Product: Baldwin D1 1x12 combo
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
11/20/2008
at
01:07pm
by
Robert
Features
:
8
This amp followed me home a few weeks ago. It's a Baldwin D1 Professional solid state combo and going by the dates on the power transformer it was made in 1966. This is a two channel amp that produces about 35 watts or so, although it claims more. I never use the second channel. I play at home for my own enjoyment, mostly surf and blues music, and this amp's very smooth and well mannered. The tremolo is lush, the reverb is OK at low settings, and the most interesting feature is the Supersound (!) tone selector that allows five separate voicings and also allows you to combine the voicings with the main channel.
Sound Quality
:
9
I primarily use a Fender California Edition telecaster and an Ibanez Talman with P90s. This amp is a little too smooth and well behaved to have fun with humbuckers-it is well suited to a Tele. It's very quiet in operation, and is very well constructed, all components being hand wired and laid out on perforated phenolic boards.
Some of the tonal combinations available with the Supersound magic jukebox tone selectors are pretty interesting and give a lot of midrange boost. When I brought this thing home it was covered in the detritus of a million cigarettes, and it stank up the cab of my truck. It needed a huge cleaning. Also, the speaker that was installed was a car audio subwoofer that I ditched for a Weber Chicago 12F150 that was a huge improvement tonally.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
I've got no track record on this, as it's worked perfectly for the month or so that it's been here.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
The Baldwin Piano Company, which sold this chunk of iron, is a subsidiary of Gibson these days but I have a notion that if I called them up for tech support they'd say "Huh? We did what? You don't say. Fancy that!" and hang up on me. It is also rumored that these maps were made by Yorkville Sound for Baldwin but I've no way of confirming that base allegation.
Overall Rating
:
8
The other amp I use most of the time is a 1969 silverface Pro Reverb. This amp is a lot smoother but it does have an interesting tonal palette that is worth playing with. It would be a nice amp for a steel player or a jazz artist in small clubs but there are some interesting midrange tonal selections available that make it more than commonly interesting.
