You're welcome. I really appreciate your time, interest, and (most of all) very kind words.

Thanks, Ben. The guitar is an old 1980 Matsumoku Vantage VS-695 neck-thru, solid-ash-body Performer model with (very hot) MMK-45 humbuckers. I found it in a pawn shop several years ago, in lousy shape. After a whole lot of work, it turned out to be the go-to guitar for workshop demos.

Thanks, WW. I really appreciate your kind appraisal.

Thanks, Chris. The amp and I appreciate your kind words and the fact that you subscribed to our channel. There are currently 43 other, similar videos posted that you, hopefully, will find interesting. Welcome aboard !!!

Thanks, Bob. Appreciative words like yours make the effort quite rewarding. Re "ahead of its time", I agree completely. Its compact design, exceptional condition, and great tone make it seem much "younger"......maybe some of that will "rub off" on me :)

Thanks, JP. They're all like my children.....each has its own personality.

That was a cool vid. You have alot to offer. That amp was ahead of its time, I am glad its in your hands. Thankyou for your Outstanding Video's.

the general fireproofing green is mighty fine, as well~ and goodform chairs too~

I admire the clean wiring and shielding on this trusty amp. My father was an RF/Radar Engineer and he used to tell me that RF leaks worse than a Wicker Canoe.

@UncleDoug

4 жыл бұрын

In the old days, strong AM stations were a problem, but nowadays, it's less of an issue.

You do a great job with these very interesting videos. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Chris. I will check it out.

oh! what a nice amp.Lovely design and I love the hammer tone chassis and the way the transformer is sunk down.....A lot of my vacuum tube radios use 6J7'S 6L7'S/6K7'S and other grid cap tubes...very cool looking..! nice shoulder style 5Y3 rectifier too!

its hard to believe anyone could afford a $75 amp back in 1941 its like $6000.00 today, so like you say, you could buy a moderately good used car for that. there was a need for live music back then, so at least you could make some money to help offset the cost. $5000.00 could buy a Marshall 100watt head today. 4 x 12 speaker cabs are about $1200.00 each new. Although look for good used, 20 years ago I happened on 2-50watt Marshall 2204 heads and 2 @ 4x 12 cabs, one square and a sloped cab, for $1000.00 total. I seen a new JCM 2000 TSL 100 watt head, which sounds GREAT! in the local music store. Iwasn’t very happy will the 2204’s so I traded both 50watt heads for the TSL 100 straight across. the 2204 heads had the metal power and stand-by toggle switches, because CSA didn’t approve of the red lite up rocker switches. but now watching your videos I could have pulled out the chassis to see why the 2204’s didn’t sound that great. im sure happy with the TSL 100 it has a clean stage, crunch and lead stages, a nice 5 button pedal with a 15’ cable, there’s a switch for changing to a 20w amp, DI out, head phone and a switch to defeat the speakers circuit. you can get a new fender twin reverb for about $2000.00 id like to get one of those but maybe try building something simpler than that, and work my way up. its difficult to find a used tube amp these days because of you UD lol now everybody is wanting to restore or build them to make the easy money. lololol

I really enjoyed seeing this video. Having seen a lot of old amps, and growing up in Chicago not very far from Sears and Wards, I can't believe I never saw one like that one before your video! I think that is the most unique amplifier from that era that I have ever seen, period! I'm glad you are preserving an amplifier with such great historical value.... Kudos Doug!

@UncleDoug

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much, Dennis. Glad you enjoyed it :)

That is in such great condition.

Thanks for being every amp lover’s favorite uncle. Your attention to detail, patience and obvious subject matter expertise, when dosed with your genuine affection for these rare gems, is the perfect recipe for the perfect teacher! Of course we must give kudos to your k9 overseer for the time away from food and fire hydrants.

@UncleDoug

6 жыл бұрын

You're welcome, Curtis. Thanks so much for your nice comments :)

@pyroman6000

5 жыл бұрын

Hey, and don't forget his quality control technician, and official playtester: Jack.

I like it ! Especially doing the Johnny Cash rifts! Don't hear that enough.

@UncleDoug

Жыл бұрын

Thanks, Tom :)

I wouldn't bet against you on that one. I'm still looking at all of the funky little critters you got here and man, I tell ya what, if I was the envious type, I'd be pretty envious right now, but I'm really impressed 'cause I know how cool these amps sound for blues, slide, and harmonica. You might even make a few extra bucks renting them out to trustworthy souls to record with. If they're mic'ed properly, they'll sound like God shouting from the mountain top. You've really got some good ones!

I listened to an old radio program of Fibber McGhee and Molly from the early 40s, where Fibber bought a 1918 Stutz Bearcat for $25. For $75, in 1940, I probably would have rather had the amp, but now, I'd MUCH rather have the 3 Bearcats, which I would probably trade for a 54 strat, and a house.lol It's strange how some things increase in price far more than others. It is an amazingly pristine amp. Very cool.

@UncleDoug

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Remley. I'd like to have just one Stutz Bearcat :)

You're right about the Sears thing. I used to work for a lawn mower manufacturer many years ago and once a year we'd do a run of mowers that a very slightly different line-up of features from our normal mowers and were painted a different color. Those mowers were to be branded as Sears mowers, by Sears, somewhere and sometime after leaving our plant. In subsequent years I've seen many other items from tools to appliances that are made by someone else but have the Sears or Kenmore or whatever other names that Sears used applied to them. To my knowledge, Sears didn't actually manufacture anything. They simply sub-contracted the goods from the real maker, allpied their name to it, and sold it as their own.

@UncleDoug

6 жыл бұрын

I believe your analysis is correct, DE. Thanks :)

Love these old amps

@UncleDoug

4 жыл бұрын

You're in the right place then, Ronnie. We love them too.

WHAT A BEAUTY !!!

@UncleDoug

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks, AT :)

What a relic! Thanks for the video. I'll check other interesting videos too. All the best.

@UncleDoug

9 жыл бұрын

tonyiommi74 You're welcome, Tony. Rusty and I send our regards and hope you enjoy our other (110) videos. Thanks for watching :)

@tonyiommi74

9 жыл бұрын

Uncle Doug 110? Let's subscribe then. I never want to forget or miss a channel like this one. Greeting to You and Rusty :)

@UncleDoug

9 жыл бұрын

Thanks for subscribing, Tony. Rusty and I hope you enjoy all the videos (or at least most of them ;)

Good full range sound!

@UncleDoug

8 жыл бұрын

+Gene Hudson Thanks, Gene. I agree.....especially for an ancient amp and speaker, it still sounds great :)

Unbelievable vintage tone Doug. Another gem, congratulations. : ) You can always look at the codes on the pots for dates too. RCA used to put codes on the base of their glass output tubes as well. Idk when they started though? Hopefully, this will help you nail down a production date. I would guess your amp may have had metal 6V6 tubes in it originally? I have a couple of art deco era RCA PA amp heads that are all metal that have the 6J7's in the preamp, what I call "sparkplug" tubes, because of the wire going to the top. 6J5 phase inverter tubes. One has a quad of 6V6's and the other quad of 807's. I think they both have dual 5U4G rectifier tubes. I can pick the smaller 6V6 head up by myself, but I gave up on lifting the mammoth 807 head by myself. It's a dinosaur! Everything is metal.. I wish that you could see them. Thanks again!

@UncleDoug

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing this with us, Amo.

really nice one, caught a little teeny crackle at the end of the demo. maybe a leaky cap or 2? really neat circuit. love to here a dobro through that baby.

@UncleDoug

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Malcolm. Glad you liked it :)

Got 4 6J7 in my 48 1A65 Operadio PA 40watt, also has 6SN7GT & 6X5GT all original & still works

@UncleDoug

7 жыл бұрын

Any PA amp that uses 6SN7's and 6J7's is a good one, Tani, and probably rather old. I'll bet it sounds great !!

I SECOND THAT EMOTION! WELL DONE CAN I SEND YOU MY OLD LITTLE TWEED 4 WATTER TO BRING BACK TO GLORY. YOU THE MAN! I WATCH ALL YOUR VIDS. THANK-YOU UNCLE DOUG.

@UncleDoug

8 жыл бұрын

+Dave Massie You're welcome, Dave, and thanks for the very kind words. Glad you liked the old National. You can send your tweed 4W amp, but it just might get "lost" somewhere (like in my amp room) :)))

absoloutly love the bassy warm rich sound. i dont like tinny amps... this one sounds fantastic!

@UncleDoug

7 жыл бұрын

We agree, GnB.....tinny is for sissies :)

I'd bet that harmonica players lose their minds when they see this one. Holy smokes! a "Green Bullet" mic, a 6G15 Fender reverb tank, and look out! Little Walter lives! This thing wails like a banshee when it's cranked, doesn't it?

While waiting (patiently) for part 8 of your Supo/Dani-Sonic clone build I have been re-visiting some of your previous videos. They often bring back memories and this one is no exception. It's the red coloured marks on the solder joints. The old radio sets that provided parts for my early experiments quite often had the same marks. I also had some ex military gear that had similar looking liquid on all the nuts and bolts that held it together. On the radios and this National amp was it done to designate that the solder joints had been inspected? With the military stuff I assumed it was to prevent everything from rattling loose given the circumstances in which it was used. Love this amp; hope my chassis is immaculate when I get to 73. Kind regards to all.

@UncleDoug

8 жыл бұрын

+Jeff M It's great that you are re-watching the old videos, Jeff. Part 8 of the Supro build should be out in a couple days. Meanwhile, I believe the red marks were either to demonstrate inspection of each joint, or to see if anyone has tampered with a solder joint, in case of a service claim. I don't see how a light coating like this could stabilize the solder joint....but I guess it's possible that they thought so at the time. Like you, I hope I hold up this well by the time I'm 73.....but then the amp will be 78. I guess we'll never catch up with it :)

very clean inside -- what guitar do you use for the demos ? strat style ?

Nice, I recently acquired a '41 National that has that same chassis. If you search for "1941 National" here on the tube, you'll find my demo.

I tend to be a little protective of old, original speakers, but I would guess that this chassis, hooked up to a 4 x 12" speaker cabinet could probably wail with the best of them.

@highpath4776

3 жыл бұрын

Have you made any external speakers or speaker cabinets that could hold an output transformer in them - to deal with such circuits ? Also the idea of the mid-point chassis mounting is quite good for access , and stops cords etc getting tangled round tubes. though it might not be so good for a centre of gravity

I like Uncle Doug

@UncleDoug

Жыл бұрын

That's good to hear, Darryl.

Nice retro look. I've seen plate caps on tubes for TV flyback horizontal output tubes but a grid cap was before my time. How did these electro-dynamic speaker work? Electro magnet instead of a permanent magnet?

@UncleDoug

8 жыл бұрын

Yes, the field coil serves as a filter choke for the power supply and becomes a highly energized electromagnet in the process.

Hello Uncle Doug: The little ditty you play at the end of this video is absolutely delightful. Might I impose on you for the name of the tune, or if it something you created for fun, the cords you used? All the best to you and yours, V. PS At the end of another video you mentioned an issue with your hands. From what I can see of them in the videos, there is no ulnar drift, fusiform swelling or mucous cysts present. The symptoms could all be coming from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which is usually easy to treat. If you feel that I have over-stepped my bounds in mentioning this, I apologize and please erase the comment. Sincerely V. Van Winkle, M.D.

@UncleDoug

6 жыл бұрын

Greetings, Vincent. The tune is sort of an amalgam of several Johnny Cash tunes, mainly "I Walk the Line". I believe the chords are our old friends A, D, and E. Thanks for your evaluation of my joint problems. I think it's mostly osteoarthritis due to old age and a lifetime of strain, abuse, and motorcycle wrecks. Rest helps, while exercise simply makes it worse......which seems paradoxical.....but since rest is not in the cards, I guess I'll take just some Naproxen and get used to it :)

calling the troops, hear a bugle to a mic being played~

I couldn't hep but notice the "DC to AC Converter" in that catalog (9:42)! Was DC a thing back then?

@UncleDoug

6 жыл бұрын

Perhaps some rural customers had to use battery power and thus needed a converter to operate AC devices.

@nikkihendrix1234

6 жыл бұрын

Dc indeed was a thing but I didn’t know that it lasted up until 1940. Edison was big on dc power and a lot of early electrical was in fact dc and it lasted the longest it seemed in rural areas. Tesla was the one who was big on ac power, Edison and Tesla were Rivals.

Doug: I have a 1930s era National Dobro amp that has a similar Field Coil speaker to the one in your amp. Unfortunately the spider has deteriorated/separated from cone and has to rebuilt. You mention in your video the schematic on yours indicates the voice coil is 1000 ohm. My question is that I don't see anything that indicates the ohm rating of the speaker itself and am thinking that whomever I get to rebuild speaker will need to know this. Any advice? Or is this not a concern with a field coil design,.BTW: I'm enjoying the Bell and Howell amp I picked up from you a while back. ;-/

@UncleDoug

4 жыл бұрын

Apparently I either misspoke or was misunderstood, R09. The 1000 Ohm value is for the field coil not the voice coil. The impedance of the VC is easy to determine with a DC ohmmeter. Measure the DC resistance, then multiply it by 1.3. It will be close to either 4, 8, or 16 Ohms.

@rofred09

4 жыл бұрын

@@UncleDoug Do you still have that National Dobro amp? If so, I'm curious as to whether it's 4, 8 or 16 ohms. Most of the older field coil speakers I've come across have tested at 12-16 ohms and I was wondering if that was just a coincidence or a general characteristic of these pre-war speakers.

@UncleDoug

4 жыл бұрын

@@rofred09 I honestly don't know, Fred. Since it came with the amp and apparently matched the OPT impedance, I never measured it.

I bought my first electric bass (made by KENT) from SEARS.

@UncleDoug

5 жыл бұрын

I think most of the things in our house, when I was a kid, were from Sears, James. Now they're out of business :(

Hi Doug, just found two in google, both have the same elongated cabinet Model 75 1934-35 and Model 80 1938 so maybe it is as old as the speaker dictates

@UncleDoug

8 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure what this refers to, Elvin, but thanks for the input.

@elvinator1047

8 жыл бұрын

It refers to the National Dobro you are kindly showing us Doug

@UncleDoug

8 жыл бұрын

Thank you for doing this research.

If that amp was just a few years older it probably would have a type 80 rather than a 5Y3.

WOW! I can't believe it sounds that good. I'm sure those wax and paper caps are WAY out of spec.

@UncleDoug

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Chris. No doubt they are......but it doesn't seem to hurt the tone.

I just purchased one of these with a varnished tweed covering, same type of grille cloth, a Jenson FC speaker and a National logo plate. Manufacturer ID on the chassis is N-D-C 400 S Peoria St, so it's real. Has a Valco SN plate visible after the rear cover is removed which dates it at 1940-41 (G suffix/prefix) It's in the same shape as yours, NO mods to the chassis, but....(2) 6J7, (2) 6SC7 and (2) 6V6. All tubes appear original. Can't find a schematic for that tube configuration, will keep looking. If someone else can locate please let me know. Love your videos Doug & Rusty!

@UncleDoug

8 жыл бұрын

+fullstop213 You're a lucky man, FS. These jewels are rare and wonderful. Schematics can be rather elusive since National changed circuitry almost at will and rarely documented anything very well. Since the chassis is unmolested, you might consider drawing up your own schematic. Otherwise, thorough perusal of all schematics on the Valco site may be required to come up with something close.

Hey, thank you so much for your really great videos!!! But get yourself a guitar-tuner :-D

@UncleDoug

9 жыл бұрын

salossi Rusty is in charge of guitar tuning. I will relay your comment to him.....whenever he wakes up from his afternoon nap :)

@salossi

9 жыл бұрын

Okay, I totally accept this excuse :-D Give Rusty a hug, he probably did it as good as he could ;-)

@UncleDoug

9 жыл бұрын

He's a very reliable assistant, Salossi, but his hearing (like mine) is not as good as it used to be. I'll give him a hug from you :) Thanks

Replace the caps and resistors with newer, updated versions and make a vid! Compare the sound of this old one with the updated one.

@UncleDoug

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your suggestion, Walter.

I'm guessing that this amp was rarely used.

@UncleDoug

6 жыл бұрын

Hard to say, David, since I've only owned it for about 5-6 years.....but I must admit that the extra-nice condition would argue against a huge amount of use.

Here’s a pic where someone confirms the year and model: www.pictaram.org/post/BXY5kwpASrq

@UncleDoug

6 жыл бұрын

Wow.....it's EXACTLY like mine. Thanks so much for sending this link, Eric.

@EricKemper

6 жыл бұрын

My pleasure Doug, it's the least I could do considering the vast amount of knowledge you've imparted via your videos. Keep up the great work. :)

Dubulyay should be good enough, gotta retain your all American charm for the ladies... But if you insist: translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=fr&tl=en&text=dubulier (she has an impeccable pronunciation, especially the U)

@UncleDoug

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, PM.

rectifire whe col that a cokebottle!! tub nice amp!!!

@UncleDoug

9 жыл бұрын

roodbaard51 That pretty well describes its shape, RB :)