Right off the bat. Might be that this thread´ll stretch a bit as far as time. Got WAY to much to do ATM but..i still find that it´s a good call starting this thread.
Bear with me.
So. Bouyer ST series amps. French made,and stems from the -50´s as far as i´ve understood. Have seen these up for grabs on the various Euro e-bays more time then i care to remember,simply haven´t picked one up. Until now.
As french designs they ARE different. Make no mistake,however...good different. Take my word for this,to the point where i´d say what we´ve got here is a forgotten treasure-as far as guitar use.
ST series could be had in a variety of power levels. From the 20 all the way up to a quad of 6L6´s run at various voltages. What´s more,they´re DIRT cheap. The one in the pic there,picked two of them up-one for a friend,ran me like 160 Euros for the pair incl freight.
Apart from the in this case twin 6L6´s they´re rectified via a GZ-34/5AR4 and in turn sports a number of EF-86´s and an ECC-83.
They cater for various impedances outbound. Something set right there,at the one shortside wall.
As i got home after some well deserved RnR a number of amps were waiting for me,incl these two Bouyer amps. Took to taking them apart and checking them out...
So. 30 watts out of the pair of 6L6´s? Not exactly leaning on them is it? Now...notice that "power meter" there on the faceplate. Keep that one in mind...
Ok. So old PA amps. All well and dandy i guess. Much like their German made cousins the ST´s use symbols rather then text explaining what does what as far as inputs.
Seing my past with cars i have to go on record and say that the ST series amps are neat builds by ANY measure. More than can be said for French cars..i´ll tell you that much! Nah,these are well designed and layout amps,no two ways about it. Mark how "roomy" and spacious the chassis is. Overkill...
Please also note the mega difference in size between the powertransformer and output transformer.
Yep. Preamp and PI is PCB based. Not bad for an amp this age!
Uhu. The PCB. Sport all in all three EF-86´s and an ECC-83/12AX7. Put to good use i´d say. The small signal pentodes are all hooked up as triodes tho
. French. Different is the name of the game here but...please read on.
Still a neat build...in fact,my hat´s off even. See that small transformer low and right in the pic? Uhu...these amps use an interstage transformer for PI. French. Different.
Powertubes. There´s what´s known as a zobel network in there to,i suppose,combat high freq oscillation. As for the need for that TODAY...is a whole different ballgame. None the less,well executed and performed. That small electrolythic capacitor across the powertubes cathode resistor should always be replaced. This particular one was dead as a doornail.
Uhu. The small interstage transformer. Does what it should i´d say!
The flipside of the PCB. As you can see it seems it was used for more than just the ST-30.
This in turn then the mains fuse. A setup we´ve run into before...where the fuse and voltage selector are one.
Hooooooooooooooooooooowever....i at the top there asked you to stay tuned. Well...hint one,this piece sports a downright plethora of primary taps rendering that it within reason can be run anywhere in the world. But...there´s WAY more to it than that.
Did i mention it´s French? Make no mistake..
Well. These amps were thought of as PA or Cinema amps right. Notice that there dial with the skull on it. By switching the dial next to it you opt for different taps. Most likely to me able to alter voltage between the amp and a projector at the time but the truth of the matter is that within reason...?
Kevin O Connor eat your heart out cause RIGHT THERE you´ve got sorts of a powerscaling setup. Of COURSE the tubes are gonna take a beating from it,but no matter that the dial in the pic lets you alter B+ voltage between approx 360VDC to 500VDC with modern day n era ECC wall voltage.
How´s that for size!
The flipside of the PT then,and its various taps. Notice the two unused ones on the secondary side? Well,that hands us approx 25VAC,in other words taps for fixed bias need be. (Amp is cathode bias stock)
So?
Yadda yadda,what´s so fantastic about it?
Well. Tell you what. From time to time there´s talk of bang for the buck here on OSG and...well,motherload. That simple. Motherload.
If you´re in the market for a dirt cheap amp that´ll cater to your basic rocknroll needs,this is it. Hands down.
What you need to do is a few things. First up check that the stock main smoothing caps are still alive and if not,replace. If in doubt,just replace.
Then you add a 1/4" jack inbound...and one outbound,for the speakers.
That´s it.
Turn the thing on,dime the SOB and stand back. This thing sounds even -80´s metal right off the bat as is. Turn it a tad down and you´re in bluesrock heaven. No BS.
This thing delivers there´s no tomorrow,as is. You don´t have to alter squat to make it run with the pack. It´ll even cater to soaring lead tones as is. Just use the volume knob on your guitar.
It´s to the point where i´ll go on record and state that one of these picked up at 50 Euros...there´s nothing out there that´ll touch it. No BS. This thing RAWKS right outta the hole.
That I AM gonna tear into it is just cause i´m a moron and can´t ever leave well enough alone,but that´s a whole different matter isn´t it.?
Those of ya into it for bang for the buck as far as rocknroll tho,look no further.
This really is it.
