50's/60's amps

[Bluesnote]

You mentioning the plug high up on the wall Martyn reminded me of the multi-plug adaptor I had on my extention plug box. There were so many different types of mains wall plugs that we came across in the various venues we played. I was forever changing the pins to suit whatever connection we had. Not like the uniform square-pin plugs we all have nowadays.
I often wondered how we did'nt blow all the fuses in the halls. I'm sure some of these connections were never suitably wired for all the equipment a band had in these days.
It seems in the dark ages now
I suppose in some ways...it was

[RUSSET]

I remember back in '61, I was a novice Rhythm player in my first band. We used to practise in the local church hall &, one freezing winter, we decided to plug in a portable electric fire into our home-made mains plugboard, to warm up the unheated room. Well, you can guess the rest. It wasn't long before we could smell burning, & very soon the plastic coating on the mains lead was melting. Of course, we knew nothing about electrics at that age, & with that & the fact that many of the venues we played had little or no earthing on their mains circuits, it's a wonder we survived to tell the tale.
I had a great Selmer Selectortone Twin, in those days, & if it wasn't for the dire Hofner V3 electric solid I played, I would have sounded fabulous. I remember it had the console on the top, with a row of preset tone buttons & a side-mounted spring reverb, with a locking lever, for transportation. The amp itself was mounted in the bottom of the cab, & had one giant output valve. I think it was rated around 20 watts, & sounded really good with a decent guitar.

Tony.

[peter roest]

Dynacord, Geloso

Peter

[Bill Bowley]

Burns Orbit 3 (or 2 if you can find one -the numbers refer to the number of speakers.) I had a Burns Orbit 3 for quite a while, but eventually used only the VOX AC50. Light in weight, easy to carry around, would benefit from a good set of speakers (Celestions perhaps). I have the circuit diagrams for the Orbit 3 if you need them.

[JimTidmarsh]

I had a Selmer Futurama Caravelle (see photos).

I got it in about 1964 and was using it right up to the 80s before it gave up the ghost. Stupidly, I threw it away instead of thinking about a repair. Wish I still had it - I remember the sound was really great, even when I was using a cheap Top Twenty guitar in the 60s.

[rogera]

One amp manufacturer that hasn't been mentioned here yet is Linear. They were certainly at the lower end of the price range and I remember many groups starting off with these amps.

I used the Diatonic model with a home made speaker cabinet.

linear4a.jpg

linear1a.jpg

linear5a.jpg

I'm sure that some of you will remember that you could fit a protective mesh cage to the top of the amp to give the valves some protection.

[d jones]

Hi all around 1975 i remember re -building a linear concord amp very similar to the linear L50
It cost a full week's apprentice wage to buy a set of valves, i also made a carry case/cabinet out of an old TV cabinet and used it as a PA for many years. What a rich warm sound it produced, as always wish i still had it!

Dave

[JimN]

Dewy-eyed fans of the Linear Conchord and other RSC-sold amplifiers* must not under any circumstances access this URL:

http://www.chambonino.com/work/linear/info1.html.

And especially not that reproduced full page advert as seen in contemporary editions of "Practical Wireless", etc.

"Eminently suitable for bass, lead or rhythm guitar and all other musical instruments", indeed!

JimN

[*I still think it was very enterprising of Sir Laurence to get the Royal Shakespeare Company to open that chain of electronics and government-surplus shops.]

[neil2726]

Another amp around at the time was Leak. Just an amp in a metal cage and you built your own speaker cabinet. Mainly used for bass and PA I seem to recollect. If you had a Leak and two speaker cabs with a 12" in each for pa you were the bees knees. They were sold in Stoke area by a guy named Ernie Beard who sold them from the front room of his house in Birches Head Road in Hanley. he also did repairs and also sold Vox Reslo microphones. This was at a time when the established music stores like Sherwins were not really into the guitar/amp scene. David Martin may remember as he was around the area at the time!

[d jones]

Hi Jim that brings back a few memories " Practical Wireless" i've still got a stack of maybe 50 in the loft. as you say Linear were sold through the chain RSC i've spent plenty of time in their branch in then county arcade in Leeds. Another Northern amp maker you'll remember was Matamp! AHH! Memories

Dave