is this the first hilgen?

6/22/2013

This amplifier was advertised as a Sano 16WR. I knew that that could not be true. The seller also suggested that it might be a Hilgen. I thought that was extremely likely. So far as I know, Sano never used this style of grille cloth, nor did it affix the brass coat of arms at the lower right corner of the grille. On the other hand, Hilgen used this grille cloth 100% of the time, and very frequently used the coat of arms. I have never seen the coat of arms on any amp other than a Hilgen.

And yet on another hand:

The control panel does not bear the Hilgen logo. Nor does it use the Sano logo. However, Sano did, on several models, place a chevron above the inputs.

And...

The wiring bears similarities to that on both early 60's Sanos and Hilgens, although it uses components that I have seen in many Hilgens but few Sanos.

However, there's no arguing with:

V.2 is an ECC82 rebranded as a Hilgen 12AU7A. All the tubes are of similar appearance with respect to their age, and all appear original.

The amp is a challenge to date thus far. Remarkably, I have found no date codes or any other identifying information on the speaker. The pot codes are atypical. They begin with the code, "CM25880." The internet reveals no EIA code that matches it. Following that code are the numbers, "6430." Typically, that would indicate that the pot was made in the 30th week of 1964, which coincides well with my working timeline for when Jack Gentul started Hilgen.

I wonder if Jack wired this himself? It's beautiful workmanship.

More to follow.

6 Comments

Jack Hester

6/22/2013 09:59:47 pm

That's amazing. Thanks for posting the pictures. The layout of the panel, and the neatly built circuit have all the appearances of the Troubadour that just arrived. I confirmed that the speaker in mine is original to the amp. A CTS that dates it to '66. Looking forward to more.

Jack

James

6/26/2013 10:14:49 am

Wow! I bet it sounds just a beautiful as it looks! What a find!

John Bannon link

6/26/2013 10:31:05 pm

Although her sound currently reflects her internal age (she'll probably need a cap and perhaps some tube replacements), she already sounds excellent. Although this, too, could be just a reflection of her aging components, the guitar input has considerably higher gain and also more harmonics than the accordion input. (Often the accordion input on Hilgens offers the most harmonically rich sound.) Perhaps this one was consciously designed to appeal to guitarists. Given that the amp was made in 1964, that would be a reasonable orientation for the era of the British Invasion.

Tim Boulette

6/28/2013 12:50:05 am

I'd be a little surprised that the higher gain was intentional in 1964, unless Mr. Gentul was quite a bit ahead of the curve compared to his contemporaries (which, given these are also designed for accordion, I doubt!). There were few (white) musicians recording with much if any overdrive at this point.

Still, these pictures a great! This looks like an amp that would be a good choice to try to make a clone of, if one could reasonably source some appropriate transformers.

John C. Bannon link

6/28/2013 10:14:14 am

Tim's point is well taken to the extent that the word "gain" is used synonymously with "overdrive," which is a common use of the word. I meant "gain" in a more traditional sense: the ratio of the signal output to the signal input. The signal output produced through the guitar input is not distorted; it simply has a higher subjective decibel level compared to the signal output from the instrument and accordion inputs. In other words, I'm being boring.

Gary Cox

5/27/2014 12:24:50 pm

I just bought a Hilgen R2225 at sale for 20.00 dolars. So far it seem nobody knows how amps were made. This is a three tube amp,it seems like those who have this amps 4tube. I beleave i have found a rare one,and take guess they didnt make that many.To me the story ads value,

is this the first hilgen?

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John Bannon

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