RARE Guitar Amp Made by Kentucky HILLBILLIES - Will it Even Make Sound?! (Walco G150R Repair)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- This is a rare and unusual vintage 1978 Walco G150R guitar amplifier made by fellow Kentucky hillbillies, in the eastern Kentucky Appalachian County of Harlan, in the town of Wallins Creek. I had never seen nor heard of this company before buying this amp. I did some online research and only found ONE other example being sold on Reverb. This one is solid state with Motorola output transistors, has a 10" Eminence speaker and an O. C. Electronics Folded Line Reverberation Tank, The sticker on it says "Manufactured by Beautiful Girls in Milton Wis. Under Controlled Atmospheric conditions." Has a nice clean tone, albeit with some remaining issues. Very Fender like clean tone with nice reverb. A very unusual piece of Kentucky history. You'll probably never see another one! This example came to me with some serious issues in the power supply and structurally in the cabinet. We will repair all the issues we see and demo the tone with a Fender Telecaster. Also includes a transformer disassembly and repair! Transformer was buzzing badly because it had loose laminations. I'll show how to fix this condition.
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I'm originally from Harlan , and I knew the owner , and founder of this company very well . He was one of the best friends I ever had in my entire life . They also manufactured a P.A. system , but I can't remember much about it , all though I did at one time own a set of their speaker columns they used with their P.A. systems . I don't think they ever manufactured an amplifier larger than this one , but I do think they had plans for one on the drawing board . This wasn't a very large manufacturing facility , but I can remember the quality of their manufacturing was very good . I never was into solid sate amps , but in hind sight I wish I had bought one of these little amps just so I could say that I own a piece of history from that era . The oldest son of the owner of this company is named Brad as well . I enjoy your videos , thank you for posting them .
Thanks for this comment.
Man, I used to know a girl from Harlan and . . . . .
Let's just say I love me some good eastern ky. Cold beer, dank weed, great sounding amps, beautiful horses and fast women.
The guy that founded the company was from Mount Vernon... All the employees were from Wallins... They were upstairs over the Howard Hardware store... At least one employee was a Howard also...
I have almost no clue why I like watching you work on amps but I never miss a single one.
+Jay Sims thanks for the support.
It therapeutic. :)
I'm the same way- coffee on the table, guitar in hand doing scales and technique... every morning while i wake up. EVERY MORNING!. I learn a lot though. Thanks Brad!
I don't even play guitar or know anything about electronics....but i'm learning!
He knows what he's doing and it's instant gratification when the video is over.
I had a Walco amp when I first started playing guitar. I bought it used for $10 at a garage sale in 1980. The cabinet was in pretty rough shape, which is why it was so cheap, but it worked and I loved it. I fixed up the cabinet myself. Lost it, and almost everything else I owned, in a fire in 1997. Finding out it was made by Kentucky hillbillies is cool, because I was, too!
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A really great repair vid, Brad. Enjoyed it a lot. AS you were cleaning the board (29:14) i saw on the "upper right" you had a wire bridging 2 contacts.. And right on with legalization. We passed it here in MA.
The spider wires from the speaker cone have to be able to move with the cone. In a situation where I was worried they'd be too short I usually used a cut off lead from a two watt (or larger) resistor to solder to the lugs, then bend a little loop in the ends to solder the spider wires too. That way I could "adjust" the connection down far enough to give the wires plenty of slack.
It's hard to compair the sound on anything without it being live in front of you. But that amp sounds damn good on this end.
+Krusty Buzzard yeah, it ain't half bad for what it is.
I stumbled across your video's and you won me over. I've played professionally for over 15 years, assembled my first parts'caster in 1982 and taught myself how to build pedals ect.... Guitar and gear is my passion. Thank you for what your doing. I'm learning a lot from you. What hooked me was watching you intonate that cream Lotus strat. I also like your playing. Thanks again from Texas.
That amp has a very pleasant warm tone for being a solid state. I like it!
I enjoy your videos man. You're a great tech and a hell of a guitar player!
Thanks for watching Ron. I appreciate it.
Damn! Those old discrete transistor amps of the 70s really had a sweet clean tone. Good job salvaging this obscure piece!
This amp is def worth the effort, it sounds GREAT. The fingernail lacquer is very useful, I used it on my one and only pup that I wound to stabilize the winding. Have you ever thought of winding your own pickups? Ok, see ya, WooHoo. And James Best spent his last years in Hickory NC, just over the mountain from Wilkes (BY GOD ) county where I was raised up, he was a great actor, with a wide range. Once again, WooHoo.
Yes I have. It's on my to-do list.
.. I gotta' say Brad, for some odd reason your videos have a calming effect on me ... I'm a retired, old man now, but I've been a guitarist ever since I was 12 years old, and I can kinda' follow what you're talking about ... for the most part, I'm clueless when it comes to anything but the most basic electronics ... and yet, I watch your stuff from beginning to end enjoy your videos as if I had any idea whatsoever what the heck you're talking about most of the time ... so, a big thanks to you for the relaxing effect they have on me .. weird eh?
Same thing here, LOL
I'm from Virginia and I have one of these amps that I found at a yard sale. These amps are very nice and sound very clear and clean. Great amp for pedals or jazz. I love mine. Thank you for the video.
OR jazz? why not pedals AND jazz? hahaha
Great rescue, sounds sweet too! So much better than ending up as "parts". Well done.
You are extremely talented. To showcase your amplifier repairs and modifications please do us all a favor. New strings? YOU ROCK
Hay Brad Nice trick with the braided wire for removing the solder. Will come in handy at times! And great repair of course!
That's called desoldering braid. It's just braided copper wire.
We call it solder wick. Very useful stuff!
Definitely useful stuff. Sometime back I needed some for some de-soldering and didn't have any commercially-made wicking-braid but I had some shielded audio cable so I stripped the braided shield out of some of that audio cable and pulled out the center-conductor wire and flattened out the shield and dipped it in liquid electronics flux and used that and with some flux-cleanup afterwards it worked out great.
I live in Wallins, Kentucky.... and I can honestly say, that amp is in better shape than the town.
I sorta grew up around Warfield. ( Martin County)...in your neck of the woods?
That sounds beautiful... it is good to see it get back to life & being used... not many people would pay the $ to have it repaired but you doing it for yourself it is a easy call to make... great to see... and hear =)
Brad, I had one of these, It was my first amp! I have no idea where my parents got it. I always thought they got it from a Sears or J.C. Penney's. It wouldn't sound like I wanted it to, and the guy at a local mom and pop store recommended a tiny little Muff Fuzz that wasn't a pedal. It was a tiny little box. I lived in East Central Indiana. I was floored when the video came up.
Wow. Small world.
Brian York These came from Dillard's. I don't know who made them though.
I knew A guy who had This amp in N/W Indiana around 1980. It sounded pretty good. Kinda reminded me of the 35 watt Kustum amps back in the late 60's.
Haven’t watched this one in like 5 years. I’m going through your older videos again with this account. I’m an old subscriber with past accounts: Russian Bot and Factory Bear. Classic Brad shit is awesome! I’m glad you are getting back into amp repairs.
I shocked the warranty card didn't fall out when the amp flew out of the back of the truck going down the highway. ;)
P.S. You did a great job getting that back in shape. Nice work, Brad. :)
Amp sounds great. This is a local treasure. That Telecaster with the Filtertron (?) is perfect for the demo. Your fine playing sped up after getting zapped, but careful not to poke around the innards of the amp while playing. Thanks for sharing this gem.
A good jolt gets the blood pumping.
If Roscoe P Coltrane had a guitar amplifier, this is what he'd play.
The Guitologist it's the boss Hogg lol
The Guitologist Enos is coming to kick yo ass after a glass of buttermilk
Its funny you mentioned Roscoe P Coltrane....The man that played him James Best was on Two episodes of the Andy Griffith show as Jim Lindsey a Local Guitar Player.Both episodes centered around Lindseys Guitar playing career.
I've seen the episodes you're talking about. Jim Lindsey was the best guitar picker around.
I've seen a couple episodes of Doug and Pat. Are they in KY too?
Thank you for doing this little piece of history from the hills of Kentucky justice. It sounds great!
by the way, I lived in Pathfork KY in the early 70's.
Carpal tunnel or not.... Brad you've got some chops man.... love the channel... bonus is the nice playing during the test phase.
+Michael Riley thanks Michael.
Wow I live 20 minutes from there and have never heard of this!!!! Excellent! Always learning here, great video. I’ll definitely look into these amps
Cool Little amp. I like watching these repair videos.
Good repair tips. I learn something new every time.
Wow, haven't saw one of these since I was a kid. Great work man, thanks for sharing.
Wow! It’s revived. Sounds great. Good job !,
Great video Brad! I love the new setup when you were testing it out with the 'Amp Knob Tele.' The acoustics you picked up from the mic(s) sounded VERY CLEAR! Glad you've moved into the new house now. I have a soild state Fender M-80 that I fixed up (replaced some zeners & resisitors, cleaned up the electronics & pots). The case itself was a 12" combo that had been left outside and the carpet got soggy along with the chipboard. I sanded and sealed it real good, built a case into the inside frame to strengthen it out of white pine, then recovered it with new grey carpet. It plays and looks great - but it's almost as heavy as the 4x12 cabinet now!
i enjoy your videos , i love old guitar amps, watching you bring them back to life and then spending a few mins strumming chords is priceless . thank you for taking the time to make these videos
i really enjoyed this tear down and repair. It great to see you restore these sort of forgotten gems !
I love OC folded line reverb tanks. Less splashy and more room-like. They also seem to give you lots more reverb without a long sustaining tail when you turn them up. I've installed them in my vintage Magnatones with great results. The trick is knowing the right codes.
Awesome repair!!!!!
It's heartbreaking to see such a cool amp get abused like that, but I'm pleased at how well you were able to bend it back into shape. My dad grew up back the holler in coal mining country in Kentucky, so it's cool to think of some old guys building guitar amps up in the hills. I remember seeing the tobacco hanging in the barns to dry on the way down south to visit grandma. I like your idea of Kentucky rising to prosperity again with the production of some of the crops you mentioned. Just not so prosperous that corporate assholes come and pave the whole place over. Thanks for sharing such a cool project.
Thanks, Jeff. There are a few forward thinking people trying to at least get industrial hemp legalized so our farmers can have a new cash crop. I sure hope it passes. We need all the help we can get and no one wants a handout. The whole reason I spent so much time on this thing is because I admired the entrepreneurship that brought it to life. We're talking about an area with almost nothing going for it but coal, and here these Kentucky boys set out to make something, and succeeded. Makes me proud.
@@TheGuitologist
Industrial hemp has so many uses it's insane. If you had jeans made from hemp cloth they would last forever and put the cotton industry behind the 8 ball. It makes the best paper for printing stock. You can make plastic with it and even make a car body with it. You can google that. It would save the trees in the NW and if you plant it where it rains and cause a lot of run off it holds the soil and inhibits erosion. The list is endless. I'm all about the marijuana side.
The bonus at the end was the great riffs! Holy FOOK! Nice work Brad... I'm amazed!
Wow, what a great sounding little amp!
Brad. I love your playing as much or more than your humor and knowledge. You're the best!
Love watching your videos for several reasons, your personality and ideology being major factors, plus I want to get into building tube guitar amps and pedals and I learn a lot from you(and Uncle Doug and DLab). I've had a LM386 kit amplifier sitting in a box for a long time and today I just broke it out and am going to start tinkering! Thanks for the inspiration.
Very cool. Post some vids of your progress. I'll check them out!
hey Brad.. Its so awesome for you to restore a piece of your local history. here where I live (Calgary Alberta Canada) what little history is here, a lot seems gets destroyed or overlooked and disposed of.
You do such nice work. That little DOA amp is ready to gig.
As always, thanks for a great video! The reverb tank used in that amp (Wisconsin) is the same one I have in my Premier 90 reverb unit!
great job fixing actually nice sounding little amp.
I really enjoyed your guitar playing. When soldering speaker tabs, I like to put something over the cone in case any solder happens to drip towards it. It's nothing critical, but that's the way I do it.
Nice project Brad, thanks for sharing. Enjoy the amp.
Great fix on that one, Brad! It sounds damn nice, even with more fixin' to be done! Thanks for the video!
Wow little amp sounds great, awsome telly too.
nice work buddy , them 2N3055's are virtually bombproof ! i love that lil ol ' amp
I have a huge soft spot for old solid state combos like this. People just don’t understand the tone you can get from them
Wow, how interesting. My father's family is from Wallins Creek. My grandfather and others are buried there. It's surprising to hear that an amplifier company resided there for a short time. Tried to Google it but came up with nothing. Thanks, Brad.
+John Humphrey that's cool. Another person posted a comment with link to sites with owners' names. See if he knew them!
Thanks, Brad, just found it.
Looks like it's been bouncing around in General Lee's trunk for about a year! Great video.
To make faster work of cleaning a circuit board, buy a cheap 1" paint brush and clip the bristles off about three quarters to an inch long. To dry up the alcohol more quickly throw a paper towel onto the board (or a rag made from an old t-shirt) and brush the board again, through the paper towel (or rag).
I've got the same amp. Serial number 1001. It was given to me by my uncle. It actually sounds pretty decent. And it's cool that it was made here in Kentucky.
I do but I couldn't afford the work you've put in it. You took it from junk to usefull. Good job!
Hey Brad you should do a blues lick tutorial some time man , you have some cool licks that you don't see every day.
+Scott Riddle might do. Thanks Scott.
@@TheGuitologist I second that Brad, you definitely play some unique stuff. My guess is that you, like myself, grew up listening to every style of music from the 40's to the present. I watched one of your old videos a couple of days ago that was about an old Sears Guitar/Amp built into the case kit and I definitely heard some Motown in your playing. Really great stuff, I enjoyed it, and it inspired to replay it a few times to figure out what you were doing.
Idea maybe for a future vid: How to spot speakers that are worth having/salvaging out of equipment. Im completely ignorant. I once had great hopes for what turned out to be a 48ohm intercom speaker - it looked cool. I thought i'd misread the ohms.. nope.
Wow, just found your channel, great stuff! I'm getting ready to restore my Earth, Revival 55 tube amp. That's another company you don't hear too much about these days. It's 100 watts, I used it back in the day to drive my pedal steel.
Wow, Brad. That took a while. I'll bet you I know what happened to that amp. I've actually seen something very similar. I'd bet that someone spilled a drink (probably whiskey or something similar) and it fried the board. After which, it was tossed out a window because it just wasn't worth fixing. Thanks for sticking with it to the end.
Sound great. Nice playing too ! This would sound good on a record.
There was a point where you said there may be something going on with a transistor. Don't forget the base part of transistor is connected to the physical shell of that transistor, So when you are taping it you are in effect changing the signal at that point. Yes the chassis is used as a heat sink there will be a thin strip of mylar to electrically isolate the transistor from the ground plane of the chassis, So getting a wee jolt is possible as that part of the transistor may be biased or sitting at a voltage many volts above ground.
This is my favorite kind of video. This amp was raised from the dead and can have a whole new life!
Great work, your patience paid off.
This thing sounds surprisingly pretty.
sounds very nice. oh yeah the the amp sounds good too.
These vids are so addicting to watch
would love it if you would talk a bit about the circuit in this amp and the transistors and how they work compared to tubes! thanks for the videos! Love em all!
Nice guitar work too. Best of both worlds.
I think if I had to fix this I might have cut a sheet metal piece to re-enforce the top and provide shielding. But still nice to see a different kind of repair/restore video on an unusual unit.
On this and other of your videos, I love your "Sherlock Holmes" sleuthing and problem solving. This one was more poignant though when you demoed it at the end - Kentucky guitologist meets relic Kentucky amp. At first I thought it would be sweet music into the sunset until the "shocking" conclusion. I hope you find the cause and share it with us. Great work and riveting video!
+RAD got a couple customer things, then I'll get back in there. Some have suggested that voltage on that transistor is common. I'll get a spec sheet and check things out.
That lil amp has a sweet tone. I even jumped a bit when you found out she bites . Nice job on it.
Man, your videos make my day every time. I laughed my ass off. I was shared this video with before by someone and didn´t even want to begin to watch. Now i´m glad i haven´t. Screw the 1,3 million suckers. Cheers!
Good repair job. Enjoy the amp.
My grandfather manufactured these. I would love to get my hands on one.
For the cabinet, use an .08 al aly doubler w/1x1 "L" extrusion. Trim doubler to fit the uninterrupted area perimeter of the underside of the top panel. Then cut "L" to length (installed from left to right/wall to wall), drill, locating to existing handle fastener locations, and replace handle fasteners with length fitting the new stack up. Before fastening new parts, Bond all contacting surfaces of new parts to each other and existing surfaces with 3M (#70?). You should look up the 70, it may be another numbered adhesive.
wow not bad, great restoration!
I had to google it to find out if the stuff was still being made. We used to use GC Electronics 10-9002-A on buzzing transformers "back in the day". The stuff nail polish is made from, in some cases, is more similar to plastic than to lacquer and it will actually catch fire it it gets hot after it dries.
I don't always use my Walco, but when I do, I use it to hold my car up in the air when I change my brake pads.
I'm gonna turn a jack stand into an amplifier now.
I use mine to call my pigs.
You idiot... That is why the top is caved in ......... :)
I usually find a couple of beautiful girls to hold mine up...... In atmospheric conditions of course
Beast6228 best comment yet
Great job and sounds cool!!
@n3055 transistors are often mounted with a mica insulator underneath them because they have A+ voltage on the collector (which is the case). In which event, yeah, you might get a bit of shock by touching it and the circuit imbalance caused by your body may induce some noise as well.
+Don Crowder not sure why the other one didn't do that then...
Do a google image search on some typical 2N3055 audio output circuits. Could be that one of them isn't running at full A+.
Enjoyed this video. I recently got a couple of old solid state amps up and running, myself. Both had the same problem with the capacitor leads busted. This must be common for those caps on old circuit boards.
Great sounding amp after your great work, good playing. ✌👍.
Not too shabby. I'm not much of a solid state guy but that little amp has a nice clean sound. It would probably make a decent jazz amp, and was definitely worth a gamble.
good work,really like watching your channel.
Explanation, Education, observation, an results ! Whooee
Love this guy! Thanx
Great episode.
That was an awesome restoration and demo. Thanks for sharing. :-)
That PCB is bare copper so to prevent oxidation it's likely coated with rosin. It's a common technique when home manufacturing PCBs to dissolve rosin in alcohol and coat the bare board with it. Even slightly oxidised copper becomes nice and shiny after that.
Nice video, thanks for sharing.
I was about to say something about Hemp. I'm actually starting a small Hemp Farm here in Virginia this year .2020
The 2N3055 is a fairly popular transistor. I've used many of them as the pass transistor in DC power supplies. In fact, I'm running my effects pedals off of a homemade 9 volt regulated supply that uses a 2N3055 as the pass transistor. A pair of them in an audio amp should easily produce somewhere between 30 and 40 watts. By the way, I do have an extra Weller 8200 series soldering gun if you want it. I just need an address to send it to.
+Don Crowder cool. I have a gun too, but it's unreliable. Email me: bradlinzy at gmail
Ah ha nice work on a tough little amp !! Great playing !! As far as the Nail Polish , I thought they stopped using Nitro in the 70's and its all Acrylic Nail Clear Coat .They use two part Polyurethane on Cars. Back in the 90's at the guitar shop in which it worked we found a great Polyester Clear that was tougher any Urethane .
+LRoy Shreding you can still buy nitro nail polish
The case of the 2N3055 transistor is the collector which is connected to the power supply and will zap you if you touch it and ground.Kentucky Fried Guitologist.Love the reverb tank
Although I know nothing about electronics, I find your videos fascinating - they make me wish I did understand it. One thing about your clips: your guitar chops do a great job of showing what these amps are capable of, unlike some other folks (ahem) who make similar videos. Do you do any performing? It would be a shame if these videos were the only outlet for your talents.
+Don Lagosz-Sinclair I don't play out unless I'm asked. Thanks for the compliment.
I've got one of those 'Folded Line' reverb tanks that came out of a Garnet amp. It's pretty cool, if you look inside it's got three springs in a 'Z' pattern to emulate a longer tank, hence the name 'Folded Line'.
That really is a great sounding amp
holy crap this amp sounds fantastic
Nice work! Sounds absolutely gorgeous!
I have one of those picker friends and last year he nabbed me an early 60's Gibson GA5T in a house he was clearing out. I went and helped him move some items out as payment and ended up finding a mid 80's Crybaby in a garbage can full of used kleenex, yuck! Kept the pedal and flipped the amp for a nice profit! :D
Just picked up one of these, its great!
I enjoyed your little weed tangent while cleaning the circuit board haha. I'm from Northeast Tennessee and the same can be said about our state as well. Anyways, great video.