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Wurlitzer replacement amplifiers

Started by cinnanon, March 16, 2016, 11:43:29 AM

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cinnanon

Need some action up in here.

Anyone know of any other wurlitzer amps out there besides the following? I'm curious...

VintageVibe's solidstate and also varivibe tube replacement
Retrolinear Warneck Research EP200A
Speakeasy's tube amp (out of production? can you still buy them? I serviced a keyboard with one and it sounded great!)
The Singer (available only in Europe? for ~1000 euros)
CEPco (proprietary tube amp?)
Free Wurli  http://www.kerschhofer.net/wurlitzer-replacement-amp/   This one intrigues me.
WurlitzerStar's 200B replicate on eBay (sounds very cool too)


Alan Lenhoff

#1
Speakeasy went out of business several years ago, following the death of its owner, Steve Hayes.  The family, however, did leave a website up with schematics and manuals for his  products, so you might be able to build your own.  http://www.speakeasyvintagemusic.com/

(Edit:  The website has been taken down.)

Alan
Co-author, "Classic Keys: Keyboard Sounds That Launched Rock Music"

Learn about the book: http://www.classickeysbook.com/
Find it on Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1574417762/

1965 UK Vox Continental;1967 Gibson G101 organ; 1954 Hammond B2; Leslie 21H; Leslie 31H; 1974 Rhodes Mark I Stage 73; 1972 Rhodes Sparkletop Piano Bass; 1978 Hohner Clavinet D6; 1968 Hohner Pianet N II; 1966 Wurlitzer 140B; 1980 Moog Minimoog Model D; 1983 Roland JX-3P; 1977 Fender Twin Reverb; 1983 Roland JX-3P synth; Vox AC30CC2X amp.
(See the collection: https://vintagerockkeyboards.com/ )

pablotiburcio

Another one:  Borishelectronics Amp  - http://www.borishelectronics.com/wurlitzer-electric-piano-200-series-retrofit-kit/

I need to replace my amp that is damaged (200a) and I do not know which model to choose. Could anybody help me?
I would love to find an audio comparing each of the amps. Has anyone found it yet?

Currently, only models Borishelectronics and Warneck are available.

Thank you!

VintageVibe

Vintage Vibe offers replacements for both the model 200 and model 200A amplifiers.  And we have a new amplifier on the way as well!
Vintage Vibe Electric Piano Company
Rockaway, New Jersey, USA

Est 1997

http://www.vintagevibe.com
(973) 989-2178
orders@vintagevibe.com

https://www.facebook.com/vintagevibeepc
https://www.instagram.com/vintagevibe/
https://twitter.com/VintageVibeEPC

cinnanon


Tim Hodges

At some point I'll get round to doing a comparison between the Warneck / Vintage Vibe's & Borish Electronics. Would be interesting to see the differences and see what people think.

Bristol Electric Piano
UK

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GaryRhodes

As someone who has in the last few weeks upgraded to a Warneck in my 200, I have to say it sounds like a pillow has been removed from the speakers. Mines an early 200 with an early if not earliest amp. It was hissy past 65% despite replacing a few components. My friends 200A had clarity and quiet all day, but his was probably 10 years after mine.

I did need to upgrade the shielding of AC cables as directed by Tim Warneck, I believe up to the later 200A standards. I'm really pleased with the tone.

Tonewheel

This is all very useful. Thanks for posting.
1955 B3, Leslie 21H and 147. Hammond 100 with weird Leslie 205. 1976 Rhodes. Wurlitzer 200A. Yamaha DX7/TX7. Korg M1. Yamaha C3 grand, 67 Tele blond neck, Les Paul Standard, PRS 24, Gibson classical electric, Breedlove acoustic electric, Strat, P Bass, Rogers drum kit, Roland TD 12 digital drums, Apollo quad, older blackfaced Fender Twin, other amps, mics and bits and pieces cluttering up the "studio."

pablotiburcio

Quote from: Tim Hodges on June 08, 2018, 06:16:36 AM
At some point I'll get round to doing a comparison between the Warneck / Vintage Vibe's & Borish Electronics. Would be interesting to see the differences and see what people think.


Would be wonderful

I ended up buying the borish for being cheaper (already comes with tremolo). In addition, the VV was without the amp in stock.

sunworship

Quote from: pablotiburcio on June 11, 2018, 09:14:52 AM
Quote from: Tim Hodges on June 08, 2018, 06:16:36 AM
At some point I'll get round to doing a comparison between the Warneck / Vintage Vibe's & Borish Electronics. Would be interesting to see the differences and see what people think.


Would be wonderful

I ended up buying the borish for being cheaper (already comes with tremolo). In addition, the VV was without the amp in stock.

How did you guys get on with the Borish?  I'm looking for a new amp and deciding between Borish and Retrolinear - Borish being more affordable.

DoctorTeeth

I will weigh in on this on the retrolinear side. I put a ep200 in my 200 and just installed (two days ago) the vari vibe add on, and while i was at it i also installed their new transformer ac line shielding tube. You need a drill press to do it cleanly, but man is it clean. Mike at retro linear even spent quite a while on the phone with me talking about his preferred methods of install/cleaning up the wiring on the amp rail. Told me how to add an led and remove the neon (which i already had the parts to do in my spares bins (resistor, led, led bezel, wire and heat shrink)...and in this process i also drilled out a 1/2 inch hole in the upright rail that holds the pots to mount a chassis mount fuse holder...not only are their products top notch, and their customer service is on point, but this wurli is dead quiet at rest. 

The band I tech for carries a 200a that had been upgraded with the warneck amp/vari vibe and its been solid and totally reliable for the 4+ years  we have been shleppin it around North America and Canada. From what I understand the retrolinear amps are an actual redesign rather than a "lets try and make the old amp but new", and its night and day if you are replacing the stock wurli amp... plus the ep200 kit comes with the reed shields too, and their version is very easy to install and requires no modifications to fit...their knobs are also much better looking too than the vvibe ones (ive got 2vv knobs on mine currently and one retrolinear/warneck...had i known that they looked so different i would have ordered two more knobs with my varivibe/shielding purchase...but since they spent so long on the phone with me chattin about clean wurli upgrades i didn't hesitate to drop the extra cash on the separate order of those knobs to make it all match...when/if i rebuild another wurlitzer i wouldn't hesitate to go warneck again.


Alan Lenhoff

You take Tim Warneck's two electrical engineering degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, his great ears, and his determination to pursue perfection on behalf of his customers, and the results are as spectacular as you'd think.  Great staff, too. (I'm talking about you Mike Norton and Amanda Fitser, and probably others I don't know.)  Nice to see them getting some well-deserved praise here.

Alan
Co-author, "Classic Keys: Keyboard Sounds That Launched Rock Music"

Learn about the book: http://www.classickeysbook.com/
Find it on Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1574417762/

1965 UK Vox Continental;1967 Gibson G101 organ; 1954 Hammond B2; Leslie 21H; Leslie 31H; 1974 Rhodes Mark I Stage 73; 1972 Rhodes Sparkletop Piano Bass; 1978 Hohner Clavinet D6; 1968 Hohner Pianet N II; 1966 Wurlitzer 140B; 1980 Moog Minimoog Model D; 1983 Roland JX-3P; 1977 Fender Twin Reverb; 1983 Roland JX-3P synth; Vox AC30CC2X amp.
(See the collection: https://vintagerockkeyboards.com/ )

retro-mike

Thanks for all the kind words Alan and Doc