Has anyone used the old Atlec 417 12" speakers in a guitar amp?
I have some sort of low wattage (25 or 30) Weber curently in my 35 watt combo but it really lays down way too early.
Anyone of you moneybags tried the Celestion "Gold" speaker yet?

Jim you gotta be talking bout joe...presently, I have one Strat, a 30 dollar amp and a jack that needs fixin, but I have them magic fingers that trancends all... Static be damned!

Cheers, Alex

P.S. If I ever sober up the chilling reality will set in and I'll bum a few of them "Golds" off joe,
in the meantime...Try the Altecs. I remember 35 years ago tossing anything I could get my hands on in my Vox Scorpion...if ya know what I mean?

I had a 15" Altec of the same type as the 417 in a Tweed Pro Cabinet.
IT sounded great.
I might give an old 417 a try.

I don't thing there is any gospel of caculus for tone...if it sounds good, it sounds good! And good is what sounds good to you;)

Best of luck with it, Cheers

What do you guys think of boogie Black Shadow speakers?
I swapped out the crappy Weber Alnico 12" for a used Black Shadow.
I think it really helped the amp a ton.
The Weber speaker must be super lame....it sounded weak and puny.
I got a "deal" on it several years ago, installed it and then sort of stopped playing for a while. I plugged the amp up several months ago and it didn't have the tone I remember. It must have been the speaker.
Now I just have the Black Face goodness I want.....

It worked well in an amp with two EL84s that was built for overdrive. If you are looking for big & solid it ain't gonna work to well. Jensens and clones work well when driven hard with distortion. I love a C12Q in my BFDR.

describe the Black Shadow? Tighter? Deeper? Big ass magnet? What amp is this?

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I think this is one of the old Black shadows that was sort of half celestion and half EV.
Huge magnet, maybe 8".
It just sounds big and clear with the Boogie speaker. The weber I think is a 15 watt version. It sounded weak and muddy.
The amp started out with some sort of silverface fender chassis, with a custom face plate.
The interior looks like an all new construction on a fiber board. It is mostly a deluxe reverb preamp section with a cathode biased EL-34 output section (tube rectifier).
Maybe it puts out 35 watts. It was built by a local guy named Steve Sinnicks.

If so, it would probably sound better with 6V6s, either fixed bias or cathode biased.

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I think it is something like a Vibroluxe transformer....
I'll look and see if I can read the manufacturer and part number....

I have the impression you like a tight, big sound. Maybe you like to play clean and right on the edge of breakup? You might like a set of GE 6L6s with fixed bias. It will have a firmer and deeper bottom than the EL34s, more snap, more spank.

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Yep, generally I like to have amp on the verge (or a little past) the point of breakup, and the ride the guitar volume for clean tones, and use a TS-9 or Blues Driver for more gain.
I'll try to look at the transformer tonight.
BTW the chassis is 23 1/2" wide. So I am not sure what the chassis originally was.

The number stamped on the output transformer is A036968. It has is a silvery (zinc?) plated cover.
The power Transformer is a 4" square black painted unit and the choke is sort of an open coil (paper interleaves) wound on a laminated form with a green illegible logo on top of the laminated core. The amp has a tube rectifier. I remember the builder said not to use a plug in solid state rectifier or the output transformer would likely blow up.

I'd also like to know what the plate voltage is, but I'm not gonna ask you to go probing with a voltmeter unless you know what you are doing.

Does it use a 5AR4 or a 5U4 rectumfryer?

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I can poke around and see what the plate voltage is. I am pretty sure my Fluke meter goes up to 600V or more.
I should know more about Tube Theory than I do however.
I get the dimensions and post some pics.

Might be above or below 400 volts. If above then it would be a good candidate for some 6L6s.

The size measurements would allow some research as to what OPT that is. Usually they are not that sensitive to voltages. They are usually quite well insulated. I supposed the modifier was concerned that since EL34s will produce more wattage than 6L6s that a SS rectifier and the higher voltages and less sag in voltage would put the trans into a red zone. Well, if this is a Deluxe trans then maybe. If it is a 6L6 trans then no.

EL34s have a softer bottom. Here are some ideas for a more solid sound.

6L6s. They need to be a type that mimicks the US GE type, or vintage 5881 types. Russian tubes are not favs for 6L6s.

If your rectifier tube is a 5U4, simply plugging in a 5AR4, a rectifier with less internal impedence, will give you a little more spank.

Solid state rectification. Diodes or a plug-in replacement. I could make a plug-in doodad for you.

If the SS thingie brings smiles, go larger on the first filter. Usually, you will have two 40mF electrolytic caps in series as the first filter in the power supply. This makes one 20mF car. With a SS rectifier, go up to a pair of 220mF, 250 volt caps for 110mF. This will tighten up your bottom considerably.

Not that all of these mods are reversible. Of course, different output tubes will require rebiasing. If you like the sound of some of this, but lack the scope, signal gen etc., consider that there are people ready to help, no charge.

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