Help me identify old tube amp. 50's maybe?

[Saddle]

I was given this old amp in 1969 or 1970. It USED to be in a cabinet with a speaker in it's life before I got it. It has a pretty standard tube layout:

4- 12AX7A
2- 6L6-GT
1- 5AR4

Has tremelo and that's it. Super clean and quiet. I've never changed a tube in it. Dead silent. I imagine it may have 22-25 watts. I don't anything else about it. There is no name or printing on it anywhere. Zip... Whoever put it in this box, really went out of their way to do a nice job. :)

I want to build a 1x12 cabinet to go with it. Would like any input as to a speaker to use. I thought about using the rough dimensions of a 65 Delux Reverb with a 1x12 for a start.

Thanks for any input!
Saddle

PS. Rest of the pics in the second post...

[Saddle]

Here are the rest of the pictures.

Thanks

[jipp]

cant help you on amp brand. but i would like to say the person picked a rather nice pattern to cover the box. also how the box is built when you pick it up please put one hand under it too. i would not trust that box at all.

chris.

[Saddle]

Originally Posted by jipp

cant help you on amp brand. but i would like to say the person picked a rather nice pattern to cover the box. also how the box is built when you pick it up please put one hand under it too. i would not trust that box at all.

chris.

:) Looks like it would fall apart, but I think there are 16p nails through those butt joints. I've packed it here and there for 40 years.. I think I am going to build a suitable case for it.. maybe even make a 1x12 combo type cabinet for it. I suspect that's how it started life.

[jipp]

Originally Posted by Saddle

:) Looks like it would fall apart, but I think there are 16p nails through those butt joints. I've packed it here and there for 40 years.. I think I am going to build a suitable case for it.. maybe even make a 1x12 combo type cabinet for it. I suspect that's how it started life.

sounds like a great idea. if my health continues to get better i have a 1969 sears head made in canada by valco with the best surf beach boys west coast etc sound.. ( wet i guess ) reverb you ever heard. laughs. its in great shape.. but man i was thinking a 2x12 cab would be perfect for it. but dunno if i should mess with history even if its just a amp made for sears by valco etc. right now im in the process of a roland micro amp transplant. as my health gets better i work on it some. ill get it done one day. 8" upgrade, 3/4" pine for the whole thing. about 12x11 finger jointed box.. should really make the roland amp wake up. i like to practice out side during the evenings here with the stars etc.. so relaxing takes my mind off my troubled and painful life. so the battery's makes it worth the trouble even if my health may get in the way.

well im glad she has held up for so long. she does look like she will fall apart tho. :

i still say the material used is cool. i guess they were tired of tweed and black and wanted to go all 60s on it.

chris.

[Lunchie]

Originally Posted by jipp

sounds like a great idea. if my health continues to get better i have a 1969 sears head made in canada by valco with the best surf beach boys west coast etc sound.. ( wet i guess ) reverb you ever heard. laughs. its in great shape.. but man i was thinking a 2x12 cab would be perfect for it. but dunno if i should mess with history even if its just a amp made for sears by valco etc. right now im in the process of a roland micro amp transplant. as my health gets better i work on it some. ill get it done one day. 8" upgrade, 3/4" pine for the whole thing. about 12x11 finger jointed box.. should really make the roland amp wake up. i like to practice out side during the evenings here with the stars etc.. so relaxing takes my mind off my troubled and painful life. so the battery's makes it worth the trouble even if my health may get in the way.

well im glad she has held up for so long. she does look like she will fall apart tho. :

i still say the material used is cool. i guess they were tired of tweed and black and wanted to go all 60s on it.

chris.

I think it would be awesome to turn it into a 212... Kind of like what you said, its not original how it is anyway. So what would it hurt.

[Harpboy]

Originally Posted by Saddle

:) Looks like it would fall apart, but I think there are 16p nails through those butt joints. I've packed it here and there for 40 years.. I think I am going to build a suitable case for it.. maybe even make a 1x12 combo type cabinet for it. I suspect that's how it started life.

That is a sweet amp. Valco made a ton of amps for other brands, so they might be a safe guess but I guess there's no way to know for sure. It looks like it's nicely made, and by the look of it's construction, I'd guess it is probably from around '62-65. Especially with the "accordian" labeling. I had a '63 Premier for many years with the old accordian jack :-)

If it was mine, I'd make/have made a 2X10 combo cabinet and put a couple of Weber alnicos in there. I think that would be a sweet little amp!

By the way, does the trem still work? If so, can you tell if it's amplitude or frequency modulated (ie volume or pitch)? That would be a clue as to maker.

Oh ya, one other thing. If you do build a combo, be sure to keep that funky handle and use it. That thing is just too cool for school!

[fezz parka]

Ampeg or Valco.

[bargoedboy]

My immediate thought was an Ampeg as well. Got that look, may have come out of a combo at one time.

[ASC67]

Nice old amp, I don't think it's an Ampeg.

[Hiker]

Interesting amp. It looks much different from this Ampeg AC12 guitar & accordian amp, with vertically mounted tubes-upside down of course!

[backalleyblues]

I'm thinking Valco-Airline myself... funny part is, we're all assuming that the chassis originally mounted with the controls on top, ala tweed Fenders, but I came across some pics of Airlines with the tubes mounted horizontally, pointing out the back... go figger... it's certainly early-mid 60s though...

Franc Robert

[Saddle]

Originally Posted by Harpboy

That is a sweet amp. Valco made a ton of amps for other brands, so they might be a safe guess but I guess there's no way to know for sure. It looks like it's nicely made, and by the look of it's construction, I'd guess it is probably from around '62-65. Especially with the "accordian" labeling. I had a '63 Premier for many years with the old accordian jack :-)

If it was mine, I'd make/have made a 2X10 combo cabinet and put a couple of Weber alnicos in there. I think that would be a sweet little amp!

By the way, does the trem still work? If so, can you tell if it's amplitude or frequency modulated (ie volume or pitch)? That would be a clue as to maker.

Oh ya, one other thing. If you do build a combo, be sure to keep that funky handle and use it. That thing is just too cool for school!

It's volume/amplitude modulated. Yea, that handle is something else. :)
I will have to lookup the Weber 10's. I've been thinking that a 2x10 or 2x12 may be nice to have.

Thanks

[voodoo_idol]

Looks like '60s vintage to me.

Speaking as a guy with a mild Valco obsession, it's almost certainly not a Valco product. The external speaker jack, numbering around the dials, faceplate layout, chassis layout -- none of that matches Valco's other products from that era. The easiest way to spot a Valco on an obscure brand is the silk screening on the faceplate. There were common design traits on the faceplates across the Valco brands (National, Supro, Gretsch, Airline, Harmony, Oahu being the main brands in the '60s), and Valco did not reinvent the wheel for a production run for an obscure brand.

Also does not look like any Danelectro made amp I've seen. Somewhat similar to some Sanos I've seen, but not a direct match. The accordion input and external speaker jack are common to Sanos.

Remember, there were a ton of amp manufacturers back then, so it could be from any number of small, obscure builders.

[jipp]

Originally Posted by Lunchie

I think it would be awesome to turn it into a 212... Kind of like what you said, its not original how it is anyway. So what would it hurt.

yeah, if i had the original cab. would be one thing. plus i notice the bottom left corners black material lifted a bit. easy to fix with some glue and no one would ever know any better. im learning a lot by building this box for my micro cube. and the head originally came with a 2x12 in a vertical position.
so 2 12's would be perfect.

i hate to throw this off course. but what is the best way to mount a speaker to the baffle. i mean iv seen several methods. the micro cube used metal inserts that you hammer into the back of the baffle then just screw the bolt into it. its a front mounted speaker tho. mine will be rear mounted.

would this be ok> or should i buy some of them vintage speaker screws you can get on ebay that have a thread that is counter clock wise for so many threads id have to look, and this locks into the wood when you tighten a lock washer nut on the rear. well maybe its not to far off subject as he is building a new box for him too, but then im sure he is hell of a lot smarter than me. so maybe this can help us both. i know im at that point i need to mount my speaker and get on with my project while my health is stable. dunno if it matters in my case im using 3/4" pine for the baffle rear mounted with a 8" speaker.

chris.

[Saddle]

I've been looking on ebay and the internet in general for old Valco, and others that you folks have mentioned. Thanks for the input and direction. I may yet identify what this amp is.

By the way, have any of you looked at these plans for a guitar speaker cabinet?
Looks very interesting.

http://billfitzmaurice.net/XFCabs.html

Thanks

[Glen W]

I've seen that handle before... on Hilgen amps.

[muchxs]

My guess would be Alamo. Ampeg wasn't big on 6L6s. Unless someone swapped 7591s for 6L6s... it requires a re-wire at the sockets.

It's practically a "who's who" of vintage caps. One Astron firecracker, a couple yellow Astrons and a couple bumblebees.

[jipp]

Originally Posted by Saddle

I've been looking on ebay and the internet in general for old Valco, and others that you folks have mentioned. Thanks for the input and direction. I may yet identify what this amp is.

By the way, have any of you looked at these plans for a guitar speaker cabinet?
Looks very interesting.

http://billfitzmaurice.net/XFCabs.html

Thanks

thanks for the link ill be reading that. if my health allows me to take on the 2x12 sears cab. should be interesting.

guess there is no wrong or right way to mount a speaker as long as it does not vibrate lose.


"Guitar players themselves have never had a problem with looking funny, but they do draw the line when it comes to how their gear looks." best quote ever.. 80s are haunting us all to this day. where is my pink hair spray dang it.
chris.

[Saddle]

Well, I've spent hours looking and haven't seen an amp like mine yet... But I'm getting closer thanks to all of you. Seems for sure to be early to mid 60's. I'm building a 1x12 speaker cabinet for it. Going to put a WGS G12C 12" speaker in it. 8 ohms. Now to figure out a way for a decent reverb. Weber makes a tube based effects loop for amps. Could put a reverb petal in that way. I have an old spring unit.. would be nice to have it all tube. One step at a time! :)

Thanks again,
Saddle