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Just sold my last Frank head [message #6440] Tue, 20 December 2005 22:33 Go to next message
kustomise is currently offline  kustomise
Messages: 37
Registered: January 2005
Location: Redding California
Member
Just sold my last Frank head. My new faves are the A models with the 2 circuit breakers on either side of the polarity off/ on switch. I don't know what it is but to my ears they have something sweet sounding all across the tone spectrum that even the Franks can't match. The B models sound steril to me so I won't even compare those. I have one 745PA that I converted to a 2 channel amp with high and low inputs and another that would be an A3 (left channel has vol,treble,bass,bright switch and right has harmonic clipper/ selective boost)but these models had speaker configuration model numbers. My 745 has a metalic face and the A3 has plexi. I thought all the early A's had metalic faces but not this A3 with circuit breakers. I had a B4 with the whole shebang but the lack of tone caused me to sell it. I use an Art M1 reverb unit and a Boss trem unit so I don't miss Kustom's washed out reverb although I love their tremelo. Just thought I'd throw this out cause there's never much discussion on these models with the circuit breakers. This is strange to me as the 67' catalog in the literature section of this site shows a hole slew of them. They don't come up for sale very often mabe because the circuit breaker A's were a short lived model and they switched to the fused A's producing more of them. Does anybody know the timeline on these?

Kustom Rules!
Re: Just sold my last Frank head [message #6442 is a reply to message #6440] Wed, 21 December 2005 07:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
stevem is currently offline  stevem
Messages: 4728
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY
Senior Member
Hi, no I do not know anything of the time line but would love to hear of someones detective work. I would also love to confrim the circuitry of the A model. Alot of folks love the sound of the frank models like my 745, the transformer they use in these amps of a phase splitter section that drives the outputs is what gives a large part of the mellow tone players like from these.Yes the latter amps have alot more high end on tap. My favortie head is a metal face 150 or 250 when you bridge the channels.The mid control on one channel and the selectone on the other gives a wide palet of sounds that to me blows the others away. Plus they have a great sounding reverb with a tone control.
Re: Just sold my last Frank head [message #6443 is a reply to message #6442] Wed, 21 December 2005 08:39 Go to previous messageGo to next message
C4ster
Messages: 686
Registered: June 2001
Location: Mukwonago, WI (Milwaukee...
Senior Member
Unless they changed the preamp boards in some major way between the A and B series, the power amps are only a few minor components apart. I am going to modify an A unit to match the B unit I already have and it will need 2 or 3 minor changes and they will be the same.
Conrad
Re: Just sold my last Frank head [message #6445 is a reply to message #6440] Wed, 21 December 2005 11:15 Go to previous messageGo to next message
edforgothispassword is currently offline  edforgothispassword
Messages: 202
Registered: July 2004
Senior Member
I agree..the A models sound great...I barely remember a Bud story about how he needed a most dependable amp for marketing purposes..and so they dumbed down the B models in favor or rock solid stability...but he said that certain store owners would make in store mods to make the B units sound better..he noticed it on some of the warranty returns...my amp tech has done a couple mods to two of my SC 2x10 units and I'll tell you that the amps sound way better than stock...just a couple resistor values I imagine and we always use higher value filter caps...makes em a bit bolder sounding...beyond that I plead my usual ignorance..just to say that a B can be made sweet and I have a frank that would make you cry..it stays in my studio and I love to practice on it...just caution before you sell off other era kustoms...
Re: Just sold my last Frank head [message #6449 is a reply to message #6440] Thu, 22 December 2005 02:47 Go to previous messageGo to next message
voided3 is currently offline  voided3
Messages: 200
Registered: July 2004
Senior Member
Hello. What exactly are the mods you do to make a B sound like an A? I have a K200-B6 that sounds kind of bland for guitar but works nicely with bass and I would like to make it voiced better like my K200-A5. Thanks!
Re: Just sold my last Frank head [message #6452 is a reply to message #6443] Thu, 22 December 2005 22:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
kustomise is currently offline  kustomise
Messages: 37
Registered: January 2005
Location: Redding California
Member
It's got to be those white Mallory caps. They used them on the early A models with the circuit breakers on either side of the on/off polarity switch. I don't know about the later A models that actually had the A designation. I thought I could get the John Fogerty tone(not talent)with my B4 but low and behold with my A3 I can! This is the circuit breaker model so I think his amps must have had the white mallory caps because he used A4 heads. The very thing the Bud deemed unreliable are the key to tone (I think) That's why the Franks sound so good. You wont find them on the B models, hence the bland tone. That's the difference in the preamp boards. Just my theory.

Kustom Rules!
Re: Just sold my last Frank head [message #6456 is a reply to message #6440] Tue, 27 December 2005 10:24 Go to previous message
edforgothispassword is currently offline  edforgothispassword
Messages: 202
Registered: July 2004
Senior Member
I need to get my amp tech to do a nice write up on how he pimped my SC2x10..that one turned out better than any so far...I'll get a nice write up done and post it here..ET
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