Let me see your oddballs

Securb

Securb

One of Jerry's Kids
I love odd ball amps. Everything from 60's and 70s department store solid states to failed startup amp companies. I think the weirdest amp I ever owned (and I miss it) was my Oliver Powerflex 502. It was a tube amp with one 15 inch speaker and the head rose out of the cabinet via a switch. Man I miss that amp.

Please fill this thread with amp weirdness - stuff you have owned, currently have or GAS for.

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Re: Let me see your oddballs

This Petros I Rockamp is a little SS monster, has some great sounds in it.
 
Re: Let me see your oddballs

That reminds me of the original Crate amps. I have mad GAS for one. I used one as a loaner in my first band and fell in love with it.

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Re: Let me see your oddballs

Do these count?
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I modded the Kustom with a tuned port and crossover that feeds both the 8" Celestion and a 2" tweeter.
 
Re: Let me see your oddballs

I had one of those original Crates too Bruce it was a great amp , I still miss the Sunn Beta Lead combo and I had a sighting of it a year or so ago but it got sold and is lost now whine.
 
Re: Let me see your oddballs

I think maybe ALL my amps are oddballs.



Muchxs Champ clone head in an old Univox chassis.
Bandit 65
Marshall 5010 (Kevlar-approved 30-watt SS JCM800 combo)
DIY 18 Watter clone w. faux Univox styling

Flanked by my son's TNT 130 and a you-can-have-it-if-you-fix-it Bassman 100.
 
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Re: Let me see your oddballs

Rich_S said:
I think maybe ALL my amps are oddballs.



Muchxs Champ clone head in an old Univox chassis.
Bandit 65
Marshall 5010 (Kevlar-approved 30-watt SS JCM800 combo)
DIY 18 Watter clone w. faux Univox styling

Flanked by my son's TNT 130 and a you-can-have-it-if-you-fix-it Bassman 100.
Click to expand...

I love the DIY 18 Watter clone w. faux Univox styling. How does that puppy sound?
 
Let me see your oddballs

It's a pretty nasty-sounding amp, but it cleans up well as long as you don't need much volume. Very Marshally, though the design shares almost nothing with "real" Marshalls. It's a more old-school sound, think '60s and '70s rather than '80s. Very good by itself. The drawback for me is it gets kind of congested with pedals.

It started as a Bogen CHB20A PA amp, and retains Bogen's ECL86 output tubes. These are basically an EL84, but also contain 1/2 a 12AX7, so you get the output stage and the PI in just two tubes. Output power is more like 13 watts, instead of the 18 you get out of a pair of real EL84s.

Link to more photos.

The SS 5010 is a good complement to the 18 Watter. The JCM is a more in-your-face tone.
 
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Re: Let me see your oddballs

FJA-modded Metaltronix M1000. The heads are pretty hard to find but nearly as much as the cabs.
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Re: Let me see your oddballs

I don't know how much of an odd ball it is, but I have this Peavey Triumph 120. It is extremely loud and buzzy. Absolutely HATE this amp. I don't mind the loud part, I have a Marshal Power Brake I can use with it, but I can't stand the tone of it. Too trebley and buzzy. I desided to run a J-Bass knock off I have through it the other day, and I'll be damned, it sounded pretty good.
This thing is very heavy. It has 2 huge transformers and a 10" speaker with a mag that is almost as big as the speaker itself.
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Re: Let me see your oddballs

When I was in junior high, my sister's boyfriend had a Heathkit TA-16 Starmaker with Radio Shack Realistic 12" speakers in it that I used for a couple years. Sounded awful. But it put out so much static and noise I could imitate the ocean by rolling the tone controls.

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Later I also gigged with a Nobels Sound Studio for years as the front end to a Randall RG-80.
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That Randall sounded like a Marshall. I still have the cab and use it as an extension cab.
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(These are just internet pictures. I don't even know if I have pictures of mine.)
 
Re: Let me see your oddballs

Dunno if it qualifies as "weird" or not, but the one-off Straub "Hurdy Gurdy" that I had until last spring was pretty cool. Wish I still had it now.

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Re: Let me see your oddballs

My first band in middle school the other guitarist has a Silvertone with the tube amp in the case. I always thought that was pretty cool.

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Re: Let me see your oddballs

I've got some weird old Canadian stuff . . .

Thorcraft Mustang:
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10 inch speaker, class A running off an el-84 and 12ax7 with some weird tubes that work the tremolo. Three inputs, one tone, one volume, and tremolo. It's actually a really nice little amp.


? Regal amp:
Pretty bare bones and powered by weird tubes which I can't remember off the top of my head:
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Also it has no isolation transformer (no x-former of any kind), so I'm kinda scared to use it.
 
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