Can you help me I.D. this amp

[deadicated]

I came across this thing a few years ago at a flee market. Guy said he wasn't sure if it worked and let it go for something i couldn't pass up. I took it home, plugged it in played a few chords to see if it works which it did and then put it in storage and kinda forgot about it until now. Here are the pics of the amp if anyone can help. I can't seem to be able to find a serial or model number. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[jipp]

is that that the valco suppro? guess not dose not have the silck screen,
check out this page. went and did it again assumed valco right off the bat with out second thought. you would think id learn from the last thread on these old style/shape amps. its a cool amp either way,.



http://www.valcopages.com/Amps.html

let me find the other thread that will go along with this one just fine.


ok, this thread should lead you in the right direction. lots of good info.

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/amp-centr...mp-please.html



chris.

[fezz parka]

Late 40's/early 50's Supro Supreme.

[jipp]

Originally Posted by fezz parka

Late 40's/early 50's Supro Supreme.

do you know what company it would of been sold under? i originally thought valco because of the silk screen. but it did not have the V like the others. so, thats when i put the foot in my mouth..

chris.

[fezz parka]

Originally Posted by jipp

do you know what company it would of been sold under? i originally thought valco because of the silk screen. but it did not have the V like the others. so, thats when i put the foot in my mouth..

chris.

Well, since the badge says "Supro" it's a Supro badged Valco..

[jipp]

ok, im a idiot. sigh.

valco oh how you confuse me. :D i guess at least we know its not a carvin@ laughs.
chris.

[fezz parka]

Low...Medium...High!

That's a field coil 10". And a 6J7 too. Bet it sounds killer.

[deadicated]

Thanks jipp and fezz. It did sound awesome but I only plyed it for a few minutes to make sure it was in working order. I didn't want to blow it up not being sure if there was anything i needed to do or have done to an amp of this age that has been sitting for who knows how long before i just opened it up and really tried to put it through it's paces. I just don't want to damage anything being an uninformed dumb dumb when it comes to vintage amps. I've heard about caps blowing and the like. Since my original post I realized that small little metal plate in the bottom left of Fezz's last pic has V 3647 stamped into it. Serial # or model #?

[fezz parka]

Serial #.

[voodoo_idol]

Get her tuned up and she'll sound like this.

[jmiles]

Valco/National/Supro/Oahu. "Chicago 51." Serial # is from '51.
Here's mine. Same amp, bit newer.

[voodoo_idol]

Originally Posted by jipp

do you know what company it would of been sold under? i originally thought valco because of the silk screen. but it did not have the V like the others. so, thats when i put the foot in my mouth..

chris.

The simple Valco history is as follows:

Valco was formed in 1942, the successor company to National Dobro Corp. Prior to Valco's formation, NDC had used the National and Supro trade names and these brands continued under Valco. Valco manufactured guitars from 1942 until they went out of business in 1968. They manufactured amps from 1947 until 1968. Prior to 1947, any amps associated with National Dobro and Supro were made by others manufacturers (Chicago Electric, Webster, etc.) for NDC/Valco. After 1947, Valco made and sold amps under their two in-house brands -- National (pro level) and Supro (entry level). They also re-badged their amps for other manufacturers like Gretsch and Harmony (only a few models in the 4xx series), retailers like Montgomery Ward (Airline brand), and private labels for music stores and catalogs like Oahu, McKinney, Bronson, English Electronics Tonemaster, Alkire, and others. Generally, they would use the same few circuits across the board but would change the cosmetics for each brand, i.e. as far as I know you will never see an Oahu or Bronson made by Valco that did not have a National or Supro counterpart.

A lot of old amps are often mistakenly identified as Valcos, mainly due to bad information that perpetuates on the internet. Prime examples are Electromuse, Kay and early Harmony amps (2xx and 3xx series). As I mentioned in the Carvin amp thread, I have identified 30+ amp manufacturers active in the 1930s-1950s, and surely there were more. Many old amps attributed to Valco were made by obscure companies or jobbers.

Good background here:

http://www.vintageguitar.com/1884/su...iers-part-i-2/

The one guy who knows the most about Valco amps is Terry Dobbs, and his website is here:

http://www.valcoamp.com/page/a-buyer...-to-valco-amps

The Valco Pages website has some good info, but I've noticed a few errors here and there.

[jipp]

cool. will go read up on it. they did harmony 400's eh/ i have a harmony 400A is a project for down the road sold as working when got here no go. have way more to learn about electronics before i start on that. but will def start a thread for help. i was happy as can be when i fixed my broken pignose. came down to a stupid ground issue. go figure.

that amp sounds killer in the video
chris

chris.

[voodoo_idol]

Originally Posted by jipp

cool. will go read up on it. they did harmony 400's eh/ i have a harmony 400A is a project for down the road sold as working when got here no go. have way more to learn about electronics before i start on that. but will def start a thread for help. i was happy as can be when i fixed my broken pignose. came down to a stupid ground issue. go figure.

that amp sounds killer in the video
chris

chris.

Yes, that is a Valco product from the mid-'60s. The 415 is really the prize of the Valco-made Harmony amps.

[jipp]

thats cool. i paid 50.00 for it and it came with a old metronome which i use.
you want a challenge try to keep time with a wound up metronome on its last few legs. laughs. sorta fun tho. when i plug it in, all i got saw was a dull orange glow. i guess thats hot plating. i quickly unpluged it and put it up against my desk with the open back against the desk to keep dust out from the inside.
i just did a quick dust off for the photo.
here is a picture. not great shape.. but iv seen worse. so not enough mojo i guess.
mojo to me is just dirt, laughs.
the head is a sears 30watt RMS SS with the best spring revurb iv heard. if i had to describe the sound of that amp, west coast surf music..
made in canada etc. i paid 10.00 for it. has scratchy pots so i put it aside but as i learn more ill try to clean these up and get em working. and take time qith a q-tip and metal cleaner and electronic cleaner.. it def needs the plug changed as it has the two prong etc.

im a more of a wood worker, before my health went down hill. i built custom longbows, and recurves for like 11 years. making a peice of wood bend i was good at. i plan on building a pine box with hand saw finger joints for a roland micro cube project using a 8" NOS RCA speaker. just have to feel well enough to do so. some days hard to get out of bed. laughs.

i was excited when i got a broken pignose working. laughs. ill probably be jumping for joy when i get the one owner harmony up and running.

chris.

[jmiles]

Your amp is a '51. Mine is a '55. Yours has that ground-clipped octal tube. Very cool! Probably sold with a matching lapsteel.

[jipp]

how does a coil speaker differ from the regular magnet ones?
never mind its probably complicated, ill try google see what i can dig up. nice amp, hope you get her up and running soon. need to tell my mom to keep a look out for such thing, she digs going to swamp meets and yard sales me not so much.

chris.

[deadicated]

Thanks everyone for all the help. What a great and knowledgeable group of cats. Voodoo idol what would a proper tune up on an old amp like this consist of? I apologize in advance for not spending the time to find out on my own my three yr. old son who I love dearly is keeping me more than busy today. Also jmiles I was wondering what made you think it's a '51? According to this page herehttp://www.valcopages.com/Dating.html the serial # makes it a '47. I realize this could be wrong so I was wondering how you dated it. I can't wait to be able to rock this thing out.

[jmiles]

http://home.provide.net/~cfh/national.html#valco

[deadicated]

Thanks man. The serial# is V 3647 so i think that makes it a '47 from what I can tell. Unless I'm reading it wrong somehow.