• 1963 Fender 6G7-A Bandmaster

    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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  • Traynor YGM-4 Studio Mate

    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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  • Jimmy Day’s 1950 Fender Super-Amp

    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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  • Marshall 2100 Lead & Bass

    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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  • The Fender Tremolux

    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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  • Carvin 8-15-B

    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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  • Teisco Checkmate 30

    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…

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  • Dave Hunter

    Keith Richards’ 1977 Mesa/Boogie Mark I

    Still Rollin’

    As ubiquitous as the little 1×12″ Mesa/Boogie Mark Series combo has become over the past 48 years – and as large and successful as the company grew to be – there was a time when one of the world’s most-famous guitarists had to plead his case with Randy Smith to jump the months-long waiting list…

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  • Fender AA964 Princeton

    Dave Hunter

    Fender AA964 Princeton

    What’s (Not) in a Name

    Getting the job done – five simple knobs on the Princeton’s control panel. 1966 Fender Princeton • Preamp tubes: one 7025, one 12AX7 • Output tubes: two 6V6GT • Rectifier: GZ34 • Controls: Volume, Treble, Bass, Tremolo Speed and Intensity • Speaker: Single 10″ Jensen C10R or Oxford 10J4 (modern replacement seen in this example)…

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  • Vox/Thomas Organ V-14 Super Beatle

    Dave Hunter

    Vox/Thomas Organ V-14 Super Beatle

    Solid Sound

    After producing some of the most-iconic guitar amplifiers of the early 1960s, Vox leaned unwittingly into a failing technology – and unknowingly accelerated its own implosion. Still, some of the solid-state creations of that transitional period are classics, like this ’66 Super Beatle. As the cliché goes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall…

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