1967 or 68 super tremolo 100 questions

[igotmarshalls]

Hey guys been a while. Hope everyone’s doing great. Just had a garage sale find for the ages couple 1961, 63,64 and 65 Fender reverbs and trem amps In near mint condition. A 1987 2553 silver jubilee full stack and what I believe to be either a 1967 or 68 super tremolo along with a B Cabinet metal handles, pre rola green backs! All because I inquired about a like new Roland space echo she had for sale for 60 bucks (that I obviously bought) and asked if they had anything else

The Woman who sold me everything said it belong to her uncle, who was a rocker from the 50s and 60s who passed away and all this “JUNK” has been sitting in his bedroom, covered for over 25 years.

I’d like to post some photos of the guts and let you gentleman do what you do, please point out anything you see that would help me in keeping or bringing (if need be) the circuitry back as close to original as possible And anything you would recommend I discussed with my Amp guy going forward I just like to be educated as I don’t have a vast understanding of the internals parts and pieces.

Thanks for any help you guys can provide!

 

[igotmarshalls]

OK so none of the pictures uploaded am I doing something wrong?

 

[playloud]

Sounds like you are living up to that username!

I like this site for image hosting: https://imgbb.com/

Upload there and copy the BBCode over to here.

 

[igotmarshalls]

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[igotmarshalls]

@playloud thanks brother!!

 

[playloud]

That's a plexi Super Tremolo all right!

At first glance, looks like '68 based on:
- RS 100uf mains cap date codes ("ZB"=Feb '68)
- Dagnall iron
- Those Murata caps
- "D7N" visible mustard cap code

That mains cable is terrifying. Make sure you sort that out before anything else! Seriously

There's clearly been some work done, but not many changed parts (I think) - which is a bit puzzling. The OT looks like it's been out (cloth insulation tips are missing), and there's been some creative rearrangement of the screen resistors. Some sort of black goop has been used to hold the purple NFB wire in place and you can see some wires that have obviously got hot at some point. The placement of that orange wire feeding the PI plates is strange.

Needless to say, it looks like you've done extremely well.

Any pics inside the cab?

 

[neikeel]

I’d do as little as possible.
New three wire mains
Remove death cap
Variac first fire up
Test everything and try to avoid ripping anything out.

 

[BlueX]

Congrats on great finds!

I hope to find a similar B cab, some day.

 

[Beryllium-9]

Well I'm jealous... Damn......

 

[Jeff West]

I notice that the preamp sockets are mounted with screws and nuts. I think they started riveting them soon after, ca. mid ‘68, does that accord with others observations? Thanks.

 

[100W]

Congratulations - nice find. I have a similar tremolo amp and there are very few amps I've found with this font used for Inputs & Numerals. Likely made close to each other. My amp is 100xx. Your amp has more mustards, mine has more C-Ds.

 

[playloud]

Congratulations - nice find. I have a similar tremolo amp and there are very few amps I've found with this font used for Inputs & Numerals. Likely made close to each other. My amp is 100xx. Your amp has more mustards, mine has more C-Ds.

Yes, it's a distinctive font. What do you mean by "C-Ds"?

 

[100W]

Yes, it's a distinctive font. What do you mean by "C-Ds"?

Sorry, the blue/yellow Cornell Dubilier caps

 

[playloud]

Sorry, the blue/yellow Cornell Dubilier caps

Ah. My understanding was that those were manufactured by Dubilier (UK company) rather than Cornell Dubilier (US company, still trading under that name today).

 

[100W]

Ah. My understanding was that those were manufactured by Dubilier (UK company) rather than Cornell Dubilier (US company, still trading under that name today).

Glad to know it. Ty for the info!

 

[igotmarshalls]

Hey fellas, thanks for the responses !!
@playloud I will upload some pics of the cab and green backs tomorrow

Per my new amp guy,,,,

Tremolo marshal has a few issues, the wrong power tubes, 7027 (they were robbed from an Ampeg V4) will replace with a new matched and balanced set.
The hi ripple capacitors and a few of the coupling capacitors are bad, power cable of course you know that was code red, there are some minor problems with pots and a rusty tube sockets that should remedy up real nicely.
One Fuse holder is broken and will be replaced as well
Beyond that this is a truly fantastic example that’s going to sound heavenly.

 

[igotmarshalls]

That's a plexi Super Tremolo all right!

At first glance, looks like '68 based on:
- RS 100uf mains cap date codes ("ZB"=Feb '68)
- Dagnall iron
- Those Murata caps
- "D7N" visible mustard cap code

That mains cable is terrifying. Make sure you sort that out before anything else! Seriously
What are screen resistors
There's clearly been some work done, but not many changed parts (I think) - which is a bit puzzling. The OT looks like it's been out (cloth insulation tips are missing), and there's been some creative rearrangement of the screen resistors. Some sort of black goop has been used to hold the purple NFB wire in place and you can see some wires that have obviously got hot at some point. The placement of that orange wire feeding the PI plates is strange.

Needless to say, it looks like you've done extremely well.

Any pics inside the cab?

 

[igotmarshalls]

What are screen resistors? Not to sound like an ass I’m trying to learn!

 

[neikeel]

The grey barrel shaped wire wound resistors hooked up to the red wires on the output tube sockets. Pin 4 is the active pin. As pin 6 is unused Marshall used pins 4 and 6 to mount them to be stable. With feed wire to each soldered to pin 6.
They can get v hot in hard pushed amp and can desolder themselves so a wrap of wire is required to keep them in place.

 

[playloud]

What are screen resistors? Not to sound like an ass I’m trying to learn!

These guys (plus one on the socket not pictured):



As neikeel says, you'd usually see them mounted across pins 4 and 6, with the connecting wires lying flat on the chassis.

Hey fellas, thanks for the responses !!
@playloud I will upload some pics of the cab and green backs tomorrow

Nice!

Per my new amp guy,,,,

Tremolo marshal has a few issues, the wrong power tubes, 7027 (they were robbed from an Ampeg V4) will replace with a new matched and balanced set.

I saw those 7027s (look like two separate pairs). You could actually run them pretty nicely with an impedance mismatch (e.g. use a 16 ohm cab but set the selector on the amp to 8 ohms) but EL34s would be the correct tube type. Hold on to those 7027s though - if they test ok, they're good tubes.

The hi ripple capacitors and a few of the coupling capacitors are bad,

I'd get the tech to double check before replacing any of the coupling caps. Those mustards are notorious for not leaking DC (and valuable in their own right). There was an era when people were more gung-ho about replacing them, and many of the owners have come to regret it.

This is more controversial, but I would also attempt reforming the filter caps before condemning them. Given the mains cable, I bet the amp was sitting for a while. Reforming could be all they need. Those RS caps, in particular, are rare.