One more vintage S&W siren to my collection

[cromwell]

Just bought this Smith & Wesson Magnum VB siren to my collection.

I really like these S&W sirens!

Now I have in my collection the following S&W sirens:

Magnum III

Magnum IV A

Magnum IV B

Magnum V B

Model 800

 

[Wailer]

You're lucky to find a Magnum III and a Magnum Vb.  I've seen pictures of a Magnum V that was branded as a Magnum 500 (probably and earlier version).

The Magnum III is the holy grail that I'm searching for. 

The early Smith & Wesson Magnum sirens (with the large pushbuttons) sound very close to the late 1960s Federal Director and Interceptor electronic sirens (PA15A series 1B, 1C, 1D, and PA20A series 2B, 2C, and 2D).  I love the deep low-pitched slow rising wail tone and voice-like 'wah wah wah' yelp. 

 

[cromwell]

Are the Magnum III and Magnum Vb a lot more rare than the Magnums IVa and IVb?

 

[JennyCop]

Very nice find!

 

[Wailer]

Are the Magnum III and Magnum Vb a lot more rare than the Magnums IVa and IVb?

As far as I know the different versions are as follows:

Magnum III (large pushbuttions), Magnum IIIa and Magnum IIIb (small pushbuttons); wail and yelp tones, no PA

Magnum IV (large pushbuttons), Magnum IVa and IVb (small pushbuttons); wail and yelp tones

Magnum V (or 500) (large pushbuttons), Magnum Va and Vb (small pushbuttons); wail, yelp, and hi-lo tones

Magnum 600 (large pushbuttons), later version with small pushbuttons; wail, yelp, and hi-lo tones, rocker switches for light control

I have a Magnum IV and a IVb.  The IV was made in the early 1970s and sounds like my late 1960s Federal Director and Interceptor sirens.  The Magnum IVb was likely made in the early 1980s and sounds closer to a General Electric Power Call / Siren. 

The early Magnum sirens with the large pushbuttons would be more rare than the later ones with the small pushbuttons.

 

[tsquale]

Very cool find. I have only seen a few S&W sirens, ever.

 

[Skip Goulet]

Tony: If you like the S&W sirens, you might like to find one of their Sonic Sirens.  The Sonic Sirens were built in N.J. by a subdivision of Smith and Wesson.   The Sonics are deep-pitched and have a very slow wail rate, and he hi-lo will rattle your brain.  We used one on our '75 Type II Chevy van and I really liked it. These are basic sirens with no PA or radio amp.   We paid $150 new for the one we had back in 1985.  I found one a year or so ago thru this board and really like it.

Something similar that I haven't found in a long time is the Vista Siren.  Like the Sonic, they had a slow wail rate and were 100-watts. The Sonic came in both 58 and 100-watt versions.  The Vistas were very plain-looking but were quite loud.

 

[EVPP.COM / STLJN]

I did some digging last night and found this beauty! I almost forgot I had it.

 

[Skip Goulet]

We had one of those years ago on an ambulance. It backed up the PA200 and the Q on the unit.  I hated the wail on that thing, but the yelp, hi-lo and airhorn were just fine.

 

[cromwell]

You had like 3 sirens on one ambulance? That´s a lot of sirens on just one vehicle!

In Europe we have mostly 1 siren and approximately 2.

 

[Skip Goulet]

Right.  We had the two electronics and a Q.  The light bar was from Trippe. It was one of their wide bars and had two big Trippe S200 beacons. These were 2-lamp lights with large PAR46 aircraft sealed-beams.  There were two CP100 speakers on the bar to power the PA200 siren and one behind the grille for the S&W siren.

But if you think that's a lot, you would've freaked if you ever saw my friend Henry Jackson' ambulance, Cromwell.  It was a '61 full-sized Pontiac ambulance.  When he first bought it, it came with a roof-mounted Q and three beacons: 2 red two-lamp beacons flanking the Q siren and a 4-lamp Dietz 211-WW "hill light" behind the Q.  But to this he added: a Federal 77GB doubletone siren on the right fender; an SA24 speaker on the left fender powered by an PA15 Director siren; and twin Fireball lights: one red, one blue, over the rear door.   You could really see that one coming and going!

 

[cromwell]

That Jacksons ambulance must have sounded like there was coming about 5 emergency vehicles down the street!!! =)

But with that many buttons to manouver on different sirens you may loose concentration on the traffic and the road...

 

[RES347CUE]

NICE SCORE

 

[Skip Goulet]

It wasn't difficult at all.  The Q ran off the horn button and the 77G had a foot button.  Since I wasn't running both at the same time (the old electrical system wouldn't handle that), I would run one and then the other.  And of course, I could set the Director where I wanted it.

One of the ambulances I had a few years later for my standby service was a red '66 Olds Seville ambulance.   I had a Q roof-mounted and a PA200 with a grille-mounted speaker.

One night we were transporting in to the then-Methodist Hospital, which took us in on Indiana Ave., a north/south thoroughfare.  I just happened to have my handheld scanner turned on sitting on the front seat.  I heard a police unit ask where the fire dept was running on the southside.  The dispatcher told him that the fire dept wasn't going anywhere, and the cop replied, "Well, there's a lot of sirens going out this way."  Another unit reported seeing a "big red ambulance" coming on Indiana.  Another just had to chime in, "Oh that's just Skip and his bunch coming in from one of the races.  Nothing to worry about!"   I thought that was funny.

 

[Wailer]

One of the ambulances I had a few years later for my standby service was a red '66 Olds Seville ambulance.   I had a Q roof-mounted and a PA200 with a grille-mounted speaker.

I could live with the sound of a Q on a 1960s pro-car ambo, but not one of those high-pitched Federal electronic sirens from the 1970s.   If I had to drive that car I would use just use the Q.

If it had a S&W Magnum siren in place of the PA200, I'd set the S&W to yelp and run the Q at the same time.  That would sound neat.

 

[Skip Goulet]

I could live with the sound of a Q on a 1960s pro-car ambo, but not one of those high-pitched Federal electronic sirens from the 1970s.   If I had to drive that car I would use just use the Q.

If it had a S&W Magnum siren in place of the PA200, I'd set the S&W to yelp and run the Q at the same time.  That would sound neat.

Years after that '66 Olds was history I had a 1967 Pontiac Consort  ambulance we got in Oklahoma. Now here's what you'll like!  When we first got the car it had an old 6-volt 28 siren underhood, which we had to use gingerly.  But I had gotten our first Vista siren and used a Federal GR100 speaker behind the grille. Once that was in place we replaced the old 6-volt siren with a roof-mounted Super Chief.   One night I was driving south on Ave. Q in Lubbock, which is a north-south thoroughfare that goes through downtown and then heads south.   I happened to look up and see an sheriff's unit coming south "hot" behind me, so I lit up my unit and let loose on both sirens, with the Vista on yelp, and held the intersection for the deputy. As he passed me, he looked at me and feigned pain to his ears, and then motioned for me to follow him.   Turns out that he was headed out to a structure fire in the county.  Once on the scene and when he could talk to me, he had to comment on how much he loved the deep roar of the Super Chief, which actually hurt his ears, but was amazed at the slow, deep pitch of the Vista on yelp.  He said that's why he wanted me to follow, because with that sound power, no one would get in his way! :lol:

 

[Skip Goulet]

One thing I didn't think to mention when Cromwell was amazed by the "load" of sirens on the Jackson ambulance.

In 1966 the Tyler, TX Fire Dept. bought a spanking-new white over red Pontiac station wagon ambulance.  The conversion was done by the Gordon K. Allen Co. in Dallas: the parent company of the too-short-lived Modular Ambulance Corp, whose ambulances were seen on Emergency!

The Tyler fire chief had the ambulance equipped with five Dietz 211 beacons: all four corners and center rear, with the center beacon mounted on an elevated stanchion.

But the sound package is what amazed a lot of people for many years.  The chief demanded that the ambulance be equipped with three Qs, and all three Qs had to have different pitches.  The salesman at the time for GKA was my late, good friend Travis (Festus) Hagen.  Travis told the story of how he and the chief took every single Q that GKA had in stock and went outside the city in a deserted area, and one-by-one went through every Q until the chief got the three separate pitches that he wanted.   To power all of that: five beacons and three Qs, the car was retrofitted with twin high-output alternators and twin batteries.

The one and only time I got to see (and ride in) that ambulance was in 1973 after it had been traded back to GKA and then bought by Gold Star Ambulance of Clovis, NM.   Sad thing was that by the time Gold Star got the car, the two "extra" Qs had been removed, so it only had the one when I got to ride in it.