Some Of The Weird Amplifiers That I Have Had The Pleasure To Have Known

 

I'm the kid with the Stratocaster

I started playing guitar when I was 13 years old.  Shortly afterward I began hanging out at the local music stores to take lessons and check out the new guitars and amplifiers. If I wasn't able to get there, I would call the stores bugging the heck out of the salesmen hoping they would tell me all about the latest gear. 

This past year I’ve had to rely on the internet since many music stores have temporarily closed, and I am leery to visit those that are still open. I’m doubtful if Guitar Center sanitizes all those guitar necks and the strings. I hope I'm wrong. I don't know if one can catch COVID from playing guitars that others have touched, but I ain't taking any chances.

Through the years I have come up close and personal with some of the most unusual guitars and amplifiers ever created. Sometimes I shake my head and ask myself, “who in the world came up with this idea?” So here are a few amplifiers that I’ve had the pleasure to have known. 

1969 Fender Bantam Bass

Around 1971 I came across this seemingly normal looking Silverface Fender amplifier at a local music store. It is called The Fender Bantam Bass amplifier. From outward appearances it looked like a Fender Bassman in a combo enclosure. 

Back of The Bantam Amp

The obvious difference from the amp's front was the addition of a mid-range control that is not found on a Bassman. However if you looked at the back of the amplifier you found this very weird 15" trapezoidal Styrofoam coned speaker which was manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation.

I am told these speakers were not very dependable and frequently blew out when the amp's 30 watts were pushed to hard. However if you are looking for a bargain, and are willing to swap out the speaker these amps are a bargain and selling for around $700, which is muchless than the price most vintage Silverface Fender amps are going for these days. 

Acoustic Image Contra bass amp

Earlier this decade Jazz guitar and bass players were looking for a small dependable amplifier. The Acoustic Image Company was founded by a sound engineer. The company makes amps that are very compact, loud, and can be easily transported in a backpack. 

Acoustic Image Contra amp

The original Contra Series Bass amp pumped out 300 watts into a 5" front firing" driver, and a 10" "down firing" driver that was located on the base of the amplifier. Yes, the speaker faced the floor. This amp came with two little feet that elevated the amp's front end a wee-bit to allow the sound to bounce off the floor. 

On the other end of the spectrum was an amplifier created by the Ampeg Company for Jazz guitarist Johnny Smith. Not enough can be said regarding Smith's contribution to the Jazz guitar. His style is still taught and studied. 

Johnny Smith
Ampeg JS-35

Through his career Smith utilized several amplifiers, but perhaps the most unusual was his "Fountain of Sound" Ampeg model JS-35. This 35 watt guitar amp came with high, volume, treble and bass controls, three inputs, an off-standby-power switch, and a 15' Ampeg speaker. 

Johnny Smith Ampeg JS-35

The odd thing was that the amplifier was designed with four detachable legs so the amp lay flat like a table. The speaker pointed straight up supposedly allowing the sound to flow around like "a fountain of sound". The amplifier never really caught on with the public. Smith later endorsed a different amplifier that he sold through his music store.

When the Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, every adolescent in the United States wanted to be a rock star. Companies scrambled to get guitars from any source they could. The Sears company was already ahead of the game since they owned The Harmony Company, which built guitars and other stringed instruments for Sears and other retailers. Sears which sold musical instruments under the Silvertone brand also shopped out their amplifiers to several manufacturing companies. One these manufacturers was the Danelectro company who offered two different models of guitar cases which had built in amplifiers as early as 1963.

Silvertone 1448/1449

The 1448/1449 model included either a one pickup (1448) or two pickup (1449) guitar that came with an amplifier in the case. The amp had a 5" speaker, a single volume control, a single input, an on/off switch, a rectifier tube, a power tube, and a preamp tube. It probably put out 3 to 4 watts. The guitar/amp retailed for an affordable $67.95. 

Silvertone 1457

The model 1449/1457 included a two pickup Danelectro made Formica guitar, but with a much better amplifier built into the case.  This amplifier contained an 8" speaker, along with a rectifier tube, two 6V6 power tubes, and a 12AX7 preamp tube, The controls included a volume, and a tone control, and two tremolo controls; strenght and speed. This amp had two inputs, and an input for a footswitch fo the tremolo effect, and an on/off switch. It came with a larger transformer. It pumped out a little more power, probably 8 to 10 watts. It sold for $99.95 for the guitar and amp combination. 

Remember the Fender bass amp with the Yamaha Styrofoam speaker that I just wrote about?  

TA90, TA60, TA30, & TA20

In 1970 the Yamaha Corporation offered a whole series of amplifiers that included trapezoidal Styrofoam speaker baffles. To make things even weirder, these amps came in triangular wedge shapes. The Yamaha TA series included the TA20, TA30, TA60, TA90, and TA120 solid-state amplifiers. 

1970 Yamaha TA30

The TA30 was enclosed in the wedged shape cabinet with the control panel on the amplifiers top and the inputs were on the side. The amplifier section was housed at the cabinet's base, with the speaker mounted above it. The TA30 was a 30 watt twin channel amplifier. 

Yamaha TA60

The speaker was supposed to represent the shape of a human ear. To me that is a stretch of the imagination. These speakers were used in Yamaha organs of the day. The TA20 amplifier was a single channel version with a smaller speaker. 

The TA60 pumped 60 watts of power into two of the Styrofoam speakers. The TA90 consisted of a PE90 head, and the TS90 cabinet which housed three Styrofoam speakers. 

Yamaha TA120

The Yamaha TA120 was a stereo amp that housed two 60 watt amplifiers and four Styrofoam speakers. This amp was mounted on a detachable roller dolly. I have come across only a few of these TA amplifiers since they were a short-lived venture. 

I remember being a 13 year old kid waiting to take my guitar lesson at Dodd's Music Store in Kentucky. The store had been a jewelry store, but when the guitar craze hit the owner decided to dedicate the store to guitars and amplifiers. 

Magnatone M15A

One of the amps that caught my attention was a Magnatone M15A amplifier. These amps were different than the Fender models that store stocked. The top of these amplifiers appear to be made of a plastic material. 

M15 Control Panel

The two channel control panel had a silver appearance and was laid out much differently than Fender amps of 1964. 

This particular model housed two 12" speakers. It had a wheat colored grill cloth that went around the sides of the amplifier. 

Magnatone M15

Another model in the store was the M15 which had three 8" speakers, one of which was dedicated for reverb.

Lonnie Mack with Magnatone
and Fender amps. 

What I didn't know at the time was that my guitar hero, Lonnie Mack, used one of these amplifiers to get his sound.  He paired it up to drive a Fender Bandmaster.These Maganatone amplifiers had true vibrato, which actually frequency modulation vibrato, which shifted the pitch, as opposed to Fender's version; Tremolo; which interrupted the signal. 

Originally Magnatone was marketing their amplifiers to accordion players, but the stereo vibrato made a wonderful guitar effect. (In later year Lonnie Mack used a Roland JC120 with additional speakers, since it was a louder and more roadworthy amplifier).  

Mike Matthews
Electro-Harmonix

One of the music businesses most flamboyant business owners is Mike Matthews, who is the founder of Electro-Harmonix, the company that is famous for all those great guitar pedals. Around 1971 Matthews determined the need for a battery powered amplifier to be used at venues that did not have access to electricity. 

The only battery powered guitar amplifier available at the time was the 3 watt Pignose. 

Mike Matthews
Freedom Amp

Matthews came up with the Mike Matthews Freedom Amplifier. These amplifers were available in three versions; a guitar amplifier, a bass guitar amplifier, and a PA system. All were available in three power options, AC, AC/DC, and DC only. 

Mike Matthew Freedom Amp

The guitar amp, which is the only one I am acquainted, with, pumped 55 watts of power into a heavy duty 10" CTS speaker. It is covered with black Tolex, with black grill cloth.  There were three control knobs; Volume, Tone, Bite, two inputs and an on/off switch. This little beast ran off of 40 - D cell batteries.

Can you believe it!  40 D - Cells! 

Matthews Freedom Amp

The amp sold for around $200 when it first was offered. It ran on transistors on a circuit board, and was wired to the transformer and speaker.  At the time most stores sold D batteries in a twin pack for $1.25. Forty batteries would run $50.00 and they probably would last only six to eight hours. It was not very practical.

Mike Matthews
Dirt Road Special

Later on Matthews came out with a similar amp that ran on AC power.  This was The Mike Matthews Dirt Road Special. This amp pumped 25 watts into 12" Celestion speaker. It had only one input, a Volume, Tone, and Bite control. The neat this was that it came with a built in Small Stone Phaser that had a Rate control.  All for $250 in 1977.

The Small Stone was a popular effect at the time. Once again the amp was covered with black Tolex, and had a black grill cloth. 

1990's Matthews
Freedom Amp

Around 1990 an updated version of the Matthews Freedom Amp came out in a smaller version with a pine cabinet, a printed circuit board, and a wall charger.  

2019 Dirt Road Special

The Dirt Road Special was also updated and offered in 2019. Power rating for the reissue is 40 watts RMS, and the amp has built-in reverb instead of a phase shifter.

Over the years I have come across a lot of amplifiers and owned a few. I cannot say these were my favorites, but they were certainly were the most unusual.

Click on the links under the pictures for sources. Click on the links in the text for further information.

©UniqueGuitar Publication 2020 (text only)

        

Here is the original recording of Lonnie Mack's Memphis through his Magnatone amp.