Superbird I "..can't get your love, can't get a fraction.."

capnjuan

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On eBay here. According to seller, this is your chance to re-live a little musical history playing Psychotic Reaction by the Count 5.

front-6.jpg



A little better picture of a Superbird I head:

headonly.jpg



The preamp is up, the power amp is at the bottom of the cabinet ... as seller points out, they are umbilically-tied making the sections inseparable:

chassissplit.jpg



The amp has tremolo (red/upper right and, for troubleshooting purposes, note that it uses a transistor that can go bad), reverb (magenta/center right) and fuzz (green/lower left). Schematic for Superbirds I and II dated 1968. In these amps, Guild abandoned speaker-driven reverb and used the more commonly-seen transformer-driven design.

preampskimo.jpg



About this amp said:
The footswitch you [somecallmetim] described should control Reverb, Tremelo and Fuzz. That middle switch that is not labled is the Fuzz ON/OFF and is not a channel switching switch.... The relay you are hearing is specific to the Superbird preamp. The Thunderbird doesn't have it. I am pretty sure it is used to activate the Fuzz. A Superbird normally uses 8417 power tubes and the Thunderbird, 2nd generation, will use 7591A tubes.

LTG Link Here.

The relay; shown in BBer somecallmetim's Superbird I and the source of his problem. More modern relays are enclosed in plastic housings ... this one is a crud magnet ... the electrical contacts are exposed to oxidation, tone scum, and the dust and dirt that collects in the cabinet ... this one looks like something off a 1920s machine tool .. :shock: :

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In this study of the fuzz, on the left the relay is in the upper green circle, to its right, the footswitch-driven on/off, lower left the 'fuzz' tube, and the blue squiggly is the power feed to operate the relay. The center panel shows the FS in the off position grounding the power and the relay contacts in the normally open (or normally closed depending) position. No signal appears at the grid of the fuzz tube. On the right, the FS is shown in the on position with DC on the relay closing the contacts and sending signal to the fuzz tube. So long as the FS doesn't shunt the power to ground, the fuzz is on.

fuzz.jpg



As matsickma and the seller are pointing out, the Superbird I runs on 8417s which are out of production, rare, and expensive. These amps can be converted to run on 6L6s. Discussion here on the subject. Finally, this amp does not use the 6GF7 screen voltage regulator (like the Quantum bass head) but the (even rarer) Superbird II does.

If anyone's interested, PM for the schematics.
 

fab467

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Hi capn:

Nothing to add to the amp discussion but the Count 5 video is great! Haven't heard that one in a long while. Actually our garage band did a decent job with it... :roll: :)

Was that really over 40 years ago?? Thanks for posting.
 

capnjuan

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Walter Broes said:
Gotta love "psychotic reaction"!! The Count Five out-yardbirds-ing the Yardbirds!
Walter you have quite the ear ... are you sure you're not Fab's and my age :wink: ?

Two YBs hits Heartful of Soul and For Your Love. Instead of changing the time signature from fast to slow like the YBs, the Counts change it from slow to fast.

I saw in the Wiki article that the Counts recorded for Double Shot records ... you don't supposed they named it after (...........)? While I was screwing around on the Toob, I saw this ... Could this be Seatsniffer material?
 

matsickma

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capnjuan

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Another Superbird I on eBay in this auction. The pre-amp as five 12AX7s and a 6GW8 reverb driver; 7247 phase inverter and twin 6L6s and two Jensen EM-series Concert / ceramic speakers.

front02.jpg


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guild68superbird.jpg
 

adorshki

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capnjuan said:
I saw in the Wiki article that the Counts recorded for Double Shot records ... you don't supposed they named it after (...........)?
Catchin' up to old questions...Count 5 hailed from my own hometown, and I had their original vinyl...the label graphic was a couple of bullet-holes.. from the old top 40 DJ phrase "with a bullet.." (Meant it was climbing up the charts fast, for those who've never heard the phrase. What's that you say.."What's a "chart"?" ..oh boy...)
What caught my eye about your original post was seller claiming a tone which apprently predated the production period of the amp...and I don't think Plymouth orCountry Joe and the Fish stole the idea from Guild....
 

capnjuan

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Can't be sure ... I ran out of Ginko Biloba a couple of days ago.

I thought in the first auction the seller was saying that the amp nailed the tone ... not that it was used in the original recording. I mean, who wouldn't want to sound like the Count 5?

Isn't it e-lore the Guild's floor-fuzz was used in this very satisfying Fuzzaroo?
 

adorshki

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capnjuan said:
Can't be sure ... I ran out of Ginko Biloba a couple of days ago.

I thought in the first auction the seller was saying that the amp nailed the tone ... not that it was used in the original recording. I mean, who wouldn't want to sound like the Count 5?

Isn't it e-lore the Guild's floor-fuzz was used in this very satisfying Fuzzaroo?
Man, if that's "rare" I'd like to hear "well done" :lol:
 

capnjuan

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adorshki said:
... Man, if that's "rare" I'd like to hear "well done" :lol:
I think The Mick got the Clap .......... ping award for it.

All that member jazzdj had to do was wait for one of these to come up at auction, buy it, have it shipped for a merciless amount, yank that fuzz relay out (pictured way up above), and he'd have been good to go.

I mean, where's the dedication?
 
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