Guest Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 I am curious about the quality of 1963 Epiphone Pacemaker amp.... anyone got any information. What would be a going rate for such an amp? Does not have a reverb just a tremelo.... they get really good reviews on harmony central http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/Epiphone/Pacemaker/10/1 any owners on this forum...... If you had the chance to do a straight swap a 1963 (Kalamazoo) Epiphone Pacemaker for a Peavey Valveking 112 would you go for it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Kind of a one trick pony like the Champ I praise so much. Don't like the PM near as much as the Champ. In your case I'd keep the VK, it can pull off quite a few tones quite well, where like I said, one trick. Now if you can pick it up cheap to add to the collection, then go for it! As long as it's in good shape, something that old could need caps, tubes, a re-coning or new speaker, leads dressed, new sockets... Go over it well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 14, 2010 Author Share Posted March 14, 2010 Hi ST I am pretty much a one horse pony myself old school blues, soul and a little funk are my only aspirations, they are what I love... I like the sound of this and would give my VK away today for this kind of sound... [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKb-lZJVXzg[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At7GRli5tmE[/YOUTUBE] here is the actual amp I have my eye on, it was bought from a respected vintage amp dealer in Sweden and is reported to be all stock and in very good condition....around 12 watts with a ten inch Jensen speaker I think the tones in the videos cover most of the type of music I want to play.......It might be limited but what I want to play seems to fall in there.....it does not have a reverb but maybe I can sort that some other way....this would be a straight swap....even a 70's Fender Champ would cost me a lot more over here.... I go to try it out on Wednesday and I thinking if I sell the VK get the Pacemaker and if I could pickup a cheap Tech 21 Trademark 10 or 30 in the future I think those two amps will cover all bases for me. Both are also pretty portable...the Peavey is so heavy. Also you know my dream guitar is a Kalamazoo 1963 Epiphone Zephyr the thought of having a 1963 Kalamazoo Epiphone Pacemaker really appeals to me. I think it is going to happen.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carverman Posted March 16, 2010 Share Posted March 16, 2010 I am curious about the quality of 1963 Epiphone Pacemaker amp.... anyone got any information. What would be a going rate for such an amp? Does not have a reverb just a tremelo.... they get really good reviews on harmony central http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/Epiphone/Pacemaker/10/1 any owners on this forum...... If you had the chance to do a straight swap a 1963 (Kalamazoo) Epiphone Pacemaker for a Peavey Valveking 112 would you go for it.... Well it was a Gibson Kalamazoo product in the 60s. Came out of Gibson's amp/electronics dept (Walter Fuller/Seth Lover..inventor of the Gibson PAF humbucker),before it folded because of declining sales in 67. We had a few of the smaller Epi amps in the late 60s. I used a Epi Zephyr AMP and I thought it was great with my Epi Triumph because this one did have a spring reverb and I found the tremelo next to useless, except as a novelty on playing some chords. http://www.harpamps.com/gibson/pg_0359.jpg Of course a lot of bands would not use Gibson/Epiphone amps because Fender/Vox was the way to go back then..but they were great little amps for the money. Ted McCarty mentioned that Gibson amps were designed to be "mellow" while the Fenders were "loud, harsh and raucous". I have the Valveking 112 and personally, it is a very nice sounding amp for the money plus you have the texture control to give you about 20 watts of simulated class A out of the 50watt 6L6 push pull. I don't think that the two can be compared..one is a modern design and with reverb spring as well as efx loop in/out and foot switch lead/boost channel. The Pacemaker was the entry line amp with tremelo, which was pretty much standard back in those days as reverb was only offered on more expensive amps. The power tubes (6Aq5) used were not the more common 6L6, so they may be harder to find and more expensive to get. Also may be true for the tremelo circuit and the 6eu7/6c4 driver. The champ OTOH incorporated the standard 6v6. As a second vintage sound amp, it comes close to the Fender Tweed Champ, which a lot of jazz musicians used, but the Champ still had a better sound for the ES-175. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 17, 2010 Author Share Posted March 17, 2010 Thanks Carverman Once again I find your depth of experience extremely enlightening and helpful. I pick the Pacemaker up on Saturday morning if all goes well when I test it out. I like my Peavey but I never venture out of clean and rarely use the reverb I stay with it on the A setting. I am not swapping my Peavey for the Pacemaker in a literal sense. Both amps will be here next week. This will be the first time I can really check out two amps back to back. The Pacemaker will cost what I paid for my Peavey second hand and can get selling it on. In that sense it will be a straight swap. I struggle to move the Peavey even across the room. Seeing I only use the Peavey in A I think I would have been better with a Peavey Valve King Royal 8. The Pacemaker is half the weight and I have a feeling it is going to give me what I want. The reviews at Harmony Central were very encouraging. I am really looking forward to getting the amp. Looking forward to next week and getting to know the Pacemaker, I have a good feeling. Will post on how it is going thanks for all your help. Musikron and Carverman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted March 17, 2010 Share Posted March 17, 2010 Looking forward to it, but caver does bring up a good point, tubes. I have an old Ampeg VT-40 that takes a couple pretty pricey and hard to find tubes, last time I retubed it I spent about $300 on tubes. Just something to consider. But it sounds like you are getting it for a good deal, do some searches and try to find a complement of tubes for it and see what that runs you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 18, 2010 Author Share Posted March 18, 2010 Carverman - Musikron would these do the trick http://www.tubedepot.com/6aq5.html If so then transport is my big problem....Russia is "close" to me and there are overnight ferries from Stockholm to St Petersburg....maybe the Russian mafia can source some for me......:) If I can source them I will need some tips on getting the longest life out of them, Swedes love their guitars and it is especially cool to have vintage gear, I am sure I will be able to source here......... just price. Is it a tube that was only used on amps...... did it have any other applications......... The guy says the amp is playing sweet now.......will do some research today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ssikon Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 I have a 62 pacemaker and it is my favorite amp! If it were louder I would never play any other amp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albidextrous Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 Just purchased a pacemaker amp - i like it too! Guessing it is from 1963? I pulled up the schematics yet am unable to figure out what the ohms are on the output transformer. Any idea? Would like to do a speaker swap without doing damage. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diskotekno Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 Is it the model with tremolo? http://schems.com/bmampscom/gibson/ea_50t-pacemaker-trem.pdf This schematic says 8ohms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albidextrous Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 Nope. But I can only assume they are the same. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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