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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Scored a Kalamazo Model II today
Scored a Kalamazo Model II today
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J_Bark
17 posts
Sep 27, 2014
11:30 AM
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So I stopped into this little "hole in the wall" guitar store near my house today to look around. What did I see? A Kalamazoo Model II sitting there with no price tag. I asked the owner about it and he said "well that's in limbo because it only works part of the time."
He showed me that if you wiggle V4 and hold it just so it works and sounds pretty good, but as soon as you let go of the tube it quits. The cabinet is solid, i would give it 85% +.
He offered it to me as-is for $150, I said I would take a chance on it. Then he lowered the price to $135 when I paid since I had been in before and bought other stuff from him.
When I got home I took out the tube and cleaned the nasty pins, then I cleaned up the socket the best I could without a major tear down.
Plugged in my mic and it worked pretty good and sounds really nice. But, no tremelo, a bit of 60 hz hum which goes up with the volume, and the volume pot is scratchy. I looked in the back to find one of the caps in the tremelo circuit is physically broken open. So mystery solved there.I read online where the tremolo caps are typically shot on these so I will just change them all since they are easy to get and easy to get to.
So I plan to swap to a three wire cord with proper ground, replace the broken cap and see where that leaves me. Worst case is I have $150 into a amp with a tolerable amount of hum, which I can take to a amp tech when the opportunity comes by.
I'll take a few pics when I do the repairs, and make a recording of it for you all to check out.
any tips on sleuthing the hum appreciated. But I won't dig too deep being a novice with electronics. I am not worried about discharging and changing caps, or other obvious broken stuff, but that's about my comfort limit.
I am really excited that this thing will sound awesome when I am done.
Jerry
Last Edited by J_Bark on Sep 27, 2014 11:31 AM
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Barley Nectar
529 posts
Sep 27, 2014
6:17 PM
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If you change out all the electrolytic capacitors for new ones, the hum will most likely be gone. Truthful, I would not even play it without changing those caps. You risk blowing the power transformer. Use stock values when purchasing replacement caps to retain the Zoo tone and feel. Remember, E caps are polarized (+-) and must be put in the same way they came out. Another problem is the faceplate moves and puts strain on the first tube socket. Secure the faceplate to the cab with an additional screw by the input jack to eliminate the possibility of damaging a tube socket. Clean all pots, jacks, tube pins and sockets while your in there. Use spray cleaner for electronics only. If the amp sounds weak or distorted after all this, replace the power tubes. The preamp tubes are pretty rugged and should still be good. Greg Heuman is the Kalamazoo Guru. He may chime in or you can send him the amp and he will preform tone magic on it. Great small amp, good luck...BN
Last Edited by Barley Nectar on Sep 27, 2014 6:30 PM
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blueswannabe
508 posts
Sep 27, 2014
6:48 PM
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COngratualtions! The Kalamazoo Model 2 is a great harp amp. I bought mine for about the same price. It came from some garbage bin in Louisianna and arrived in pieces. The cabinet is particle board. A Friend built an entirely new cabinet and new tolex. The multi-cap was changed, the power cord was grounded, the pots were cleaned and the entire chasis was cleaned, a power resistor was replaced, a resistor coming off the input was broken and was replaced. The original speaker had a hole in the voice coil and was replaced with a vintage jensen, the death cap was removed (as no longer necessary with grounded power cord). The tremolo works. This amp will last another 30 years. The tubes are original and work well. The amp gets a lot of use for smaller gigs.
Last Edited by blueswannabe on Sep 27, 2014 6:54 PM
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J_Bark
18 posts
Sep 28, 2014
5:01 AM
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BN,
Thanks for the notes, I had found info on the faceplate and had turned up some info on raising the cap values to "reduce sag" and my thought was that it sounds too good to change anything about it so your comment on retaining the cap values is well received. Will do that for sure.
I do not think there are any tube issues as it plays loud and sounds really good.
Wanna, the first photo in your flick shows just what mine looks like from the back. Your after shot looks really nice, good job!
Jerry
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