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A vintage amp rescue project.


Eric B

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I have the opportunity to rescue some old Altec amps. Do you think it is worth my time? I don't know if they work, I can't test them where they are and getting them out is going to be a big production of many friends or a small crane.

I was hoping they were tube, but alas solid state. That said, these were made to drive horns (big ones!).

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Sorry about the poor quality, all I had was my cell phone to take pictures.

Anybody know anything about these? I did find a spec sheet here

http://www.voiceofthetheatre.com/1594B.th.htm

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don't think so.

100watt SS amps now a day are are a dime a dozen. Unless you need a re-cap project this winter or need an amp for your boat or rv.....these can run off 24vdc as well as 120 ac.

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I am not sure what pieces are in that rack.

However, if there is an Altec 944x amp, by all means pick it up. I heard a 9444 (or was it a 9440) once. It was probably the cleanest and tightest bass I have ever heard. It really was surprising. They occasionally come up on eBay for a couple of hundred.

Good Luck,

-Tom

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There are two 1592B's and two 1590C's Plus a matching preamp. From a cosmetic standpoint they've had a rough life. They've been labled, stickered and written on. I thought they might have some redeeming qualities, or collectiable value. The last thing I need is audio Junk taking up space.

Thanks for the input...

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" Could you turn these into tube amps?"

You can turn anything into a tube amp. There was a guy on ebay that was pulling chrome toasters out of used sell places, cutting them in half, and using the chrome as the chasis for a tube amp. They were pretty nice looking and when cheap.

The link looks like this guy is adding a tube front end to his amp. Basically, I think he just added a tube buffer on the input side.

There's not enough voltage in an SS amp tramsformer to power decent wattage tube amps. Most 100 Watt SS amp only have 80 or so volts on the output bus. To get 100watts out of a tube amp, you need 450 - 500 volts. You also need a pair of output transformers that price out at about 160 each.

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