here's the half-time act while you're waiting. the Fonz is gonna jump his '64 Bonneville over a mile of cheerleaders laying end to end. Gasp! Keep the kids away from the set cuz Evil Kneevil taught Fonz everything he knows. 

What the Bandy?!!!  Oh, it's just Nadja, the new secretary over at Bandy's U-Pull'm parts yard in Wahoo, Nebraska.  She loves to commune with nature on her breaks, and, because she inspires the yard guys SO much, Bandy has ruled she will take breaks every half hour, no exceptions!!  And yes, vatos, business is very good down at the U-Pull'm yard.

Output Transformers, They put the Mo in Mojo         To begin to understand the subjective and elusive world of Output Transformers (hereafter called the Tranny) we must delve into the pile of parts with reverence.  Why is that Bandito? you probably are asking.  Well, my fellow tubists, the tranny is kind of like that special time of the month; no, not the bad one, the elusive good time of the month when your wife actually wants to get frisky.  Yes, I know, most of you follow the Billy Clinton model of home happiness and have interns frolicking about your homes and offices for this type of behavior.  But, to try and make my original point which often times gets lost, the tranny is not well understood by most tube junkies and not even in the vocabulary of most guitar players.  So, we will start with a mechanical type of description of the little beast and then move on to who makes the "keepers" in today's parts market.

Output trannys are made with two coils of wire wound around a metal core material.  One of the coils is connected to the power tube(s) and the power supply, and the other coil is connected to the speaker(s).

Neither coil of wire is connected physically to the other coil.  But the magnetic field that is created on the power tube side is expanding and collapsing from the output of the tubes, and this induces an electrical current on the speaker coil side.  So, in short, the output tranny converts the power tube mojo, into the speaker juju, and wala, we have tubus tonus maximus at our beckoned call.  Now that is a simple idea huh?  Sorta I guess but the actual transformation is kinda mysterious and wonderful to behold. 

The output tranny is used for two different functions in the tube amp.  1. It matches the impedence (think ohms) of the output tubes to the impedence of the speaker(s).  2. It blocks DC voltages from coming out of the power tubes and running into the speakers.  This is where the real output tranny juju (spirituality) really takes hold.  Power tubes in your amplifier operate at very high impedences, and speakers operate at low impedences.  The power tubes need high DC voltages to operate on the plates but the speakers do not operate on DC voltage, they only run on AC voltage.  And, here is where the Genie does his or her magic.  Because neither coil of wire is actually touching or connected, the DC voltage on the power tube side does not filter through to the AC voltage required on the speaker side.  Ingenius right?!  See what I mean about a spiritual effect?

Let's just stop here for a brief moment.  Take a breath and let's see what we have here.  A major component in the sweet tubadacious tone of your tube amp (trannys are always given high value by the custom amp builders who contribute to Banditoamps via the "Tube Amp Heroes" page) and yet, not easily understood why amp builders go to such lengths to get the "TONE?"  Well, if we look back through the history of guitar amps, we see that there was a sect of amp builders that did not go to such lengths for the mojo tone.  Did you guess where I'm going with this amateurish dribble?  Some of you say, "uh huh." 

What do you suppose was a driving factor in the rise of the "solid state" amp?  Could it be that amp makers thought that they could control all of these interdependent factors with printed circuits, transistors, robotic assembly lines and Silicone Valley whiz kids with MIT creds?  Well, hell yes Bandito!  The solid state amplifier was designed to take all the guess work, painstaking manufacturing procedures that cost MONEY, and turn the whole process over to corporate suits who could market the product with improved profits.  It's a deliciously, maniacal idea that nearly collapsed the entire industry because the "Turds at Furd had a better idea!"  Well, children of the Corn, we have to once again admit with our comedy movie hero, Jim Varney aka Ernest, that sometimes the "old ways are the good ways."  And, dogonit, the brother was right!

Back to the guts of the output tranny.  Let's look at how output trannies are wound.  There are two common ways to do the windings on the tranny.  The less expensive method is called "straight wound."  This has the primary voltage wire wound completely first, then the secondary voltage wire is wound over it.  The more expensive, and, in relation to tube amps, the better quality tranny with less loss (more efficient), is wound with a method called "interleaved."  The interleaved winding puts a few primary winds, then a few secondary, then back to the primary winds, then back to the secondary and so on. 

And the quality of the components is a major factor also.  For example, the basic modern, mass produced tube amp today, let's use a Fender Blues Deville as the culprit, uses a straight wound tranny with a plastic winding bobbin.  This very common type of tranny does not have the same quality of tone as an interleaved tranny wound on a paper bobbin.  The paper bobbin interleaved design keeps the windings closer to the metalic core and thus there is less loss as the transformer transforms.  The plasic bobbin, straight wind tranny has more interference due to thicker spacing, and thus has more loss and less of the good output juju that tube amp junkies crave. 

Ok, break it down for me Bandy.  Here you go tube amp novice.  Let's say you have a Fofo Blues Deville and you want the mojo tone.  You go to your local tube dealer and pay a hundred and fifty dollars for a new set of tubes.  The best that your money can buy.  But, after you install the heaters, the sound is still the same, at least to your ears.  What gives?  The better quality tubes are basically wasted in the amp because the output tranny has too much loss, or, not enough efficiency due to the cheaper tranny.  All the goosed up tonality in the universe cannot get through a cheaply made output tranny, and therefore, you have "loss."  A great example of this tranny importance is the recent release of Ben Fargen's (fargenamps.com) Vox AC15 Night Train amp with Ben's Hot Mods rework at his shop in California.  One of the major mods Ben does on the mass produced Vox AC15 is to throw away the stock output tranny and replace it with a custom built Mercury Magnetics tranny.  The reasoning is simple yet profound; the amp design is bitchin' and the circuits give up some very nasty tones, but the stock output tranny was not able to put the tone to the track (get the tone out of the power section to the speakers with efficiency).  I must give Ben kudos again for his Hot Mods AC15 Night Train.  The sound clips are fantastic and this little amp is 'alive' with bitchin' tone for under a thousand dollars.  Perfect!

In summary on the issue of output transformers.  They are one of the most important parts of your tube amplifier.  The tranny converts high impedence DC voltage from your output tubes into low impedence AC voltage for your speakers.  The good ones cost a significant amount and you will need to pay up to get the very best tone in whatever amp you are buying or modifying.  But, the long lasting effects of the angelic tones emitting from your tube queen will sooth your aching wallet for decades to come.  So, go get 'em banditos.  Vamanos!

Reissue Tube Amps     If you are looking at purchasing a new tube amp, you probably ought to read this informative article about the flood of Big 3 reissue amps.   
Let's start with who makes them? The king of reissues would probably be Fender with Marshall not too far behind. Epiphone has started making some "look alike" tube amps but I don't believe that any of the current models Epiphone makes is actually a reissue amp. And the early Epiphone amps were actually Gibson amps with the Epiphone logo on them anyway. Vox has a reissue version of the AC15 and the AC30 and, they make a hand-wired version of the AC30 also.

Fender probably has the best claim as to which manufacturer is really re-issuing a tube amp that they made popular in the 50's and 60's. We learned in the April issue of banditoamps.com, that the early Fender tweed circuits (ie. the Bassman, the Tweed Deluxe and the Tweed Champ) were all copied by other manufacturers in the very beginning. 

We have to wonder about the real issue here with the reissue amps; does it sound like the original amp it is copying?  In general terms, no they mostly don't sound like the originals for a simple basic reason.  No manufacturer is taking the time (equates to money don't you know) to build the reissue amps using the same point-to-point hand wired methods they used in the 50's and 60's. There are exceptions to this though, because all of the Big 3 do make a limited number of point-to-point hand wired reissue amps that are sold at a premium price (around 3 thousand dollars). Nevertheless, even the high priced hand wired models can't claim they sound like the originals. Here's why:
    None of the companies can use the original power transformers and output transformers because they are no longer available. We learned in earlier issues of banditoamps.com, that the transformers are a major factor in amplifier tonality.
    None of the companies can get the original tubes they used to buy in quantity for their amps. Another major player in the tone of a tube amp.
    The original makers of speakers are, for the most part, still in business, but their abiltiy to buy parts for speaker production has changed over the years so the speakers themselves, have a different sound. Once again, this is a major factor in the sound of a tube amp.
    The smaller parts needed to make a tube amp like resistors and capacitors have all changed since the 50's and 60's so the Big 3 cannot find or buy those parts with the same characteristics as the early ones had.
    And, finally, the production of the circuits themselves has given way to mass produced printed circuit boards which mimic the original amp's layout, but cannot copy the tube amp juju that was born when real people (think you and me) sat on the production line and soldered tube amp chasies together all day long. Some of them got dang good at it and there is a spiritual component to this part of the production.
    There are some unique differences between the way the amp cabinets are made today out of press board or ply board as compared to the early days when all the cabs were made of Pine wood.

So, to summarize the mass produced 'reissue' tube amps. They do not really represent the parts, techniques, spiritual juju and sound of the original tube amps. But, that does not mean that they do not sound "good." They have a sound that can be very inspirational for the player, and that is a major factor in choosing a tube amp. So don't write them off as not high quality enough to earn your trust or your purchase.  For the avid tube amp fan with only a small amount to invest, the major factories are still making a good introductory tube amp that can inspire you to play better and sound better.