Off the beaten path amps...

[Justin Hitchborn]

Who's got 'em? Feel free to post your heavily modded units as well.

Here's mine. Reason Bambino. Straight in, love it more and more every day.

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

Everybody hears differently, and has different Needs/Requirements.....but THOSE are a real nice amp.!
Well Done

 

[Justin Hitchborn]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

Have you played through one before? Rumor has it that it makes for a killer Strat companion...but it does pretty well with what I've got too. Short of super loud cleans or really heavy metal, this little thing kills.

 

[Oinkus]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

Here is something I found behind the eaves doors in the jam room I work on putting into shape. A Rock Amps Petros I 150 watts SS 10" speaker it is quite special and tiny, louder then a herd of buffalos. I used the pic with the Maestro PS 1A just because it is also a neat thing.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

Bumbox Cielo.



Internally jumpered JTM45/JMP50 (much closer to the JMP, in my opinion). Defeatable reverb for additional gain. Power scaling. This amp NAILS the '70s JMP tone.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

I have a Rivera Rake & a Peters 3CP1

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

Wallace BKW45
View attachment 55001

Traynor YBA-1A Mark II
View attachment 55002

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

Have you played through one before? Rumor has it that it makes for a killer Strat companion...but it does pretty well with what I've got too. Short of super loud cleans or really heavy metal, this little thing kills.

I worked on one that had a blown rectifier and fuse....beer at a bar gig.:nono:
It was the "low watt" model running 2x6AQ5 I think.
Was Real Well made...had an internal dummy load, and stuff like that.
The owner said they are very affordable. All I heard was his Hamer 2x Humbucker through it.
a keeper :bigthumb:

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

I have a THD Univalve here. It's a great simple amp. It has just three knobs and I practically always leave them at noon. No need to tune it, just to plug in and play. I do change the power tube to an EL34 when I need volume, otherwise it has a 6V6 in it.

 

[Securb]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

I would say my most off the beaten path amp is this 70's Randall someone at work gave me. It is solid state but has a very Fender like tone stack, 200 watts with 4 x10. The amp has amazing cleans and takes to pedals very well.

 

[Justin Hitchborn]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

I worked on one that had a blown rectifier and fuse....beer at a bar gig.:nono:
It was the "low watt" model running 2x6AQ5 I think.
Was Real Well made...had an internal dummy load, and stuff like that.
The owner said they are very affordable. All I heard was his Hamer 2x Humbucker through it.
a keeper :bigthumb:

Yep, same as mine. I didn't post a picture of the back of this one, but it is a little special. I am the second owner of it, have been since late last year. Got it for a good deal off a local.

Serial #1, both the head and cabinet.

The nice thing about the internal dummy load is that the line out and headphone out are tuned to sound remarkably close to the speaker cab close mic'd with an SM57. I use my cab on stage as my guitar monitor and send a direct line to the mixer, no fuss. Not to mention the killer practice sessions at home. Cranked tube tone...through headphones.

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

Yep, same as mine. I didn't post a picture of the back of this one, but it is a little special. I am the second owner of it, have been since late last year. Got it for a good deal off a local.

Serial #1, both the head and cabinet.

The nice thing about the internal dummy load is that the line out and headphone out are tuned to sound remarkably close to the speaker cab close mic'd with an SM57. I use my cab on stage as my guitar monitor and send a direct line to the mixer, no fuss. Not to mention the killer practice sessions at home. Cranked tube tone...through headphones.

Wow ...very interesting.
Cool amps indeed...not just another clone of a Fender/Marshall.
Thumbs Up for Reason.
A few months ago, on TGP, there was a guy wanting one of these real bad. I remember he was saying something similar as you...about the load and the out.....nice feature(s).

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

Had some of these SR&D (Scholz Research & Development) Rockman Rockmodules back in the late 80s but had to sell them back in the day.

I'll be revisiting them shortly thanks to Fleabay (snagged: Sustainor, Distortion Generator, Stereo Chorus, Stereo Echo).

View attachment 55006

This has turned into one of my all time favorite threads.
THOSE things are awesome.!
It really makes you wonder...some times devices get A LOT better in 2-3 decades...but sometimes maybe they just get smaller...do you know what I mean.?
Like with Eq and Delay...how much improvement can there be.?
Or should I say...Hhhoowww Muucchhh ImpROVemenT cAn thhherrrre bE.?

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

The THD has the internal dummy losd with a recording output as well. It's a nifty feature. I think it doesn't have cab emulation, though.

The other good feature is the internal power soak. Makes those power tube tones available at lower volumes. It also doesn't need/have a master volume.

It also has a noise suppressor by a light bulb but I haven't used that much.

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

I would say my most off the beaten path amp is this 70's Randall someone at work gave me. It is solid state but has a very Fender like tone stack, 200 watts with 4 x10. The amp has amazing cleans and takes to pedals very well.

Nice....would love to hear that.
I am a bit of a hand-wired, all tube, over-built, boutique snob.....but that is by choice if you know what I mean.
A good player usually sounds damn good through most any amp that is at least functioning properly.

Red Volkeart is known for playing all kinds of Different, Cheap, and/or SS Amps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK2kJr4H6bc

I was at an engagement party at a big facility in Sacramento...banquet room up top, big bar and restaurant downstairs.
I hear Live Guitar coming from downstairs...so I checked it out. There was a guy with a modern day Ibanez semi-hollow plugged into the crappiest looking Crate I have ever seen... a little 1x10 or 1x12.
The guy was a great player.!
Bach
Beethoven
Tom Petty
Waylon Jennings
Miles Davis
He played all kinds of tunes.

So I talked to him. Said he payed 15 bux for the amp at a garage sale a few weeks back. He cranked it up for "Shook Me All Night Long". It sounded like a crappy/cheap SS Amp. He turned down at the guitar a bit, and that little Crate sounded fine...just be fore it sounded awful.
I told him how great he played...we exchanged info...see you later.

The guy called me a few weeks later, wanted to get new tubes in some of his amps. He brought me a /13 FTR-37 and a Fuchs Clean Machine.
The guy was good, and knows what amp can do what job.
It was several hundred dollars just to retube his two heads.
That little Crate has been powered On and Off a Million times, with no maintenance at all.

All comes down to smart playing...adjusting to the task at hand.
Sorry for the short story.
Dig your Randall all the way baby.!

 

[ginormous]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

Don't forget that SD had an amp line BITD. Bassists are still looking for the rack amp. Meat for days!

If you want the lowdown on weird amps, I suggest a PM to our member Kevlar3000. He's got some off-the-wall gems.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

How about my Trace-Elliot Speed Twin?

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

I've built a lot of amps (although not from kits, i usually build my own chasis, faceplates, cabinets etc ... everything usually done from scratch, although sometimes i'd 're-purpose' an existing, dead amp), and one particular one always comes to mind.

Ya know those horrible s/s Marshall Lead 12 amps ? There was a mini-stack that featured two mini '4 x 12' cabs that were just big enough to each house a single 10" speaker, and the 12-watt tranny head, all in classic Marshall livery. Looked great for Marshall fans, but they sound disgusting. There was also a combo version that featured the same amp chasis in a 1 x 10" combo.

A friend of mine picked up the combo version cheaply in a s/h shop and brought it to me, enquiring about having me gut it and build some kind of tube amp in there. Normally i would have built the trusty 1960s Vox AC4 amp in there, as there was not a great deal of space. However, it was decided i'd try to shoehorn the classic Marshall 18 watt amp into it. Unfortunately the original 10" Celestion was only rated at 15 watts, so i also had to source a higher-wattage version, which i did.

This was almost twenty years ago, and suitable transformers weren't as easily available as they are now, so i had them built. I managed to squeeze everything in there and the front panel controls for volume and tones function as labelled, although there is no functional master volume control, the original is just a dummy to fill the hole on the faceplate.

Boy oh boy that is a deceptive little amp. From the front, it appears exactly as it was made. Only picking it up (weight) or looking closely at the back reveals that there is much more to it. The sound is monstrous, and of course it really comes into play when hooked up to a bigger speaker cabinet. Anyone who has seen it for the first time has been left ashen-faced after experiencing the unexpected sonic blast that emanates from something that looks like little more than a toy.

Unfortunately I have no pics of that amp. I have been asking my friend (who now lives interstate) to take some pics and send them to me, but so far ... nothing. I live in hope). However, if you know the little Lead 12 combo, and imagine it housing an 18 watt Marshall tube amp, you've got the idea.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

My ac50 is a rare bird.


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[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Off the beaten path amps...

Pretty far off the beaten path... :laugh2:

My Chinese Goldea Rex 3200 high gain 15 watt head/2x10 cab




Crappy quality audio ..but this is it..





Has really meaty , growly rhythm tones & super-sweet, fat, warm, singing lead tones. This thing cost me all of $200 for the head & unloaded cab but I still have'nt played another lunchbox I'd ever consider trading it for..

:notworthy