old Teisco amps: anyone...?

[Jef]

I just found an old (probably early '60s) Teisco amp and I am very tempted to pick it up...
It is covered with pink tolex, has a whole lot of tubes inside for such a small amp: seven 6AV6 in the preamp, 2 x 6AR5 power tubes and a 6X4 rectifier tube. It has reverb and trem and two tiny 6" speakers.
Has anyone over here any experience with old tube amps like this?
Jef

[Wally]

Jeff, I call mine the 'Tiny Twin'. Unike most small amps, this amp wants to be CLEAN, just like a Fender TwinReverb, just not quite so loud. hhehehehe I almost flipped when I sent my speakers out for a recone..to a shop that was not my normal reconer. He tore the speakers up before he came to understand that he did not have a resource for parts. The speakers were functioning but had issues before he got hold of them. Fortunately, Freeman-Tuell in Dallas resurrected them for me. It is the only one like it I have seen. What are they asking for that amp, if you don't mind me asking?
I also have the only set-neck Tiescl guitar that I have seen. Too weird.

[Jef]

What are they asking for that amp, if you don't mind me asking?

No I don't mind: I offered 125 (Euro = about the same $), the guys asks 140, we'll end up somewhere in between, I guess.
Usually, tube amps cost about twice as much over here, compared to US prices. e.g. SF twin reverb = around 1000 bucks...

[Wally]

That sound fair. I forget what I gave for mine. I had to have it. I have never heard such a small amp with such a clean sound, plus the reverb and tremolo give it even more of the TR vibe. Good luck on it.

[Big Cookie]

Have you got a pic of that Teisco you can email me? Many thanks in advance bro.....

[Wally]

I'll bring the camera to the shop tomorrow and get some images comin' your way, good buddy. Do you want exterior pics or soemthing of the chassis, also?

[Poppatwang]

Why not post 'em here.

[TelecasterSam]

Did Teisco have a model called the Checkmate or was Checkmate a brand itself? I remember playing through them in the 60s. One night a drunk knocked one of the amps over and stepped right through the speaker... end of amp. If I remember, they had a good reverb unit.

[Dacious]

I've seen pictures of a 'Checkmate 25' somewhere's - a 2 x 6L6 amp with a single twelve, head and cab arrangement like a Bandmaster with dark grille and light tolex. The owner swore it sounded good.

[Wally]

Poppatwang, nothing would please me more than to post the pics here, and in the near future that will be possible for me. Maybe Cookie can shoot them to the page???
I am....technology challenged....

[holgaguy]

I've seen pictures of a 'Checkmate 25' somewhere's - a 2 x 6L6 amp with a single twelve, head and cab arrangement like a Bandmaster with dark grille and light tolex. The owner swore it sounded good.

I had a Teisco Checkmate 18 in the 60's. It was my first amp. At the time I thought it sounded pretty cool but who knows? The first time I dared to turn it up all the way was a life-altering experience. Way cool distortion and it was before I had heard the Bluesbreakers album with Eric.



http://homepage.mac.com/davidniles/guitars/

[Jef]

The Teisco arrived this morning. It looks great, some wear and tear on the grill cloth and tolex which looks rather red than pink. I suppose it was red originally, with black stripes like a "faux craquelé" (pardon my French), and faded to rather pinkish over the years.
I couldn't resist to screw off the back panel and found out that it is completely point-to-point wired, not like old Fendersbut really point-to-point with all components directly connected to each other and hanging up in the air.
One of the previous owners, apparently not a pro, replaced most of the old caps with Spargue Atoms and orange drops. The trem pot is missing and disconnected from the circuit. The reverb pan (2 spring) is in a separate compartiment at the bottom of the cab.
I'm very curious to hear this puppy, but it will probably take untill tomorrow evening before I'll have the chance to plug in my tele.
I will try to post pics as well some of these days.

Jef

[holgaguy]

yes, please post some photos!

[hiero]

I have been researching the background to my first amp - Audition 30w and a Google brought me here and I have something to add, so here goes:

In UK, FW Woolworths stocked electric guitars and amps from late 60's to early 70's. The guitars were badged Audition and were Teiscos from Japan. The Amplifiers were also badged Audition and I still have my '72 piggyback combo which was claimed at 30W but is more like 12-15w on a good day. It was a Germanium transistor circuit with reverb and a tremolo and 3 staged inputs. The cab is real wood! I currently use the cab as a 1x12 with a Celestion V30 coupled to a Cornford(!) but the amp head is perfectly fine albeit a bit hisssy when turned up past 4 and somewhat characterless clean, although has real spring reverb. But for 36 years all that has gone wrong is the pilot light bulb!

But I also wanted to point out that Silvertone amps are from same stable and see this example in action... amazing:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=23PCQpWK1MA

Like many as a small child, Woolworths (and typical stores in US) were the first chance any of us got to seeing a real 'electric' guitar and many parents told their children to come away from them, displayed on their stands on the shop floor in case they got electrocuted!! People actually thought you plugged them into the mains!!

Anyway as for my amp - The Teisco equivalent model turns out to be a Checkmate 21... pics below...

[6942]

Late 60's, MIJ, solid state amp with reverb & tremolo.
HAD two 8" TINY ceramic magnet speakers.
I've owned this amp since 1969.
I purchased it.....along with a single-PU Teisco E-110 guitar.....when I was 16 years-old.
Didn't realize, until I got older.....what an absolute POS this amp was?
I finally replaced the original junk speakers.....with an old pair of made-in-USA, Speco alnico speakers.
Made a big improvement......but still a decidedly mediocre amp.
Looks good though?

Steve

[Wally]

hiero, I don't know exactly what your point is.... "But I also wanted to point out that Silvertone amps are from same stable and see this example in action... amazing:"
That SIlvertone 1474 is a tube amp that was built by Danelectro in the USA. Maybe you are meaning that the Silvertones were sold in Woolworth stores in the UK?
Silvertone is a house brand for Sears-Roebuck (back in the day). Seras also sold Tiesco
products at even less expensive prices than the Silvertones.

[jh45gun]

Kinda funny back in the day when they were selling Teisco amps and guitars I would not have bought one and looked down on them after having a one for a first electric. Now that they are collectable I would be happy with either the guitars or the amps as long as they were the tube ones. I got to admit though if I remember right my First electric was one of those Japan guitars. A gaudy 4 pick up one. After owning that one I pretty much did not want another. Of course back then there were never set up right and if you did not know anything about that you played it as is. I was thinking about them the other day as most of the bodies on them were thinner than most US made guitars.

[Wally]

j45gun, imho, your taste was good then and probably remains so today. Collectability doesn't indicate anything except someone's desire to own something. Most Tiesco's have a bridge that is both perpendicular to the strings and non-adjustable. They are usable for slide, but there is no such thing as being able to correctly intonate one of them for fretting. They do have 'cheap and funky' sonics and a very few of them have bridges that enable one to intonate them.
Amps....the tube amps are kind of cool. I recently sold my 'tiny Twin' Tiesco. IT was much like the one mentioned in the beginning of this thread some 3 5 years ago. whoa!
IT carried 2 6AQ5 power tubes and had both reverb and tremolo through two 6" speakers. I considered it collectable AND practical..usable, that is.
I have some Tiesco guitars lying around. I refuse to sell them to most people because I don't want them spreading the word that I sell junky guitars that won't play in tune. LOL
IOW, they come with a user's warning....these guitars are meant for experienced players who know how to use them and know what to expect for them. lolllll PUt a slide on them and get funky....ry cooder's dream machines....

[Brendan]

I found this one today. I wish the price was a bit lower
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/msg/900924473.html

[Wally]

Brendon, that amp is a little brother....how small can they get...to the one I mentioned. Mine had the same covering...one more speaker and probably one more power tube.

[Poppatwang]

I'll resurrect this old thread with pics of this bad boy!
Guyatone GA-120. Single ended 6AR5 for power. Needs a new speaker.
Should work good with the matching lap steel.

10" tall. It gets mistaken for a box fan on a regular basis.

[Wally]

Really cool, Poppatwang.