Fisher SA 100-anyone rewind power transformers?

[Greg Nal]

I have this SA 100. A while back, I gave it to my tech who said the PT was bad. At that time, I had contacted Transcendar, a guy on the Central Coast of CA who rewinds them, and he quoted me a fee, but shortly thereafter closed down his shop.

I know I've read about people who do this-any recommendations? Alternatively, who would I turn to to have a comparable one built, if that's possible? I'd prefer not to part this out-intact with cage and all.

 

[mcgjohn]

since its the Power transformer, I would contact Hammond Mfg and see what they have that is close.

 

[Bill Ashton]

Mercury Magnetics used to...they rewound a real oddball PT for my little (English-made) Vox AC4, great job. Now they make a number of repro trannies for guitar amps, maybe they still do restore work?

Edit: Yes they do! Mercurymagnetics.com
Chatsworth, CA

 

[John Ess]

Definitely better to take a look for a replacement. +1 for Hammond...Edcor too.

 

[Tom Bavis]

Hammond 273BX is close - voltages slightly different, so a resistor or two might change. Edcor XPWR096 would also work, lower voltage, but you could eliminate the dropping resistors and their heat (but it's blue!).

<edit for posterity> Those are upright transformers - a horizontal one: Hammond 290D2X

 

[nerdorama]

I've had Heyboer make custom power transformers in the past. Not sure if they still will do it.
JOhn

 

[Greg Nal]

All great suggestions. Thanks so much!

 

[jayclick]

I worked with Heyboer to wind a more rugged power tranny for my Dynaco PAS Unlimited and couldn't be more pleased....

 

[brendanauth]

Heyboer rewound me a PT for a Marantz Model 20 a few months ago, they did a great job and were quick and responsive.

 

[zackthedog]

Heyboer rewound me a PT for a Marantz Model 20 a few months ago, they did a great job and were quick and responsive.

Heyboer are very, very good winders. I always hesitate a bit to recommend them, only because their wait times can be a b it excessive, but the results are excellent. I'm glad to hear you had a good experience!

 

[Greg Nal]

A member is looking at new replacement options in his stash, reached out to Mercury Magnetics and Heyboer, so fingers crossed. Thanks all for great suggestions.

G

 

[zackthedog]

A member is looking at new replacement options in his stash, reached out to Mercury Magnetics and Heyboer, so fingers crossed. Thanks all for great suggestions.

G

You have a to be kind persistent with Heyboer. I would call and ask for Arlen and talk to him about what you need.

 

[Greg Nal]

Mercury Magnetics said they'd be able to rewind it to exact specs, but cost will be close to $500, about 2.5-3X the cost of a replacement. They said the process of "teardown one wind at a time and blueprint as we go, then rewind with new magnet wire to exact spec using original core material" is the reason for extra costs, with about a 5 month waiting period. That is quite a bit more than I had hoped to spend. They suggested the Fender Tweed Bassman trafo as a close approximation at $187. Hard to justify the cost as I already have a perfectly restored original SA-100 in the stable.

I purchased a comparably spec'd Stromberg Carlson trafo from @Tom Bavis who suggested a rework of the amp with EFB per D Gillespie mods suggested in his restoration thread. I may do that with input from @Dave451 from his excellent SA-100 Clone thread based on DG's original report from 2012. It'd be fun to do a shootout of original and clone once completed, and this one has original output transformers so the comparison should be equivalent.

Still waiting on Heyboer, will call Arlen on Thursday when I'm off and report back.