There is a certain magic about the "suitcase amps", the ten or twenty-watt amps that usually have a pair of 6V6s, a ten or twelve inch speaker, a few knobs -- volume & tone or maybe volume, tone, speed and depth, some funky old luggage covering and a handle. They sound great, simple as could be, minimal parts, fixable forever and they are just right to grab & go.
This place is for these suitcase amps, the 20-Watt World.
Supro
Golden Holiday.
This
amp, and the image in the background is a Supro Golden Holiday. It has a TV-tube
shaped speaker opening, covered in gold anodized, expanded aluminum mesh. The
case is covered in luggage linen ("tweed") and dark leatherette for
a striking two-tone effect. You'd expect an opening of the size and shape to
house a 12" speaker, but no... it is a PAIR of 6X9 ovals, side-by-side,
with the output transformer mounted onto the frame of one of them. Most unusual.
The preamp runs on a pair of large 6SQ7s and a 6SC7, into a pair of 6V6s. There
is Volume, Tone and a single knob for tremolo speed. It's sounds rich, warm
and woody. Here is a picture.
Gretsch
6162.
I got this in the hope that it would somehow resemble the grindy, bluesy sound
of the Supro Thunderbolt, also manufactured by Valco. It did not. But it ended
up having strong points of its own. When I got it, the amp was in pretty rough
shape, full of dust, greasy residue, melted wax, spiderwebs, debris, matches,
unfamilar replacement parts. So I decided to just gut it and do a deep rebuild.
This amp is a two-input, single-channel job, with Volume, a compound single tone control that sweeps from a narrow, midrangey sound at one end and a scooped, deep sound at the other end. It has a spectacular, deep, throbbing, tremolo, probably its best feature, and a hopelessly weak, thin reverb. As a companion for Gretsch guitars, it has a bold, clean sound and does not overdrive or break up much at all. The twin 10" speakers are more than a match for the 17 clean watts it puts out. The sophisticated, tweedy vinyl covering is absolutely unavailable in any form nowadays, so any repairs are out of the question. I have replaced the missing back panel with a plywood replica covered in "Black Scandia" which is about as close as we'll ever get to a match for the original texture and color.
There were several versions of this amp, this one may be the strangest version. Instead of the more familiar 12AX7 lineup in the preamp, this one sports a 6973 as a reverb driver, several 12AX7s, one of which has an entire section unused, a 6EU7 as a phase inverter/driver and a pair of 6973 for power. The preamp is on top, and connects to the power amp in the bottom of the cabinet with a Leslie-type octal connector and cable. There are a bunch of parts in the circuit which go nowhere; apparently, they are there to receive the signal from a nonexistent second channel, which some other models did have. It hums. With no less than 28 separate ground points inside the chassis, there's no hope of ever straightening out all the ground loops and interference between the sections. The riveted terminal strips they used for component mounting, and the fact that nothing is next to what it connects to, makes for an absolute rat's nest of criss-crossed wires, remotely-located components and immense complexity which is totally unnecessary. It took weeks to understand this amp, and there was no schematic available for it anywhere. I ended up creating one, and donated it to The Cause at the Gretsch Pages. Here are some pix.
Gibson
Discoverer.
What
a sound this baby makes. This two-knob 1961 amp is unique among small amps.
They appear to have taken the basic idea for their GA-5 beginner's amp, which
was similar to the Fender tweed Champ, and simply doubled it. Instead of using
a push-pull pair of 6V6's, like every other two-tube amp, this design is single-ended
with both tubes running in parallel. Net result is this little monster screams
like it's breathing nitromethane. An earlier version of this amp fitted with
a 10" speaker was named "Gibsonette". Gibson hops on the Sputnik/Satellite
bandwagon and renames all their amps. This one gets a 12" speaker in the
process and a nifty logo of the Discoverer satellite.
It had a fried output transformer when I got it and probably other problems too. The amp is so boneheaded simple that I decided to just gut it and rebuild the whole thing. Here's more info and pix.
The Dalmatian Amp
Everybody needs a homemade, 20-watt, 1-12" amp covered in black and white spotted fake fur...
(more to come during the year...)