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Book on older 60's-mid 70's SS guitar amps?

Started by aldo, April 26, 2009, 02:31:19 PM

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aldo

I was wondering if anyone knows of a book on old school S.S. guitar/bass amps.I am mainly looking for the Sunn,Peavey,Crate"SLM",Kustom,etc.,etc.older stuff with very few early IC's maily single transistor designs.Any ideas or leads?

teemuk

What kind of book? Something about the designs (e.g. schematics) or just stuff about overall history, model lineups etc.?

I don't actually know any such book (I think it's not regarded as a very "sexy" topic to write about) but there are plenty of books about historics of the bigger amp companies (e.g. Marshall, Fender, Vox, Ampeg, Kay) that at least slightly touch the topic of solid-state models.

I don't know if Sunn and Kustom have enough historic records left to compile a book about but there are some websites that focus on providing info of those. Peavey - on the other hand - has made both SS, hybrid and tube amps pretty much throughout its history and S.L.M. is hardly something I would consider as an "old-school" company since first Crate amps appeared as late as in 1978.

The Internet is full of schematics and tiny bits of information. Since amp historics is one of my areas of interest, I have compiled a set of notes, which is now about 200 pages long. If you can specify your interests a bit more closely I see if I can help you with some info.

aldo

I just see 15 books about the wonderful world of tube amps.I feel that the S.S. amps are under appreciated work horses.I have a 1980 Bandit 65 Combo that's been,beat,jumped on,thrownout a window and it still works,sounds fine,and gets the job done.I just wish that some of these old classics got some of the respect that they deserve!They are under valued,most have a great sound,are simple to work on.I just wish one book would be published on the history and evilution of the S.S. guiitar and bass amps.

Mark Hammer

The old 1973 Jack Darr book, recently re-published by the folks who bring you Audio Xpress, was split about half and half between solid-state and tube amps.  Most of the solid-state amps, however were Gibson, Harmony, Wards-Airline, etc, with none of the other makes you refer to.