Reaching out to Mark Cameron

  • Thread starter Thread starter screamindemon
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311splawndude said:
Safe to say based on that pic you shared in the Fortin thread that tranny's are not the part holding you back? You had a whole table of them. I always wondered why the old transformers of yester year were better? Better copper? Better iron ore? Or was it maybe slight imperfections that caused magic?

PS: You don't strike me as the type to get embarrassed so feel free to pull attention.
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Quite the opposite is the case, the steel companies aren't able anymore to produce transformer sheet metal as inferior as it's been in the old days, what otoh the HiFi tube amp builder makes happy. But I've had the luck and opportunity to get my hand on a remarkable amount of transformer steel of 80' production about 15 years ago, what first has been carried to SKOT, my former transformer winder in the UK - then 5 years later I've had a hard fight with the liquidator as SKOT went south, to get "my steel" out of the bankrupt's estate to be carried to my current transformer winder.

All the other aspects concerning transformers aren't really magic, if experienced engineers are winding the transformers. There has to be taken respect to what kind of copper wire, which insulation, which insulation material, what pattern of interleaving inside the coil, aso. but that all isn't hype.

In the past there's been a German transformer winder named Shinrock (Ingo Gorges), who has been service tech at Mesa/Boogie Germany in the 90' and who's started winding transformers at the turn of the millennium. I've been the one who's told him how to make it right and the one, who's tested all his early prototypes, until he got it right - and later his transformers became very sought after in the Marshall cloner scene. Really no magic, just physics 😉
 
novosibir said:
Quite the opposite is the case, the steel companies aren't able anymore to produce transformer sheet metal as inferior as it's been in the old days, what otoh the HiFi tube amp builder makes happy. But I've had the luck and opportunity to get my hand on a remarkable amount of transformer steel of 80' production about 15 years ago, what first has been carried to SKOT, my former transformer winder in the UK - then 5 years later I've had a hard fight with the liquidator as SKOT went south, to get "my steel" out of the bankrupt's estate to be carried to my current transformer winder.

All the other aspects concerning transformers aren't really magic, if experienced engineers are winding the transformers. There has to be taken respect to what kind of copper wire, which insulation, which insulation material, what pattern of interleaving inside the coil, aso. but that all isn't hype.

In the past there's been a German transformer winder named Shinrock (Ingo Gorges), who has been service tech at Mesa/Boogie Germany in the 90' and who's started winding transformers at the turn of the millennium. I've been the one who's told him how to make it right and the one, who's tested all his early prototypes, until he got it right - and later his transformers became very sought after in the Marshall cloner scene. Really no magic, just physics 😉
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That was a great read
Thanks for sharing
:cheers:
Oh, and I think you meant 'superior' in your first sentence, not 'inferior'. :yes:
Yes, I know English is not your first language.
 
311splawndude said:
Oh, and I think you meant 'superior' in your first sentence, not 'inferior'. :yes:
Yes, I know English is not your first language.
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No I've definitely meant 'inferior' - because the transformer sheet metal of current production is technically/physically regarded meanwhile too good, so that it can't produce this special mix and amounts of even order and odd order harmonics anymore when the tranny is driven into saturation, what's producing this literally "British dirt", what we love so much from the classic amps of the 60' and 70' 😉

Just to your info, these amps have been my reference amps over almost one year, as I've tailored "the right OT" for my British Purist:

200_1202.jpg

These are a Larry rebuilt '69 1959 SLP, a stock '71 SLP and a stock '73 SLP

And here you can see a number of prototype OT's what I've had to make one after the other over about one year,
it have even been a few more, but they've failed soundwise, so I haven't placed it on the desk for the photos:

TheHolyGrailOTs.12.jpg

TheHolyGrailOTs.22.jpg

If you'd be a tech, then you easily can see, that with one exception all OT's are wound like in the old days on paper former and of corse all are oil-paper insulated. The other exception is the one with the sticker what is wound on plastic bobbin and what was the one and only prototype what I've had made by Mercury Magnetics. Unfortunately it didn't reach my expectations, sounding too new, too modern.

Maybe you can imagine what a hard way this has been over one year, to design & develope the literally Holy Grail OT, what definitely matches the Dagnall OT's of the old Marshall amps in any respect?

The funny thing among all the test drives has been, that there's been one OT with an outstanding great sound, it only didn't match my imagination for a late 60'/early 70' British sound - but it sounded so great, that I've decided, to build a completely new designed amp around this outrageous OT - and this amp a few years later then became my Rock Wizard :giggle:
 
danyeo said:
No secret that I love Mesa but some of the best LOUD amps I've ever heard were 70's Marshall's with Boss OD pedals. This guy would tear everyone's face off on a regular basis with his 70's JMP.

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is that dave the chainsaw ?
 
novosibir said:
No I've definitely meant 'inferior' - because the transformer sheet metal of current production is technically/physically regarded meanwhile too good, so that it can't produce this special mix and amounts of even order and odd order harmonics anymore when the tranny is driven into saturation, what's producing this literally "British dirt", what we love so much from the classic amps of the 60' and 70' 😉

Just to your info, these amps have been my reference amps over almost one year, as I've tailored "the right OT" for my British Purist:

View attachment 69684

These are a Larry rebuilt '69 1959 SLP, a stock '71 SLP and a stock '73 SLP

And here you can see a number of prototype OT's what I've had to make one after the other over about one year,
it have even been a few more, but they've failed soundwise, so I haven't placed it on the desk for the photos:

View attachment 69687

View attachment 69690

If you'd be a tech, then you easily can see, that with one exception all OT's are wound like in the old days on paper former and of corse all are oil-paper insulated. The other exception is the one with the sticker what is wound on plastic bobbin and what was the one and only prototype what I've had made by Mercury Magnetics. Unfortunately it didn't reach my expectations, sounding too new, too modern.

Maybe you can imagine what a hard way this has been over one year, to design & develope the literally Holy Grail OT, what definitely matches the Dagnall OT's of the old Marshall amps in any respect?

The funny thing among all the test drives has been, that there's been one OT with an outstanding great sound, it only didn't match my imagination for a late 60'/early 70' British sound - but it sounded so great, that I've decided, to build a completely new designed amp around this outrageous OT - and this amp a few years later then became my Rock Wizard :giggle:
Click to expand...
I see. So imperfections in steel caused more even and odd order harmonics. That blows my mind. You'd think 'clean' steal would be better. I don't know anything about extruding steal out of iron ore but wondering if it was imperfect iron ore in Europe or more about the process of extruding and stamping or I guess rolling steal? Cray cray.
 
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novosibir said:
No I've definitely meant 'inferior' - because the transformer sheet metal of current production is technically/physically regarded meanwhile too good, so that it can't produce this special mix and amounts of even order and odd order harmonics anymore when the tranny is driven into saturation, what's producing this literally "British dirt", what we love so much from the classic amps of the 60' and 70' 😉

Just to your info, these amps have been my reference amps over almost one year, as I've tailored "the right OT" for my British Purist:

View attachment 69684

These are a Larry rebuilt '69 1959 SLP, a stock '71 SLP and a stock '73 SLP

And here you can see a number of prototype OT's what I've had to make one after the other over about one year,
it have even been a few more, but they've failed soundwise, so I haven't placed it on the desk for the photos:

View attachment 69687

View attachment 69690

If you'd be a tech, then you easily can see, that with one exception all OT's are wound like in the old days on paper former and of corse all are oil-paper insulated. The other exception is the one with the sticker what is wound on plastic bobbin and what was the one and only prototype what I've had made by Mercury Magnetics. Unfortunately it didn't reach my expectations, sounding too new, too modern.

Maybe you can imagine what a hard way this has been over one year, to design & develope the literally Holy Grail OT, what definitely matches the Dagnall OT's of the old Marshall amps in any respect?

The funny thing among all the test drives has been, that there's been one OT with an outstanding great sound, it only didn't match my imagination for a late 60'/early 70' British sound - but it sounded so great, that I've decided, to build a completely new designed amp around this outrageous OT - and this amp a few years later then became my Rock Wizard :giggle:
Click to expand...

Wow, that’s serious R&D for an amp builder. Well done taking it to the next level!!
 
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CA-AG.jpg


Next level of Criminal Indictment for those worthy would be good.
 
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