Help on Schafer Amp

[jambandman]

Hey Now !!  Im not really up on amps but would like to know if anyone knows about these old amps. I just got a Schafer chorus 303 guitar amp for 40 bucks .. It is large and heavy on wheels has 2 early Cerwin Vega 12" speakers. I can find no info on this company anywhere. Looks to be by the speakers late 70s or early 80s. Has a real sweet sound and is a power house .. Any info would be appreciated !! Thanks all !!

[teemuk]

As far as I know, Schafer was a brand of Schafer & Sons, which I believe was some sort of importing company with main article of pianos, and then guitars, both acoustics and electric ones. At least I've seen pics of Schafer acoustic guitars made in the early 1970's in Korea and the Schafer & Sons pianos are far more well known.

The amps, I think, likely date to period between later 1970's and mid 1980's. This is so far the only Professional looking Schafer amp product I've seen, others have been basically low power practice amps that were more or less made to look like those early 1980's Mesa/Boogie amps - except they had hideous multi-coloured knobs. Made somewhere in Asia (Korea perahaps?), probably.

[jambandman]

Thanks for the info .. Its hard to find anything on Schafer and sons and any amp line they may have had  ... Looking online I have found an electric guitar or two and a practice amp but thats it from Schafer ... The search goes on ...

[teemuk]

Let us know what you find. I'm interested in all this amp-related historic stuff.

[J M Fahey]

Interesting looking amp.
Looks like a JC120 would-be.
Electronically it might even be an (unauthorised) knockoff.
*If* you could supply some sharp focused well lighted pictures of its guts (not like the one above, please ), say a general end to end one plus 3 or 4 close ups, where parts numbers can be read, we might solve that mystery.
Thanks for posting.
PS: a couple readable front panel ones would also help. :tu:

[jambandman]

went online and found pics of the roland jc120 looks similiar but not exact ..  the roland doesnt have the chorus knob or the EQ here are a bunch of pics inside the back and better ones of the front .. the side carry handles are jarguar brand ...  the more i play with this amp the more i really love it what a great sound ..  thanks again for the help !! 

[J M Fahey]

Wow, thanks a lot.
Although you do not show the chassis inside (the boards and the electronic parts) your excellent pictures start telling us a story.
* It's very well made.
* It's "very-Roland" inspired if you wish, but not a JC120
* It's mono (all JC's are stereo) but a very beefy one .
6 TO3 output transistors bolted to a substantial heatsink plus a large transformer say so.
150W RMS is well within the possible.
* It's Korean, the Hangul characters say so.
* the very good Cerwin Vega speakers are unusual.
Only saw subwoofers or PA types before, but the ribbed cones here scream "guitaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr !!" he he, they must be very loud.
*Maybe* they were installed afterwards or Schafer might have decided to make *one* killer amp, who knows today?.
Congratulations.
PS: please post whatever's printed on the power transistor cases, if readable.
PS2: your neighbours must hate you.

[joecool85]

Neat looking amp, I wouldn't mind having something like that to tool around with.

[jambandman]

hehe yeh its very loud and i havent even put er up nearly all the way   .. it has that ear deafening quality .. feels like your ear drums will explode .. very powerful  ..  as for the neighbors thats another good one .. its a korean christian retreat   .. weve been playing them music through the trees for years   guess we just stepped it up  :lmao:   ... Ill try to get some pics of the electronics etc .. im not sure how to get at them they are inside that metal box at the top .. its going to need some cleaning anyway some of the knobs are scratchy when turned so i think i need to drop that casing that houses everything to get in to clean them .. as i said im totally new to anything fixing amp related so any ideas how to get inside to clean the switches would be great !! there are 2 small screws on either side right where the housing is . maybe those 4 screws drops it down ??   

[J M Fahey]

Don't open it only for the pictures, but if you have to clean pots and switches .... be my guest

So your neighbours are Koreans?
Well, this amp is Korean too, so they shouldn't mind, should they?

Yes, the chassis slides out like a tray, after pulling those screws.
Be careful not to break any wires when pulling it, go slow .

[jambandman]

pots and switches definately need a cleaning ..  tray came out not much of a problem ... got pictures of the insides .. not many numbers to go on but I got pictures of the boards components etc .. maybe they will tell more of the tale of this amp !! as for cleaning the pots and switches how do i get into them to spray cleaner etc .. they look solid on the back ... do I take each switch apart on the front and they drop out the back individually ??

[mgcasella]

I love this thread and am super jealous that you got this amp for $40!!! 

I have a feeling that - with a proper distortion pedal - you can get crushing metal tones out of this \m/  Have you tried?  Regardless, I think it's time for some soundclips of this beast  :tu:

[jambandman]

40 seems low but that was 40 unheard and untested so it really was a crap shoot on condition etc for someone like me with little experience in the amp fixing department . All I knew was the power light came on ... I havent gotten to try any pedals etc since i just got it a week ago and it needs a cleaning  .. As soon as I get the pots n switches cleaned up Ill really take her for a test drive !! after that Ill try to upload a soundclip !!

[teemuk]

I wonder what's the purpose of the heatsinked transistor (?) and the transformer on the CH#2 Board...? Reverb driver...? something more peculiar...? 

This is a mighty interesting amp.

[phatt]

I wonder what's the purpose of the heatsinked transistor (?) and the transformer on the CH#2 Board...? Reverb driver...? something more peculiar...? 

This is a mighty interesting amp.

Maybe a simple 2 or 3 Transistor Rev driver using a transformer output.

I found a similar reverb setup in my old Guyatone Zip 555 combo Amp,, except no output transformer.

In my (often inadequate )  experience, I did build a reverb circuit using simple Transformer coupled setups but found the Power devices devices did not get very hot.
Phil.