DUSTING OFF A PIGNOSE G40V BY JEFF BOBER
Dear Amp Man,
Please write a column about the Pignose G40V. I have not
used mine in five years, so I’m curious what’s necessary to
get it up and running. Also, please discuss any mods, like a
standby switch or speaker/line out. I have replaced the factory speaker with an Eminence Legend. Also, what are your
thoughts on converting the G40V to a head, since its cabinet
is so small? Thanks!
—John Mitchell, Escondido, CA
Hi John,
Surprisingly, I don’t believe
a G40V has ever crossed my
bench over the years, but I did
some research and found that
these inexpensive, all-tube amps
are a great little find. You get a
40-watt, dual-6L6, 1x10 combo
for not much money—very
cool. The G40V was designed
for Pignose by Dennis Kager,
who many amp freaks know
from his days with Ampeg,
as well as his own company,
Sundown. Cooler yet! The basic
circuit is pretty simple and very
similar to an early master-vol-
ume Marshall. In other words,
choosing on the front panel
next to the power switch.
Connect these two red leads to
a left and right set of terminals
on the switch. From the other
left and right set of terminals
on the switch back, run a new
pair of wires to the initial
circuit-board connections. You
now have a standby switch to
save those tubes.
The all-tube Pignose G40V in
its compact, portable glory.
You mentioned add-
ing a standby switch,
and I think that’s a
good idea. Vacuum
tubes should be at
operating tempera-
ture prior to having
high voltage applied
to them, and I’m sure
its omission on this
amp was purely a
price-point issue.
it’s a good candidate for a bit
of modification. But let’s get to
your initial questions first.
An amp that has been sit-
ting this long is more than
likely going to need a bit of
electrical cleaning. You’ll need
to invest in a couple of cans of
electronic cleaner—one with
lubricant and one without.
Clean the input jack and the
pots with the lubricant cleaner.
Clean the tube sockets with
cleaner only. Due to limited
space, I won’t go into clean-
ing details right now, but I’m
sure you can find instructions
online if you need them.
JEFF BOBER, one of
the godfathers of the
low-wattage amp revolution, co-founded and was
the principal designer
for Budda Amplification.
Jeff launched EAST
Amplification in 2010, and he can be
reached at pgampman@gmail.com.
