NTAD: Ediquip Solid State "Tape Reader" Amp ("Squawk Box")

[scott_va]

Just got back from vacation to find a couple of things waiting for me. I got this lunchbox-sized amp off eBay after I did a little research. These things were originally for monitoring sound recordings on tape and syncing them up with film. It's a solid-state amp, so it doesn't have the tube "cool factor" that some of these do, but it was cheaper, and from the the one example I found, should sound pretty good. And it has four inputs, so my imaginary friends can play along. I'm not sure if the knob for each input is a true "pre-amp" or just a level control. The rear jack appears to be a speaker jack, since it's connected to the same wires as the internal speaker.

Of course, since this came off eBay, it was no surprise to find that it needs a little work. The transformer inside is just floating around loose, but at least that's an easy fix. The volume knob makes horrible loud crackling noises, and I really hope that can be fixed with Deoxit, rather than turning out to be an electronic problem I can't fix. And the whole tone pot rotates in its hole when you turn the knob, so I need to find something to lock that down. So, fingers crossed that some cleaning and maintenance will bring this thing back to life.

[jaycemumford]

That looks so freaking cool! I love the look of the old stuff like this

We need some gut shots!

[scott_va]

That looks so freaking cool! I love the look of the old stuff like this

Same here--old, workmanlike equipment can be really cool.

We need some gut shots!

Me or the amp? But yeah--it's all opened up and I've sprayed all the pots with Deoxit, and I should get some pics before I finish up in there. I need to find some machine screws to re-attach the transformer. While I was checking that out, I realized that there's a ground wire that should be held to the chassis by one of the transformer mounting screws. Right now it's just flapping around and probably making occasional contact.

[scott_va]

It's alive! Bwahahah <cough cough>

The transformer's bolted down, the cracks and pops are gone, and the little amp works. (To give you an idea how little it is, I took the handle off my Vox Pathfinder and the Ediquip sits right on top without overhanging the Vox's control panel.) All four inputs are good. The tone knob is still messed up, but I just set it at max and left it alone.

I'm still trying to figure out how the amp reacts, but so far it seems to give a good clean tone. It will definitely distort, though, with the input-level knob up. It's very sensitive to guitar volume--the last quarter turn of the guitar volume has quite a range, up to pretty fuzzy distortion.

The little built-in speaker sounds a little plunky sometimes, but not bad. And that speaker is marked "8 ohms," which matches my 1x12 Multivox cab, and the amp works fine with that.

I noticed that it tends to break up much more easily in the lowest few notes on the guitar, so once it was plugged into the cab, I tried it with the Aria short-scale bass. It takes a bit more tweaking and more volume, but you can definitely play bass through it. It's fun to get bass distortion at a living-room-friendly volume.

Some more pics:


Guts -- top side


Guts -- underside

[pacemaker]

GTFO!!! I have that exact same gizmo!!! I've never seen another one before this post. Seriously, I'm sitting here looking at your photo and comparing it to the one sitting on my stereo component shelf 3 feet from me: they are identical. Awesome!

I'm glad you know what this was for - I had no idea prior to your post. I found mine in a weird second-hand shop in Alabama years ago. Mine sounds horrible, though.

Happy NTAD day!

[scott_va]

Thanks! I wonder how many of these things are sitting around in people's basements unused...

For all I know, mine may sound horrible, too -- I'm not a connoisseur. But even for an electronics dimwit like me, these look pretty simple inside. Might be worth opening it up and looking for something disconnected or burnt out.

[scott_va]

FWIW, I'm starting to really like this thing. You can fairly easily set it up to go from clean to nice distortion just by varying how you pick. I know that's normal for some good amps, but you wouldn't expect it from a piece of solid-state film-editing equipment.

[transients]

Ooooh I picked up something just like this at a garage sale pretty much for free. It just says "MAGNETIC AMPLIFIER" on it, and it's so old that all of the other lettering had come off. I couldn't find any info on what it was at the time, now I finally know!The internals are very similar to yours (except different caps/resistors and whatnot) but the little speaker was ripped and dented. I bypassed the speaker and hooked it up to an speaker cab and was amazed by the fact that it even worked. The bass is a little muffled but they are very dynamic with the overdrive (if you can call it that... it's pretty much pure distortion) and lots of clarity, really cool for that dirty shoegazey Medicine-ish sound. Mine has 2 inputs, one being a little cleaner sounding than the other. It's a very cool little dude. I recommend hooking yours up to a speaker cab, which is pretty easy if you can solder and have a spare jack lying around.

[scott_va]

Yep, did that. Fortunately the internal speaker was labelled, and it's the same rating as my 1x12. Does sound a lot better that way.

[jbuckner]

Josh Homme likes to use these as recording amps. I remember reading about the recording of the "Them Crooked Vultures" album and thinking "what the hell is a tape reader"? Now I know, thanks.

Here's a thread from another board talking about the Josh connection and mods for tape readers.

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?p=603858

[will]

Thanks for posting pictures of the insides - I just picked up one of these, and the volume knob needed replacing.

It's a fun little amp - I like that it looks like an old thing from a high school lab class.