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K-200A [message #10283]

Fri, 16 January 2009 02:36

zebrostripe
Messages: 5
Registered: January 2009

Junior Member

Wonderful site! I just found it the other day while trying to find out some info on my K-200A-2. I was hoping some of you could help me out. The S/N is 22051. The cabinet is a 2X15. Both the head and the cab are a matching blue sparkle. Both logos have Kustom by Ross on them.

I was hoping someone out there had a schematic to this that they'd be willing to share, as well as some good tips for internal parts replacements. My amp works fine except for the tremolo and the reverb, and I'd like to see what I can do to try to remedy these issues.

This was my dad's amp that he had given it to me about ten years ago and other than some light touring at that time, it has sat in my basement waiting for the day that I could really appreciate it for what it is.

Any other info that anyone could fill me in on would also be greatly appreciated, such as an estimeate on the year of manufacture, scarcity, ect...

Thanks in advance.

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Re: K-200A [message #10284 is a reply to message #10283]

Fri, 16 January 2009 06:20

stevem
Messages: 4733
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

Hi.
Your serial number puts the amps birth in the Jan to March 1968 time frame and if you speaker cabinet does not use JBL drivers you can pull its back off and pin down the birth date by a couple more months by checking the ink stamped manufacture date on the drivers.
Most times this will be a 6 diget number. On a Jensen driver it will be on the mounting lip of the speaker and start will 220.
On a CTS driver it will be on the magnet and start with 137.
On a Altec Lansing driver it will be on the lip again, and start with 039.
If you post the other three digets we can tell a little more about when the amp may have been made.
I have never worked on a 200A model, but I may recall that there reverb and tremolo effects need to be turned on by a foot switch, unlike the B serise amps that have them always on and the foot switch lets you trun them off remotely.
If I am wrong someone should/may correct me with a post over the weekend.

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Re: K-200A [message #10286 is a reply to message #10283]

Fri, 16 January 2009 10:49

chicagobill
Messages: 2005
Registered: April 2003

Senior Member

Welcome to the board ZS.

Steve is right, the FX on all of the A series heads need to be turned on with a foot switch.

On the back of your amp you'll probably have a jack that looks like an xlr mike connector. As a test, take a paper clip or a short length of wire and jumper the pins of the jack to the metal frame of the jack. This will turn on the reverb and or the trem/vibrato. Don't worry, you won't do any damage to the amp or yourself doing this. If the reverb and trem work with the jumper installed, then you know that the amp is ok and you only need a footswitch to turn them on. If they don't work, it may mean that you'll need to have the amp serviced.

The A-series was only made for a fairly short time, so I feel that they are less plentiful than either the earlier Wide Panels or the latter B-series. Back in the 60's CCR used an all A-series backline. The mixable vibrato/tremolo is what John Fogerty used to get that sound.

Again welcome, and let us know what you find out about your FX.

[Updated on: Fri, 16 January 2009 10:49]

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Re: K-200A [message #10290 is a reply to message #10283]

Sat, 17 January 2009 21:17

zebrostripe
Messages: 5
Registered: January 2009

Junior Member

Thanks for all the information. I really appreciate it. Good news, the tremolo effect is working. Unique sound, I must admit... The suggestion for the jumper wire on the footswitch connector worked. (Always check the easiest solutions first, eh?) : ) The reverb, on the other hand, hisses louder as I turn it up, so I've got some troubleshooting to do there.

I am planning on pulling the back of the speaker cabinet off tomorrow, so I can post the numbers I find there then.

Once again, wonderful site and I really appreciate you're helpful hints. Thanks.

-z

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Re: K-200A [message #10294 is a reply to message #10283]

Mon, 19 January 2009 06:30

stevem
Messages: 4733
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

When you bang the amp hard with the reverb turned up do you hear the reverb crash or rattle?

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Re: K-200A [message #10296 is a reply to message #10283]

Mon, 19 January 2009 11:33

zebrostripe
Messages: 5
Registered: January 2009

Junior Member

Steve-

I opened the amp up and turned it on. I plucked the reverb springs and got a crackle, similar to a bad electrical connection instead of the wire-y ray gun blast that it's supposed to sound like. Other than trying a different reverb unit, I may just have to take this baby in to a professional. Thanks for your help.

Bad news on the speakers... I opened up the cab and found two mismatched speakers. I called my dad to see if he knew anything about it and he said that back in the day he had blown the original JBL D130's and replaced them with what's in there... oh well. So my plan there is to find some D130's to put back in there.

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Re: K-200A [message #10297 is a reply to message #10296]

Mon, 19 January 2009 12:37

chicagobill
Messages: 2005
Registered: April 2003

Senior Member

The sound that your reverb tank is making is typical of one that has a broken wire on the output transducer.

If you look inside the metal tank where the RCA jacks are, you'll see two small wires that attach the RCA jacks to each of the two coils. Typically these wires are green and black. Check to see if either one has broken off the jack or broken somewhere in the middle. They flex a lot and then will break from metal fatigue.

If the tank wires are ok, be sure that the cables that connect the tank to the pc board are plugged in and the connectors are clean and tight.

If all the wiring checks out ok, then you will either need an ohm meter or another reverb tank to check out the amp. If you have an ohm meter set it to read low ohms and read the value across the input and output jacks. The input jack will read somewhere between 50 and 200 ohms. The output should read somewhere around 200 ohms. If either of these readings are wrong, either you have an open or otherwise bad transducer coil.

If you have access to another Kustom amp with a reverb tank, you could try substituting that tank and see if it works. If you try a known working tank from another amp, it may or may not work perfectly, but it will let you test the basic circuitry of your amp.

Hope this helps. Bill

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Re: K-200A [message #10298 is a reply to message #10283]

Mon, 19 January 2009 12:54

stevem
Messages: 4733
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

two used D130s will be some big bucks, I think weber makes a high powered alinco serise 15" with a aluminum 4" dome like a JBL, but I bet those too are priced at over 200 bucks.

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Re: K-200A [message #10301 is a reply to message #10298]

Mon, 19 January 2009 18:50

pleat
Messages: 1452
Registered: June 2004
Location: Belding, Mi

Senior Member

You will want to make sure you use 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel. That will give you a 8 ohm load to the amp. Using two 8 ohm speakers in parallel will give you 4 ohms. The amp is designed to run at 4 ohms, but you would not be able to add a second cabinet if you choose to replace the speakers. One thing you might want to check, since the speakers were replaced, is to make sure both speakers move in the same direction. A flashlight battery can be used to test movement.
pleat

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Re: K-200A [message #10302 is a reply to message #10283]

Mon, 19 January 2009 21:19

zebrostripe
Messages: 5
Registered: January 2009

Junior Member

ChicagoBill--

Reverb is operational! It was in fact the green wire broken off the RCA connector. Once I soldiered it back on it was as good as new. Thanks for the info, once again.

Stevem, Pleat--

Thanks for the additional info on speakers. I'll definitely look at the Webers as an alternative. Although the ones I have sound fine, I'd like to get this as close to original equipment as much as feasible.

To all--

Thanks to this site, I now have a 100% operational amplifier. It's good to know that there are other people out there that are so willing to help out. Hopefully I can return the favor someday.

Thanks again,

-z

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