West laboratories Amplifiers
Just picked up this guy the other day.
I know barely anything about this gem so far, In the process of doing some research. So far what I have found in the little amount of data available on the net is these guys were made in Flint, MI from 1966-1972. This model is the FIllmore (guessing since it was made in the 60’s they named it after the hippy venue?) The gentleman I got if off said that it’s not the original case due to the fact when he got it about 15 years ago the case was in rough shape from sitting in a basement. So he had built a new case for it. He had an “electrical engineer rebuild the insides” and I’ve been to afraid to open it up yet and have a look. It does play, but I noticed when you crank it it doesn’t get any louder past 3, so my guess is it’s in need of some fresh tubes, the transformers (they have two MASSIVE trans!) are going bad or my filter caps need replaced.
—I’ll post some more pics of the insides when I open it up.
The Fillmore’s are supposedly 200 watts according the the West Lab’s website. But the guy I got it off said it’s a 100 watter, but he obviously doesn’t realize that transformers of the size in this amp will hit harder than that (and the fucker weighs about 100lbs!).
I believe the amp has 4 6550 power tubes, and a 12AX7 and 12AT7 in the pre-amp section.
I don’t know the output’s speaker impedance rating yet because my Fillmore has no labels (probably painted over when the case was rebuilt), but a fellow on Music Electronics Forum (user bennieusmaximus) has a Fillmore and informed me on this:
The 4 jacks next to the impedance switch are all speaker jacks and the other 2 are preamp in and out….the 3 position switch next to the speaker jacks switches impedance. The top is 4 ohms middle is 8 ohms bottom is 16 ohms. If you have 4 - 16 ohm cabs hook’em all up just once at the same time and make the earth shake. Feels like the 70’s arena all over again….. I think vintage guitar guide had these listed in the last guide as $1500 on the low end and $3000 on the high end. I was told that by a friend though and have not confirmed this.
I think I will be doing the FAB rebuild listed here on the West website myself to get this thing up and going again. Just hope I can afford all those new tubes!
I’ll post some updates and new information when if find out more. Here is the schematics for the amp, copied from the West Labs website. If anyone could help out with some cool links or information, please leave a comment or email me!!
Here’s the Fillmore’s Schematics:
Click here for full size
UPDATE: 10-28-09
I found a West Avalon at a local guitar shop. They only want $695 for the head and cab! I am really tempted to take a bunch of shit in there to do a partial trade on it and slap the rest on a credit card, why not? They told me that the head and cab both came in separately from different owners, but have close serial numbers. Their guess is that more than likely they were originally sold together when new, got separated, and by luck managed to be brought together once again at their store. The Avalon is in working order and has been professionally cleaned. The cab is the 215 with two 15″ drivers. These guys have this amp priced right, supper rare combo at an amazing price!
here are some pics of it (cell phone):
The amp is located at this store as of 10-27-09 if you want to go buy it:
Fort Wayne Guitar Exchange - fwguitarexchange.com
3411 N Clinton St
Fort Wayne, IN 46805-1823
(260) 471-0200
Here are some links that I’ve found on West Laboratories:
- Website of Dave West (the inventor) - www.westlabs.com be sure to check out the history page.
- I guess West Labs make these guys - www.valvejr.com
- Fucking Grandfunk Railroad played these som’ bitches (and were pretty much the only professional act that used them) - Grandfunk interview (second question) And here is a link to the West Labs site section on Mark Farner
Mark Farner Playing his West
Here is a video of Grand Funk, you can see the Fillmore’s in the background (around 1:12)
- This guy has a Fillmore and uploaded a vid of him playing it with a Webber Mass 200 attenuator on his YouTube page with some good information in the comments.
- This site has some informatio here and here, it’s in another language so you’ll have to use Google Translate or something similar to make out what it says, has pics of the insides (nice point to point wiring!)
- We all know how worthless Harmony Central user reviews are…. but here a link on the reviews anyways (no Fillmore reviews)
September 26th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
[...] Originally Posted by bennieusmaximus I am not very good at this computer stuff yet,but I could probably get my wife to help me out.My enclosure is somthing I made since the orig was junk,but still is cool.I kinda copied off my freinds marshal major.I’ll try to do that as soon as I can.I would really like to se what an orig cab looks like.West’s website does not have a picture or I would have copied off of that for my design. No worries if you can’t get it, I just wanted to know what the original labeling looked like so i can try to reproduce it. Can’t find any photo’s online. I have a little section about all the stuff I’ve found on my website here [...]
October 18th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
you should move the name plates to original locations and scuff up the cabinet covering to make it look old and vintage worn.it looks cooler*
might want to put a round grand funk sticker on it which ebay sell 2 designs.
good luck with your amp.its a asskicker!
November 6th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
i just purchased my 3rd west amp from a cool guy up north.
he gave me a nice deal on it.
*god bless him*
anyone selling any west amp nametags?
November 10th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
So did you get to buy that amp you found? I would love to buy the whole rig. Glad to see there is a passion for these Amps. I own a 1968 Fillmore 200 watt model, best amp I have ever owned. Great site by the way, keep up the good work!
November 10th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Nope, didn’t buy it and probably wont due to that I need to dump all my extra cash into my Fillmore. I bet it’s still there though.
Someone should make name plates for these, you would likely be the only person doing it! Wouldn’t be that hard since they are made out of aluminum, just CNC them.
November 13th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
i asked dave west [who is a quiet guy on the phone]a few times for nametags but he said he does not have any so i made my own.
went to a graphic sign store and he copied the west and the fillmore pics i gave him and he made decals looking like them
then i went to a hardware store and purchased a piece of flat aluminum and cut it as the same size as the decals.
they look great!
November 13th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
now my 3 west amps all have the tags on them that i made in a few hours work.
note***thank you to dave west for designing these great amps***
November 13th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
@jamie That’s awesome, I’d like to talk to him some day and good idea on the name plates. Do you know if he still offers the rebuilds listed on his website? because the email on the site gets no response.
November 14th, 2009 at 5:58 am
i never asked him about rebuilds on his website but i did ask him about making of his amps again and he said hes working on it.
*ben keep this website going.maybe we can start a west amp club*
November 18th, 2009 at 7:57 am
hi ben *can i post a classified ad here?
thank you
December 8th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
I have a West Fillmore circa 68 that I’m taking offers for.
Please, contact me for photos.
Thanks,
David Larew
davidlarew at hotmail dot com
December 16th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
they changed styles,notice gf avalon and one from the fwguitarexchange.my fillmore(200w) is pretty much the same as avalon(100w?) from fwge, cabinet size is most likely different.it says fillmore were that one says avalon.knobs switches grille cloth cord same.the amps made for grand funk might have been different.mine has a inspection date 1971 somewhere on chassie.nut bustin heavy,LOUD and crystal clear.i’ll try the photo thing no promises.too cool for shcool…peace : )
January 21st, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Excellent Article! I personally really like Reel to Reel Tape Recorders. This is some of the best sounding audio gear around. Especially if you go with the old stuff. I like the emotional sound you get.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:08 pm
“2) If the transformer produces the correct voltage at the input to the rectifier (and doesn’t smoke at the rated line voltage), plug that tube into its socket and bring the input voltage up in stages once again. Now measure the B voltages at the rest of the tube sockets (screen voltages too, if you have that info).
3) If the radio passes those tests, then I’d say you’re OK to put the rest of the tubes in and power the entire radio up in stages.”
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:04 pm
“network analyzer, also called packet sniffer, network sniffer , packet analyzer, protocol analyzer. or sniffers.
which is computer software or computer hardware that can intercept and log traffic passing over a digital network or part of a network.[1] As data streams flow across the network, the sniffer captures each packet and eventually decodes and analyzes its content according to the appropriate RFC or other specifications.
Uses
The versatility of packet sniffers means they can be used to:
* Analyze network problems
* Detect network intrusion attempts
* Gain information for effecting a network intrusion
* Monitor network usage
* Gather and report network statistics
* Filter suspect content from network traffic
* Spy on other network users and collect sensitive information such as passwords (depending on any content encryption methods which may be in use)
* Reverse engineer proprietary protocols used over the network
* Debug client/server communications
* Debug
February 4th, 2010 at 2:58 am
Strange this post is totaly unrelated to what I was searching google for, but it was listed on the first page. I guess your doing something right if Google likes you enough to put you on the first page of a non related search.