Gates Radio tube preamps

Gents,

Anyone have any info on these modules. I'm pretty sure they came out of a '60s Gatesway console. They have 2 EF86's and what might be WE trafos. Has anyone played around with these?



Thanks

WE transformers?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! Hilarious.

What, are you getting ready to sell them? WE transformers weren't generally for sale, and they would certainly have been the most expensive possible thing one could buy if they had been offered. And Gates by the 1960's was a cost-cutting operation.

Those are in all of the 1960's Gates consoles. On average they sell in the $50-$75 apiece range. You see the same transformer part #s made by ADC, UTC, and Triad on these. Fixed gain, 40db types, lower output headroom. Very mid-heavy sound, due to the small iron. Good for punk rock guitars. They were also made with 5879 tubes, and there's very little circuit change to accommodate the difference. The traces on the boards lift and break very easily when attempting a re-cap.

PM your email, and I'll see if I have a scan for you.

I have a pair of these preamps, and they sound good. Like emrr says, heavy on mid, but doesn´t sound bad, and nothing sounds quite like it, and that makes it very usable in my studio.

I don´t know who did the iron, but mine looks a lot like some other triads I have, I mean, the case style... The output transformer is really small for a line output transformer. These modules was not meant to drive external lines, but nowadays you can use it wherever you want to. I drive my ADCs with these preamps. If you don´t want so much color, drive it softer. For color, drive it close to the red.