative weight, despite not being there.

cheers

anotherjim

Quote from: iainpunk on November 28, 2020, 04:11:37 PM
cool thread, just looked in to Wurlitzers for the first time.
those Wurlitzer PU's are interesting! are there any HV static guitar pickups at all?
the HV easily done with an electric flyswatters circuit, and some filtering to filter out the 18kHz of the driver ofc.

cheers, Iain
Errr, ok...


davent

#10
Finished up an amp (electronically only) earlier this year that is a 5879 pentode into a 12ax7, 12ax7 PI, then a PP pair of 6aq5's for the power section.

HoSo 56 build from the Hoffman forum.

https://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=25958.0

Started with the schematic in this post.

https://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=19292.msg198822#msg198822

Ended up here, this may or may not show up, get carried away with power supplies...
http://www.wattkins.com/files/wattkins/56T_hoso56.pdf
dave
dave
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