Fenton-Weill Black Star

Tokai Forum

Help Support Tokai Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mirrorboy

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Messages
491
Reaction score
0
Location
U.K.
Hi everyone
This is a long shot but here goes:
I have this 1960/61 Fenton-Weill Black Star 15-watt valve combo that died on me. After rescuing it and taking it home, I plugged it in and it sounded wonderfully sweet for about 5 minutes then smoke from the reverb circuit capacitor :( . After inspecting the chassis, I have realised that these amps were built by hand without tagstrips and consequently the wiring resembles a rat's nest. I am familiar with valve amp circuits, but the restoration could be speeded up if I could get hold of a circuit diagram for it.
I know that Fenton-Weill used to make amps for the Selmer company but after looking at loads of Selmer and Vox circuit diagrams I've come to the conclusion that this a "one-off" type of amp and it's also a bit more complex than most amps. It has vibrato (labelled echo on the control plate) and spring reverb.
I'd really like to restore this amp myself but if I could pay somebody to do this, without writing a blank cheque, then I would consider that also.
Any suggestions welcome.
 
Thanks LB, the amp is dead. The rectifier died and the output tranny is open circuit now. I'll ask the missus (librarian) to find that book and I'll contact Ampage to see if they can help. The weird thing about this amp is that it has 3 EL84's, one is in the reverb driver circuit next to a big choke with an electrolytic cap across it.
 
That's really great news Barry. :D Because I don't have pdf reader at home I've been missing out on some of the schematic info on the web. I have it at work though, so I'll look it up tomorrow.
The amp was on it's last legs when I got it, but just seeing a schematic of a similar circuit will help a lot to steer me through this challenge.
The amp needs a speaker as it came with an Elac 10ns needing a recone (usually fitted in Vox AC15 and WEM). The original speaker should be a 12" Goodmans Audiom so I intend to fit a Celestion Alnico Blue. Now seeing that this costs the best part of ?200 ,the cabinet needs recovering and the cost of the parts, then the additional cost of professional labour would put my total spend up to where I could buy a very tasty amp off the rack.
So... I'm going to persevere as much as I can before contemplating a search for an amp tech. I don't know any with good rep around my part of the UK.
 
Contact Denis Cornell who may be able to offer some advice.

http://www.dc-developments.com/index.htm

Denis has been working with amps for many years. He may even have a circuit diagram.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top