BadDad Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Was wondering if anyone knows anything about this tube amp I just bought. I was told possibly a baldwin. Using now as a center channel amp and looking for another one or two. I don't know where to start. I thought that maybe it came out of an old organ. Has two very large Triad Transformer. The blue transformer is a R21A. The tubes are (1) 5v4, (2) 5881, and (2) 6sn7. Thanks for any and all help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Welcome to the Four, I'm sure some tube enthusiast will be along shortly to help with your question. In the meantime could you please repost that photo in a smaller format? Raw camera files take up space and slow down viewing of the Forum. 72dpi and 6" across is plenty. File should be a couple hundred KB. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Interesting amp. It could well be an organ amp. Don't know if it might be out of a very old console. The pics I've seen of Baldwin organ amps have been laid out on a chassis that looks long and narrow. Of course, my observations are pretty limited. There are a number of folks who own or have owned Baldwin amps, of whom I am sure can be helpful to you. I had a nicely redone Baldwin amp, back in the day, but have to apologize for my lack of technical understanding. On that I would be no help. Cool amp, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pocket.change Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Check over at AudioGon in the tube amp sales thead and see what you can find. Baldwin amps show up from time to time. Last rebuilt example was offered for a respectable $400 and looked like what you have. Highly rated too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadDad Posted September 1, 2007 Author Share Posted September 1, 2007 Thanks for the audiogon hint. I have bought a baldwin stereo amp from a guy there named Will, that I'm waiting to receive. Sent a deposit, now I need to send the rest of the money. I had just bought this pictured amp right before Will's. This one is just very interesting to me because of the transformers. Went over to Harry O's today and he helped me get the pictured amp set up with NOS tubes. Waiting for it to break in, but sounds good to me now. Will only sound better later, after broken in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 This is an extremely good sounding amp. Glenn Came over about a month ago and had bought a couple of Hammond Organs complete with amps and speakers. They were in pretty good shape and he got a great price on them. He's been trying to find a pair of the Baldwin mono block amps like mine and we did a search for the Baldwins and noticed these HUGE Triad trannys. These are the largest transformers I've ever seen on a Baldwin amp. Stupid me made the comment he "ought to grab it" now. He did. I should have shut my mouth and grabbed it myself. He stole it !! This uses two 6L6GB's, two 6SN7's, and a 5V4 recitifier tube. I didn't have the 5V4 but did a little searching and substituted with a 5U4. We also used the 6L6GC in place of the 6L6GBs to "boost" the output a bit from about 17w to 25w. Put in a couple of bakelite base 6SN7 RCA's, fired up the variac and warmed it up for a half hour or so. It started playing about 60V and was floored it came on so quick. Crystal clear and powerful sound. The tubes are all NOS. (including the 5U4 which came out of a fire. I had a fire in my shop about 10 years ago. I've got thousands of new tubes that look as bad) After the tubes warmed up good the sound started mellowing out real nice. Very deep bass and full highs. Smooth as silk. I tried to barter him out of it. It's a killer amp. NOPE! He's having none of it. Sounds like new and ready to go. He came back over yesterday and we pushed it pretty good through an old JBL Lancer. Clean sound all the way up to about "Noon" on the preamp. Yep, I should have kept my mouth shut. It's got the exact same caps, sockets, gain adjusters as my Triad mono Baldwins. Same frame construction. I'm 90% sure it's a Baldwin. I've seen this same kind of amp used in the organs, seen them in Jukeboxes too. There's a bunch of models of these used by a couple of companies. He's going to use this as a center channel amp. He doesn't need it. He picked up the cleanest old 1960 model HK260 6L6 integrated amp I've ever seen. It's also a very good sounding amp. We also played it out a while on my Wallrus. It sounded flat when we fired it up. After about a half hour we shut it down and I went to the "Tube stock room" and I pulled out some NOS disc getters and replaced the 12AU7s and 12AX7s and fired it back up. It really woke up the HK. I offered him a nice profit on it too. "NO WAY" he laughed walking out the door. Anyone looking for a nice Meredian SS power amp might get hold of Glenn. He's a tube addict now. He can't go back to SS either. Hot glass and horns will spoil ya! Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 BadDad, Will is a super guy. My Baldwin was one he rebuilt and also had a pair of his rebuilt Mark III"s. He's a great amp builder, too. Excellent choice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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