AMI Hard Luck Amplifier

[andrewsrea]

A friend was so enamored with the AMI 'Dumb Luck ' I finished in the spring of 2024, he just ordered a head-only variant we are calling 'Hard Luck.'

It is a two channel (Big Clean and Rude Drive), switchable from 12w to 7w, with fast transients like a Dumble. Drew up the schematic, finished the parts list and did an inventory of what I need to buy.

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[tonebender]

That sounds like something I would be interested in.

[Tiga]

You are one skilled individual.

[toomanycats]

I've played that AD&D module. It's S1Tomb of Horrors. It's a killer dungeon.

What . . . wait . . . It's an amplifier too?!?! Holy sh*t!

[uwmcscott]

Subscribed! Link to Dumb Luck for good measure https://aguitarforum.net/viewtopic.php? ... uck#p48131

[tlarson58]

That sounds like the perfect amp.

[toomanycats]

That sounds like the perfect amp.

To play Devil's advocate, I would argue that an EL84 does not deliver the same oomph as an EL34. Those big glass bottles have more headroom and depth. My Marshall Studio Vintage 20 head has taught me that.

My Marshall DSL5 sounds thin when pushing a 4X12. A 12AX7 doesn't have enough . . . I don't know what to call it, torque, or balls to push a quad of 12" speakers.

For those who can follow me from the transitive leap from guitar tone to cinema . . . allow me to introduce the 1971 film Vanishing Point, which Mrs TMC and I recently watched on VHS. I'm dropping bread crumbs here. The big block, open throated sound of Kowalski's 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T is the analog of a Marshall amp of the same era.

[andrewsrea]

I would argue that an EL84 does not deliver the same oomph as an EL34. Those big glass bottles have more headroom and depth. My Marshall Studio Vintage 20 head has taught me that.

Bingo!

The schematic picture is hard to tell what my tube chart listing is, but definitively EL34's, not 84's, and a big old overbuilt EL34 transformer with lots of iron, just like the late 60's Plexi's.

I am going with Reissue Mullard EL3 for this one. I was thinking 6CA7 would also be worth a try but wanted to keep the rude channel in Marshall / Tweed territory.

[tonebender]

Over the years I always lean towards EL84 based amps, Vox AC15, Peavey C30, Delta Blues, my Gibson Goldtone, etc. However I love my Ampeg J-20 that is a 6V6 bottle amp and my Ken Luker that is also 6V6 based. Both of those amps get a little Fenderish but I do not hold that against them.

I think it is just my ear that likes what it hears from the EL84 based amps. Some of that from my band mates almost always using big bottle amps, Marshall, Fender, etc. I was always seeking a different spectrum from them and I ended up with and EL84 on my side of the stage. Then I came to get used to that sound.

[andrewsrea]

Over the years I always lean towards EL84 based amps, Vox AC15, Peavey C30, Delta Blues, my Gibson Goldtone, etc. However I love my Ampeg J-20 that is a 6V6 bottle amp and my Ken Luker that is also 6V6 based. Both of those amps get a little Fenderish but I do not hold that against them.

I think it is just my ear that likes what it hears from the EL84 based amps. Some of that from my band mates almost always using big bottle amps, Marshall, Fender, etc. I was always seeking a different spectrum from them and I ended up with and EL84 on my side of the stage. Then I came to get used to that sound.

I can appreciate both, but I get what you are saying. My main rig from 1993 to 2004 was a 15w Ward Airliner amp, rehoused with a close-backed cabinet, that I converted to a cross between a Vox AC15 and a Marshall 18w, using (2) EL84's. EL84's are more mid-focused than their bigger brothers. They and the 6V6 tend to compress faster than their bigger counterparts. That makes them easy to fit into a band mix.

This beast will be a tighter animal, with some of the compression but much faster transients.

[golem]

Is it the same person buying both?

Or someone tried the Hard Luck and decided they need to have one?

[andrewsrea]

Is it the same person buying both?

Or someone tried the Hard Luck and decided they need to have one?

Chris DiGuieseppi had to have one.