Putting Together A Vintage Stereo System Part 2: The Amplifier

When I began assembling my vintage stereo system, deciding on an integrated amplifier or receiver was much more difficult than deciding on the turntable. When it came down to deciding on a turntable, I knew what I wanted. The amplifier was another matter altogether. It took some time for me to find out what would work best, but I'm glad I spent the time making the decision, as the amplifier is possibly the most important component in a system.

As usual, I did quite a bit of research to find out what others paired their AR-XA turntables with. One amp that was consistently matched with the AR-XA was the Marantz 1060. By this time I was already thinking that a classic silver-face Marantz amp or receiver of one kind or another would be what I'd ultimately get, and after being indecisive between getting a receiver (an amp with a tuner built in) or just an integrated amplifier, I decided on the 1060. I really don't ever listen to the radio anyway, so eliminating any extra bells and whistles would help focus on what mattered- the sound.

And what a great amp it is! There is a warmth, richness, and clarity to be found in the old Marantz that I've never heard in any modern day amplifiers. The combination of this and my AR-XA is perfect. The sound of these two combined is hard to describe, but I would call it both "old school" yet liquid sounding. The 1060 cranks on classic rock yet can get oh so smooth on jazz ballads or classical music. Some amps were known for being only good for this or that type of music, but the Marantz really does it all, and does it very well. It truly has great tone and volume to spare.

My Marantz 1060

The 1060 is rock solidly built and has just the right amount of controls on the front. There are also plenty of inputs on the back to hook up almost any audio source that uses RCA cables. Though I am a firm believer in never using EQ, the amp does have very usable tone controls, and also has a classic feature not found on modern amps- a "loudness" button. These buttons send the signal through a circuit that boost highs and lows so that listening at low volume levels will supposedly sound more similar to listening at more normal volume levels. All I really use on the amp is the on/off button, input selector, and the volume knob! Everything else is left alone, as it should be, in my opinion.

The only downside to owning an amp this old is that sooner or later you will need to get the electronics refurbished or replaced. My Marantz is starting to show some signs of needing a complete capacitor overhaul, but this kind of thing comes with the territory of owning an amplifier that was made in the very early 1970s. The cost to have a shop do this can be from $75 to around $200, but after the work is done there should be no further need for servicing for the rest of your ownership of the amp.

The Marantz 1060 is a fantastic integrated amplifier that is still relatively affordable. The sound of the amp and its synergy with the other classic components in my system- an AR-XA turntable and Dynaco A25 speakers- make this a perfect amp for my needs. Though all of these amps will need some service work at some point, I'd still highly recommend one to anyone looking for that classic 70s sound. I agree very much with others that most of the best stereo components were made during that era, and the Marantz is a perfect example.

Disc Golf And Guitar

With late summer upon us once again, one of the things on my mind right now is how to get out and disc golf as much as I can before the inevitable winter closes in. Not only do I want to get in as many rounds as possible, but I also want to really put in the practice that will help me get up to a playing level I can be comfortable with. All this thinking about practicing disc golf has also led me to think about just how similar practicing and playing jazz guitar is to disc golf. From mastering fundamental techniques to performing under pressure, there really is a lot in common between these two seemingly very different activities! I thought I'd share some of these observations with you all.

Fundamentals

It all starts here. I remember thinking that disc golf had to be easy enough; its nothing more than throwing a Frisbee at a basket. How wrong I was! I soon realized that, just like playing guitar on a decent level, to compete well with others, disc golf needs to be practiced from the ground up. Whereas on the guitar I'll practice things like chords, triads, arpeggios, and scales, with disc golf my fundamentals routine consists of the basic types of shots: putting, approach shots, and different types of drives. This is the kind of stuff that I return to day after day. The old cliche about laying a solid foundation couldn't be more correct.

Situational Practice

I first came up with this term when I really got interested in disc golf. Basically, it means taking my discs out and creating little situations that I may encounter on a round. For example, I often go to a wooded are of a park and practice throwing different shots around certain trees or other obstacles. Or I might spend some time throwing a tomahawk type shot over an obstacle. What I'm trying to do here is get as much experience with the possibilities of playing around that I can. You are always going to end up with some terrible shots that land in the worst possible area for a decent throw. This is where you learn to deal with that situation among many others. On the jazz guitar, this is the equivalent of playing over certain chords or chord progressions so that you have material at your disposal to use whenever you need it. Its a matter of becoming familiar with the possibilities so that the possibilities don't become overwhelming when they come up in a round or performance.

Courses and Tunes

This analogy is very appropriate for a comparison between golf and guitar. Unlike most sports, where the playing area is generally consistent, golf presents players with the challenge of vastly differing holes and courses. Though they can be very different, each course also will have many things in common with other courses you've played, such as dogleg holes and certain obstacles. This is also true with tunes we play on the guitar (or any instrument for that matter). Each one is unique, but each also shares many similarities with others, such as specific types of chord progressions that recur quite often. This is where that "situational" practice really comes into play for both things.

Tournaments and Performances

Here is where all that work has to come together. We do all that practice so that the pressure of performance doesn't cause us to fail. For my case in disc golf, this doesn't mean tournaments at the moment, but rounds with friends. Similarly, with guitar this could mean a full on performance in front of an audience nor just performing a tune or two for a friend or loved one. In either case, the hard work has been done so we can let go and just plain do. And that's just what we have to let happen.


This kind of thing can also be practiced. With my guitar playing, I'll often record audio or a video to check my progress on a tune. It's a powerful practice tool. When that little record light is on, so is the pressure to perform. I know something is not really ready until I can produce a decent recording of it played all the way through. On the disc golf course, things are not as easy. What I try to do in that case is imagine I am in a round or tournament and block everything except my next shot out of my mind. Focusing only on the shot at hand seems to work quite well both as a practice tool as well as during actual rounds.

As you can see, disc golf and guitar playing have quite a bit in common! I think its safe to say that many things we desire to get better at also share many similarities. We can't just buy a guitar or walk onto a golf course for the first time and expect to be any good. Likewise, you aren't going to get into a good career just thinking about it! Its all in how and what we practice and work on to improve ourselves as we move toward our goals. In the end, to use another old cliche, you will reap what you sow.

Unusual Instruments #2: The Hohner Pianet T

Back when I was just getting serious as a piano player, one of the things I desperately wanted was a real deal electric piano. I wanted to hear that rich, sweet, metallic ring emanating from my amplifier as I played those incredible chord voicings I loved so much from Steely Dan tunes like "Peg," "Josie," "Time Out Of Mind," and many others. Being that I was (and still am) such a stickler for doing things the authentic, old fashioned analog way, an electronic Casio piano was not going to do it for me. But what to do? I didn't have the coin for a Fender Rhodes or Wurlitzer yet!

Thankfully, there was a solution. In the late 1970's, Hohner must have also seen a need for a low cost electric piano and introduced the portable, guitar case sized, black Tolex covered Pianet T. There were other Hohner Pianet models before this one, but this final T model was the true budget friendly version. Coming out at the end of the electric piano's height of popularity and the beginning of the electronic synthesizer era, I'm not sure how many of these were produced, but I managed to pick one up on eBay for around $250. With some work, these can be a pretty decent Rhodes sound alike. Thankfully, unlike the Wurlitzer I later owned, fixing these up is incredibly easy.

The main repair issue is in the "sticky pad" mechanism Hohner used to vibrate the reeds and, well, keep the cost down. The system is truly ingenious in some ways though, using sticky silicone pads that sit on the reeds. When a key is pressed, the pad pulls off the reed and vibrates it due to its inherent stickiness. When the key is let go, the pad falls back onto the reed stopping the vibration. This of course precludes the use of sustain pedals, but the simplicity of design is incredible. The problem- those sticky pads are all around 35 years old now, and if the reeds have rusted, the pads work even less. The result is notes or blocks of notes that don't sound at all or sound very quiet compared with others.

Thankfully, just as I was researching these things before buying one, I came across the website clavinet.com. This site has all the resources and info you could possibly need for all of Hohner's keyboards, in particular the much more famous Clavinet (feartured prominently on Stevie Wonders "Superstition"). Even more important was the fact that they had also begun selling replacement sticky pad sets! I ordered a set as soon as I bought my Pianet and waited for them to arrive.

A view of a Pianet T with the top taken off exposing the reeds, sticky pads, and pickup

The first thing I noticed about the Pianet is how HEAVY it is for its size! It is like a very small, thin guitar case in size, but probably weighs 60 lbs. Opening up the key lid reveals a 60 key keyboard. That's right, 60 keys. This unusual keyboard runs from F to F rather than the standard C to C found on 61 key keyboards. The feel of the keyboard is unusual as well. It is very "mushy" feeling compared to a piano keyboard, but is not as smooth feeling as an organ keyboard either. It is odd, but it works! The whole thing is extremely well built, with an outer case of plywood which I am sure accounts for some of that weight! The only other thing on the keyboard besides the keys is a 1/4" jack. Pianets really are as simple as you can possibly get!

As I mentioned before, the sticky pads generally have to be changed and the reeds checked and cleaned of any rust for optimal performance. This is incredibly simple as well. Unscrewing the screws holding the top on reveals a set of reeds over which the pads rest. I promptly took off all the pads and very gently cleaned off any rusty reeds. Don't go overboard here- you can sand or brush the reeds out of tune and will have to painstakingly re-tune them! After the reeds were clean, I simply slid the new pads onto their rocker arms and was good to go! I also checked for tone and volume balance between each key before reassembling the top. Each pad arm can be bent closer to or away from the reed to compensate for either too much or not enough volume on a note due to the pad not sitting just right against the reed.

Put back together, the Pianet was a whole new beast. They have an incredible amount of bass and a unique Rhodes like tone in the middle and upper registers. I played my Pianet for a few months with my basement rock band and it worked pretty well with a little Ampeg bass amp for amplification. The only problem was that when used within a guitar based band context, the Pianet T can sound muddy and indistinct. I imagine this is also an issue with Rhodes pianos, but not to this extent. In a less crowded sonic context, these keyboards can really shine, but in a classic rock setting, you really end up wanting something else- like a Wurlitzer.

That's exactly what happened, too. As soon as I could gather up the money, I got myself a Wurlitzer 200 series electric piano, the keyboard heard on famous tunes like Pink Floyd's "Money," "Time," and "Have a Cigar," and Supertramp's "Dreamer," among many others. The Wurlitzer really has a tone that cuts through a mix, but if you are on a budget and want to get into the world of real flesh and blood electric pianos, get yourself a Hohner Pianet T. They really can't be beat for the cost.