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Messages - sempervirent

#1
Anybody know what size (i.e 8-32) screws are used to secure the lid and/or music stand to the inner rail of a Wurlitzer 200?

I'm talking about the two screws on the top of the plastic case.
#2
Quote from: tjh392 on December 08, 2011, 12:02:42 PMKeep the case, there is a bloke in Florida who had two of these amps for sale and he couldn't get a $1 for them. I'll try and find my emails from him but every 6 months or so he puts them back on eBay.

Yeah, I'd like to get his email. You can send me a PM. Hopefully they're not in a landfill by now...

Quote from: tjh392 on December 08, 2011, 12:02:42 PMSearch for satellite in the forum and you should find a thread I started with the words opportunity somewhere in there.

I searched and only this thread comes up. I think the search scope is limited to recent threads only.

Do let me know how it sounds, if it's worth mentioning. I see it's in your signature now so I'm assuming you brought it back to life.
#3
Just try all the different options given here and use what you think sounds good. There's no right or wrong way to make music.
#4
Quote from: tjh392 on December 08, 2011, 06:20:46 AMMine was a real pain as I didn't have any idea what the circuitry looked like until Bumpyrhode helped me out with some photos.

http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=5704.msg28420#msg28420

Thanks, that's a useful thread. Didn't find that when I searched.

Did you ever get it working? Was it worth the effort (how's it sound)?

Quote from: bumpyrhode on December 08, 2011, 10:17:04 AMTo me that box w/speaker is worth about $50. Judging from your pics you are missing the complete amp module. That is what the white connector is suppose to plug into. You can buy amp boards but it's still missing the amp frame, transformer and heat sink.

Thanks, I can see that from the photos. I thought it seemed a bit lightweight... that's a pretty serious heatsink.

Quote from: bumpyrhode on December 08, 2011, 10:17:04 AMI don't know the conditions of the sale but it's pretty much useless. Restoring this one would be futile unless you picked up another donor cabinet with the amp components.

It was a freebie, so yeah, you get what you pay for. I've asked around at a few places to see what the cost of these parts might be. I don't know if I really have the time/money/interest to restore it but I appreciate all the info given here, I was just curious to know what I was looking at.
#5
I picked up the Super Satellite cabinet yesterday. First thing I noticed was that the control panel is different than the photo I posted above. There are no 1/4" preamp output (input) jacks, just the 4-pin connected. It does power up. I opened the back and checked out the circuitry, somebody did a real hack job.

First thing I noticed was that they drilled a hole in the back to accommodate a 1/4" plug. That jack was wired into the main circuit, which is all connected to what is possibly the largest capacitor I've seen. There is a little circuit board near the modded 1/4" jack that isn't connected to anything. There is a molex connector that doesn't have a matching receptacle anywhere that I can see. And strangely, none of this is connected to the speakers. The speakers are connected only to the 1/4" Slave Output jack. That tells me that somebody was actually using this master cabinet as a slave instead.

Anyway, I have no clue what this cabinet is worth, how much it would cost to bring it back to working condition, and whether it's even worth it. I've gone through a few amps (including a Fender Twin Reverb) looking for a good keyboard sound and have yet to find it. Naturally, I'm thinking that this one might sound just right, since it was designed for keyboards, but unsure about what it would take to get it to a point where I can even hear what it sounds like.

Does anyone here have one of these? I'm curious to know what the inside of one normally looks like. And curious to know if anyone here thinks this one is worth restoring. At this point I can't even tell if it has all of the circuitry that it's supposed to have.

I made an album of photos here (a few are shown below):
http://imgur.com/a/IccGq#0




#6
Thanks guys, this is good news. Once I get the cab back to the studio I'll post an update.
#7
Thanks to both of you for the info. Rob, I just wanted to confirm that I'm not misunderstanding:

Quote from: Rob A on December 01, 2011, 04:54:21 PMYou can drive this cabinet from your stage by connecting a guitar cord to either of the preamp outputs, as counter-intuitive as that seems--they are just normalled jacks in parallel with the connection from each preamp out.

So the jacks on the cabinet labeled "Preamp Output" are actually inputs? The labels would be saying "This is where you plug in the output of the preamp." I can see how a "Preamp Input" label would be just as confusing (implying that you would be plugging in to a hypothetical preamp inside of the cabinet).

If you can go direct into the cabinet from a Stage with no internal preamp, it's still not clear to me what the preamp is for. I think your other comment ("slave is the same cabinet minus the 4-pin DIN jack and hence the preamp power supply") is saying that the preamp is just for driving the slave. I can't really visualize the setup, too bad the illustration I linked to just shows the parts without a connection diagram.

Thanks for your patience, I just want to understand all that there is to know about this cab. If we can use it without the preamp that's great news.
#8
I'm getting a Fender Rhodes Super Satellite cabinet soon (model FR-7220, master unit). I looked at photos of another master unit online and it seems to have a 5-pin cinch connector for the input, rather than a 1/4" jack. And there's also a preamp pictured – I'm only getting the cabinet itself, and I'm not sure how the preamp fits into the setup.

Here's a photo of the control panel on the master unit, and an illustration showing the preamp:




My band has a Rhodes 73 (1/4" output) and two Wurlitzer 200s, so none of our instruments use the multi-pin connector, and I don't think we'd be able to use the cabinet. But we'd really like to try it out. Some questions:

1) Is the multi-pin cinch connector used for Suitcase pianos? Just curious.

2) I found this post (http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=495.0) that mentions making a custom cable. How would I do that?

3) With a custom cable, could we plug into the cabinet and get sound, or is the preamp required? The panel says "Preamp Outputs" so I'm thinking only the slave unit might need the external preamp. Could be that the slave unit was sold at lower cost, minus electronics that the master unit might have to work on its own.

#9
I sent you a PM a few hours ago, check it out.
#10
I could tell a difference between the 200 and the 200A. Based on comments above, there is also a difference between different versions of the 200, but the two 200s that I've compared are closer to one another, whereas the 200A sounded quite different from either of the 200s. Sure, they both sound like a Wurlitzer EP, but there is a noticeable difference. More dirt from the 200, more softness from the 200A.

Also, when I first contacted Vintage Vibe, they mentioned in their response that they were glad I could tell a difference, and that they also prefer the sound of the 200. They have probably heard more Wurlitzers than anybody.

If you get a new 200A amp from Vintage Vibe your piano will still sound like a 200A. The amp itself is different from the 200's amp (and as someone pointed out here there are different versions of the 200 amp as well). Supposedly the 200A amp design was supposed to smooth out the somewhat aggressive tone of the 200, and in my opinion, that's exactly what it did. If you want that more aggressive tone, the good news is that the 200 still seems to be less expensive than the 200A, for some reason.

Oh, one more thing – I don't think you can just get a 200 amp and drop it into your 200A (if that's what you were thinking). it might be possible but you'll probably need to make some modifications besides just dropping in a new amp board. The 200 has an RCA-style connector attached to the tone bar, the 200A has a small circuit board that is mounted on top of the tone bar... there may be other differences, but I no longer have the 200A to compare.

#11
Amp variations! I will look for more info on that. I think we need to visually inspect the amps and see if they match. That's the most likely source of such a noticeable difference. I'll check for a trimpot on the PCBs as well.
#12
I have an old Wurlitzer power cord that I'll give away to whoever wants it. I had my 200 modified to use an IEC socket so I don't need the old cord anymore. It's about 8' long, and it works fine.

$10 for shipping via PayPal and it's yours, just send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you a Paypal invoice.



#13
The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Wurlitzer 200 ads?
November 30, 2011, 04:18:45 PM
Did you ever scan the ad? I'd be interested in checking it out.
#14
Hello all... I'm about to start recording an album with the Wurlitzer 200 as the primary instrument.

I had a 200A, but it sounded soft compared to my bandmate's 200. So I sold it and got a 200 of my own. The 200 sounded better to me, but it had a pronounced hum and some of the keys needed work, so I just got it restored (at great expense) by Vintage Vibe.

But my 200 still lacks the clarity and grit of my bandmate's 200. We've played both pianos through the same amp, and the difference is clear. His piano is not only louder (at the same volume settings, through the internal speakers only), but also more aggressive sounding.

Are there some internal adjustments I could make to increase the gain of my 200 and get a similar sound? Our studios are about an hour apart and since it will take some time to record the album, we don't want to be moving pianos back and forth. I'd rather adjust mine to sound more like his.

Could be electronic adjustments, could be mechanical adjustments... no idea where to begin.
#15
The only person I know who owned a Prophet 08 promptly returned it and saved up for a Prophet-5. No regrets there. I know someone with a Mopho and it sounds good but the interface seems impenetrable. To my ears the Prophet 08 demos seem quite dry and clean, too clinical and accurate, but I have not tried one out in person. For the money I would prefer something older and still affordable, like a Jupiter-6.