Taking on some of the Evans/Shobud amps now.
Posted: 6 Apr 2009 12:35 pm
Well, after much thought and several conversations with Jim Evans I have decided to take on some of the old Evans and Shobud amps. This will be a new adventure and will require a bit of a learning curve on my part for sure. Jim has given me permission to post the following from our email correspondence:
In follow-up of discussing whether you are interested in taking on repair of the older Evans amps that I built between 1962 and the mid 80's, I will be more than happy to e-mail you all the schematics, in the event you are interested in having tentative customers referred to you. When Buffingtons bought the company from Derrell and myself, they originally contemplated maintenance of the former designs, as well as the ones they were building.
But before long it became evident that they would have their hands full just taking care of the equipment they built. So the natural thing was to refer the former customers back to Derrell Stevens and myself.
When I briefly talked to Derrell Sunday, at the Sheraton on our way out, he mentioned that he was now ready to service any of the "FET-500 LV" models (The ones he built, after he took the business over from me in the mid 80's.) But I hesitate to load his shoulders with the models I built prioir to his involvement. This would basically include three designs, namely one all-tube amp, one hybrid amp, and one solid state amp with high-voltage JFET;s substituted for tubes, (with former tube-circuitry still in place but moved to circuit-board layout). The three amp-models this would embrace are:
(a) The Compactra-100 tube amp: I only built several of these with the Evans-name before starting with Sho-Bud in late 1965. From there, it took on the Sho-Bud-name and served as their traditional amp until around 1969.
(b) The Hybrid-300. This remained the same tube-pre-amp, but the tube-power-amp was replaced by the old classic "RCA 70-watt transistor amp" (from the RCA manuals). Kenneth Cain use this same circuit in the "CAIN" amplifier, which became the next "Sho-Bud" amp after my contract expired.
I originally intended the Hybrid-300 as a "Sho-Bud" upgrade. But, by this time, Baldwin was taking over Sho-Bud, and did not want them to take it on as a disributor. Still, so many Nashville musicians started asking for it, I unexpectedly found "Evans Amplifier Company" back in business.
(c)The FET-500: (first upgrade from the Hybrid-300) It had a huskier power amp, plus the preamp employed JFET's (300-Volt 2N6449's) to replace the 7025 tubes.
If you are interested in adding this to your line of repair work, I will be more than glad to send documentation, and pass referrals on to you. I have several hundred amps out there somewhere, and periodically get requests from owners who still like them. They want to know where they can get repairs, or sometimes just a 600,000-mile-checkup on these dinosaurs. Normally, I ask them to find some repair shop they trust, whereby they have the shop contact me by e-mail, for the schematic. I occasionally talk them through a repair by phone, if need be. I would really prefer to have someone like yourself to cite as a referral, where they could actually send you the chassis for repair or tune-up. I can't think of a more appropriate individual, since you are both known and respected in the steel guitar world.
I am not on the "steel guitar forum, but I read it as time and occasions permit. I would enjoy seeing you post a notice in the "Electronics" section, that you are becoming a repairs station for the old Sho-Bud Compactra-100's plus the Evans Hybrid-300's, and the original FET-500's. Feel free to mention that you and I are now electronic-associates, and that I recommended, and will fully support this move. This might even make some interesting steel guitar gossip for the forum. A lot of forum readers likely know about the old Evans/Sho-Bud amps of the 60's, but may have thought their builder probably died many years ago. Also, many know my original partner (now deceased) was steel guitarist Jerry Fox. (We even once discussed calling it the "Evans/Fox Amp") Who could guess what "speculation" his name matching yours might stir up in the imagination of some?
In follow-up of discussing whether you are interested in taking on repair of the older Evans amps that I built between 1962 and the mid 80's, I will be more than happy to e-mail you all the schematics, in the event you are interested in having tentative customers referred to you. When Buffingtons bought the company from Derrell and myself, they originally contemplated maintenance of the former designs, as well as the ones they were building.
But before long it became evident that they would have their hands full just taking care of the equipment they built. So the natural thing was to refer the former customers back to Derrell Stevens and myself.
When I briefly talked to Derrell Sunday, at the Sheraton on our way out, he mentioned that he was now ready to service any of the "FET-500 LV" models (The ones he built, after he took the business over from me in the mid 80's.) But I hesitate to load his shoulders with the models I built prioir to his involvement. This would basically include three designs, namely one all-tube amp, one hybrid amp, and one solid state amp with high-voltage JFET;s substituted for tubes, (with former tube-circuitry still in place but moved to circuit-board layout). The three amp-models this would embrace are:
(a) The Compactra-100 tube amp: I only built several of these with the Evans-name before starting with Sho-Bud in late 1965. From there, it took on the Sho-Bud-name and served as their traditional amp until around 1969.
(b) The Hybrid-300. This remained the same tube-pre-amp, but the tube-power-amp was replaced by the old classic "RCA 70-watt transistor amp" (from the RCA manuals). Kenneth Cain use this same circuit in the "CAIN" amplifier, which became the next "Sho-Bud" amp after my contract expired.
I originally intended the Hybrid-300 as a "Sho-Bud" upgrade. But, by this time, Baldwin was taking over Sho-Bud, and did not want them to take it on as a disributor. Still, so many Nashville musicians started asking for it, I unexpectedly found "Evans Amplifier Company" back in business.
(c)The FET-500: (first upgrade from the Hybrid-300) It had a huskier power amp, plus the preamp employed JFET's (300-Volt 2N6449's) to replace the 7025 tubes.
If you are interested in adding this to your line of repair work, I will be more than glad to send documentation, and pass referrals on to you. I have several hundred amps out there somewhere, and periodically get requests from owners who still like them. They want to know where they can get repairs, or sometimes just a 600,000-mile-checkup on these dinosaurs. Normally, I ask them to find some repair shop they trust, whereby they have the shop contact me by e-mail, for the schematic. I occasionally talk them through a repair by phone, if need be. I would really prefer to have someone like yourself to cite as a referral, where they could actually send you the chassis for repair or tune-up. I can't think of a more appropriate individual, since you are both known and respected in the steel guitar world.
I am not on the "steel guitar forum, but I read it as time and occasions permit. I would enjoy seeing you post a notice in the "Electronics" section, that you are becoming a repairs station for the old Sho-Bud Compactra-100's plus the Evans Hybrid-300's, and the original FET-500's. Feel free to mention that you and I are now electronic-associates, and that I recommended, and will fully support this move. This might even make some interesting steel guitar gossip for the forum. A lot of forum readers likely know about the old Evans/Sho-Bud amps of the 60's, but may have thought their builder probably died many years ago. Also, many know my original partner (now deceased) was steel guitarist Jerry Fox. (We even once discussed calling it the "Evans/Fox Amp") Who could guess what "speculation" his name matching yours might stir up in the imagination of some?