KMD GS100S

[bassment]

Just got a new amp in lieu of payment for helping a guy out with his kitchen cabinets; made in England, it has a bright switch, high and low input, clean and overdrive footswitchable channels, and a spring reverb tank. Though I seem to be short a cable so I can not try it out tonight, it feels, well, SOLID. Can anyone tell me anything about this?

[J M Fahey]

VERY good amps.
Most were hybrid: SS preamp, tube power amp, yours *should* have a couple EL34 or similar.

[joecool85]

VERY good amps.
Most were hybrid: SS preamp, tube power amp, yours *should* have a couple EL34 or similar.

Really?  I don't know anything about these, but most modern hybrids use a tube in the preamp and ss power amp.

[bassment]

I can't seem to find tubes in it... it has this weird label that says "POWER 115 VAC 50/60 Hz INTERNALLY FUSED" and a few weird canisters that have metal cases that look like a rotary motor out of a Mazda, and it really just gives me weird vibes. As I said, I can't see tubes, but those canisters could be tubes? I have no clue. I don't mess around with amps too much, I've made a few DIY pedals but never anything in amplification.

[bassment]

I took a couple of pictures to hopefully help.








I'll take more in a little bit, please tell me what I should be looking for as far as information goes! Big Boss Man gave me the day off and I think I'm going to do a bit of binge eating/sleeping.

edit: is anyone else seeing these images cut off at the side?

[Roly]

VERY good amps.
Most were hybrid: SS preamp, tube power amp, yours *should* have a couple EL34 or similar.

Really?  I don't know anything about these, but most modern hybrids use a tube in the preamp and ss power amp.

You name it, somebody's tried it.  Some Musicman's for example were s.s. preamp and valve output.



Hi bassment and welcome.

POWER 115 VAC

I hope you're in America.


Your 1st pic is the power supply smoothing electrolytic caps.

2nd pic, the "watts" is power consumed from the power mains, generally about double the actual output power.

3, 4, and 5 are one of the output stage transistors, the metal diamond "rotary engine" shapes, bolted to their finned heatsink.

6 is a repeat of 1

(etc)

By now you should know if it works.

[joecool85]

Wait, so if it has output transistors...then that makes it a ss power amp, no?

[bassment]

Well thanks for at least telling me what the guts are. What do they do? Because this is completely foreign to me. Does anyone know anything about the productions specs of this thing? Maybe the company or what separates it from other amps? I plugged it in to my Fender Twin 2x15 and I actually really like the distortion... It's very full and fat and the reverb is actually surprisingly impressive. Does anyone know how much these go for?

[Roly]

Wait, so if it has output transistors...then that makes it a ss power amp, no?

er ... yes.

Well thanks for at least telling me what the guts are. What do they do?

Got the circuit and a few spare months?   8|

Does anyone know anything about the productions specs of this thing? ... Does anyone know how much these go for?

Not me, I only fix 'em, don't trade.  GIYF.

[bassment]

Well I guess I oughtta put this puppy to use. Thanks a lot guys!

[joecool85]

Wait, so if it has output transistors...then that makes it a ss power amp, no?

er ... yes.

I asked because I was led to believe earlier on in the thread that this was a ss preamp and tube power amp.  I just re-read and Juan did say that "most" were that way.

[Roly]

There once were metal valves ... but they didn't bolt to heatsinks.


(roughly one half of a 12AX7)

I think this amp has turned out to be a valve-free zone.

[mexicanyella]

This brings back some memories; my first "real" amp was a KMD GS130D, which was a solid-state 130-watt 2 x 12 combo. It's been out of my fleet for years, but as I recall, it had a big, fat-bottomed distorted snarl and it could get REALLY reverbed out. I probably spent about 19 seconds on the clean channel in all the years I owned it.

Looking back now, I wish I'd kept it and experimented with its lower-gain sounds, now that I've gotten my tube-snobbishness out of the way.