Modified Early Rickenbacher “ELECTRO”
This 1939 Rickenbacher chassis had been collecting dust in the basement for a decade or so when I decided to make it into something. This amp is from before Rickenbacher changed their name to Rickenbacker. Adolph Rickenbacher and George Beauchamp founded the company in 1931 with the name Ro-Pat-In Corporation (ElectRo–Patent-Instruments). They made electric Hawaiian guitars. Early examples bear the name “Electro” (like this one).
This is an early Rickenbacher “ELECTRO” (Los Angeles, 1939) amplifier that has been rebuilt and modified by HardWay Vintage Electronics. It is an all-octal 7-tube amp with a 5Y3 rectifier, two 6SJ7 preamp tubes, a 6J5 gain stage and a 6J5 cathodyne phase inverter and two 6L6GC output tubes. The chassis dimensions are 16” X 6” X 7.5”. The chassis is installed in an open-backed birch plywood cabinet with a single 12-inch 16 Ohm 65-Watt speaker. Output power is about 40 Watts.
The circuit is similar to the Rickenbacher M-11, except with all octal tubes and the addition of a cathodyne phase inverter like the Fender Deluxe 5E3.
The amp has two inputs, one for guitar and one for microphone. Each input has its own 6SJ7 preamp stage, and the stages are in phase, so a “Y” cord can be used for input to both channels at once. It has a master tone control and individual volume controls for each channel.
The tubes are a new JJ 5Y3GT, NOS Philco and Sylvania 6SJ7s, NOS Philco 6J5s, and Sylvania 6L6GCs. The amp bias has a static dissipation of 66%.
I had to name it something. I added a large reproduction 1909 VDB cent to the front grill cloth, so it became the “One Cent” amp.
This amplifier uses the original INCA (Los Angeles) transformers and is point-to-point wired using high quality components.
The amp sounds amazing, very similar to early Fender octal amplifiers, like the 1946 Fender Professional. It is excellent with reverb and other pedals.
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