PA systems

[fenderfloyd]

Turbo, you suggest getting PA systems. What should we be looking for and what price range should we expect for different things (want some idea what i should look for.

[Turbo7MN]

Not really PA systems, just a PA power head

I really, really like Bogen amps. They're simple, cheap, and most of the time you can find a schematic. Honestly, just look for anything with tubes. Hi-fi amps (commonly called "integrated" amps) don't usually make good guitar amps and are usually too expensive anyway, so really you'll just be looking for a mono (one channel, not stereo) amp with as few features as possible. Stromberg-Carlson is another decent brand.

Quick rundown of the Bogen amps I'm familiar with:

CHA series: Anywhere from 10-75 watts, tube rectified. These use common tubes like the 12AX7 and 6L6 and are probably the best to go for since they need little modification and use common tubes. Unfortunately, these go for a bit more. I'd expect to pay maybe $50-$75 for a low wattage, and up to $200 for a good CHA-75. The K series is similar. These will be more expensive in the long run no matter what due to the tube rectifier. Another fun fact: Bogen shows the wattage in their model number for almost every amp. Very helpful.

CHB series: SS rectified (usually) and 10-100 watts. This is whan Bogen used the "improved tubes" like my favorite preamp tube the 6EU7 and the Bogen favorite 7868. They're great tubes in great amps but with the silicon rectifiers in the power supply you lose a bit of the "sag" associated with a tube amp. This can be taken care of with some resistors though. Don't worry, there's no silicon in the signal path . I paid $50 shipped for my 10 watt CHB, and I'd pay up to $150 for a decent condition 100 watter. The MU series is similar.

M/MX Series: Mixer amps, 30 or 60 watts usually. Very fun and versatile. Rig up something with three channels, or cascade all the preamp stages for a nice high-gain amp. The M60A and MX-60A use 8417s. It's one of the best sounding tubes I've ever heard, but they went out of production completely in 1988 so I can't reccomend an amp that uses them. The price varies a lot on these. Don't get them confused with the MO series, which usually has no preamp.

Older amps: I know practically nothing about their amps from the early 50s and before. Most are low wattage. They go for a lot more than the others.

Other amps that don't fit into these categories are certainly out there, but a vast majority of the useful Bogens (the DB series are HiFi amps) fit into these categories. Just keep your eye out and run it by me if you aren't sure. The CHS and other solid state amps are useless for our purposes, it must have tubes! I also won't buy an amp that already has been modified, or has 1/4" jacks already in it. I don't like having to figure out what someone did to an amp and then try to get it back to normal so I have a clean slate. I don't reccomend buying preconverted amps, and if you see one that already has 1/4" (guitar) jacks I'd avoid it.

eBay links to get you started:
electronics.search.ebay.com/bogen_Vintage-Electronics_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ14998
instruments.search.ebay.com/bogen_Guitar_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ3858

Anything else?

-Darren

[fenderfloyd]

Na that helps a lot. I don't know when I will get started(probably next spring/summer), I just want to learn and look around before I start.