90% of that raw raspy vintage tone is from that 6J7 and the speaker. Octal preamp tubes like the 6J7, 6SJ7, 6SL7, 6SN7, 6SC7, 6J5, 6C5, 6F5 have tons more harmonic content and warmth than the 12AX7 or other 9 pin mini tubes which sound crisper and more refined. The only difference is sometimes you find a microphonic octal Preamp tube and have to try a different one. I love to use the 6SJ7 pentode as V1 in my original designs, they are a bit different to set up than a dual triode like the 6SL7 or 12AX7, but it is the only way to get than vintage magic like your amp has. The 6J7 is a pentode identical to the 6SJ7 but it has the grid connection on top to keep it away from the high voltage on the pin socket. This is theoretically to prevent noise/hum. My first tube project years ago was a Western Electric speaker phone amp. When I started to build with 12AX7's I felt it lost some sort of character and I also noticed the amps I liked, and which had the best vintage blues sound for guitar had a 6SJ7 or 6SL7 in V1. Anyway, sorry for the ramble,
You don't know what you're talking about Just joking! Lol I don't have any of your knowledge about that stuff but I have noticed on UA-cam a few demos of old tube PA amps that sound awesome and betting it's because of what you're talking about. Thankfully there are still people like you that know and keep this knowledge going so it doesn't dissappear into extinction
@@markobee9400 are they the same model like this one? If not give me the model number and I'll look up a schematic and I'll think of a few things that might be good to try.
I love mine. I customized it to have a second Bell and Howell speaker and it pushes then together perfectly. Just an amazing foundation of clean. Every pedal sounds pure through it.
Love it, reminds me when I wired my parent's old hifi with twin 15s from my amp into the stereo amp. It rocked, until I tore the speakers to shreds, those old paper speakers can't handle distortion...
Back in the 60s I was one of those AV geeks in school. I actually got to see a few of these old 40s era projectors still in service.... had I only known to do some salvage work back then and sit on it for a few decades!
I have a Bell and Howell filmosound power amp in a cabinet with a 16 ohm alnico. Basically a Tweed Deluxe power stage. I used to use the cab with my 50w plexi, how I didn't blow the speaker, I don't know. Added a preamp so it can be used as a stand alone amp
I was a 13 yr old my neighbor had one if these little larger from a high school, we thought it sounded awesome.... if we plugged it into a sound system P.A. it was great. Then I made a fuzz tone out of a transistor radio with a Reverb spring coil set from an old Epiphone I was sounding every bit as good as Jack White, although I was trying to sound like Blue Cheer !!!... but we were afraid people would laugh at us for not owning a Marshall Stack. If I can find one of these old amps again I would put it out on display
I have two of these amps with original projectors, speakers, film reel etc. One is too mint to mod the other is about to blow up with the case getting super hot where the capacitors are, I won't be plugging in again till the capacitors are changed! I would be super interested in seeing what you mod / replace with this amp. Thanks
Sounds killer! May have missed the explanation in the video - what's up with the loaf pan? We used to have one of those projectors. Got it for pennies at an estate sale. The projector ran perfectly. Bought some weird 16mm films for cheap off of eBay and watched them now and then. Always meant to plug a guitar into the amp, but never got around to it. Wish we would have!!
Carful not to play it too long before replacing the vintage box type capacitors. You could easly take out a power or output transformer. Its worth the effort to replace at lease the power supply filters so you don't have to live with regrets.
Sounds really amazing ! I have the same 179 that I also picked at a Goodwill for $25, modded by a tech and it has the most crystal clear, chimney cleans at lower volumes too. How is it unrestored at lower volumes ? Thank you !
I see, interesting. I got mine done by At Mars amps (I forget his name), I'm sure you found his amps researching about these Filmosounds. I believe that he pretty much redoes everything. I really like what I hear here, perhaps a recap will do ! @@DashnerGuitars
Did I miss what speaker is in use? That is a big part of what we hear and what we like about what that amp can produce. I may have missed it so I apologize before hand if I did.
this is best recorded sound of one of these ive heard . what mic did you use ? i had a less desirable bell howell model which was still a nice amp but needed too much work
I took one look in one and sold it to the next person. There just isn't space to get my fat hands inside a filmo chassis. At Mars was rebuilding these for a time. It's surprising the filter caps haven't dried up or wax caps failed. Sometimes an old amp just works. I think the dark tones pair a lot with an old speaker, try it with a new cab first.
Regarding „sounding a. Little bit dark“ - don‘t try to mod it because of this! I am sure you would have a high chance to change the rich tone to the worse. Use a treble booster pedal instead - I am using a Rangemaster-ish one in front of my own Filmo 621 and it works fantastic!
90% of that raw raspy vintage tone is from that 6J7 and the speaker. Octal preamp tubes like the 6J7, 6SJ7, 6SL7, 6SN7, 6SC7, 6J5, 6C5, 6F5 have tons more harmonic content and warmth than the 12AX7 or other 9 pin mini tubes which sound crisper and more refined. The only difference is sometimes you find a microphonic octal Preamp tube and have to try a different one. I love to use the 6SJ7 pentode as V1 in my original designs, they are a bit different to set up than a dual triode like the 6SL7 or 12AX7, but it is the only way to get than vintage magic like your amp has. The 6J7 is a pentode identical to the 6SJ7 but it has the grid connection on top to keep it away from the high voltage on the pin socket. This is theoretically to prevent noise/hum. My first tube project years ago was a Western Electric speaker phone amp. When I started to build with 12AX7's I felt it lost some sort of character and I also noticed the amps I liked, and which had the best vintage blues sound for guitar had a 6SJ7 or 6SL7 in V1. Anyway, sorry for the ramble,
You don't know what you're talking about
Just joking! Lol
I don't have any of your knowledge about that stuff but I have noticed on UA-cam a few demos of old tube PA amps that sound awesome and betting it's because of what you're talking about.
Thankfully there are still people like you that know and keep this knowledge going so it doesn't dissappear into extinction
Oh, ramble on, my dude. I have a couple of old Filmosounds that I need to get working on. Any other mods you could suggest?
@@markobee9400 are they the same model like this one? If not give me the model number and I'll look up a schematic and I'll think of a few things that might be good to try.
That’s no ramble buddy. Thassa fact.
Excellent ramble, please do ramble some more. I'm going to try your recommendations in my own designes.
Wow - that amp sounds fantastic, smoooooooth natural distortion, love it!
Righteous!
That P90 sounded like Malcom Young. Awesome.
I love mine. I customized it to have a second Bell and Howell speaker and it pushes then together perfectly. Just an amazing foundation of clean. Every pedal sounds pure through it.
Well if there's anything in it that needs to be changed out........DON'T DO IT! That sounds amazing.
Man that epiphone Olympic with the lollar p90 is something else! It’s like an awesome fuzz tone I’ve never heard
The harmonics give great definition on dissonant notes and chords love it.
Love it, reminds me when I wired my parent's old hifi with twin 15s from my amp into the stereo amp. It rocked, until I tore the speakers to shreds, those old paper speakers can't handle distortion...
Back in the 60s I was one of those AV geeks in school. I actually got to see a few of these old 40s era projectors still in service.... had I only known to do some salvage work back then and sit on it for a few decades!
I have a Bell and Howell filmosound power amp in a cabinet with a 16 ohm alnico.
Basically a Tweed Deluxe power stage.
I used to use the cab with my 50w plexi, how I didn't blow the speaker, I don't know.
Added a preamp so it can be used as a stand alone amp
That sounds awesome.. what a great little amp..
My dad had one that I used to use and dime it. Gawd what a tone!
I was a 13 yr old my neighbor had one if these little larger from a high school, we thought it sounded awesome.... if we plugged it into a sound system P.A. it was great. Then I made a fuzz tone out of a transistor radio with a Reverb spring coil set from an old Epiphone I was sounding every bit as good as Jack White, although I was trying to sound like Blue Cheer !!!... but we were afraid people would laugh at us for not owning a Marshall Stack. If I can find one of these old amps again I would put it out on display
Sounds so fricken good! You and the amplifier.
Thank you!
That sounds fantastic!
Sounds phenomenal...
Man, that thing rocks!
Yeah.... That sounds realy realy nice. Rough and unruly. ❤
Cool looking rig! Sounds damn good too! Try a treble booster with a range knob. But, maybe the octal preamp is too microphonic?
This always sounds so great. Feels like a really desirable tone. Wouldn't be surprised if someone offers you some good money for it some time!
Very nice tone from the old beast. The TH-U Filmprojector Vst3 is based on these amps.
I have two of these amps with original projectors, speakers, film reel etc. One is too mint to mod the other is about to blow up with the case getting super hot where the capacitors are, I won't be plugging in again till the capacitors are changed! I would be super interested in seeing what you mod / replace with this amp. Thanks
It's probably not capacitors that are getting hot. Check your resistor values and power tube bias.
Sounds killer! May have missed the explanation in the video - what's up with the loaf pan?
We used to have one of those projectors. Got it for pennies at an estate sale. The projector ran perfectly. Bought some weird 16mm films for cheap off of eBay and watched them now and then. Always meant to plug a guitar into the amp, but never got around to it. Wish we would have!!
It's really noisy without the loaf pan. Maybe it's shielding the tube it's covering? I'm not sure.
Wow hearing it crank up amazing .
It's sounding good for complete stock 🎸
Nice thick blues rock tone. Very tasty
Damn that sounds good
Walrus has a pedal designed after a projector audio circuit. Wonder how it sounds through your Fender to compare with the Filmosound.
It's actually quite good. It's called the 385, which was the model number of some earliest conversions of these amps.
They've updated it to a 2-channel pedal now, very sweet indeed.
A good pedal but I do not see that much similarity with my own Filmo
I have that same old bell and Howell projector cab with the Jensen speaker in it
Great playing
Carful not to play it too long before replacing the vintage box type capacitors. You could easly take out a power or output transformer. Its worth the effort to replace at lease the power supply filters so you don't have to live with regrets.
Maybe just do the filter caps and dropping resistors and let it rip! That sound is yummy.
Sounds really amazing ! I have the same 179 that I also picked at a Goodwill for $25, modded by a tech and it has the most crystal clear, chimney cleans at lower volumes too. How is it unrestored at lower volumes ? Thank you !
It sounds a little dark at lower volumes. I hope to make it a bit brighter at some point.
I see, interesting. I got mine done by At Mars amps (I forget his name), I'm sure you found his amps researching about these Filmosounds. I believe that he pretty much redoes everything. I really like what I hear here, perhaps a recap will do !
@@DashnerGuitars
@@DashnerGuitars That sounds like coupling caps need to be replaced
Very cool.
Did I miss what speaker is in use? That is a big part of what we hear and what we like about what that amp can produce. I may have missed it so I apologize before hand if I did.
i love the blueeeeesssss
Epic..
Sounds great 😀
this is best recorded sound of one of these ive heard . what mic did you use ? i had a less desirable bell howell model which was still a nice amp but needed too much work
Sounds great
I took one look in one and sold it to the next person. There just isn't space to get my fat hands inside a filmo chassis. At Mars was rebuilding these for a time. It's surprising the filter caps haven't dried up or wax caps failed. Sometimes an old amp just works. I think the dark tones pair a lot with an old speaker, try it with a new cab first.
Sounds like the PRS is a little more balance and works well for the amp.
I've got one mounted to the bottom of the box, added a 3 prong plug.
You know if you know.
Do you mean it's mounted inside the original projector box?
It sounds good.I'd restore it.Lose the meatloaf pan.
Regarding „sounding a. Little bit dark“ - don‘t try to mod it because of this! I am sure you would have a high chance to change the rich tone to the worse.
Use a treble booster pedal instead - I am using a Rangemaster-ish one in front of my own Filmo 621 and it works fantastic!
Whats the purpose of the loaf pan?
I'd get those caps replaced before you damage something
what is the bucket for?
That’s cool. Can you make a kemper profile of it?
The first guitar was ready for AC/DC riffs
Very cool