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Dave Hunter
Fender 6G6-C Bassman
Brown Sound
There are several revered classics amid the ever-evolving circuits in the amplifier known as the Bassman, but one of the best-sounding might be a brief iteration that few have realized they were playing through. Make it one of the last of Fender’s brown-Tolex amps, and it’s all the more interesting. Several times in these pages,…
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Dave Hunter
Roy Orbison’s Marshall Model 1961
Dream Baby
One of the most-desirable vintage amplifiers ever made goes by a name it never officially had. Possibly the first Marshall brought to America, ownership by the great Roy Orbison adds plenty of allure to this Model 1961 “Bluesbreaker.” Marshall model names and designations have always been confusing, and it didn’t help that Jim and company…
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Dave Hunter
The Fender “High-Powered” Twin
1958-’59 Fender Twin Preamp tubes: one 12AY7, two 12AX7 Output tubes: four 5881 (6L6 equivalents), fixed bias Rectifier: GZ34 (5AR4) tube Controls: Volume, Volume, Treble, Bass, Middle, Presence Output: 80 watts RMS +/- Speaker: two 12” Jensen P12N Many tweed-o-philes get more excited about the small and mid-sized amps that they can crank up in…
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Dave Hunter
1963 Fender 6G7-A Bandmaster
Last of the Oxbloods
Those who love vintage amplifiers are often fascinated by little anomalies that present themselves in an otherwise period-correct specimen, and when that amp is a mint-condition sweetheart from the golden age, so much the better. Finding a 60-year-old guitar amp in near-showroom condition is always a breathtaking experience, but it’s also a surprise when said…
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Dave Hunter
Traynor YGM-4 Studio Mate
Behind The Eight Ball
Vintage-amp bargain hunters often compare the quality and features of smaller Traynor combos to Fenders and those of the larger heads to Marshall. The truth is these robust Canadian amps have their own thing going on. For players of the late ’60s and ’70s, Traynor amps were so semi-ubiquitous as to be of little inherent…
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Dave Hunter
Jimmy Day’s 1950 Fender Super-Amp
Just Like Hank
As fascinating as we might find any vintage amplifier, at its heart, it’s often just a dusty box of archaic technology. Occasionally, though, one is a nexus to a point where legendary music was made. Such is the portal opened by this 1950 Fender Super. We profiled Fender’s original “V-front” Dual Professional/Super in the August…
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Dave Hunter
Marshall 2100 Lead & Bass
Rock Breaker
Adescendant of the legendary “Bluesbreaker” combo that helped launch the cranked-Marshall sound into the annals of rock, the 2100 combo is also one of the rarest post-plexi models – and a fast-track to classic British tone. It’s often said that “the Marshall sound” was officially launched in April of 1966, when Eric Clapton cranked up…
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Dave Hunter
The Fender Tremolux
Most amp nuts are utterly fascinated by Fender’s rapid evolution from archaic to modern through the course of the 1950s. Within that arc, the transitional moments are often among the most interesting, and the amp models that represent these provide curious little gems of discovery. The final version of the tweed Tremolux, fascinating in and…
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Dave Hunter
Carvin 8-15-B
Mail-Order Prize
In the days when the printed catalog was king, Carvin guitars and amplifiers often boasted a stature that outweighed their in-the-wild availability, while robust quality and appealing feature sets kept them in the minds of players. Many fans of vintage amps today, especially players “of a certain age,” were introduced to Carvin products through glossy…
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Dave Hunter
Teisco Checkmate 30
Café Culture
In a world where the best riffs often come when one is lounging in the family room, sipping espresso and noodling on a favorite electric guitar, the Teisco Checkmate 30 is king. And even if no such world exists, this ’60s coffee-table amp is a conversation piece for the ages. Before the “lawsuit guitars” of…
