A LITTLE GREEN WONDER BOX - ELPICO AC52

[Graham]

Elpico AC52














An intricately built box of toneful wonders - note the seperate power boards - preamp section and output bonded to the speaker chassis - incidentally those little elliptival 4 ohm Elacs are true marvels!! Even a touch of blue hammerite to keep us old timers happy - those little phono sockets are a nuisance but I just got a few decent quality adapters made up - you have inputs for gram or 2 microphones and an external loudspeaker (which works in conjunction with the onboard one - alternatively you can disconnect the onboard speaker and drive a suitably rated mega setup by plugging into that internal ohono plug - you would be truly gob smacked at what this sounds like through some 4x12's!!!!!!!! As for tone - PD just scored one on the west coast = read his posting - its out of this world - truly outstanding - incidentally while its not exactly the same model as this one there is another little Elpico coming up on ebay in the next day or so from a good friend of mine Doug in this country - he may be selling an AC10 he had from me in the coming weeks - if so then youll never find a nicer one so watch out!!

G

almost daylight now so the Selmers tomorrow - then some Watkins and Vox babes to get through!!

[psycho*daisies]

great shots, Graham, thanks!

Wow, the serial number sticker's still on there!

Strange, mine has two 1/4" inch jacks on the back panel (plus two RCA's above them)...

Haha... the black electrical tape around the transformer...same! i thought someone did that later,
but it must've been done in the factory...?

Love that little brass fastener on the power cord door...
...maybe i can retro-fit mine with one of those.

[1bottlerocket]

Graham, you're killing me with that nice little box of wonders there! I need a second job to score all the little treats my heart desires!

[psycho*daisies]

I Need some help over here, guys.
...Over the weekend, i powered my Elpico up (using step-up converter) and right away
i heard a load of "GKKK-KKK-KKK" sounds...oh shit. pulled off the back panel and thought it was
the tall Mullard at the top, going bad....then i started smelling some vintage dusty toasty smell. (it was delightful) but then a bit of smoke came off of the small (output?) transformer/choke just to the left of the speaker, to the right of the circuit guts...(see Graham's pic, below)...it's the aluminum framed metal structure with the wound paper inside, and small pcb/tagboard/cap mounted on the front. just a puft of smoke came off the top...

Now it just hums constantly when i power her up...but no guitar sounds.

Is there anyone here who can help me troubleshoot this? Does it sound like that tranformer/choke went bad? or perhaps it's something else (bad cap) that just manifested itself there...?

I'd like to save/salvage all original parts if possible...rather than replace it.

Need to get this thing running again, jonesing for some overdriven Elpico!

Thanks in advance,
~Davy

Elpico AC52

[kb892]

Hi Dave,
I thought I had responded to you before on this one but I must have gotten interrupted and never submitted. Are you sure the smoke came from the transformer wingings and not the resistor? How's the resistor look? Could the smoke have come up from the area below where the PT, rectifier and what I think is a filter cap can behind the rectifier? Is the hum coming though the speaker? i.e. being amplified? or is it just an "electrical" hum coming directly from the OT?I've blown my share of OT's and they always gave no signal but have had filter caps pop and only gotten hum like you described. Caps usually give off a peculiar acrid smell and may even fizzle a bit. Can you see any residue below the cap can I spoke of? Maybe we can meet up Thursday or this weekend. Can't say that I can fix it but I'd be happy to look. I looked around last night for a schematic but couldn't find a single Elpico on the net believe it or not. Two good things. 1. the only amp tech I know of in town is a vintage amp fan and 2. Mercury Magnetics is close by and they'll do as good a job as anyone rewinding the OT if that's what it comes down to. That would realy be a shame if the OT blew so hopefully it's something less critical. Sorry for all the questions.

[psycho*daisies]

Hey Kevin,
Yeah, the hum is coming thru the speaker...
Thurs night I'll be at Elsies seeing a friend's art show
I'll be around this weekend, maybe we can meet up
Good to know there's a good vintage amp tech around here!
thanks

[Graham]

Hi David - I already sent you that huge reply but wanted to jump in and respond to the claimed lack of info on elpicos on the web - I sent you the exact links but for all you other guys the following two links may be as familiar as a pair of comfy old Fryes but if not then take my word for it these two are the GAS equivalent of a steamer trunk of high class seventies gentlemans magazines - the real top shelf stuff!!

JUMP IN MY BRETHREN - HOT GLASS WAITS IN ABSOLUTE ABUNDANCE:

http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/vintage- ... amp10.html

http://www.chambonino.com/workconst.html
Elpico is covered in the Misc HiFi & PA section at the bottom of page - go back to front page and check out the testimonials page - I stuck something on there about the work John did for me on a favourite little AC4 and also a mini review of a truly outstanding treble boost unit (Trust me in this!!)

both these sites are administered by Steve Russell one of the 2 guys behind the Vintage Hofner site (oh it's so very much more than just hofners!!

John Chambers is a good friend and I hold him as the finest amp tech in this country - certainly the friendliest and he doesnt take to airs and graces - as I said to Davey in a pm - he would get really pissed off with terms like Guru etc; - this guy just lives and breathes amplification - and he likes to keep a good pictorial record so you will find stuff here you dont get anywhere else.

Same with Steves vintagehofner website - explore the whole place - even after years of enjoying it I am still amazed to discover some far flung nook or cranny with a whole load of previously unknown information on some obscure type of amp or specifications on a particular tubes usefulness in a given amp - the place (both of them) are absolute goldmines

Pour yourself a drink or skin up and tell the family (if you got one) to leave you alone for a few hours - and jump in!!

YOU WILL NEED MORE THAN A FEW HOURS!!
and check those treboosts particularly the plus twin tranny model if you can find it on the champ site!!


YOU KNOW WE OUGHT TO GET A DECENT LINKS AREA TOGETHER - DONOVAN?? (EXPECT THERES ALREADY ONE ANYWAY!)

[psycho*daisies]

Thanks for the great resources, Graham.

I got the email and wrote a quick one to John Chambers. All i said is that you had referred me as "highly recommended"...

Even though the amp is tiny, it's fairly dense in weight and would probably cost a fair amount to send to Nottingham from California...

It appears that Kevin knows a good vintage amp tech here locally, and also Mercury Electronics does quality transformer rewinding...

Hopefully it's just a capacitor that fizzled out or something minor.

One thing I would be interested in is trying to find NOS caps and such. I can see two that have been replaced on mine. That giant yellow and red Plessey electrolytic one that yours has in the upper left corner (if looking from the back) has been replaced by a modern one, and also there's an orange "chicklet gum" style one, elsewhere. Also, mine doesn't have a mustard cap like yours, otherwise it's pretty much in the same ballpark as yours, a bunch of Hunts brand ones....

[Graham]

Davey I just sent an email to JC over another matter of mine (I bought a valve copicat of the bassist of the Rats and wanted to get it refurbed) mentioned you to him and included a couple pics of the offending area in my one to "prompt" him as to how they are set out - I asked him for a few hints and told him it was for you and that Id appreciate his advice...

Yes maybe Mercury could rewind (if thats whats needed) but have a care their reputation for "bespoke" stuff is pretty costly though they are highly spoken of - I only everheard one of their trannies - a replacement radiospares OP tranny for an early JTM45 someone was trying to force upon me a few years back (they even fetched it down to my studio on the farm) - it was one of their best quality range (dont know what they are called) but it was a lot of money - the guy who was after doing the trade (against a white knobbed Park of mine) seemed to think I should be impressed by it (against the original - as if!!) but it did sound very nice -

I'll let you know if I hear anything back - but i would suggest that a decent picture of the offending area might be useful!!

Cheers Graham

OOPS I THOUGHT IT WAS A PM - OH WELL!

[mrpicard]

I think that the AC52 was the first amp owned by any Beatles. Both George and Paul used to share it. Then, a little later, Paul got himself an AC55, which was his first amp. This amp was used on Beatle recordings (Sgt Pepper's album believe-it-or-not) and Paul still owns his today. In fact, if you look at this he shows it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a6ZVVWX9gM