Posted 13 years ago
floydandfr…
(1 item)
This 1930 Guitar amp is a Electar by Epiphone and the only one known to exist. Made of wood with a 12" speaker. I never play it and had it about ten years now as part of my private collection. I contacted Epiphone and Gibson about the amp, but they didn't know any survived nor is there any auction record on one. They have both amps and guitars in Electar from the late 58, but they are rough and go for thousands. Its a piece of music history!
Hello,
I am also a lover of Electar amps. The model that you have is not common, but I have seen at least 4 in the last year. I own one, and they are offered for sale on E-Bay from time to time. I think that they're the best.
David Bromberg
I forgot to mention, I believe that this model is called the Coronet.
I work in the live sound industry, and a couple of nights ago had the opportunity to run monitors for an artist who was playing through one of these amps. I like to tinker with and build tube guitar amps, and this one sounded wonderful - likely having at least as much to do with its user as its construction. I Googled it today, and found this page - the only mention of this specific model that I could find. I hope to locate a schematic at some point.
Oh, and the artist? David Bromberg.
I saw one of these in a little boutique guitar shop in Albuquerque, NM last year.
Very cool amp---great sound.
This is an Elactar Century, looks like an early year, same as mine. I wish mine had the back like yours. These early model's 12" Rola speaker had a big coil instead of a magnet. First made in 1939 according to Epiphone.
I have one the same on the front side and the back has the controls on the bottom as a strip as this one. However, my controls are a different configuration. Far left is the fuse, then on/off switch, then red light, then two hex shaped dials(tone and volume), the three inputs for jacks. It appears, original, complete, says "series C", and in good shape, even a stamped serial number. I believe it is the century model but I can't find the exact control setup on the epiphone.com site. Any help or interest appreciated. Thanks
Hi allirobb , there is a database of Electar serial numbers on net . Google "NY Epi reg" then look in database down the bottom and you'll be able to slot in what year yours is. I am looking at one and it also has same configuration as yours but I don't know what the 3 inputs are or how many whats the amp is . Haven't been able to find schematic either. A comment on a website was that they varied a lot thru production. The next model after the Century ,the Zephyr has controls on top.....but has 3 inputs and tone and volume. The earlier Century ones have 2 inputs and one control. I think maybe yours is in the change over period between the two models....so it has the more advanced controls but in the older body maybe? If that's the case I wonder if its the same wattage as the Zephyr or the Century? More questions than answers!