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© 1996 - 2023 The Vox Showroom, all rights reserved. No use on online auctions, eBay or Reverb.
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The Vox V1021 and V1022 Pacemaker solid-state amplifiers were closely related to the Vox V1031 and V1032 Cambridge Reverb solid-state amps. Both shared the same basic preamp, tone control, |
MRB, tremolo, power amplifier and power supply circuitry. They even shared the same amplifier cabinet and speaker.
The sole difference between the solid-state versions of the Pacemaker and Cambridge Reverb was that the Cambridge had reverb but the Pacemaker did not.
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Chassis
A single steel chassis housed the all of the preamp, power amp and power supply circuitry for either model of the solid-state Pacemaker amps. The chassis was comprised of three pieces: the chassis pan, the control panel and the power amp heat sink.
The stamped and formed steel chassis pan was the backbone of the chassis. It housed the 25-5274-2 printed circuit board assembly. It also supported the T2 power transformer and the 2500 uf main filter cap. This basic chassis pan was also shared with the Vox V1011 Pathfinder, Vox V1031 Cambridge Reverb, Vox V1032 Cambridge Reverb, Vox V1081 Berkeley II, Vox V1083 Berkeley III and V116 Vox Scorpion solid-state amplifiers.
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The second part of the chassis was the control panel, including the controls, jacks and switches. It was fastened to the top of the chassis pan with two machine screws.
The third part of the chassis was the power amp heat sink. The germanium output transistors and the T2 power amp driver transformer were mounted to the power amp heat sink. The power amp heat sink was suspended beneath the main chassis to facilitate air circulation and fastened to the pan with three machine screws.
Building an Entire Amp Line Using Modular Construction and Standardization Techniques
In late 1965, faced with the task of rapidly developing an entire range of solid-state U.S. Vox amplifiers, Thomas engineers aimed for manufacturing efficiency through modular construction and standardization. This style of construction allowed electronic sub-assemblies to be shared by multiple amplifier models. Thomas Organ engineers devised one modular strategy for building their higher powered solid-state guitar amps and a second modular strategy for their smaller solid-state guitar amps.
For their larger amps, Thomas developed a universal preamp printed circuit board (PCB) that would form the basis for a modular preamp and control section for their higher powered amps. This circuit board was given the Thomas part number 25-5222-2. Thomas then developed 30, 60 and 120 watt power amplifier modules to combine with their new universal preamp section.
When the universal preamp section was combined with the 30 watt RMS power amp module, the Viscount and Buckingham amps were created. When the preamp section was combined with the 60 watt RMS power amp module, the Royal Guardsman and Westminster arrived. Adding the 120 watt RMS power amp module to the universal three chanel preamp section formed the Super Beatle.
Thomas Organ then aimed their efforts at an efficient modular strategy for building their smaller amps. Thomas developed a single printed circuit board that would be used in the proposed solid-state Pathfinder, Pacemaker, Cambridge Reverb and the Berkeley II amplifiers. Given the Thomas part number 25-5274-2, this single circuit board consolidated all of the preamp, tremolo, reverb and power amp circuits onto one circuit board.
The Pacemaker offers an excellent example of how this modular construction technique was implemented. The V1021 Vox Pacemaker amp did not include reverb. As a result, the Pacemaker version of the 25-5274-2 PC board omitted the electronic components in the reverb sector. The completed PCB assembly for the V1021 was given the Thomas part number 84-18382-2 (see diagram above).
When the 25-5274-2 board was populated with the electronic components required for the V1031 Cambridge Reverb and V1081 Berkeley II amplifiers, including reverb, the completed circuit board assembly was given the Thomas Organ part number 84-18382-1.
The populated version of the 25-5274-2 circuit board used in the V1011 Pathfinder amp was nearly identical to the preamp board used in the Pacemaker. However, as the Pathfinder did not incorporate MRB, the components related to the MRB circuit were not installed. The Pathfinder circuit board was given the Thomas part number 84-18382-0.
It is also worth noting that Thomas Organ designed some unused circuit traces onto one end of the 25-5274-2 PC board. I suspect that this area of the board might have been under consideration for the future addition of a "Distortion Booster." The unused area of the 25-5274-2 PCB resembles the individual Distortion Booster circuit board (Thomas part number 25-5277-2) installed in the V1141, V1131, V1151 and V1121 preamps.
Several of these unused traces were adapted for use in the E-Tuner circuit that was added to the V1022 Pacemaker and the V1032 Cambridge Reverb in 1967.
Power Supply
The V1021 and V1022 Pacemaker power supply utilized a full wave rectifier using two diodes and a power transformer with a center tapped secondary. Primary DC smoothing was accomplished by a large, vertical 2500 uf filter capacitor. Two additional 500 uf capacitors provided additional smoothing. The main supply voltage was 32 VDC but two series resistors in the power supply provided additional power taps at 28 and 18 VDC.
Power Amplifier
The 18 watt power amplifier circuitry for the V1021 and V1022 Pacemaker models had two stages: driver and output.
Power Amp Driver Circuit - The driver circuit included two transistors and a driver transformer. The power amp driver transistor (Q4) was designed to increase the gain in the preamplifier audio signal. The factory replacement part number for this transistor was 86-5075-2, but Thomas often refered to this transistor simply as "G." It was housed in a TO-3 style "top hat" case. Thomas added cooling fins to ward off heat related failures (see circuit board photo at top of page). The industry standard equivalent part number for this silicon transistor is 2N2219.
The output from the driver transistor was sent to the driver transformer (T1). The driver transformer served two roles. It acted as the phase splitter, sending one half of the audio wave to each output transistor. The driver transformer also isolated the output transistors from spikes coming from the preamp circuitry.
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Power Amp Output Circuit - The power amp output stage of the V1021 and V1022 Pacemaker amps included a pair of germanium output transistors in an OTL (output transformerless) circuit. The output transistors and the T1 driver transformer were mounted to an "L" shaped steel heat sink that was suspended beneath the chassis pan to facilitate cooling.
The commercial use of germanium transistors dates back to the mid 1950's. While germanium transistors were dominant in the design of solid-state devices for the next ten years, dependability was always an issue. They were especially prone to self destruct if they became hot. Early Motorola auto radios equipped with germanium transistors were known to suffer heat related failures in cars when exposed to nothing more than the summer sun with the windows closed. Given this issue and considering that the solid-state Thomas Vox amps were designed in late 1965, it seemed a curious choice to include germanium output transistors in some of their circuits. By this time, stable and dependable silicon transistors were commonly available.
I suspect that the designs for the lower power germanium based
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power amp stages used in these solid-state Vox amps were adaptations of the power amp circuitry used in Thomas organ consoles. The power amp circuit designs used in these organs could easily be several years old, developed prior to the arrival of silicon transistors. Incorporating these pre-existing power amp circuits into the lower powered U.S. Vox amp models (Pathfinder, Pacemaker, Cambridge Reverb, Berkeley II, Berkeley III, Viscount and Buckingham) would save developmental time and engineering costs for Thomas.
The service manuals for the V1021 and V1022 Pacemaker amps offered 86-5089-2 as the factory replacement part number for the germanium output transistors in these amps. These internal Thomas parts numbers became meaningless after Whirpool closed the Thomas Organ parts warehouse in 1979. However, matched pairs of replacement germanium output transistors for the Pacemaker are still available from NTE Semiconductors under their part number NTE-121MP. Search the web to find an NTE dealer near you.
MRB
In addition to tremolo, the V1021 and V1022 Pacemaker included an effect called "MRB, or "Mid Resonance Boost." MRB accented mid frequencies by passing the preamp signal through a tuned "LC" (coil/capacitor) circuit.
The MRB circuit provided in the Pacemaker was a simplified version of the MRB circuit originally designed for the three channel Viscount, Buckingham, Royal Guardsman and Super Beatle amplifiers. MRB was included in the second, or "Brilliant" channel of these amps. A three position rotary switch on the rear control panel allowed the selection of one of three capacitor values for the tuned LC circuit. By varying the value of the capacitor in the LC circuit, the mid range boost frequency would be centered at either 450, 600 or 750 hz. The MRB effect was actuated either by a control panel rocker switch or by the remote foot pedal.
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