WEM/Watkins Dominator Bass Combo

This amp was made around 1970-73 latest and is fundamentaly the same as the guitar version, except for the 3" difference of speaker..The speaker is even a guitar speaker! G15M (Guitar 15" Medium) SAs there weren't really any such things as bass speakers . I actually use this Amp with my Ibanez GAX70 guitar rathr than bass, and it rocks! Pure Brit valve tone akin to vox AC15 and value for money?? I got it for ??15 pounds in new old condition, including All original Mullard valves!
This amp is very simple, with two clean chanels , a treble boost, volume controlls and bass and trebble for both chanels! It's perfect to gig with, and it's perfect to practice on, with a beautifull rich, full tone. I play music influenced by the who, led zeppelin and early floyd and it is perfect.

I used to use it on bass, a jazz bass. However, it is much more versatile as a guitar amp, as the structure of the amp itself is not sturdy enough for bass and has a tendancy to rattle. Therefore, i use it with the standard humbuckers in my self modified ibanez GAX70 and it sounds great with a homemade preamp wich is a story for another day!!The clean Channels distort around 3-4 volume but have room for dynamics..Play soft, get a nice jangly sound. play harder, get distortion! The distortion is a beautifull creamy, rich pure british valve tone straight from the early 70's, litterally (all original valves)
It is only a small amp really, a 15-20 watter but it's so versatile! Use it in your room (don't turn it too loud, it'll hurt your ears) and it would not be amiss gigging although i would reccomend a speaker cab with it (A simple modification can allow for this)
The celestion greenback G15M makes the sound all the richer..Yeah!

The most reliable amp i have ever seen!! This will never be defeated and even if and when the valves go, it's so simple i could do it myself. It has never broken down and it isn't likely to either.
Sturdy as a brick ****house is the term i believe!

Charlie Watkins of Watkins Electrical ?Music is still alive and well and lives in london..Although i do not think he is up for fixing amps he built 30-40 years ago, he still answers emails and i recieved on off him last year myself to prove it!
It's a vvery simple amp and can be fixed by any vvalve amp repair shop..Just beware they don't snaffle your mullard valves and replace them with bad chinese coppies, it happened to someone i know.www.stevesamps.co.uk is a brilliant place to get your valve amps and any others fixed if you live in the uk!!

I have been playing about six years now, and it's valves all the way! I can't believe my luck with this one..Due to a highly Nomadic lifestyle, i do not own much equipment, but i will never get rid of this little gem. If it were ever stolen, i would spend the rest of my days hunting down the swine that took her from me and never rst until i had her again !!!!!
I love everything about this beauty , she has no bad points (Unless you are a bass player. If i am mistaken anywhere , please let me know for i shall provide my email adress! Be aware that it is all my own opinion and as such do not contact me telling me i'm talking crap etc, only usefull emails and queries will be replied to!!
BOSCHCAPFULLKIPPER

Features as shown below. Mine is a Mk. 1 and strangely has voltage selection on the front panel right hand side. Everything else sounds the same and I'd agree with the comments. I wouldn't consider this a bass amp and there is clearly a guitar channel. I was surprised by the function of the 'treble boost' (more a gain boost) and the very bright sound (for a bass amp) with the treble fully up... now I know its the way they are so I won't try and 'fix it'. Output tubes are self bissing' (like all preamp valves) so no bias power supply and I'd have guessed class A more like 15watts than 20, but I've no evidence for that.
Plenty of power for a pub gig at 1/2 max volume. Mic it up for louder. This is after all 1/2 an AC30. Sometimes more is less.

Ah ha, now we get to the reason to use this amp. A sonic heaven as a small gigging amp (pub size)certainly for blues/country rock. Slightly noisy (hum) so probably useless as a studio amp these days and probably slightly annoying in a quiet bedroom for those used to utter silence. But probably fixable by a good amp tech. I use it as 'clean' with 2 distortion stomp boxes to give 4 possible levels/styles of o/d. I'm using a Les Paul Special with P100's, a Comptortion for o/d + compression and a Marshal ??? that is missnamed something like 'shred master' as actually you can get very subtle o/d out of it to just slightly dirty up the sound.

I'd depend on it, but no amp is 100% failsafe and particularly true for valve/tube combos due to heat/vibration. However this amp is at least the right way up so tube heat rises upwards away from the electronics and the valves are spaced far away from other components. So I'd say its inherently a more reliable design that the upside down (fender) style where the valves cook everything else.

A simple circuit so readily fixable by any competent tech. No factory support.

I've been playing long enough to know that its crazy to want an all-in-one style of amp. Get a good clean sound from an amp you can afford (and carry around) and then get the o/d sounds from stomp boxes. I paid very little for this amp, and even at top dollar it would be far cheaper than a botique 15 watter from MESA/Soldano etc. that may offer more 'flexibility' but no better sound

Made about 1980 I guess. This is a 20 Watt Valve Bass combo with 2 channels, treble and bass controls on each channel and a treble boost switch on Channel 1. It has a 15" 50 Watt Celestion G15M speaker. Inside it has 3 Ecc83 preamp valves and 2 EL84's in the power stage. It's not too heavy to carry with 1 strap.

It is meant to be a bass amp and in this role it is OK. It sounds good with my old Hofner but with the other bass that has active electronics it sounds terrible. Modern bass combos are much better. However I bought it to use as a guitar amp. It has a great overdrive sound with a Tele. The treble response is strange - really bright and clangy but with the top clipped off (perhaps because the speaker is a bass speaker). The speaker is a 15" bass version of the Celestion G12M greenback and that is exactly what it sounds like - a fat Greenback. At least one amp expert has advised me to get rid of it because it cannot possibly work as a guitar amp but the fact is it really does! It sounds like a cross between an Orange and a Vox with with a slightly punk sound for guitar. The bass sound is traditional sixties style deep and booming.

Its maybe 20 years old now and apart from valves it appears to have had no other maintenance

Watkins Electronic Music still operate as a speaker and PA supplier but they do not manufacture amps now. This amp could be serviced by any decent Valve amp technician.

I was after a 15-20 Valve combo for guitar and I tried this for fun but it sounded great. If it sounds great I dont really care if the frequency response of the speaker is wrong for guitar use. I doubt I would find another but if I lost it I would look for one. WEM always had a good reputation for making 'budget' valve amps and combos - many of the big UK bands started with WEM gear and moved on to more famous brands later. I wish Celestion made a 15" G15M speaker for guitar - it would sound fantastic.