Alamo Dart Combo

I saw the section here for alamo and thought I'd take a look, seems like no one had the Dart here but me so far.
This was my first guitar amp, and worked for many years with no problems.
it was bought new by the original owner for $89.99 in 1973 along with a new beautiful sunburst dark red to bright light translucent red Harmony Rocket electric guitar with two (stock DeArmond)pickups. 3 way toggle switch, and two tone, two volume controls, that was originally $265. (she gave me the original paperwork and owner manuals with them!)
She thought she wanted to learn guitar but gave up and left it sit in her closet for years till around 1979, (I was about 15?) when my mom mentioned to her I was wanting an electric guitar. then she said, hey I got one you could have with an amp. $135 for both of them.

The Alamo Electronics Corp was in Texas, according to the schematic/manual. The amp was designed for several musical instruments with pickups. i think it had three inputs? but was not specificly for guitar or bass or anything.

it is an all tube amp, has about 4 or 5 tubes in it. has a volume and tone control. had a tremelo section with speed and intensity knobs.
it is not your usual "vibrato" you think of, it worbled the pitch a slight bit i think.. maybe the volume a little.
(it sounded great when it was distorted tho. wish I could emulate that sound with my newer equipment sometimes.)
maybe it was just old, or needed a better tube for that section
but it was not like the old vibro amps that remind me of strobe lights for sound that cut on and off when set at extremes.

i think it had a simple small speaker, i think its ten inch, but i never blew it out no matter what I did, and i did use a guitar AND bass with it later, and always played it up loud. which wasn't very loud i should add, but it was ok for in a bedroom.
After a while it got a little hummy but it was always very clean tubey sound till you had it on loud for a while then it had a nice warm disortion sound, but not too muddy.

I still have it, I dont know if it still works; I should pull it out of storage and see.
the electronics are very simple. the schematic was very simpley laid out. the pots never gave out nor any thing else, except one tube, much much later. So the pots and stuff were probably made well.
the only modification I did, was gave it a three prong plug with wire instead of the 2 prong one, at the advice of an electrician.

My only complaint with it was that I wanted an amp with reverb on it, and also wanted it louder.

cosmeticly it was an upright rectangle. a black metal casing with white letters on the controls area. the knobs were simple black ones with silver centers. the case had the usual black covering and had the old silver speckles threaded throughout on black style cloth speaker cover. the wood was plywood, but not the 3/4 inch stuff, just maybe 1/2 inch i think, so it didnt seem so sturdy to sit on, altho it never broke wne i did.
the corners did not have metal covers on.
the speaker had no name brand on it.
had no standby switch for it, like most tube amps; i dont know why not.

I mostly used my Harmony Rocket with it, but also used a Kingston bass with it, and a Crestline SG copy which I had put gotoh tuners and bigsby tremelo and Gibson pickups on.

I loved the Beatles back then, and all the 60s rock bands. The Rolling stones, and led zep too.
The distortion was warm and thick but not too thick. and was not muddy or wimped out. had a bite to its attack but not harsh or brittle sounding. I wish they made this distortion sound as an option on my amp simulator haha
warm and fat but biting, but not fat like santana..
i noticed that tiny bit of worble really helps the sound have a vibe to it without being obvious.
it sounds almost like the Who, on Wont Get Fooled Again..? especially that last long chord. it wavers as it hangs there. but bites.
alot like that sound i think.

i didn't play out in bands with this, but i did use it once in a while for jams or practice, or recording even.
I did take it out alot, to my freinds, and to school, and things..
I never babied it, was out in all sorta weather.
But it never broke down.
I am not sure if it still works or not right now; I have not used it for over ten years. I would say it was reliable.

i forget how long the warranty was for.. it may have been lifetime or one year, but I cant remember. never had to have it worked on.
tested the tubes for free occasionally at radio shack or whereever.
replaced one when it was weak.
think they were GE tubes.

at the time i got it, I had been playing for about 3 or 4 years, and was taking lessons.
I owned 2 accoustics then. a sort of generic thing that was actually a decent and built well for a beginner 3/4 size guitar. the neck never warped on it, ever. I still have it. I'm sentimental.

had a Yamaha Accoustic also. was not the bottom of the line, but not quite their middle guitar then I think. Has a few harmonicas and a shure Microphone.

I needed something louder for in bands later, so got a bigger more powerful amp with more features. Have had a bunch since then.
I loved it's tone, I hated its lack of reverb, and lack of volume. If it were louder I would have used it alot more later.

I had tried out various other brands or amps and guitars at the time. I tried out Crestline, Fender, yamaha and other japanese brands I can't remember.
I got it mostly because I liked the guitar that it came with a LOT and the amp seemed to be okay. They were barely used, like new condition and not expensive.
I had always liked the old hollow body electrics back then mostly because alot of artists in the 60s used them.
wasnt a bad deal back then for a kid to play in their room.

these days it seems tube amps are very expensive, whether they are big or small.
and the cheap small amps sound like they crammed alot of volume power into them but the sound is like a tiny transistor AM radio speaker alot of the time.
if they sold this amp new today, at the price of the small transistor amps, (like the sidekick champs) it would probably outsell them.
if they put reverb and made it a little louder..
would probably compete well with the major companies amps.