Sho-Bud Amps

Harrison Adler · From: Summit, New Jersey, USA

Is anyone else out there still using one of these? Shot Jackson made me one in 1968 which I have used ever since without ever encountering a problem. I have since tried the Peavy Amp and found it lacking in comparison. Not the same punch at all.

If this is on topic enough, please let me continue. I find certain attitudes, such as that my eternal soul is damned to be quite prejudice. Prejudice cloaked as religious belief is no less odious. To believe that you have all the answers is absurd. There are far many more Shinto than Christian in the world and many of them are fine, moral people deserving of whatever God's mercy. Why would any merciful God condemn a soul to Hell who lived a (or several) good life. Christ has only been around for 2000 years, a drop in the cosmic bucket. I don't want to change anyone's mind here, only point out that there are other valid views of the universe and how it works. By saying what you say, Terry, et al., you are saying that I am wrong and my belief system is not valid and certainly inferior to yours.

I am sorry if I have offended anyone but:

SHE commands me to fight prejudice wherever and however I find it. For SHE is merciful and loves all HER creatures.

Jim Smith · From: Midlothian, TX, USA

Johnny Cox had one of those old Sho-Bud amps for sale in St. Louis. I saw him carrying it out so I don't think he sold it. If you're looking for one, check with him.

JB Arnold · From: Longmont,Co,USA (deceased)

I heard Brian Watson playing one of those in Vegas last October. His Emmons sure sounded sweet through that thing, although it didn't seem to have much power.

John

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Fulawka D-10 9&5
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Harrison Adler · From: Summit, New Jersey, USA

Mine is 100 watts with a single 15" speaker. I played for years with a guitar player who used a Fender Twin and liked to get pretty loud, as did the whole band. My amp had power to spare and remained very clean at high volumes. No trouble at all with power.

Johan Jansen · From: Europe

Charles Stepp has one for sale!
Contact him at Derby:: (502) 957-1059
JJ

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STEELDAYS 2000
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my band COD

Lynn Kasdorf · From: Waterford Virginia, USA

I have a ShoBud amp that I LOVE! The only problem is that is developed some pretty bad hiss that I traced down to a bad FET, and I have not yet found a replacement.

To my ears, it has a subtle distortion that sounds almost like a tube amp- perhaps because of the FET's in the preamp stage.

Mine has an evans speaker, which is a replacement.

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"You call that thing a guitar?"

David Mullis · From: Rock Hill, SC

I have 2 of the Christmas tree amps that I absolutely love. My old 'Bud sounds great through them as well as my new (well new to me anyway) '71 P/P. Lynn, I found some replacements for those FET's here locally. I forget the number on the original one that came out, but I was able to cross it to an NTE312. Let me know if you want to try these. I'll be glad to help you out.

Take Care
David

Chick Donner · From: North Ridgeville, OH USA

I have two of the Old ShoBud Single channel amps. Just love em. Bought one about 1970 (it's the early version) and the other I bought a couple years ago from Buck Reid.

The amp was designed by Kenny Cain, who built them for ShoBud at first, then the company took over the manufacuring. There are a few amps out there with "Cain" on the front. Good amp.

The amps are about 100 watts or so, but thats's TRUE rms power, not the various "peak" powers used today by most amp manufacturers.

The Peaveys DO have more 'pure' power than the ShoBud. . . that's because their power amps really are capable of about 200 watts into a dummy load, with a 1K tone . . .BUT, they start to 'flat top' at about 150 watts. The ShoBud will put that 100 watts into a dummy load (8 ohms!!!!) relatively clean at high power.

There are different input circuits in the amps. There was a major design change about 1976 . . . the really early ones, to address the "hiss" problem of the writer above, was USUALLY caused by the 22 megohm input resistor in the original amps. Change that resistor to a 5 percenter and see what happens. The later amps went to a conventional bipolar transistor on the input as I remember; I'd have to look at my schematic to be sure.

One nice feature of the amp is that Cain designed it using "off the shelf" components. All the transistors are simply RCA that can easily be duplicated, and even the transformer is no big deal. Like any old amp, if you get one that you don't know the history of, change the filter capacitors right off. It saves problems later.

Lynn Kasdorf · From: Waterford Virginia, USA

Thanks for the info. I think the FET number was TIP59. Than is an old Texas Instrument high voltage fet.

I figured that multi-meg resistor might be the culprit as well. They are commonly sources of trouble, as they are not very far from "open", and probably hard to make stable and quiet. Anyway, i swapped it out with no effect. I think i verified that the fet was the culprit, because i could quiet it down with freeze mist on the fet.

Anyway, I'll try to track down some of those that you suggest. Filter caps may not be a bad idea, but I don't think they could cause hiss.

I do need to come up with a source of replacement caps for a couple old tube amps. Where is a good source?

Thanks

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"You call that thing a guitar?"

Tommy Detamore · From: Floresville, Texas

Hey guys, do any of you have a schematic for these amps? Mine needs some work. It's pretty mid-rangy and muddy sounding. The one I have is a single channel with knobs across the top (no sliders, no Christmas tree)

Thanks,

Tommy

Bob Metzger · From: Waltham (Boston), MA, USA

For caps, in the Balt. /D.C. area: Angela's Instruments, in Annapolis (or nearby; Annapolis Junction?)

[This message was edited by Bob Metzger on 14 September 2000 at 01:57 AM.]

Jerry Roller · From: Van Buren, Arkansas USA

I have an old ShoBud D-15 with sliders and a
needle guage on the panel. All the sliders are broken off. Does anyone know where to get replacement sliders and is this amp worth putting any money into to fix it? It has an 8 ohm Lansing speaker. Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jerry

Chick Donner · From: North Ridgeville, OH USA

I have schematics. Send address for copies.

J D Sauser · From: Wellington, Florida

I have two X-mas trees. I thought I HAD to have TWO, as I was told there was not too much power in one. Belive me, they're loud enough. I had both gone over by Woody Woodell in Goodletsville who also re-coned some of my JBL-D130 speakers. Woody uses the same cone that is currently being used in the new Standell speakers (which are basically JBL "copies", a $500.oo speaker!).
They're great amps. The best in solid state I've ever heard. Can even compete with a lot of big name tube amps! Very sweet. But one has to understand that "sweetness" also spells slight distortion. You won't hear it as such. You will notice it as "warmth" or well... "sweetness"... so, it's not and never intended to be 100% clean.

I am presently re-covering one of them (which came to me a little beat up) and I am considering selling the other one which is in very good original shape, as I just won an auction on e-bay for a black face (1966) Fender Twin

.

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The future belongs to culture.

jaydee@bellsouth.net

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