Product: Alron Mosfet 1000
Price Paid: 300 ($NZ) used
Submitted
05/27/2003
at
02:08am
by
Anonymous
Features
:
7
Alron amps (and pedals?) were made by H.B.C. Electronics in Napier, New Zealand. The vintage I would guess at early 1980s. The same company made Fatboy brand amps.
I use mine for playing bass.
It's a 100 Watt Mosfet Amp in combo with a 1x15" speaker. It has "high" and "low" inputs, knobs for bass and treble, and a parametric EQ (level and frequency knobs). Also gain and master volume. The cabinet is closed design.
I have seen this amp available as a separate head. There is also a 200W version which seems to be more or less two of these stuck together. There seems to be a fair bit of Alron gear available used in NZ - probably because it's built pretty solid.
Obviously the features don't stack up to most modern equivalents. Parametic EQ is good though. It's got all the basics.
One cool feature is a 9V power socket which you can use to power pedals if you get the right cable (I had to make one).
Sound Quality
:
7
I am on a tight budget. That is why I own this amp! My bass is a Vester, sort of Jazz Bass clone with neck and bridge pickups and passive electronics. I like warm sounds and if I use just the neck pickup this amp delivers what I want. I have heard other people play different stuff and it sounded OK when they turned up the treble. It can be a bit boomy sometimes.
Getting distortion out of it is virtually impossible with my bass, which has quite low output signal strength. I can't really comment on the distortion. It is Mosfet.
Reliability
:
9
I asked a few friends, and universally got the answer that Alron = reliability. Not many features but built to last. The cabinet is very solid and also very very heavy. I replaced the knobs on mine which made it look way better (just looks though). A friend had a different Alron amp with a broken spring reverb.
Customer Support
:
1
I seriously doubt that the company exists any more. I bet any tech with half a brain could fix it though 'cos it's so simple.
Overall Rating
:
7
I've only been playing for a few years and I haven't owned many amps to compare it with (3). Above, I have refrained from commenting on anything I feel is outside my expertise.
Very simply, it's old, reasonably well designed, sounds ok (nothing special) when used for bass. It is reliable. It was good value for money.
