SuperBass:the missing link or a Frankenstein?

Orange Amps Technical Q&A's

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Le Basseur
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Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:00 am
Location: Croatia

Post by Le Basseur » Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:48 am

Hello all,
First post here (though I was lurking this forum for some time:) )
A while ago I got on repair an unusual Orange head,the SuperBass.
Facts:
1.The amp(as it came) beared clear signs of unaware modifications (for the n-th time,amateur hands) and unusable judging by the wrong wirings/wrong replacements/worn components.For these reasons,I didn't have the courage to "see how it works" but I proceeded immediately to a total re-capping job and overall cleaning.As you can see from the pictures,the ressurection is in progress (but not finished yet).
2.I'm confused about this amp's original config.
The "SuperBass" schematic doesn't show anywhere on the Net...accordingly,so far,I'm only speculating/guessing what's it all about.
The chassis says "SuperBass" on the front panel.It has two inputs (Normal-Deep) and the controls are Vol.-Bass-Mid-Treble-Presence-Contour (?!?).Also,it has both switches:Mains and Standby.
The back panel states "Model OR",serial No.12270 and nothing more.
I looked for some mfg.codes on trannies' bells but I didn't see nothing there.However,the two original bigger chassis-mounted HV electrolytics are Plessey from 1974 (I mentioned this in case if it might mean something).
The underside of the PCB says "Orange Graphic MKIII"....what the heck's going on?
Because of the front panel controls' config,I assumed that,despite of the "OR" imprinted on the chassis' back,the schemo is a later AD with FMV tonestack.Nothing wrong with that but I'll have to dig up the preamp's scheme just to be sure wether is a real FMV or a weird Baxandall,as marked on the PCB.
3.What puzzles me the most is the "contour" control.The worst of all is that on the 5-position switch,prior modifications made it unidentifiable.Before cleaning the switch completely,I carefully inspected the "made-up" line of small caps and resistors (sorry for not having a picture of it...you might laugh all day) and I concluded that there's no way that THAT components'arrangement would EVER work (this was one of the primary main reasons for not lit it up and clean it to the bone).
Back to the "contour" control itself:as I said,it has 5 positions instead of the classic "F.A.C".The positions are,from the left to the right:
Lo2 - Lo1 - Direct - Hi1 - Hi2
Does anyone know what are the original components and their values for this arrangement? (for some reason,I doubt that it has the classic small caps' sequence as found in a "F.A.C.").
Here are the pics:
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Any help greatly appreciated!
Regards,
Le Basseur
"I can't give you any brains,but I can give you a DIPLOMA!"
(Wizard of Oz talking to the Tin Man)

Le Basseur
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:00 am
Location: Croatia

Post by Le Basseur » Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:19 am

"I can't give you any brains,but I can give you a DIPLOMA!"
(Wizard of Oz talking to the Tin Man)

DAVESOUNDS
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Joined: Sat May 17, 2003 10:09 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by DAVESOUNDS » Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:18 pm

Ive owned 1 and seen 4 Superbass amps
Image
all i can say is good luck as they arent common
Mine was built (very well!) by MatamP ans sounded great
Image
only pic of the internals is too small to help but ill see
if i have the original pic
Image
its the right amp

Cheers

DAVESOUNDS UK

DAVESOUNDS
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Posts: 186
Joined: Sat May 17, 2003 10:09 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by DAVESOUNDS » Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:19 pm

Sorry i forgot i believe yours was made mid 80s
before Orange went out of Business

Dave

Le Basseur
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Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:00 am
Location: Croatia

Post by Le Basseur » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:45 pm

Hey Dave,
Thanks for the reply!:)
Yes,the amp from your pic is certainly newer than the one I have on the bench (and much,much cleaner,for that instance...:evil:)
Please try finding the hi-res pic of the open chassis'...indeed,the one you posted is too small.
Do you think it might make sense to write an e-mail to Matamp and NICELY ask them for a schemo?;)
(BTW,your Matamp group @ MSN isn't available...what happened?)
Regards,
"I can't give you any brains,but I can give you a DIPLOMA!"
(Wizard of Oz talking to the Tin Man)

jontheid
Orange Expert
Posts: 821
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2008 1:05 pm
Location: London, UK

Post by jontheid » Sat Nov 08, 2008 4:32 pm

Hi there . . .
I have a 1979 Super Bass head with working contour switch,
I'll try to get the values off it for you.
The rest of the schematic is pretty much like earlier graphics - 74 I suppose. The one thing that seemed to be different on mine is the phase inverter plate resistor was way high and the negative feedback resistor was too high also (47k).

It seems this amp is really pretty rare as they were made in original form for 1 year only - 1979.

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