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I need some help identifying the make of this amp.

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  • I need some help identifying the make of this amp.

    Hello all, I am hoping the far flung readership of this forum can help me in identifying my latest purchase. There are no badges or brand names anywhere on this that I can find.
    It looks somewhat like a Gretsch, however, all the Gretsches I have seen wrap around to the right, and this is a leftie.
    It has three controls; Micro (+on/off) , Volume and Bass. It has one 1/4" jack and four odd small ones that you can see on the right of the control panel. I have no idea what kind of plug fits into them.
    The tubes are 12AT7, 6005, and 6X4. It also has a working light bulb inside the chassis that serves no obvious purpose.
    The power transformer is marked PT-65-A, and it has a 8" Westwell 4 ohm speaker that looks original.
    The back is secured by two screws at the top of the panel and two that come up through the base of the amp. Again, all this looks original.
    It needs new knobs and an electrolytic cap change, as well as a three prong plug, but otherwise, I put in a new JAN6005 and it works beautifully and sounds really good. Some slight hum but I will take care of that.
    If anyone can help me find out what make this is, I would be appreciative.
    Here are some pics.
    Attached Files

  • #2
    I'm thinking it is possibly just a custom amp that some one built along the way. With it having such wierd tubes and the light bulb that serves no purpose. Sounds like someone just took it upon themselves to build a gretch look alike.

    That is my opinion.

    It would be cool if it was a super rare gretch prototype. It would be worth big bucks then. =)

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    • #3
      I agree that it looks like a "homebuilt" or "prototype". Maybe a personal project done by someone who was close to the amp business. I say this because of the cabinet work. One-of-a-kind amp building goes way back. It was just a much more unique thing to do ~40-50 years ago.

      I wouldn't say that the internal bulb has no purpose. Trace the wiring and it's purpose may be reviled.

      The banana plug jacks are in an unusual location being thee next to the input jack. From the photo they appear to be wired to something at the PT end of the chassis. Trace those wired too and let us know what you find. You could also take voltage readings from each one to chassis ground and with respect to each other.

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      • #4
        Thanks for the responses. I have been thinking much the same as all my investigations have found nothing similar. It is well put together and the cabinet is really well done.
        Tom, I have attached a pic of the 1/4" and the banana plugs. The banana plugs are some kind of input (micro? maybe) and they hook right up with the 1/4" and go to the preamp tube.
        The light bulb really does have no apparent purpose. Two wires, one from a 5 volt lug on the PT and one from a "0" lug go straight to the bulb and are soldered on its base. All it ever did was melt some of the rubber on the power cord, which I have now replaced with a three prong.
        I am waiting on caps before I do any measuring,. No matter what it is, I will enjoy it as it is a cool addition to my collection.
        Attached Files

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