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jaymzHal
Silver Member
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
 Posted - 10/18/2009 : 17:01:49
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So a while back I got hold of an old instrument amplifier. I've been using it for keyboards mostly but it sounds great (really punchy and clean) with guitar. It has an on/off/volume rotary control, plus bass and treble controls. Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances I'm going to have to move out of my place in a few months, and it's just one more thing to take with me that I don't have room for. With that in mind I'm looking at selling it, but in the same way as when I got it, I can't find any information about it. What I can tell for sure is that (as shown in the pictures) it is a 30 watt amp with a 12 inch speaker. It has a Columbus 30 - fon music sticker that actually peeled up in the corner to reveal that it was originally known as a Martello. I can't find any information about either. The speaker is a rather nice Fane model dated '78 so I know that the amp was probably made about 30 years ago. So I put it to you, my fellow bossarea users, identify my amp! (oh, and let me know if it's actually worth anything...)
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jaymzHal
Silver Member
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2009 : 17:03:00
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| Oh, sorry for the blurry closeups - my camera isn't all that great at macros... |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2009 : 17:11:17
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Hi jaymzHal
Is it Solid-State (SS), or is it a tube amp?
Regards Dr. Bob  |
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jaymzHal
Silver Member
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2009 : 17:30:11
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| Hi Dr Bob, it's solid state (or at least, I think it is - it doesn't need to warm up like my valve amps). |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2009 : 19:01:59
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There was jap copies of strats and Les Pauls back in the 70's with the name Columbus on them.... Martello sounds more italian to me,Italy used to make(and still does as far as i'm aware)a lot of music gear back in the 60's and 70's...one of the guys in our band has a Pearl guitar amp,Pearl make drums but back in the 70's and 80's branched out into guitars and pedals(some of the pedals are quite well thought of) ...i can find nothing except one and in japanese about Pearl guitar amps anywhere on the net....!!..plus some companies bought generic brand gear from jap companies and put there own name on it,probably what happened in your case with the sticker..and just to muddy and confuse the issue even more some of the Jap companies gave the stuff european sounding names to make it more marketable.... ..!! as some of these lines of amps etc ....didn't last it can be hard to find info on them sometimes...Tama the drum manufacturer also made copies of Martin acoustics for a while that never caught on but are supposed to be high quality,good sounding acoustics if you ever come across one....
P.S ..i think your on the right track with the Keyboards that speaker looks like it's a full range speaker rather than one voiced for guitar....
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Edited by - FRANZONI on 10/18/2009 19:04:22 |
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jaymzHal
Silver Member
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2009 : 14:28:27
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| Hi Franzoni, thanks for the input. I definitely think you are on to something with "Jap companies gave the stuff european sounding names to make it more marketable". I've tried every variation on the name etc to find any information on the subject but no luck (I did find some Columbus guitars from the 70's but the logo looked different). I wonder if it's the sort of amp intended for keyboard and vocals or something, I've seen a few old all in one amps in the past. Either way it sounds great with guitar but it's far too much hassle to bring everything with me, and it's probably not worth putting into storage? What do you reckon it would be worth? |
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DasBeef
Gold Member
United Kingdom
704 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2009 : 15:47:37
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A cousin perhaps...
Cousin |
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jaymzHal
Silver Member
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
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zerksies
Double Platinum Member
USA
3406 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2009 : 18:41:00
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| Does it at least sound good? |
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Witloofboer
Gold Member
Belgium
513 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2009 : 20:35:09
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Hi JaymzHal, I own a bass amplifier which has a speaker in it from the same era as mine. Mine is a Laney bass amp from the late 70's, maybe early 80's, so the speaker date should be right.
Pics of the speaker can be found here: http://www.laney-posse.co.uk/theposse/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1242&start=30
Edit: the font of the labels reminds me of my Laney's font. They did use Fane speakers quite extensively. |
Edited by - Witloofboer on 10/19/2009 20:39:41 |
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jaymzHal
Silver Member
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2009 : 21:11:05
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quote:
Originally posted by Witloofboer
Hi JaymzHal, I own a bass amplifier which has a speaker in it from the same era as mine. Mine is a Laney bass amp from the late 70's, maybe early 80's, so the speaker date should be right.
Pics of the speaker can be found here: http://www.laney-posse.co.uk/theposse/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1242&start=30
Edit: the font of the labels reminds me of my Laney's font. They did use Fane speakers quite extensively.
Hey man, thanks for the help. I have a Laney linebacker bass 30 that also has very similar font! same version as this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110441688123&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
and Zerksies, yes it sounds very nice indeed! It reminds me a little of a jazz chorus, a clean tone that really hits you. Doesn't mind distortion pedals either...
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DasBeef
Gold Member
United Kingdom
704 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2009 : 23:06:06
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This one looks like it may have the same logo. It's fuzzy, but if you look at the headstock, the 3rd last letter looks like it's longer, like a lower case b.
Columbus |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2009 : 18:15:46
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| I don't sell gear anymore..if it sounds pretty decent i would drag it with me to where ever i was moving to,it doesn't look too big as combo amps go and those old fane speakers are supposed to be pretty good....i don't think it would fetch a big price to be honest... |
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Witloofboer
Gold Member
Belgium
513 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2009 : 21:47:52
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quote:
Originally posted by FRANZONI
i don't think it would fetch a big price to be honest...
+1
I have some thoughts about the secondhand market. I see some Fender Silverfaces going up to €1000, where let's say Laneys/Carlsbro's/Selmers/... from the same era are much cheaper. That's just the 'Fender' logo being that pricey.
About the Fane speaker: I like the sound of it in my bassamp (K50 B - Late 70's). |
Edited by - Witloofboer on 10/21/2009 22:06:01 |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2009 : 22:06:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Witloofboer
quote:
Originally posted by FRANZONI
i don't think it would fetch a big price to be honest...
+1
I have some thoughts about the secondhand market. I see some Fender Silverfaces going up to €1000, where let's say Laneys/Carlsbro's/Selmers/... are much cheaper. That's just the 'Fender' logo being that pricey.
About the Fane speaker: I like the sound of it in my bassamp (K50 B - Late 70's).
My very early 60's Selmer Stadium... 15 watts of all valve goodness including a retifier valve and valve driven tremolo also intact is the original goodmans speaker,unfortunately someone stripped the original tolex of it to make it(i think) look more like a Fender.... this model was used by the Beatles in their Hamburg days and also by the Shadows before they went to Vox....Hilton Valintine of the Aminals is also on record as saying that he is fairly sure he recorded the guitar on 'House of the rising sun'with a selmer stadium....the best bit..? i got it for £100 back about 9 years ago.... 
Sorry for the off topic but when witloofboer mentioned selmer i just had to show my baby off.... .........
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Mystery Amp?
