elk amp 50 with matching 2x12 cab

[siamesedream]

i have i believe a 1964-67 elk twin amp 50 head and matching 2x12 cab. i aquired it about 4 years ago from a friend who wasnt using it anymore. it has been retubbed and serviced and sounds amazing. probably one of the best sounding amps i have used. the tone is unmatched. problem with it is after it is on for a while it starts to make some hissing and ocassional popping sounds. the tech who cleaned it up said something about the oil filters may need to be replaced for this problem. not sure about this as i am a guitar player and not an amp tech.when you are playing you dont notice the sound until you either stop or are playing lightly. what might this sound be caused by and is it fixable. what is the deal with elk amps. very little info on the net but they seem to be little hidden gems from anyone who has one in working order.i also have a non working elk amp 45 head. looks exactly the same as the 50. are these amps rare? and are they worth anything?

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

It has been a long time since I have but the last time I worked on one I had the distinct feeling it was made at the height of the Vietnam War in some dirty sweat shop in Asia. ... probably hand assembled with slave labor children and maybe with their feet.
Very amateurish, poor construction, crappy chassis, dubious components and lousy coupling capacitors, that are oil filled and probably leaky now...
pretty much a super cheaply made amp... similar in basic topology as a Fender Reverb amp but I think with EL34s, no classic eyelet board and incredibly inexpensive parts. And did I say cheap yet?
I can't remember if they were cathode biased power tube or not though.
It's good you like it a lot and I've always been able to make them sound good enough but I'd never give anyone a warranty on a repair nor would I ever want to own one.

[custom_amp_30]

How is the health of your amp?

[1ampman]

How cool! I'd love to have one just for nostalgic reasons. I've never seen one around my area but would be at home with Silvertones, Montgomery Ward amps, Univox, Sound amps, and all the other knock-offs from the 60's. I'd keep it stock and not use it like a muesum piece. All those weird old parts are a reminder to when the US was #1 and 3rd world countries put together cheap crappy coppies..... those were the good old days...

[custom_amp_30]

[1ampman]

OMG! How cool! ...... What a throw back for an old timer like me. I would have killed for that stuff when I was a kid. LOL

[dai h.]

the music store in the ad (Ginza Jujiya) is apparently still around and has a website (Ginza is an upmarket area, pricey shops, clubs, etc.) :

‹βΐ\Žš‰�ƒn[ƒv•ƒtƒ‹[ƒgƒTƒƒ“bƒn[ƒv‚Ζƒtƒ‹[ƒg‚Μ‰ΉŠy‹³ŽΊ

with a "harp and flute salon". Prices seem to be high(for I'm guessing 60s?) and the ad says that the option to pay in installments (6/12/20 payments, "the instrument comes with insurance") is possible. Guess this was pricey "boutique" stuff back then. From what I know (wasn't around/born yet, but) there was a big "electric guitar boom", then a big backlash, association with delinquency.

[custom_amp_30]

[Woody The Valveman]

WOW! I just joined and what a surprise - Miyuki is spoken here!

In my travels, I've managed to acquire three Elk Stage-man 1x12's with a pair of EL84's, a couple of Custom Amp 45 heads, a very early 1x8 single EL84 combo and a very cool 'Royal' branded 2x10 combo styled after the aluminum trim Fender era of '68. This one is called the Guitar-Man with control panel screen printed mis-spelling of "Revberb".

I'll have to get some pics up for you guys.

[custom_amp_30]

Cool, Its about time someone else shows pictures of their Elks. Let me know if your having any problems and I'll help you thru it or Get you in-touch with a friend of mine who knows almost everything about Elks.

[oldawg]

I had one of those twin 50's back in 1969. They were a Japanese Fender clone but it had a great sound. Seeing these pictures brings back memories.

[custom_amp_30]

Here is a Rare Picture for those who have owned Elk Amplifiers, The rare foot-switch and the twin plug. It was inside of a Elk Echo Pro-Sonic that I purchased from Canada.

[dai h.]

curious what they look like inside. Any chassis shots avail?

[custom_amp_30]

Guitar Tube Amp Schematics

I thought that this would answer any questions that you would have on about the Elk, The Custom Amp 30 Schematic is among the material listed,

[dai h.]

hi thanks, I'm thinking more actual photos of the chassis and not the schematic. I looked over the Elk section at the Dr.Tube site but couldn't find anything. So I googled, and did find (just a little) bit.

(first one is modded)

http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/thebluest...1/e1f3f15d.JPG

http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/thebluest...0/70706a55.JPG

(this is supposed to be an ELK-ES41, circa 1970) :

http://park23.wakwak.com/~hayashicraft/DCP00971.jpg

ƒAƒ“ƒv‚PŒ€‹†—ΡƒNƒ‰ƒtƒgC—

IME, (as Bruce mentions above) the oil caps seem really poor in terms of longevity (i.e. they always seem to leak--this is based on my buying and testing a number of old ones of various brands) so I would replace them ALL just as a matter of course. I would check any micas (for leakage) also and replace as necessary.

Elk Pro Sonic:

PKO‚Μ‹@ήŠi”[ŒΙ

sound clip:

http://www17.plala.or.jp/PKO/elk.mp3

Not all Elk, but lots of old cool magazine ad pages here (click the blue arrow) :

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