Gibson EH185 Restoration | 1939-1940 Era Guitar Amplifier
Вставка
- Опубліковано 20 лип 2024
- This amp is a true gem, so I HAD to document its restoration. I begin by replacing the leaky filter caps and preamp bypass capacitors, and then move on to fix some other small issues. My goal is to maintain this amp's originality as much as possible, while making it safe and usable.
Remember to Like and Subscribe :)
PATREON: www.patreon.com/fazioelectric
INSTAGRAM: fazioelectric - Навчання та стиль
Having a friend gift me this amp back in March was a once in a lifetime event that I will not forget but finding Colleen, who has the passion and skill to breathe life back into what might otherwise be a cool old doorstop, is equally special. I am very grateful to have had the pleasure. She is a rock star.
Alan- thank you for taking the time to write such a nice comment. It was a pleasure meeting you, and bringing this amp back to life was such a rare and exciting opportunity! Enjoy :)
@@FazioElectric You may want to pin his comment. Great work on a lovely vintage amp. I hope I'm able to find a treasure like this!
if you can keep this in a case or at least a cover and protect from humidity and such will preserve this pristine condition for decades to come.. this one may be museum bound, no kidding...
the speaker bolt heads... back when manufacturing and craftsmanship had pride at all levels, dressed bolt heads, now that's pride!
beautiful amp BTW, you're lucky to have an example in such pristine condition, not only looks fantastic but sounds fantastic as well, I'll say you have some friend with confidence... man .. props on ya both! and the tech!
Such a nice back and forth.
We get a little history on the amp…
And get to watch the service.
Then we get to see correspondence between the owner and tech.
Such a wonderful amp and video.
Well done to both of you.
Good stuff.🎸👍🥃😊
Edit… Love the amp but that is the ugliest layout I’ve ever seen in an amplifier.
Obviously it’s early amplifier technology…
But good god that’s a jungle inside the chassis.🙄🤨🤣👍
Beautiful
"Just to 'recap' what I've done here." Haha, good one.
Damn - you beat me to it!
Resistance is futile ...
I swear I never thought amp repair videos could be so relaxing, its almost like an asmr channel
I agree.
Her voice is laid back, smooth and relaxing.
And you get to learn a boatload about amp repair and technique to boot.
Good stuff.👍🥃🎸
She's honored to work on the amp, she says. This is exactly what every owner of vintage equipment wants to hear when they entrust it to a tech for repair. She's an old soul and she's tuned into the ghosts of the past who built and played through the amp. She gets it. Colleen, you're inspiring to us all. Even us old cats.
Beautiful old EH-185, Colleen......you did an excellent job with both the repair and the video. I'm glad to see your subscriber count is rising faster than gas prices :)
Nice seeing you here UD! It's always amazing to see an amp from the '40s in one piece, let alone in great shape. Cheers!
uncle doug
Who's uncle Doug?
@@chrislambden2689 the Lemmy of amp repair
@@harrysachs2274 dig then👍
Not only is she a master amp repairer, she has sweet guitar skills and she matches the style of the amp she's working on. Really cool.
Breathing "Naima" for it's first breath of new life, what could possibly be more auspicious? Wonderful work.
That is undoubtedly the cleanest EH-185 on the planet. That 80 year old amp literally looks better than many 5 year old amps do. I was hoping you’d pull an Uncle Doug and hide the new electrolytics inside the old cardboard originals. You still did a nice clean job.
y'know, that schtick needs to go away: fetishizing old just cuz old encourages valuing functional objects for nostalgia stupid reasons. (& it introduces a possibility for error & makes visual inspections for leaks impossible).
@@RichardMcLamore Agree, take some pictures, put the old bits in a bag and use the amp.
Yeah might as well replace every component and tear off the tweed covering & install new Tolex. Let’s also trash the old speaker and put in a brand new one. Old stuff sucks. Actually let’s re-house the chassis in a NEW apple crate. We don’t want people to “fetishize”over something that’s an 80 year old museum piece since you seem to think people jack off on minty vintage amps. I hope you play a solid state crate and not an old tube amp- otherwise someone might fetishize all over it, and then you’d have to pay some tech to chisel the dried up jizz off of it. Might as well burn down your house while you’re at it- someone might admire it from afar, or even in a UA-cam comment section and you definitely wouldn’t want that. You can then build yourself a new ugly cinder block house that won’t be fetishized over. And if someone does happen to “fetishize” on it you can just spray it off with a garden hose.
I have one that is almost as clean
....wonderful amp
@@vadenk4433 exactly.. shouldnt replace the power cord either. if you cant figure out how to use a 2 prong plug you should just take up golf.
This has quickly become one of my favorite channels! My soldering has improved massively since watching. Thanks!
Amp sounds amazing!
I was surprised by how clean it sounded.
Bob?
come on, man. you're here?! fark, i don't like your channel.
Didn't expect to see you here!
Spoiler alert!
I was having a rough morning but that bit of voodoo child at the end made me grin wildly. Cool sound and great playing!
80% electronic, 20% sculpture. Enjoyed the vid!
It's uncommon but really nice to see women doing this type of work. I love to see old pieces coming back to life by the hands of skilled people.
And OMG! Your voice is so relaxing! 🙂
Already subscribed!
Glad to know that the preamp section of the amp uses tubes that we can still buy today. There are preamp tubes manufactured before 1947 that were commonly used in 1930s era amps that are either no longer made or are ultra rare and over-priced.
Yep.Sometimes they have to replace the tube socket and all.But if I could find the one rare tube I need I would pay 100$ or more.
I look at the size of those components from that time period, and I imagine a Mesa road King the size of a refrigerator!
Way COOL ! I grew up in Kalamzoo Michigan. I lived 4 streets away from the Gibson factory in Kalamzoo. Every time I saw a historical piece from the factory it makes me proud to have been there in the heyday of the Gibson Guitar empire. Watching you restore a part of history is breath taking. YOU GO GIRL.
Thank you for sharing this story- you were truly in the presence of magic!
Very cool old amp! ✌🏻👍🏻
You’re here
thanks for checkin it out :)
Don’t fetishize it Matthew! Old amps are not to be admired. :) You might get scolded by the know it all who informed me he thinks people have sexual relations with vintage amplifiers.
@@vadenk4433 nah the input Jack holes are too small
Oh man, even Matthew Scott is here! Sup man
I was given one of these in 1966.
I moved out and left it in the attic with amp removed. My mom thought the amp was an old radio and threw it out. I wanted to cry lol.
I’ve still got the speaker and cabinet.
I’m going to make a place for a quilter head
In there to keep it lightweight.
My back is killing me. I use a Boogie made when he was first starting the company and it’s hard for me to carry as I get older. It sure sounds good though.
An electrodinatic speaker,,the harder you push the amp the more current goes through the choke (the electromagnet coil) the stronger the magnet making the speaker more efficient and louder. Cool! A nice clean repair. I'm glad to see a young person who is interested in the vintage amps. I always replace the 2 coupling caps going to the output tubes, along with the all electrolytes. A very clean amp and a very clean repair. You love what you do,it shows.
The condition of that amp is astounding! And now it sound good to match.
I enjoyed watching your direct diagnostics of the problem with out the rants and raves that other electronic techs do on there channels. Great Job, Looking for more vids from you.
Lol great comment. Why are they all so bitter? It's not pleasant to listen to
Hello Martin,. It's good to see new techs to this old technology stuff... fault finding is indeed a skill that takes many year to perfect...the only time my trusty scope is in use it to do final checks on signal traces.. ather 30 plus yrs in audio, tv repairs .. I'd say good luck with her journey.
@@waynewayne3709 Because of our declining education system in this country, fewer and fewer youngsters are being introduced into mechanical training and finding their aptitude for skills..
We can look for a crises in our country with fewer people to maintain the infrastructure. (planes, trucks, trains buildings, and bridges.) College is no longer an investment to learning a vocation one can get a job and earn a good living. You can watch the future and see what I am saying, come true. God help us.
Man, you're telling me. One of the latest vids at one channel was directly about how pissed off he got over a non-issue. Smh. That guy needs a chill pill. Big time. Personally, I don't see why anyone would even want to publish a vid that ends up only making themselves look like a dufus.
@@JC-11111 What are you talking about? Your comment makes no sense.
Not just an amp. A work of art. You are in the business of art restoration!
My 78 year old mother loves your videos. LOL Oh, the Coltrane Naima melody on guitar was a pleasant surprise.
It blows my mind that people can follow and diagnose point-to-point wired circuits. I just see angry spaghetti. Awesome work!
I just realized what a geek I am watching her change the caps in this amp all anxious to hear what this amp sounds like after all the work was completed LOL.
That is so cool how the control panel is concealed and protected for transport.
My kid and I are restoring an old family heirloom 1964 Fisher 500C. A lot of this is similar though and we love watching these videos of yours, they’re informative and inspiring!
who needs a TV with content this good? not me.
I could chill watching these vids all week. I don't even gaf about guitars. What.
Respect for playing Naima in the demo, the amp sounds great!
7:32....”just to recap what I’ve done here.” The timing on that line couldn’t have been more perfect. Love you work, and love this channel. Thanks for taking the time for all of us. Your work is awesome!!
What a cool amp! I've never seen that model. That belongs in a museum.
Did you all notice that while working on the amp she had black fingernail polish on but when playing the guitar there was no polish on? It is nice to see a lady working on these old amps and she has a pleasing voice to listen to. One Note: Anytime you work on one of these old amps do yourself (and the customer) a favor and go ahead and replace all of the electrolytic caps and the paper caps. Don't even turn it on until you do.
Interesting how the layout design amounted to using the tube socket lugs as the only anchor points for all other components. Almost like the original assembly worker just connected everything per a schematic then shoved everything in the chassis. It seems amazing it lived for 81 years without incurring a massive, potential lethal short somewhere. Very methodical, logical work.
And I guarantee it was done by a woman, as women were thought to not only have more dexterity when doing this kind of intricate work... but it was thought women also had more patience. That's why the tag in your vintage Marshall are all signed by women.
I’ll have to start making some videos of the stuff I have, including a 1935 Dobro amplifier
It's called point-to-point wiring, which was then superseded by turret boards, eyelet boards etc, before finally switching to PCBs. For high voltage stuff, point-to-point is one of the better methods for construction, as it uses air as the isolating medium, so you have very little issue with PCBs or turret boards becoming conductive with time, and they're infinitely repairable, as you can just swap out standard components, compared to custom ICs and PCBs that quickly become unobtanium. It however looks quite messy, and takes a lot of assembly time, which is why manufacturers switched to turret boards, as then instead of one tech building the whole circuit one tech could assemble turret boards all day long, while another wires them into the amps, effectively cutting training time in half per tech, with less chance for mistakes.
@@sstorholm Yeah, what I just said. Women were used almost exclusively for these assembly tasks as they have both the dexterity... and most importantly... the patience to do this rather tedious yet vital part of the amps construction. I used to read the inspection tag on my old JMP Marshalls and wonder if "Stacy" or "Nancy" etc. who built my amp were hot 🤣
@@sstorholm in the world of tube amps using PCB are fairly “new”. 🤣
All my amps are mid/late 60’s and earlier all are point- to-point wired.
What a lucky amp to have such responsible owners
Wow, how does something this old remain in such good condition, that is crazy! Thanks, this was very interesting.
Fantastic amp, great work and a great video. Thank you for sharing all of this with us.
So cool to see your touch on this sweet piece of history!
Right on, its nice to see your work and hear that playing.
What a beauty!! From clean to furious, sounds amazing.
Oh my goodness that’s so clean and well preserved…thanks for doing these videos
Thank you so much for letting us hear these wonderful amps after you fix them. So great!
Replacing the filter and bypass caps prior to energizing is absolutely warranted.
The wiring of this amplifier very much reminds me of my all original 1947 MEC Troubadour.
What a fantastic Time-Capsule, thank you so much for sharing this with us.
You mean the coupling caps? Bypass cathode is not critical an often doesn’t fail anyways
@@abubakr6939 I was speaking about the bypass capacitor used in the power supply, sometimes they are refereed to as a Decoupling Capacitor. Any decoupling/bypass capacitors in the signal path would be a different story (unless visual inspection indicates its obviously failed).
@@hkguitar1984 makes sense, though cathode bypass caps don’t actually pass signal
@@abubakr6939 In my original comment I was only referring to power supply capacitors.
Beautiful amp. Many more years of music in it, thanks to your work.
Love everything about this video. The amp, your restoration work, and your playing at the end. Absolutely slaying it.
Great job on this repair and this video. A very interesting look back in time, Thanks Colleen.
I really enjoy your videos, thanks for sharing all these fascinating repair projects!
I just want to know what Uncle Doug would say about this mint jewel without cigarette burns... And turns out he was here indeed. Wonderful job!!
Very cool indeed! I like that you share your thought processes along the way. Great channel!
This is such a cool amp! It sounded so beautiful at the end, and it was cool getting to hear you play! Love your channel ❤️
wow what an incredible sounding amp! GREAT work
OMG thank you so much for sharing detailed video of this glorious old amp! Holy crap it sounds glorious too! 🤩😎
Another wonderful video, I love your very calm and methodical approach to problem solving. Very inspiring!
that's a beautiful transformation. love the tone.
You have to respect a woman who fixes an 80 year old amp and then plays Voodoo Chile.
I don't think she's playing on the video though
@@hashdealer8822 I think she is.
If it's her actually playing.....dont you think she would reveal that on the video?
I dont think it's her. Not because I doubt she has the skill & talent; but because I suspect she would show herself actually playing the guitar on the video if it was.
@@frankferriolo9212 Well maybe she wants the amp repair to be the main thing.
@@frankferriolo9212 Well maybe she cares more about showing the amp than showing off her playing. I think you're wrapped up in your own thinking too much
Yes! Great way to spend a few min on Monday nights! Thanks for the upload!!
Welcome back, Colleen. What a perfect sound for your style of play. Wonderful tone. Great video!
Fantastic work and that clean tone is to die for 😀🐿
Cleanest Gibson amp from that era I've ever seen! Thanks for sharing! and great playing at the end
Wonderful work. The amp sounds great.
Wonderful restoration. You make it seem so easy. Thanks!
Nice work. Pleasure to watch and enjoyed your playing, too.
It’s amazing that you can clearly see what’s going on with that “Rat’s Nest” of congestion! Cool old amp!
i like the way you explain things .great job. very informative.
Another beautiful and historic piece of musical lovelyness has been saved. Great work.
Wow. What a treat. So glad you could save another amp's life.
Beautiful vintage Amp sound - glassy and ethereal. Thanks 😎
All that point to point wiring is a work of art.
Near the end with the sound of this 80 yr old amp, you were channeling Hendrix! What a Great restore. Love your playing, too. Why not show you in the shots of testing so we can all see you playing? Thanks again! What a beautiful amp. Organic sound reminds me of some 60s Rock band sounds. Love your videos and how you break down your repair methods. 👍😊
Love the amp history lesson. What a great sounding amp.
I love how clean you made this little gem sound. Btw Naima was a treat, thank you!
This is awesome, What a beautiful amp! The relaxed, positive attitude you show in your videos comes through in your work as well.
one of the most enjoyable videos i've watched all year.
Sounds great! Love the El Pato pen holder. That stuff is the bomb.
Can't imagine where Swart got their amp design idea.
Good, clear explanation, good modification and good sound. Excellent work.
Very nice. I'm enjoying your commentary and explanations as you film the repairs. Keep it up.
Very cool old amp. Thanks for showing us your repair work. Subbed.
Beautiful amp, excellent narration.
Beautiful amp! That's covered with a linen tweed luggage fabric with a clear lacquer coating. Tolex is a cloth-backed vinyl that came a few years later.
Thanks very much for the relaxed and thorough descriptions and the excellent camera work. I am learning so much from you! Thanks, I am grateful. You are an excellent teacher.
Super interesting repair. LOVE this content. Keep up the great work!
Great work! digging your channel a lot, thanks for creating
Great video.I loved the clean channel after you repaired it. Fantastic condition.Thanks for bringing it back to life.Good to see you back.Nice chops.
You are amazing... great work and beautiful playing.
Wow sounds great. Nice diagnosis and work!
Your channel is fabulous to watch. This particular amp has a sweet tone!!
Great sound to that thing! I love seeing skilled repairs, saving things from the trash heap and breathing new life into otherwise perfectly usable equipment. I'm so happy I found this channel.
What a gem! Excelent work of yours. I liked how you found that the dc component were not being blocked by the capacitor. Sounds really amazing in the end!
Ours turned out wonderful!! I love to hear you play!! Excellent Colleen!
Greetings from the UK, nice to see you back, a very nice amp I love the design it’s such a cool idea. It looks like a vintage suitcase.
This channel is great, I can see why the subs have skyrocketed. Just watched them all back to back. More useful information in these than hours of others. Wishing you continued success.
Excellent repair to this prewar Gibson guitar amp Colleen. Testing with a few tunes makes it much more fun to watch and it sounds fantastic.
Great job! Beautiful amp.
Somebody bought that amp or got it as a gift, threw it into a closet or attic and never looked back...until 80 years later! That beauty is CLEAN!
Look at that condition! The control panel looks brand new, the hardware is gorgeous & even the leaky caps have an abstract beauty to them.
Thanks for sharing! 🤘🏼
Wickedly great sound from that beautiful piece of Engineering..great work .Brava.!
I really enjoy your videos. Very relaxing to watch, and it's very interesting to see the inside of these amps after playing them for decades. You also have a very soothing, pleasant voice, as well. Keep up the great work!
This is the coolest thing I've seen all year.
Fazio to the rescue, yet again!! Great Job! 👏👏😎👍🎸💖