Some very interesting Vintage gear here........ (sadly not mine) Dallas rangemaster, JTM Blackflag

JDE · October 2016

There are numerous vintage spec guitars/amps/pedals/cars etc made by modern makers. These things are "collectables" for lack of a better term. Like SRV fans who own multiple vintage tubescreamers, there's a big market for RM's, particularly for those who are big early Clapton and May fans. Same with Fuzz Faces and more recently, Big Muffs. They mostly all sound great and mostly all sound slightly different in the case of treble boosters and fuzzes, hence the fun in collecting.

ICBM · October 2016

ThorpyFX said:

the JTM Black flag needs a bit of a test for safety etc and then i might get the chance to give it a blast! both are all original.

Apologies if I'm telling you something you already know, but DO NOT just power up the Marshall to give it a blast, if it hasn't been used for a long time. You need to not only have it safety-checked but powered up under controlled conditions with a Variac and metering/short protection. Old amps can sometimes do themselves very serious and expensive damage otherwise, and with something like that it will take a big chunk off the value - even just saving filter caps which might fail immediately is worthwhile, bearing in mind a shorted one can also blow the PT if you're unlucky.

With one of those I would probably not only power it up slowly but run it with a signal generator and a dummy load, and increase the power up to full over a couple of hours to make sure there won't be an arc in the OT windings, which can be caused by damp.

ThorpyFX · October 2016

ICBM said:

ThorpyFX said:

the JTM Black flag needs a bit of a test for safety etc and then i might get the chance to give it a blast! both are all original.

Apologies if I'm telling you something you already know, but DO NOT just power up the Marshall to give it a blast, if it hasn't been used for a long time. You need to not only have it safety-checked but powered up under controlled conditions with a Variac and metering/short protection. Old amps can sometimes do themselves very serious and expensive damage otherwise, and with something like that it will take a big chunk off the value - even just saving filter caps which might fail immediately is worthwhile, bearing in mind a shorted one can also blow the PT if you're unlucky.

With one of those I would probably not only power it up slowly but run it with a signal generator and a dummy load, and increase the power up to full over a couple of hours to make sure there won't be an arc in the OT windings, which can be caused by damp.

No need to worry there, the owner has already beaten me to it. Turned it on and cranked it without any tests..... apparently. I'm still going to do all of the above though and thankyou for highlighting it, apparently it hadn't been used for 5 years.

Safety is not a dirty word!

ICBM · October 2016

There's no point in doing a slow power-up now. 5 years is not too bad actually - and it does depend on where it was stored.

A friend on mine once bought an early JMP 50-watter that had been stored in a garage for about 25 years - I told him not to turn it on until I'd looked at it, but he couldn't resist. Luckily when a filter cap blew (literally) it didn't take out anything else… just left a lot of gunk inside.

ThorpyFX · October 2016

ICBM said:

There's no point in doing a slow power-up now. 5 years is not too bad actually - and it does depend on where it was stored.

A friend on mine once bought an early JMP 50-watter that had been stored in a garage for about 25 years - I told him not to turn it on until I'd looked at it, but he couldn't resist. Luckily when a filter cap blew (literally) it didn't take out anything else… just left a lot of gunk inside.

well, he blew two original mullard EL34's which is a real sad thing to have happened but at least it wasnt a transformer. The important thing though now is that we will be looking at the amp and making sure all the caps are correct, not dry, tolerances are good and the bias is right.

exocet · October 2016

The JTM looks like mine, I have the Bulgin mains connector as well but I am going to replace it with the IEC type sold by Tube Amp Doctor.
I recapped mine, got the 16uF dual cap from them, it was their own branded version.

http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/ab272/knackereddad/imagejpg1_zpsa4bcb94b.jpg

ICBM · October 2016

ThorpyFX said:

well, he blew two original mullard EL34's which is a real sad thing to have happened but at least it wasnt a transformer.

That's a shame. If he'd have had screen resistors fitted - which this one doesn't have, but it needs - he might have avoided that. Mullards will normally take it, but it still puts a lot of stress on them. Don't use modern EL34s without fitting them.

rsvmark · October 2016

ThorpyFX said:

Safety is not a dirty word!

Crevice is a dirty word - General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett

glynes · October 2016

ThorpyFX said:

Ill say this, Ive measured it, played it and its awesome. is it worth the money. at £600 for a vintage item id say yes probably. for £3k not a chance. anyway I've just modded my own germanium treble booster to match the hfe of the OC44 and biased it to match the same voltage..... and it sings the same. very happy now.

Rangemaster Treble Boosters are worth a lot less if they have non-original solder joints after some wannabe boutweaker pulls the transistor for the sake of matching the hFE in his own cheap bootleg. But I'm sure you informed the owner of this unit beforehand, right?

ThorpyFX · October 2016

glynes said:

ThorpyFX said:

Ill say this, Ive measured it, played it and its awesome. is it worth the money. at £600 for a vintage item id say yes probably. for £3k not a chance. anyway I've just modded my own germanium treble booster to match the hfe of the OC44 and biased it to match the same voltage..... and it sings the same. very happy now.

Rangemaster Treble Boosters are worth a lot less if they have non-original solder joints after some wannabe boutweaker pulls the transistor for the sake of matching the hFE in his own cheap bootleg. But I'm sure you informed the owner of this unit beforehand, right?

Ah so i am a wannabe boutweaker who makes cheap bootlegs?? many thanks.

thats particularly accusatory and 100% incorrect. but seeing as i have the correct tools to measure the transistor in situ WITHOUT pulling it and i haven't done any damage to the thing at all then i guess all is well.

Heartfeltdawn · October 2016

glynes said:

ThorpyFX said:

Ill say this, Ive measured it, played it and its awesome. is it worth the money. at £600 for a vintage item id say yes probably. for £3k not a chance. anyway I've just modded my own germanium treble booster to match the hfe of the OC44 and biased it to match the same voltage..... and it sings the same. very happy now.

Rangemaster Treble Boosters are worth a lot less if they have non-original solder joints after some wannabe boutweaker pulls the transistor for the sake of matching the hFE in his own cheap bootleg.

Even in a completely unworkable state, they're worth a lot more than a poorly informed opinion.

breadfan · October 2016

@ThorpyFX Does the Rangemaster have that 'cocked wah' type sound?

I've had a number of clones & some have had too much of it, others none at all.

I've not tried an original.

Sassafras · October 2016

ThorpyFX said:

glynes said:

ThorpyFX said:

Ill say this, Ive measured it, played it and its awesome. is it worth the money. at £600 for a vintage item id say yes probably. for £3k not a chance. anyway I've just modded my own germanium treble booster to match the hfe of the OC44 and biased it to match the same voltage..... and it sings the same. very happy now.

Rangemaster Treble Boosters are worth a lot less if they have non-original solder joints after some wannabe boutweaker pulls the transistor for the sake of matching the hFE in his own cheap bootleg. But I'm sure you informed the owner of this unit beforehand, right?

Ah so i am a wannabe boutweaker who makes cheap bootlegs?? many thanks.

thats particularly accusatory and 100% incorrect. but seeing as i have the correct tools to measure the transistor in situ WITHOUT pulling it and i haven't done any damage to the thing at all then i guess all is well.

Don't worry Thorpy,I've noticed that many of Glynes' post can be quite offensive. It's nothing personal, just something 'lost in translation'.

ThorpyFX · October 2016

breadfan said:

@ThorpyFX Does the Rangemaster have that 'cocked wah' type sound?

I've had a number of clones & some have had too much of it, others none at all.

I've not tried an original.

they always sound thin on a clean amp but through a dirty amp this thing sings, no cocked wah sound either.

Gassage · October 2016

glynes said:

ThorpyFX said:

Ill say this, Ive measured it, played it and its awesome. is it worth the money. at £600 for a vintage item id say yes probably. for £3k not a chance. anyway I've just modded my own germanium treble booster to match the hfe of the OC44 and biased it to match the same voltage..... and it sings the same. very happy now.

Rangemaster Treble Boosters are worth a lot less if they have non-original solder joints after some wannabe boutweaker pulls the transistor for the sake of matching the hFE in his own cheap bootleg. But I'm sure you informed the owner of this unit beforehand, right?

What a grade A cunt.

Cabicular · October 2016

glynes said:

ThorpyFX said:

Ill say this, Ive measured it, played it and its awesome. is it worth the money. at £600 for a vintage item id say yes probably. for £3k not a chance. anyway I've just modded my own germanium treble booster to match the hfe of the OC44 and biased it to match the same voltage..... and it sings the same. very happy now.

Rangemaster Treble Boosters are worth a lot less if they have non-original solder joints after some wannabe boutweaker pulls the transistor for the sake of matching the hFE in his own cheap bootleg. But I'm sure you informed the owner of this unit beforehand, right?

As pleasant as ever ....

ICBM · October 2016

I just got this message from Ebay…

"Price lowered on: Original 1960s Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster Fuzz Boost

SAVE US $550.00

You viewed this at US $5,500.00. It was just discounted to US $4,950.00."

For a second I thought the price was now $550, and thought 'better, but still too much really'.

PigeonFX · November 2016

Thanks for all the kind comments, any questions, give me a shout!

PigeonFX · December 2016

JezWynd said:

Pigeon Fx make a faithful repro.

http://pigeonfx.com/rangemaster.html

I do indeed try to make as faithful repro of the Rangemaster as possible

bbill335 said:

JezWynd said:

Pigeon Fx make a faithful repro.

http://pigeonfx.com/rangemaster.html

Are these guys legit? I've heard so little about them.

I would class myself as legit, I just don't churn pedals out, and tend not to frequent many forums, so alas I low profile in the pedal world!

JDE said:

bbill335 said:

JezWynd said:

Pigeon Fx make a faithful repro.

http://pigeonfx.com/rangemaster.html

Are these guys legit? I've heard so little about them.

I have had a Pigeon Rangemaster - was great, sounded and looked excellent.
For the basis of the Rangemaster value discussion, I've not really paid much attention to current prices, but I sold my (poor condition) original RM for £800. The chap who bought mine had a few of them and I know he paid over £1500 for his minters.

Thank you for the kind words, and good to hear you liked the Rangemaster!

Gagaryn said:

bbill335 said:

JezWynd said:

Pigeon Fx make a faithful repro.

http://pigeonfx.com/rangemaster.html

Are these guys legit? I've heard so little about them.

Yeah totally legit. i have had dealings with him before - Brook Morton his name is. He used to sell stuff as kits, normally with everything save the transistors - I built one of his Tone Bender Mk 1 kits and it is superb. Been thinking of building a Rangemaster for a while as I have a few Mullard OC44 but last time I was in touch with him he didn't have any enclosures - and I want one for the coolzzzz!

Bring back the PCBs and Kits soon! if you still need an enclosure shoot me a email though the website, I have just had a batch in, so can spare one for the coolzzzz!

Sassafras said:

bbill335 said:

JezWynd said:

Pigeon Fx make a faithful repro.

http://pigeonfx.com/rangemaster.html

Are these guys legit? I've heard so little about them.

I've bought a couple of fuzz kits from him. He's a gentleman.

Thank you, and you sir are a gentleman too!

PigeonFX · December 2016