Selmer Little Giant Another Refurb

[@vintageguitaramp_guitarteacher]

I love the way you discarded the 1959 news article about the moon. Made me chuckle. Those amps look really cool. It's a shame the build quality isn't as good as the looks. Much more usable now you have doctored it. Great job.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Many thanks!!

[@tagacale1733]

found my new favorite channel.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Thank you!

[@williswet]

Fantastic as always Stuart! Thanks again.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@jtbracknell]

Enjoyed the video Stuart and nice work. We appreciate you sharing your knowledge and letting us look over your shoulder.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Great thanks for the feedback!

[@michaelevans3852]

Interesting little amp there. It sure made for some nice instruction with the schematic. You really got me :)

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@stevencochrane115]

Stuart, the back is indeed a replacement. The original used to be hardboard sprayed black. However the two wings around, which you wound the mains cable inevitably snapped off with repeated used and rendered it useless. Hence the replacement/fudge.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Thanks for the info Steven/.

[@brettwalmsley3434]

A labour of love, they say... but not my sound lol! Wonderful video as always! Thx. Brett

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Thanks Brett!

[@user-s1o3nr532]

I would hazard a guess that this amplifier was retrieved from the electrical bin at a household waste recycling centre. They often cut the power leads off to discourage people from taking electrical items away with them.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Ha ha, yes you could be right! They are actually horrid little amplifiers! Nostalgia value only.

[@edwardhannigan6324]

Hey Stuart..Great video, Selmer is a bit of a buzzy bee..! Manufacture back then wasn't the best, but great little relic. Top info as usual..Take care and Happy Xmas..Ed..uk..🎄🎄

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Thanks Ed

[@tim9778]

Hi Stuart. I was asked to look at one of these a few years ago, with a louder hum than yours. I tried everything( new caps, changed valves , even powered it from a HT bench PSU, but never cured it entirely. I think the PCB had gone conductive. Anyway the owner lost interest, so I never managed to prove anything conclusively.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Hi Tim. Ok that's interesting and useful to know as it was VERY hard to get hum reduction on this.

[@SlowfingerJC]

Hi Stuart, I think electro-magnetic interference is a fascinating/frustrating part of audio amplification. The input signal to the pre-amp valve being extremely sensitive, I don't think at the time of designing this amp, that the designers were very experienced at it, which was visible due to the lack of separation between the power circuits and the amplification and the cable routing. A screening CAN on the input valve would have been a good start. 😊 Great tutorial video to highlight problems caused by bad design. It’s a shame really, because without the noise, the amp would probably sound great.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Yes agreed, thanks for your input. All the best

[@ralphj4012]

Looks like a vintage dog-bone ceramic capacitor (high values with good frequency response in 'relatively small' packages)

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Ok thanks Ralph.

[@ChrisHopkinsBass]

Methinks that Selmer modified a radio design

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

They probably didn;t even modify it - just took out the radio bit!

[@danielsaturnino5715]

I thought the red wine amp tech was Terry @ D-lab

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Yes that's Uncle Doug I think?

[@goodun2974]

@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 , nope, they're two different techs; Uncle Doug's a beer drinker.

[@danielsaturnino5715]

@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 Uncle Doug has been putting out so few videos that I dont recall him having wine on the bench. Not that it matters really :) thanks for the video!

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

@@goodun2974 Ah ok!! Wonder if I should edit that!

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

@@danielsaturnino5715 Yes I've messed up there! I meant Terry at D-labs. Prepare for incoming law suit....

[@dennismasterton3834]

Interesting that the old mains lead had the old colours, ie red, black, green. Can't remember when the modern colours came in. Pre 1970's? Knew someone who had one in 1962, cabinet covering was red and cream.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Hi Dennis Hmm its a while ago now I'd guess at least 40 years.

[@chaosin73]

Could you put guitar shielding paint in the back panel? Or any shielding paint.

[@montygore1200]

Hi Stuart. Another thumbs up. I think your guitar playing is pretty good.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Thanks Monty!

[@HarpinJScott]

The MK3 schematic shows a 4K7 cap on the input.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Ah ok. It's super un-critical. Almost anything from 10nF upwards will do here.

[@ОльгаКараулова-е9н]

Привет, а может быть для снижения фона перенести входной джек на другую сторону, дальше от силового трансформатора?

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Привет, да, вы заметите, что я сделал это в конце.

[@ОльгаКараулова-е9н]

@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 да, вход и первый каскад рекомендуют дальше располагать от блока питания. Я из России, смотрю Ваш канал, Удачи!

[@alexdeleon7135]

This Selmer was quite a poser. The input is quite unorthodox; as you observed astutely, Stuart. Not to mention the schematic is just as unorthodox as this amp. I reckon you may see an influx of these amps from this episode onward. You have quite tasty blues licks! I have a good friend in Dundee who is a blues aficionado as well. He used to perform with a blues band in various club venues. Thank you for posting another Little Giant battle. Well done, as always. Cheers!

[@5barkerstreet]

maybe a ERS meter would be useful love the show

[@MichaelSmith-rn1qw]

When you added the new filter capacitor, did you remove the bad section of the multi-section can capacitor from the circuit? I couldn't really see what you did there.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Hi Michael I think I just added another cap in parallel across it. Can;t quite recall.

[@markst676]

The old cap absolutely should be removed. I assumed you removed it after testing.

[@stewarttyler6445]

The biggest issue with these amps and hum is the power transformer is right up close to the rectifier tube. I moved one and it went silent. Not a very good amp overall though. Much better on the market back in the day for the same price. Good vid though as always.

[@goodun2974]

I was thinking similarly about radiated hum fields and lack of shielding. Not even a shield on the 12AX7! Single-ended amps need extra care in design and layout because there's no common-mode cancelation in the output stage like you'd get from a push-pull amp; but because single-ended amps are typically entry-level, the cheapest in the model line, "performance" and tonal quality is treated like an afterthought.

[@goodun2974]

Also , switching the AC mains on/off from a switch at the back of the volume control likely injects a bunch of hum. I generally don't like drilling holes in vintage amps, but if there's a way to mount a switch elsewhere on or in the the unit, perhaps on a bracket and peeking out through a gap on the rear, or even directly on the power cord, getting the AC wiring away from the volume control is helpful for lowering noise.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Yes plus tone control pot literally jammed hard against the mains tranny!

[@tjsogmc]

Nice repair. I'm wondering if the original back had a foil layer on it for noise reduction? If so, it's another case of people "fixing" things that they have no business touching. But on the other hand, it's just a cheap throwaway amp anyway, so no loss...

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Hi yes that's possible I think. I did another one of these but can't recall if it had a foil back. I seem to think not. But as you say, throwaway amp, yours for £800 though!!!

[@tjsogmc]

@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 thats crackers! For 800 I bought an Ampeg fridge, a Marshall DSL40C, a Peavey Nitrobass 450, an estate sale lot of 1940s /1950s radios (including a Telefunken and a Grundig), and had enough money left over to stock up on capacitors and resistors for the parts box. There's no accounting for either taste or the price of "collectibles "

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

@@tjsogmc Yep, crazy!

[@Gagaryn.]

My new favourite channel!

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Come on, surely Uncle Doug!!

[@Gagaryn.]

@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 Yup, he has cats! :-)

[@j.jester7821]

Selmer little death machine.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Ha ha. You're not wrong!

[@jonnybeck6723]

Mayhaps Mayall may've might've used your stuff/licks... ...meanwhile, you got any mates you jam with (?) (link?) If you wuzzin my neck of the woods we'd be shaking things up one side 'n down th'other ...and thank-ee for another cool vid. Cheerios (not the cereal)

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

Hi Johny YEs I used to love John Mayall! I'm not really a guitarist, more a keyboard player. I haven;t been in a band for a few years now and probably won't again.

[@goodun2974]

ELAC made turntables; I vaguely remember the company name.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

AH yes, that does sound familiar now. I hope you picked up the reference to you in the vid??

[@goodun2974]

@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 , I musta missed it; I was only half listening as I was doing other things....

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

@@goodun2974 If you want to check again its relatively early in whete i change the input capacitor

[@ronjinks8932]

Powering up an amp without a minimal visual inspection, I.E. is there a speaker connected; are there the correct tubes, fuse and a/c requirements etc. is at the least unprofessional and at the most dangerous and irresponsible. Particularly when it happens to be a mint condition vintage amp.

[@natb9121]

Simple -- paste aluminum foil to the inside of the back plate and ground it.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

You know, I didn't think of that! Duh.... Oh well, it seemed to work.

[@henryhunter5026]

Another interesting video. Trying to get a decent sound out of some of those early 60s low power amps is a bit of a thankless task. I did however have a little Selmer Futurama amp which sounded quite good, I think that it had the usual ECC83, EL84 and EZ80 valve lineup and a printed circuit board made by Fenton Weill. I think that the small Watkins amps from that era were the best of a British made bad bunch, the later ones had twelve inch speakers which helped the tone a great deal .

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

@@henryhunter5026 Yes that larger speaker would really help!

[@bluesplayer59]

Looks like a great little amp to work on tbh . Everything looks accessible . Good project amp too .. I can see the attraction in these Selmers. I had a treble n bass 50 and it rocked like a banshee... until I blew it up 😕

[@weschilton]

These amps were so poorly designed and built. Those tubes and transformers crammed together are just a recipe for noise. Nice work getting it back close to spec, but for the sound of the thing its just doesn't seem worth it. I know there's some history and nostalgia here, but its pretty clear why these amps are not worth much.

[@stuartukguitarampguy5830]

hi Wes agreed except they are worth a fair bit apparently! There's good money in nosralgia!

[@bluesplayer59]

Good enough for Jimmy Page 😃