Airline 9001B Combo

My Airline was made in 1963. It is covered with a tweed looking vaneer, and the grill cloth is sort of a basket color. One volume knob, one input jack, and on/off switch in the back. It is very simple to operate, and is powered by three tubes. I use it to practice or to play with other folks who are acoustic. It's not very versatile, but that is not why I bought it. I paid about 20$ on ebay for it.

I play a Hamer Echotone (which is a copy of a gibson semi hollow body) and I love the tone I get. The guitar has duncan designed pickups which are supposed to be just like gibson 59's, and I can't tell the difference by hearing two side by side. The neck pickup sounds very warm and compressed even at the higher volume levels, which is great for playing jazz. The bridge pickup sounds a little twangier and will produce a little bit of warm distortion at higher levels. I also play a washburn n2 which has a very hot bill lawrence bridge pickup. This makes the amp sound like an old marshall stack, except of course 15 time quieter. Again this amp is good for jamming informally with others, but not loud enough for a rock band situation. I play jazz, so I am able to use this amp most of the time. I have a Dean Markley CD-30, which is a good amp for tone and very loud, but I prefer th airline if I don't need a lot of volume. It just sounds awesome.

Not a lot can go wrong with this thing. I have had zero problems with it. I would gig with it in a jazz combo as long as the club had a good PA, and its light as a feather so no roadies needed.

Good luck getting any customer service on this one. I use a locally owned electronics repair store to get my amps tweaked, and I know you can generally get any problem with this amp fixed for 20-30 max.

I've been playing about 11 years, and I have consolidated my collection of gear (due to my wife's suggestions) down to one washburn n2, one hamer echotone, one hohner acoustic, one dean markley cd-30 tube amp, and the airline. I absolutely love this little amp because of the tone. I can sit and play at a comfortable level in most jazz situations I find myself in, and not have to strain or distort. The thing is just as simple as it gets, and I would compare the tone to that of some of charlie christian's recordings. I guess I wish the amp casing was of a higher quality, like wood instead of contact paper and masonite. But I did not buy it to sit down and look at it. It it blew up and I couldn't replace it, I would immediately get on ebay and track down another one. For the money you don't get better tone than this.

Small, tubed, particle board practice amp made in 1963 (that's what the pots are dated anyway.) This little tone monster measures 15 inches wide, 16 inches tall, and 6 inches deep. It's covered with yellow contact paper and the grill cloth looks to be plasticized burlap. The tube lineup is a 35W4, 50C5, and a 12AU6. The 6" speaker isn't labeled but looks to be a Fender design. The back is covered with masonite. It has one input jack, an on/off switch, and a volume control. It only has a two prong plug but I've had no problem with shocks or humming. It's simplicity at it's highest form. Plug it in and turn it on. It produces maybe 5 watts at best.

I use this amp with two different lap steels: a Guyatone Fender Champ copy and a Magnatone Varsity; two acoustic guitars: Seagull Pro Flame Maple Cutaway with a LR Baggs Active Ibeam pickup, and a Gibson LGO with a Seymour Duncan XL Woody pickup; and three electric guitars: 69 Gibson SG, a Godin LG with Schaller humbuckers, and a Pan telecaster copy with single coils. The lap steels and acoustics sound awesome through this amp. The electric guitars sound great but easily overpower the small speaker. For effects I use a Zoom 505 for chorus and a DOD compressor/sustainer pedal. This amp starts to break up about half way through the volume control and produces a wonderful bluesy sound. My Seagull is especially impressive through it. I have a Peavey KB/A 50 acoustic amp that I use in a gospel group, but this Airline sounds better. I play rock, country, and blues.

I wouldn't gig with this because of the lack of volume. Through a PA system or in a recording studio I'm sure it would shine. When I bought this at a yard sale, it was missing the 12AU6 tube and the fuse holder cap. Seven dollars worth of parts and it was producing magnificent sounds. I've used it daily as a bedroom practice amp for the past 6 months and it hasn't skipped a beat.

Airline was a division of Montgomery Wards and has been out of business for some time. I believe this is a Valco product. Anyone with a smattering of electronics knowledge could work on this.

Have been playing on and off for 30 some years. Took some time off for a finger to heal after a woodworking accident. There was a reason Chet Atkins didn't own power tools. I'm much more careful now. Have been collecting a small pile of player's gear the past few years. For other amps I have a 70's silverface Fender Vibrochamp, a Guild Model 6 solid state(best sounding solid state I've ever heard), a Peavey Studio Pro 40 (for sale cheap), and the above mentioned Peavey keyboard amp. For the 12 bucks I have into this amp, it was a fantastic deal. If it were to blow up, I would pay far more than that to replace it, if I could find one. This makes my Fender sound like a cheap solid state.