solid state amplifiers

product rdf: 

Guitar_amplifier

Garen

The Garen company has its origins in France in 1946 when its founder Jean Guen began making the first French made amplfiers and pickups. In 1950 he made the first French solid body electric guitar. By the late 1960s Garen was one of the main French amplifier producers, and also offered PA equipment, microphones, guitar effects and pickups. Garen also sold electric guitars - including the Solo and Lido models.

Source: Garen advertisment 1969

Foggy Mountain

Foggy Mountain Guitars started business in 2004 in Conroe, Texas. They distributed Chinese made guitars, amplifiers and tuners. They also sold a Mason Williams series of mid-priced classical guitars with three  models from the value-priced 'Signature' model (about $500 street price) to the professional 'Concert' model, (about $1,000 street price); to the 'Classical Gas Commemorative' model (about $1,200 street price), which was a limited edition (of 1968) reproduction of the guitar Mason used to record Classical Gas.

Source: Foggy Mountain Guitars website (archived 2010)

Esteban

Esteban was a budget instrument brand sold in the USA through the Home Shopping Network. The HSN infomercials began in 1999 and featured an Esteban character (played by Stephen Paul from Pittsburgh). Esteban sold Chinese made acoustic and electric guitars as well as amplifiers.

Source: Who is Esteban? (22 April 2017)

EMC

The Electronic Music Corporation (EMC) of Cleveland, Ohio made guitar and PA amplifiers, as well as sound system consoles and speaker cabinets. From 1968 onwards EMC used transistors in their amplifiers instead of vacuum tubes - so these were solid-state amplifiers. In 1969 EMC introduced the first plug-in power module - if these failed then they could be easily swapped out by anyone with a screwdriver. Three interchangeable modules covered the 51 EMC amp models.

EMC went on to become Audiotronix out of Mentor Ohio, then became BFI (Bull Frog Incorporated). They then became Soundtech out of Elkhart Indiana. (Source: John who worked for them as a Technician from early to late 1980s).

Source: EMC catalogs 1971 - 1974

Eaton

Timothy Eaton founded the T Eaton Company in Toronto in 1869. It grew to become a large department store and mail order retail company, selling guitars among many other products. Their acoustic guitars in the 1930s and 1940s, were made in Canada or in Chicago by Harmony. They also sold Saturn brand electric guitars and Viking & Symphonie brand amplifiers in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Source: Cowboys Guitars. Steve Evans and Ron Middlebrook. 2007

Source: Eaton's catalog, 1968, 1971

Earth

Earth Sound Research bass and guitar amplifiers were made by Instrument Systems Audio Corp based in Farmingdale, New York, first introduced in 1972. They were a division of Benjamin Electronic Sound Corp, and also made PA mixers/power amps, keyboards and stand alone reverb units (solidstate) as well as distortion and volume pedals. The early Earth tube amplifiers were based on Fender designs with later solid state ones were based on Peavey designs.

The Earth Amplifiers brand was revived by a Netherlands boutique amplifier manufacturer, which circa 2017 offered handcrafted guitar amplifiers, effects and cabinets.

Source: Earth Sound Research amplifiers catalog 1972-1975

Source: Earth Sound Research amplifiers at Pedal Heaven (4 April 2017)

Source: Earth Amplifiers website (4 April 2017)

Darius

Darius amplifiers were made in the 1970s by Arc Musical Instruments, a division of Ahed - a Canadian company owned by Phil G. Anderson. Ahed was established in 1969 and became the Eco Corporation in 1978. There was a complete range of Darius amplifiers and PA systems ranging in price from $40 to $600 (in 1972). The Darius guitar and bass amp heads are immediately recognisable by their bright colored face plates - the 1000 series had orange face-plates and the 2000 series had lime green.

Source: Darius catalog 1972

Source: Ahed wiki page (8 March 2017)

 

Coral

Coral guitar brand was introduced by the Danelectro Corporation in 1967 (following MCA's purchase of Danelectro in 1966). The Coral range included electric and bass guitars as well as an electric sitar and the bellzouki 12-string electric. Coral also made valve and solid state amplifiers and even strobe lights. In 1969 Danelectro and Coral brands were discontinued by MCA and the factories closed

Source: Coral catalogs 1967-1969

Dimavery

Dimavery is a brand first introduced in 2004 by the German SLM (Sound, Light & More) Company. In 2009 it was taken over by the Steinigke Showtechnic Company - a major German distributor of stage equipment. Dimavery products are aimed at beginners and are made in China. The Dimavery range includes stringed instruments, percussion instruments, woodwinds and brass instruments: everything from the guitar, through to the violin, the cajon to the French horn. Dimavery try to put a fresh spin on the traditional guitar designs by using unusual colors and special editions like aged Stratocasters, hollow bodies with bright colors and a Beatles bass.
 

Sundown

Sundown amplifiers were made in the USA by Sundown Technology Inc. Sundown Technology also owned the Rocky brand. Sundown was founded in 1984 by Denis Kager,  his first Sundown Amplifier was designed as a combo with a 12" speaker that could produce a wide range of tube sounds, but was small enough to fit in a road case or put in a car. This amp was the first true discreet channel switching amp - previous dual channels layered circuits on top of each other. Kager got a patent for a biasing circuit that allowed it to be manually adjusted from 100 watts down to 15 by turning a dial (the RMS control). He also trademarked the amp's Governor circuit – a post-phase inverter compression circuit and Master Volume that could blend textures of overdrive.

Cheri

American / Korean partnership which started in the early 1990s producing in Korea, high quality hand finished copies using American hardwoods. The brand started as Chevy, was changed to Chery for a time during 1993-1994 and finally to Cheri in 1994 (according to www.jedistar.com). By 1996 the brand name was discontinued.

Career

Career guitars, basses and amplifiers were made in Korea for distribution in Germany by the Knauer Company from the early 2000s onwards.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - solid state amplifiers