My New Legacy 5 Watt Class A Valve Guitar Amplifier

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 10 Aug 2011, 06:25

Hi friends,

I just scored myself this Legacy 5 Watt Class A Valve Guitar Amp from Billy Hyde Music, it normally retails for Aus $399.00, I got it for just Aus $150.00, why?, because the fuse holders are broken and I told the Shop Assistants at Billy Hyde Music that I could fix it myself, they had a talk amongst themselves and agreed to sell it to me for Aus $150.00...good score or what?......

Here's a pic of the Amplifier:

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 10 Aug 2011, 07:44

Does anyone know where I can find a schematic or service manual for this?, any help muchly appreciated as I really want to get it going.....

SirElwood · Post by **SirElwood** » 10 Aug 2011, 07:59

That looks like epiphone valve special amplifier. http://www.zzounds.com/item--EPIEPABKSPDSP

If so, here is the schematic.

marmaliser · Post by **marmaliser** » 10 Aug 2011, 08:01

Nice score

EDIT - TOO SLOW

It looks like a rebadged epiphone Valve Standard / Special so I would start your search there. If you can not find one contact Gibson, I believe they will supply them

SirElwood · Post by **SirElwood** » 10 Aug 2011, 08:06

That is indeed a nice score. Lots of potential in these amps. Valve jr. was some time ago very popular and people modded a hell out of those. Special/standard has some crappy effects and if you bypass those you get nice amplifier. And there is extra potentiometer holes you can use something usefull like tremolo or something. Might be a fun project.

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 10 Aug 2011, 08:06

marmaliser wrote:Nice score

EDIT - TOO SLOW It looks like a rebadged epiphone Valve Standard / Special so I would start your search there. If you can not find one contact Gibson, I believe they will supply them

Thank you so much marmaliser, don't feel too bad about that, the info you've given me is actually alot of help...cheers...

Might post some gutshots of the amp chassis.....

I mostly need to see how the three fuses are wired so I can replace the three broken fuse holders.....

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 10 Aug 2011, 08:08

SirElwood wrote:That is indeed a nice score. Lots of potential in these amps. Valve jr. was some time ago very popular and people modded a hell out of those. Special/standard has some crappy effects and if you bypass those you get nice amplifier. And there is extra potentiometer holes you can use something usefull like tremolo or something. Might be a fun project.

Cool...cheers....

Want me to post some gutshots of the chassis?.....

SirElwood · Post by **SirElwood** » 10 Aug 2011, 08:15

DrNomis wrote:Want me to post some gutshots of the chassis?.....

Well... I have seen enough of those...

But it can't hurt if you do so. It might help some other people in the future.

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 10 Aug 2011, 08:17

SirElwood wrote:
DrNomis wrote:Want me to post some gutshots of the chassis?.....
Well... I have seen enough of those... But it can't hurt if you do so. It might help some other people in the future.

Okay....

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 10 Aug 2011, 08:19

SirElwood wrote:That looks like epiphone valve special amplifier. http://www.zzounds.com/item--EPIEPABKSPDSP

If so, here is the schematic.

That Epiphone Valve Special amp looks awfully similar to my amp, same control layouts too....

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 10 Aug 2011, 08:58

Valve line-up in my amp is x2 Chinese 12AX7B preamp tubes and x1 Sovtek EL84/6BQ5 power tube....

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 10 Aug 2011, 10:26

Okay, I have fixed the amp and it's working well, a slight bit of background hum but apart from that, no other issues, the amp sounds a little dark, probably because my Ibanez guitar is a bit dark sounding, but I'm able to get a useable clean sound out of it, and an interesting overdriven sound out of the amp, but set the amp for a clean sound and use Bajaman's Baja Real Tube Overdrive pedal with it and you have some nice Rock sounds remeniscent of a Marshall, the onboard DSP FX arent that crash hot, most useable seems to be the delay effects, on the otherhand, the reverb is very useable and adds depth to the sound of the amp, I'm really liking the amp.....

marmaliser · Post by **marmaliser** » 10 Aug 2011, 10:38

This any help for your HUM
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t3020/

BTW Taking an interest in this as I have just finished modding a Valve junior which now sounds a lot better now

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 10 Aug 2011, 10:51

marmaliser wrote:This any help for your HUM
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t3020/

BTW Taking an interest in this as I have just finished modding a Valve junior which now sounds a lot better now

Oh cheers mate....

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 10 Aug 2011, 11:48

Here's something I've just discovered, if you want to use the amp's basic overdrive, but want more gain, try using a Timmy to overdrive it more, the bass cut control really gets rid of any tendency for flabbiness....

bajaman · Post by **bajaman** » 10 Aug 2011, 11:53

far too many controls for a 5 watt amp

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 10 Aug 2011, 12:25

bajaman wrote:far too many controls for a 5 watt amp

I totally agree bajaman, and far too many controls for simple old me...rofl...sorry couldn't resist a little self-deprecation, at my own expense....

I tried your Real Tube Overdrive pedal through it and it sounds great....

DeanM · Post by **DeanM** » 10 Aug 2011, 20:17

DrNomis wrote:Here's something I've just discovered, if you want to use the amp's basic overdrive, but want more gain, try using a Timmy to overdrive it more

Wow, really?

you just discovered using a pedal as a booster?

thats almost signature worthy stuff there! lol

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 10 Aug 2011, 22:43

DeanM wrote:
DrNomis wrote:Here's something I've just discovered, if you want to use the amp's basic overdrive, but want more gain, try using a Timmy to overdrive it more
Wow, really? you just discovered using a pedal as a booster?

thats almost signature worthy stuff there! lol

Lol....yeah I know....

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 25 Aug 2011, 01:40

Sorry for my abscence, anyway, it turns out that my Legacy Valve Edition 5 Plus amp is indeed an Epiphone Valve Special Combo, it says so on the PCB, basically it has been re-badged as a Legacy amp, I did some mods to the power supply, removed all the stock 22uF/450V caps, and replaced two of them with a 100uF/400V, and the other two with a 47uF/450V cap, result, it's much quieter, no annoying background hum when the HT standby switch is switched to "play"...