Some Amplifiers That I Have Had The Pleasure To Have Known

 

Typical Music Store

I have been learning about guitars and amplifiers since I started playing at age 13. Through the years I have been to many, many music stores and bugged many salespeople with questions about the latest new thing, Along with the electric guitar and bass guitar, the amplifier is crucial in shaping the instruments sound. Over the years I have owned a few.

RCA Tube Manual

Guitar and bass amplifiers have come a long way over the years when I started in 1965 repair manuals. These earliest tube amplifiers were based on modified versions of schematics from RCA, which was a US manufacturer of vacuum tubes that at the time were mostly used for radios. The transistor was to be the next big thing, though it took some time to perfect usable sounds. This morphed into the Integrated circuit and then computer technology which begot modeling amplifiers. Thus ends the lesson of the day. 

Western Auto Store

My first amplifier was one that I purchased at a Western Auto Store. Aside from automobile parts, this store carried a line of guitars and amplifiers which were made by The Kay Guitar Company or Valco..

Kay Model 803

In 1964 for only $39.95 I purchased a Kay Model 803 guitar amplifier. It put out a mere 3 to 4 watts of RMS power through an 8” speaker. The amp utilized 3 tubes, a rectifier, a power tube, and a preamp tube. It only came volume/on/off control and tone control. I still have this amplifier, but put a new speaker and changed the Tolex on it years ago.

The White Building
was Dodd's Music

Dodd’s Music in Covington, Kentucky went out of business many years ago. In the mid 1960's it had been my favorite music store and hang out. Before turning their inventory to mainly guitars and amplifiers it was a popular Jewelry store. This store carried the very latest in guitars and amplifiers from the mid to late 1960's. They were a dealer for Magnatone amplifiers. 

1964 Magnatone M9

I was fascinated by the Magnatone M9 Guitar Amplifier. It was housed in what looks like a molded plastic cabinet. The Magnatone Company has a very interesting history. This model of amplifier was created when the Estey Organ Company purchased Magnatone and was one of the more well-appointed and most versatile tube amps ever made. 

1964 Magnatone M9

Both channels, listed as one and two have Volume, Tone and contour controls..’ Channel One has  the truly amazing Magnatone true pitch shift Vibrato (Speed and Depth controls). This is a stereo amplifier.

If you’ve never heard real Vibrato (Fenders and other amps used Tremolo, which is volume shifting, and labeled them Vibrato), however Magnatone amps actually shift pitch. 

Lonnie Mack's original set up

During the early part of his career Lonnie Mack  played through a Magnatone M9 amp. Since the amp lacked volume, at 35 watts and had a 15" speaker and a 3" tweeter. Lonnie used a direct box made by his friend Gene Lawson, 

This arrangement dropped the Magnatone output to line level and then fed it into a Fender  Tube Reverb unit, then into a Fender Bandmaster to increase volume when he was playing live. 

Supro Thunderbolt Amp

The 1965 Supro Thunderbolt S6420 Combo Amp was marketed as a bass guitar amplifier, but as I recall when my friend tried one out at a gig and cranked it up, this amp rattled and distorted like crazy. This was definitely not a good thing at all for a bass player. However as a guitar amp, the Supro Thunderbolt rocked. 

The Thunderbolt was a very basic amplifier having only two control knobs; Volume and Tone, reminiscent of like a larger version of The Fender Blues Junior. 

Supro Thunderbolt Amp

The Thunderbolt put out 35 watts of full-range sound of honest midrange into a nice vintage  tube tone. The Thunderbolt was great for everything from clean jazz to twang, to humbucker grind. 

As previously mentioned this amp was rated at 35 Watts RMS due to its vintage Supro dual 6L6 power tubes. 

A 5U4 rectifier tube is employed to deliver high-powered vintage sag. The preamp section was made up of a pair of 12AX7 RCA tubes. The amp had Normal and Hot input options for a wide range of available gain depending on how loud it was cranked. 

Turned all the way up, the Thunderbolt exhibits nearly zero noise, and it puts out enough volume to be easily heard on large venue and theater stages, with overdrive completely controlled by the guitar’s volume knob. 

As a plus the Thunderbolt has a singe 15" Jensen C15P Speaker. This amp had a gray speaker baffle covering and "blue rhino hide" cabinet covering. This amp was manufactured by the Valco company. These amps are available, but are very expensive on the vintage market. 

1970 Fender Bantam Bass

One of the weirdest and most unusual amps that I have ever encountered was The Fender Bantam Bass amplifier. This creation was put together by the engineers at CBS. And much like the Supro Thunderbolt, this amp was better suited for guitar, except for the extremely weird trapezoidal shaped Styrofoam Yamaha speaker. What were they thinking? 

Allow me to explain. Bill Schultz worked for the Yamaha Corporation. When CBS was ready to sell off Fender, Bill and a team of investors purchased the company renaming it Fender Musical Instrument Company. Mr. Schultz still had connections through Yamaha. Perhaps it was Mr. Schultz' connection to Yamaha that accounts for the weird Styrofoam speaker. 

Bantam Bass Speaker??

The amp section was essentially a version of the Silverface Fender Bassman head, but in a combo form. It employed the same tone circuit and pumped out 40 watts RMS into that 15” polystyrene speaker, which in most cases blew out. The cabinet was the size of a Fender Super Reverb. The Bantam Bass amp even came with tilt-back legs. 

Most owners removed the Yamaha speaker and replaced it with a practical 15” paper-coned speaker. In the 1970's Yamaha offered a series of amplifiers with this same speaker.

My Old Band  With Vox AC100

Much like a lot of teens, my friends and I put together a garage band in 1966. We had assembled a fairly respectable amount of equipment, a Super Reverb and a Black faced Bassman. I was playing guitar through a 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb. Our drummer wanted bigger, louder, and better for me, so we rented a Vox AC100 amplifier. 

It sure looked impressive. That amp was large, heavy, and was one that The Beatle used. Electronically it was a just very basic amplifier. 

1966 Vox AC100

The single channel head produced 80 class A watts of power into it’s massive speaker cabinet that  contained four 12 inch Vox speakers and two hi frequency horns. . Controls were simple, Volume, Treble, Bass, On/Off switch, and a power selector for US and European power supplies. It also came with its own chromed aluminum ‘trolley’. This was Vox's answer to the Fender Dual Showman. 

 

In 1965 the British based Vox inked a deal with the US based Thomas Organ company. The Vox UK company was not a large enoughg to keep up with the demands for its amplifiers. 

So Thomas Organ produced a line of solid-state guitar and bass amplifiers using the Vox logo and Thomas proprietary organ technology. The company offered quite a line up of amps of differing sizes and power. Most all were based on the same schematics with modifications. 

Vox V114 
Super Beatle

The largest and most impressive amplifier was The Vox Super Beatle or V114 . It was rated at 120 watts into a 2 ohm load. This amp had three channels listed as Normal, Brilliant, and a Mid Range Boost. This amp included a built in Fuzz Tone or Distortion Boost, a Mid Range Boost control, and a Tone-X control 

Vox V114 Amplifier

The amp included a repeat percussion effect that sounding much like a banjo (think the vocals at the end of the song 'Crimson and Clover'. The V-14 included also a built-in E Tuner that generated a sustained note. 

The back of the amp had a special 3 prong plug adapter for the special cable to the speaker cabinet. 

The first series of these amplifiers were named "The Vox Super Beatle."  However The Beatles objected, and the designation became simply the Vox V114. 

Vox V114

The separate speaker cabinet came loaded with four 12 inch heavy duty speaker and two midrange horns. Due to the unusual 2 ohm load, hooking the amplifier up to anything else would damage it. 

The Lemon Pipers (Green Tambourine) played in the Cincinnati area in the mid-1960's. Most of the times I was at their shows they wheeled in a couple of Vox Super Beatle amplifiers. 

The Baldwin Piano Co.

I have lived near Cincinnati, Ohio most of my life. The Baldwin Piano Company made its home for years in this city.

Burns of London

In 1965 Baldwin decided to cash in on the guitar boon. The purchased the remaining stock and parts from the Burns Of London guitar company and later rebranded the existing stock with the Baldwin logo. 

Baldwin C1 Amplifier

Because of the company’s expertise in building organs they designed, built, and sold their own solid-state amplifiers. And these amps were pretty darn good. Willy Nelson has used the same Baldwin C1 amplifier for years. 

1970's Baldwin
Exterminator

The company’s biggest and heaviest model was called The Baldwin Exterminator. Neil Young used one of these for years. This amplifier was almost the size of a small refrigerator standing 4 and a half feet high and was over two and a half feet deep. 

Exterminator Speakers 

The Exterminator  pumped 100 watts RMS (250 watts peak) into two 15″, two 12″, two 7″ speakers. It was loud and it was heavy!!  The darn thing weighed 126 pounds.

Exterminator Controls

The Baldwin Exterminator included two channels; Normal and Reverb. The reverb channel had a depth control, The tremolo section include controls for speed, and intensity. 

The amp had the usual volume, treble, bass, plus a three-way Supersound switch with five push button Supersound controls. The normal channel just included volume, bass, and treble.

Both the 15” and 12” speakers came with fuses that were actually automotive turn signal lights lamps. These would shine out of the back of the amp, and get brighter as it was played louder. The Exterminator also came with a warning stick on the amp’s backside that told the owner about possible hearing damage if it was turned up too loud. Some lucky Cincinnati bands were given these amps for promotion.

Fender Vibro Champ

My favorite amplifier of all time was my Silverface Fender Vibro Champ. This was Fender's student model amplifier putting out only 6 watts into an eight inch Fender Special Design speaker. This amp used a 5Y3 rectifier tube, a single 6L6 power tube, and two 12AX7 preamp tubes (one controlled the tremolo). 

It ran in class A configuration. It was a sweet little amp for recording, and for gigs I would mike it. When times were tough I had to sell it.

Line 6 Spider III

The last amplifier I will mention is my Line 6 Spider III. I found it at a Guitar Center for $50. It was beat up and stained, but the electronics were fine. It is 15 solid-state watts into an 8 inch speaker. It is never going to be the best amp, but it is a modeling amplifier and I can coax some very usable sounds out of it.

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Lonnie Mack playing through his Magnatone M9