The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

[kevlar3000]

I am always on the hunt for the cheap and fabulous misfits that get discarded on the cheap. My latest find is this 1969 Heathkit Starmaker( An amp kit available from the company way back when). It was at a local shop, and I could not resist the urge to plug into it. I was shocked not by the amp, but by the tone of this thing. Fat and warm cleans, and amazing grind when pushed. The guy at the store was shocked when I was getting Leslie West tones from the p90 axe I was playing. This is a lil tiny 25 watt solid state amp that has no bidness doing what it does. I have to toss a three prong cord, and replace the power supply caps, but this brute is a keeper all the way.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

Man, you really have an eye/ear for that kind of stuff... impressive. I wish I lived in an area with SOME used gear that's worth it... congrats!

 

[DankStar]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

I like the sound of that better than the previous Marshall SS you got.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

And you only paid $5.05 more than its original price.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

Man, you really have an eye/ear for that kind of stuff... impressive. I wish I lived in an area with SOME used gear that's worth it... congrats!

It always pops up with no expectation of finding it. It is a very fun way to shop.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

And you only paid $5.05 more than its original price.

It is a slow build investment.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

I like the sound of that better than the previous Marshall SS you got.

I tossed an Emi Texas Heat in that amp and it now sounds really good. Not quite the bottom end of this, but still very nice, and very Marshall.

 

[Securb]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

The tone you are getting around 3:15 is amazing. I love that little amp.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

A friend just nabbed another of eBay for 49.00! There is a revolution underway !

 

[hydro]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

I was shocked not by the amp...

I was. I used one ages ago in high school and that thing shocked the living cr@p out of me so many times. Three prong cord is a good investment!

(but seriously, congrats - i remember it being pretty cool back in the day, in between recovering from electrocutions lol)

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

I could imagine with a kit amp that more than one person got shocked...

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

When I was in junior high, my sister's boyfriend had that exact Heathkit that he built and let me borrow it for months. It had Radio Shack speakers in it that wouldn't break up. Had to use pedals in front of it. I still have the reverb tank out of it!

I think the right speakers and having it all broken in (weathered, aged) make all the difference. At about 3:25 yours sounds way better than I could ever get with the one I was using.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

I wonder if when buying the kit, if folks would opt for their own speakers to save a few bucks . This has Jensen Spec Designs in it, which I
Think is what it came with. The build is also so clean on it. I wonder if it was shipped as a built amp ? which was an option too....

it's pretty tidy in there.

 

[Stratman]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

Back in 1967, I first saw the Heathkit Guitar amplifier kits, and bugged my parents for a year before I got one.
I built one of these 25 watt guitar amps back in 1969. I had wanted to build the larger TA-17 amp without the cabinet which cost more, but got the TA-16 instead.
(Dad said he believed that 25 watts was more than enough wattage to be able to make noise)

The normal channel was a lot louder than the reverb channel, but I could never figure out why.

Gave it to me younger sister and she gave it to her son, who still has it and keeps it in his music room.

Heathkit offered a lot of electronic kits and I was sorry when they when out of business.

I also built the following Heathkit products:

VTVM “IM-11”
VOM “MM-1"
Oscilloscope "OM-2"
25 inch color TV “GR-371MX”, which has a built-in means of adjusting the 3 arrays to focus the colors.
AM portable radio “XR-1"
HAM transceiver “HR-10”
SB Receiver “SB-101"
Sine-Square Generator “AG-10"

Still have all of these products sitting in the garage, except for the TV which is in the bar being used to play DVD’s, since TV signals are all digital these days.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: The best tone I could find on a 125.00 budget. 1969 Heathkit Starmaker SS amp.

Great story! Love that it is still in the family!