Photo Page 18
The owners of these amps were kind enough to send me photos. These amps are all EL34 (octal-socket) models (four and six), and some have reverb and printed circuit boards (PCB) for the preamp tubes, and some are hard wired.
Please Note: I wanted to keep the photos somewhat large to show details, so instead of having them appear on this page, you'll need to click the links that follow (the largest file size is ~100KB). Sorry for any inconveniences said linking might cause. Enjoy.
GT-80 (Transitional? Protoype?) Head
This is an unusual beast to be sure. There appears to be no record of it in any of the Sound City documentation I have. If someone has anything that mentions this model, please let me know!
- Front Panel View
Standard Sound City layout, but notice the lack of identifying markings. Also, notice there is a Reverb Volume control, but the amp doesn't have an internal reverb tank or circuit.
- Rear Chassis View
Looks very much like the rear of any other Sound City head. It's really clean!
- Rear Chassis Close-Up View
Shows the model name/number and serial number.
- Chassis Front Right Oblique View
Note the two extra tubes on the left end. The amp's owner said "when you turn the Reverb knob on the front panel you get a reverb / tremolo effect to the sound, which is a nice feature." Not sure what this means exactly, but a "tremelo... feature" might explain the two extra tubes. I have no clue how he could hear reverb without springs (unless it's solid-state somehow), but stranger things happen all the time.
- Chassis Front Left Oblique View
Looks like this amp has a choke.
- Chassis Interior View
Actually, the wiring looks pretty good; it's reminiscent of a Mark 3 head.
In fact, the amp's owner suggested this might be a prototype or transitional amp (Mark 3 to Mark 4) and told me he spoke with a guy who also has one of these GT80 heads, whose serial number is three digits away from this one.
- Chassis Interior Left-End Close-Up View
This is a close-up of the circuitry around the two extra tubes and the choke.
Mark 5 120 Number 001
- Front Panel View
Standard Sound City layout, but no Standby switch.
- Rear Chassis Panel View
Notice how it appears as if pieces of tape were used for labels on the rear panel. This makes sense when you're not sure what is going to go where.
- PCB Close-Up View
PCBs were even used by Hiwatt, and they sounded great, so you never know.
- Left Rear Panel Close-Up View
A better view of the tape labels. Just couldn't shake that grounding switch, could they.
- Center Rear Panel Close-Up View
You just gotta love that serial number. A typewriter is what Sound City used to fill out many of the badges on their products.
- Right Rear Panel Close-Up View
A reverb footswitch jack; what a novel idea!"Slaving?" I just love marketing departments.
- Chassis Front Interior View
The bottom of the PCB.
- Chassis Rear Interior View
Much cleaner wiring than in earlier models.
Mark 5 120 Number 006
- Front Panel View
A standby switch has been added from Number 001.
- Chassis Top View
The preamp tubes are installed in this example.
- Rear Panel View (SN Plate)
Makes you wonder how many prototypes of this amp are out there.