Beltone Combo

I used to own a Beltone AC 12 combo. It was all tubes. The outside was red/pinkish tolex. It had 1 mic and 3 inst. inputs. A tremolo speed control, a foot switch jack for the tremolo circuit, 1 volume, 1 tone, and a pilot light. It contained 1 12" speaker. I owned it for about 2 years. I got rid of it when it was continuously blowing fuses, (hey, I was 14 and didn't know squat about electronics). Had I owned it nowadays, I would have repaired it myself.

The amp had a beautiful warm tone at lower volumes from what I can remember ( got rid of it in December of 84'). It had wicked distortion at higher volumes. Full blast was killer. it sounded great for old bluesy, and R&B stuff. Perfect for CCR with the tremolo.. It was a little noisy with hum, and whatnot. it probably needed new caps, but I was 11 when I bought it and had no idea about that techy stuff then.

In the end the amp had a bad transformer (from what I was told). It would blow the fuse as soon as the power was turned on. I never had any gigs back then, but if I did I'd probably leave the amp at home until I gave it a proper servicing.

Not to worry about customer support. beltone was long out of business by the time I got my hands on the amp.

I've been playing for 29 years. I'd probably buy one again for sentimental reasons. I saw one exactly like it on e-bay. I'm currently watching the auction. I loved the classic sound it had. I hated how it would pick up noise from the AC line. probably easy to correct by replacing the capacitors.

60's amp
5Y3GT rectifier, 2xEL84, 4x6AV6
One CTS 12"
4 inputs. The one next to Tremolo button is for...tremolo.
One volume, one bass, one treble.
Red Tolex
Good looking dude.
Vox like.

This amp has a nice clean sound that goes well with my single coils.

Extremely well made amp...
Teisco transformer, all resistors and electrolitycs are Riken, caps are Tokai's.
Solid ply box.
The CTS 12 incher does it's bit well.

Not worried!

This here...Beltone does the clean well and he is a joly mate with my Tweed Champ who is more of a groller.
Clean and dirt under same roof.

This amp is from the mid to late 60's, as far as I can tell.
It's a one - sounder, but a good sound, very much like a blackface Fender Champ.
One channel, vibrato, no reverb
Would be nice if it had reverb
One tone control
Great for rehearsal or recording, about 8 watts
All tube

Amer. Std. Telecaster
Les Paul DC Studio
Blues, funk rock, old R&B, calassic rock
About as noisy as my Champ
Distorts nicely above 6

Haven't had it long enough to know

Beltone no longer exists
A friend repaired it quite easily

Playing 30 years
Wouldn't go looking for one if missing
Sounds good, sounds old, sounds fun
Anybody else got one?
email me