1960's Alamo Dart Guitar Amp: Ressurected from the Dead 

"All God's Amps need love." Love it. Please keep 'em coming; all the best.

This is a lifesaver-I have been working on this exact same model for a friend but could never find definitive info - you have the schematic link , and also great explanation and procedures on what to look for and how to check . It lives now! THANKS! :)

Good to see you all are well, Doug.

I am a hobby builder I can build an amp from scratch. I have never commented on here before although I have been watching your channel about two years and have seen all your videos. The electronics side of what you do here has taught me so much and has made it possible for me to build and also understand what I'm doing. I thank you for that very much and look forward to many more lessons. Your explanations are clear and easy for me to understand again thanks. Tony

This only supports the theory that people who don't have the first clue what their doing should leave well enough alone. Looking at what all you have to fix with this amp scares me. Great job setting things right.

Oh, your videos are like a breath of fresh air in this troubled world.

I was affraid of making tube amp projects (DIY) ,but after i saw your videos , its all make sense to me now. Thank you very much mr. for "open a door".

its so nice to hear a person that is passionate about his hobby or career, I know nothing about electronics but you sound like you would be a great teacher

Wow.. A true amp tech/lover. "All God's amplifiers need Love" and great amplifier work as usual Doug. I seen "Alamo" and had to watch, as it brought back a memory that I'll share with ya'll. When I got into buying and selling amplifiers, I was a bit of an amp snob and only kept what was really high on the want or collector scale and sold/traded what I didn't want. About 30 some years ago a man calls me on the phone to come look at a guitar and amp that he wanted to sell, so I end up in some small highway corner tavern type bar restaurant in rural Nebraska. Just like in the recent movie "Nebraska" with Bruce Dern the actor/man that shot John Wayne in the back, but that's another story. Watch "Nebraska" if you can, it's real as it gets to what's going on, a great movie, imo. Anyway, my girlfriend and I walk in and everyone always turns around to eyeball you (just like in an old western), since everyone knows each other, all the sudden the fella speaks up and approaches us and we find a spot over by the pool table and we chat for a few mins and he shows me the guitar up on the pool table and it's pretty much what I hoped it was and he has a small combo amp already plugged into AC and ready for me to plug the guitar into and I dont recognize the amp, but it says "Alamo" on it and I think it was white, but cannot remember? I was ready to scoot with the guitar, before some highly intoxicated person who didn't like out of towner's was going to make their presence known, lol. Most of us have been there before, lol! Well, he's quite the salesman and wants me to plug in and play a little through the little Alamo amplifier. So, he wants the amp to go with the deal or no deal. So, I plug in and strum a little and about 40 people are watching and he could see that I wasn't overly impressed with the amp and says this, "I know that amplifier sounds like a little tin can, but you plug that gitt-ar into a nice big amplifier and it will really sing" and gives me a wink while taking a swallow of beer. I knew that he was right and he knew that I knew it, so we eventually agreed on a price and my girlfriend pulled me by the coat outta there before I accepted a beer from him, lol. There's no turning back after that and she knew it. Well, the little Alamo sat in with my other little amps and didn't get much use, but looking back, a Tele would have been a great guitar for that amp, as I'm sure it had verb too. It disappeared somewhere along the way of interchanging amplifiers, but as Uncle Doug says.. All God's amplifiers need love". I hope that it found a good home somewhere. I remember reading the label "Made in Texas" too. I got over the amp brand snobbishness many years ago. That poor little Alamo, so I've been saying "Remember the Alamo" for years with a double meaning, truth be told.. It was funny, because I had lived in Texas a few years before this in the Dallas Fort Worth areas and in Houston for a short spell. I wanted to get to the Texas "hill country" area that I've heard so much about, but never did make it there.

Uncle Doug, I miss your videos. I hope that you and the family are well. The Dani-Sonic Tremo-Verb is a huge hit with me and my friends. We love everything about the design. The tone is unbelievable. I owe you a video and I'll admit that I am a bit camera shy... However, I just graduated a Dale Carnegie class and am feeling enthusiastic about completing this goal. I believe that I owe it to you. Stay well, Uncle Doug. The world is better with you in it with us.

Dear Uncle Doug, thanks for the video, unbelievable who messed up this amp so badly. Keep on posting.

Jack looks like my old cat Spiffy... a great cat and a fabulous companion. He is a beautiful animal and your obvious love of your animals makes me think you are a beautiful animal as well

Doug! I am so happy to hear that you and the gang are well! Truly! I'm sure I'm not the only one who's missed you. I really look forward to more videos whenever you're ready.

All your videos need to be saved in some way for the afterworld the day youtube dies. That's how great they are. Thanks for everything Doug, and I hope to see some new uploads from you in the future!

I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to Uncle Doug, Rusty and Jack, who through their combined labors have composed the most concise, informative, and insightful lessons on tube amp theory, design and construction that I have found on the web...These videos continue to inspire me onward and upward. Wishing all of you the best...Darrell B. Winston Salem N.C.

Excellent video! Thank you for taking the time to document your procedure! Very nice tone and the "adjusted" tremolo has a neat "chime" to it, I guess Jack could tell the work would pay off and Rusty seemed to enjoy the treats.

Two reasons they provided isolation transformers for the V1 tube - one is as you mentioned, noise, the other is to provide increased safety in the even the V1 tube's grid shorts to filament internally.

Nice work, Uncle D! I don't know why people who have no idea what they're doing pretend to be amp techs and then wire things up so badly and so poorly that almost every connection in the amp is incorrect. Great work fixing that mess!

......amp mail.....yeah!........"all gods amps need love"...........love that.....nice work, nice sound in the end........your fingers sound limber...........thanks for the show.

Uncle doug - I know you are retired, but, for someone who misses your sage advice and Rusty's nose for the 'real' deal, I hope you may consider, just poppin' in to say hi. I have learned more about amps from you, than anyone else. Miss ya', bud. Thanks from Mike in Fernwood, tonight

Just wanted to say how much I miss your videos. I hope that you, Jack, and Rusty are doing well, and enjoying your time restoring your vintage mechanical conveyance machines. Best wishes to you, Uncle Doug.

There's always that magical feeling to hear the amp fire up after being worked on. I love these vids, but I am not a tech. I am a musician.

I think it is extremely important that you had a cat-scan done before you started this very difficult project. I think it gave you a great deal of insight into the project. Well done, Douglas; well done. And Jack & Rusty, too.

Awesome, resurrection. I love all of my tube amplifiers. These Alamo's are cool.

Fender, Marshall, Weber, Kendrick, The list goes on and on of tube amp gods.If there is hallowed halls of the tube amp gods surely your name will be among them! All Praise Uncle Dougs Wisdom!

We miss you, Uncle Doug, and hope you are well.

Great Video Doug. Great to see Rusty & Jack too.

Very informative, very organised in the approach, extremely elegant .... Thank you

Every time I play your Channel with Jack the Cat comes on My Cat comes over to watch.

Uncle Doug you are truly missed but certainly you must take time to enjoy all of these amazing amp builds - my favorite is the compact bassman amp you built - that build is a work of art

Thanks, the explanation about the voltage drop through the tubes was very helpful.

Another great video, plus ALL DAY AND ALL OF THE NIGHT riff by the KINKS, heaven 🎸

I am always surprised by the amount some are willing to pay to resurrect an old POS amplifier. You do a great job Uncle Doug.

Hello! Very interesting as usual. I don't know if I've mentioned that, back in the late 50s - early 60s, us guitar guys would use an old radio to amplify the signal. We would connect the inner core of the cable (if using co-ax!) to the top pin on the first valve. I don't know exactly how safe that was, but we're still here!

..you may be able to get by without a schematic but you could never get by without Rusty & Jack.🐶🐾

Hey Doug - just stopping by to say hello and hope all is well. Hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday, whatever you celebrate. Hope to see an Uncle Doug video very soon. Say hi to Rusty and Jack. - Ron

I have learned many new tricks watching your videos, thank you very much for sharing what you do and what you know!

you have not posted anything in a very long time. I hope all is well & thank you for your past videos.

Doug: Like many other fans/viewers, I just wanted to check in and wish you well. I look forward to your next project and video.

Wow, nice save! I was surprised seeing that 35W4 rectifier tube. It's a fairly common AA5 radio tube. Kudos to Rusty, Jack & Uncle Doug A.K.A. The Three Amigos!

Couple things... Good video as always. I'm only a few minutes in and apologies if these points have already been brought up. These series filament amps do have fuses actually - they are the filaments themselves. The max mA handling on the filaments is very low already. Any fuse you put in will have to be about 100mA to get below the existing fuses (filaments). I've stopped including the additional fuse in series filament amp repairs I do. As for the other transformer... That is an isolation transformer for the V1 tube probably. Again, apologies if you go on to cover all this, or if it's been discussed already in the comments.

Hi Doug, boy was Jack ever right on this one. Glad Rusty was there to help you on this one. Regards, Dave

Best source for inspiration for electronics project. Cheers from Sweden!

if you made and sold amplifiers, I would buy one because 1, you seem trustworthy. 2, you're knowledgeable. 3 you're a fellow Texan.

I always enjoy your videos and your presentation. I have never commented before although I am subscribed and hit like for each of them. I have a Newcomb G12 1953 amp identical to one that you repaired and had high praise for the quality build. Mine was handed down to me from my Dad and I first used it to play lap steel guitar. It was the only amp while learning electric Spanish guitar. I soon went on to a bigger Fender 40w. I, still have and use a blackface 64 Vibrolux Reverb that I bought new. My Newcomb is an exact copy of the one in your video except it is in pristine shape. Thank again for all of your hard work for us You Tubers. Please keep them coming. You can tell that I LOVE tube amps!

I'm exactly 3 minutes and 3 seconds into this video and I feel better already. Blessings from the Hoosier state Uncle Doug, Rusty and Jack! I must say that is one fine coat of fur you have there Jack! THE SHEEN!!!! Alright then...

I would pay good bread if you provided these videos on a DVD or drive of some sorts. By far my favorite video series on youtube-- would love to have a copy offline for my reference library!

my dog does the same when new pieces arrive to the house. he must analyse every piece. excellent and informative video as always doug. cheers.

RU-vid gold every time. Thank you for your videos

just found you... your videos are fantastic. im just starting my journey to building my own stereo tube amp. so much out there to sort through.

Yeah. Maybe a little was leaking through the neon somewhere. Great video. That was a tough one. You have amazing patience. Thanks again. 🎸

I have one of these amps. will open it up and take a look

This amp sounds great. OK... maybe not much of power, but with a mic or a 0 dB out to PA the sound is incredible. Liked it a lot. Another great video and tech tips. Thank you, Sir.

Great little amp Doug... goes to show what can happen when somebody starts fixing and doesn't have a clue what they are doing. Nice save pal. Carl

Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your knowledge about tube amps and taking the time to produce such well organized and thought out videos. They have provided me a great foundation, and I've began doing simple mods on my own amps. Hope all is well with you, and I eagerly await for more of your videos. Cheers!

Yeah, miss your vids Uncle Doug, but enjoy your retirement, you are the best.

Hey Doug - stopping by to say hello..... hope all is well with you.. Miss your videos very much my friend.. Hope Jack and Rusty are faring well.... Look forward to your return - Ron

Hey Uncle Doug, a friend lent his '70s Alamo Montclair. He wanted to know what I thought of it, and to my surprise I thought it sounded very good. The Montclair had two 6V6 power tubes and I think the Preamp was s.s, but I liked it. I thought it was the best poor man Deluxe Reverb I had ever used. The clean sound with my byrdland was nice. It was made kinda cheap and I liked that too.

Uncle Doug sir,Well done for bringing that amp back to life. sharing the dog biscuits made me think of a madmax moment.very good show indeed

Super fix. You're the man! Yeah, and Jack's the cat with Rusty the dog.

Hi Doug. Very interesting and different amp repair. Thanks

Great video. I learn a lot from these small, simple amps. I would have liked to hear the range of the tremolo, especially slowed down, as I love a slow trek.

Greetings Uncle Doug. At approx 8 minutes when you traced the hot lead through the switch, neon light and found it terminated to the common lead, it reminded me of a time when I was on the job and sent to troubleshoot a Uninterruptible Power Supply because a piece of equipment stopped working when we lost city power. I found the equipment was plugged into the wall outlet, and the UPS was plugged into itself. Good grief! Thanks for another great video.

I cant get enough of this stuff

Hope you are well Doug... Miss your videos - Ron

Amazing restoration Doug !! I was totally surprised to find that the entire amp had been re-wired incorrectly. What could they possibly have been thinking? Basically - their design resulted in a neon lamp circuit and then some miscellaneous amp components hanging on the side - laugh !! I suppose having done this professionally - you've seen enough horrors that this didn't take you by surprise ! But - had I tried to tackle it - it would have taken me a long time to come to grips with the fact that someone actually did all that mess to an amp !!

Beautiful work sir on such a little gem!

Hey Doug, I missed this one when you posted it ... man, what a great adventure and exposition of such. Thanks, and I hope your current and past customers are fans of your channel.

Hope this finds you well. You have provided many fantastic videos on guitar amps. We miss you! Your approach to guitar/electronics repair/building is top self! The best! Since you are retired but have the soul of an 18 year old, you must be busy having fun. You may think you have covered tube amps fully, but there is never enough from the Master! Any more up your sleeve? Stay well. Thankz

I like how things like this can snap from "Oh god, what do I do with this mess?" to "Hey, what's the best I can build with what I've been given?" It goes from being a problem to an opportunity.

Hey Uncle Doug! I would like to wish you, your family, and your pets a happy Thanksgiving. I enjoy your videos and look forward to your next post. Happy Thanksgiving to all the rest of you folks who subscribe to this channel as well.

Missing your videos, Uncle Doug. I hope things are well with you.

Just wanted to thank you very much for teaching me as much as you have ( in the past 24 hours haha). I’ve been binge watching your videos because I’m preparing to build my first Amplifier. I build Guitar amplifiers and JFet based preamps regularly but needless to say work with JFets and working with vacuum tubes are entirely different as one can kill you lol

Nicely done Doug! That butcher job it came with looked like some radio's I've worked on. They're lucky that during their wiring fiasco they managed to keep that pilot light in circuit or they really would have had a surprise when they turned it on. Great job getting it straightened out! I get nervous when a box shows up on my doorstep looking like that. It's been so badly mishandled it's lost all rigidity and feels more like thin leather than a box.

All your stuff is superb and amazing.

We miss you, Uncle

You are a real wizard of tube amps !! I am deeply impressed !! A++++++++

You and your crew are definitely No. 1 on RU-vid!!! Thanks for the great video. Take care!

Love your restoration videos Uncle Doug Greetings to Rusty & Jack!

Great Work Uncle Doug.

Hi Uncle Doug. Outstanding job, figuring out the hack job on that poor Amp. It sounds great !. All my best. Bobby & Molly

Unbelievable how far we've come ... I've just recently opened an iPod Hi-Fi from Apple (2005 vintage) ... absolutely no heatsinking at all on the amp board, and it was screwed directly on top of the power supply ... boggles the mind ...

you are the man uncle Doug. thank you so much for your videos!!! I've learned so much watching you.....

Hey Doug just checking in I hope alls well with you just wanted to wish you all the best. Take care, Pj and Badger

Very educational, beautiful sounding amp!!!

Where have you been? sure miss your videos !!!

another good one, thank's doug & rusty & jack,

Hi Uncle Doug & Rusty & Jack, What a little nightmare that repair turned out to be! I don't understand how the circuit become so screwed up... I think someone had good intentions, trying to install the 3-wire cord, new tremolo caps, and upgrading the speaker. Glad you straightened it out though, as its a good sounding little amp. Happy 2017, Tom

Doug that amp circuit looks like a "Spaghetti western" you did an incredible job on the fix. As always I'm enjoying the precious information you provide. Many thanks, I'm currently creating a Vox AC-15 (1961) circuit and single speaker enclosure

Are you still around, uncle Doug? haven't heard from you for a while. During the summer I tried making a small amp from my junk box, and it worked, though it took me like four days to get it right (First time I get a tube amp to work decently). Learned plenty of stuff from your videos. By the way, it's interesting to see a 12AV6 in a guitar amp. That's a tube you usually see as the AM detector/preamp and AVC diode in tube radios.

I always enjoy your amp restorations. The Cat Scans are a huge plus. Nobody else does that :) I'm pretty impressed with the hum and obvious high grade particle board construction so far :o) Wow... it sounds pretty nice now that you've completely rebuilt it. Nicely done!

Yo uncle Doug.. where you been at.. you had such great informative videos.. please come back to RU-vid :( just built my first amp and couldn't have done it without your videos!!

God Bless Texas, Saw this video on the large LCD Television, via PS3 running sound through stereo, and today I got my moneys worth. Uncle Doug and crew...and an Alamo Dart Amp. What could be a better program to watch while busting sudz Great video, I feel like I got a little bit of your insight on how to approach working on amps, Although I don't know how you found this other schematics of similar designs to help you piece this amp back together. There must be thousands of them and like a needle in a haystack, you found them. Got to say, I'm a little bit impressed. When you opened her up for the first time, (even with my limited knowledge) I looked at her and thought, I hope Uncle Doug knows that aint original... and of course you knew too. LOL I seen those schematics on line and I am glad I was not the only that thought they were confusing, I will for sure come back to see your diagram and do your mod for tremolo. it sounds real good. As you know, on mine I built a custom cab. able to switch speaker cabs and I will tell this. It is a fact. Running through my Silvertone 1484 cab and a tube screamer pedal, This amp is a true contender for ANYTHING! out there. OK, Uncle Doug if you read this far. You know I always got at least one question for you. Here it is. Q: Running my Alamo Dart this way. Will this hurt the amp, or burn up the tube faster or maybe catch Fire? Good to see you again.

Hi Doug, What's keeping you busy these days? Your loyal subscribers are anxiously waiting for your next video ! Hope you're all well.

You are a genius when it comes to amplifiers. Love your videos.

Doug, I just discovered your channel and I just love it. I also realized that you haven't added to your content in quite awhile, I hope you are alright and everything is fine. I hope to hear from you soon.

I get a kick outa watching your video's.... Keep ' em coming!!!

More Videos please. Great Job!

Hope everything is good with you. Please post more videos when you can. 🎛🎙🎚🎼🎸

bringing back bad memories of playing thru practice amps ..!! nice job, Unk Doug .. :)