Carlsbro 50 Top Head

the only features here are KILLER TONES! And that's all I want :)

this amp sounds incredible with my Les Pauls. I can get an AUTHENTIC Led Zeppelin tone with this great amp!!!!!

handwired. That's the best build quality

been playing for 19 years,had dozens of amps....the Carlsbro is one of my top 3 amps. The other ones are a Fender Bandmaster and a Sound City 50 Plus.

I have read here about people getting that amp for 160 dollars? Gimme a break....I don't believe it. This is no 160 bucks amp...it's one of the best you'll buy. Buy it ,if and when you find one

vintage UK amplifier,no frills,but killer tones! Mine is an original one,although the Reissue is supposed to be as good. I have bought it from a local store for 799 euros,and it's worth EVERY cent, it's the best amp if you want an old Marshall type of sound

Great Marshall 1987x sounds! And very,very loud! Sounds LOUDER than my 120 watts Peavey tube amp!!! Even though it's rated at 50 watts,it seems like 130 or something,it will take your head off.

vintage handwired head. I believe this is a Class A/B amp,sounds very much like a Marshall Plexi! Who cares about features? This amp was built to give the guitarist the best sounds possible!
I'd rather have that than having an amp with 25 functions that give me less than the BEST !

I use this amp with an USA Kramer Baretta with a Seympur Duncan Jeff Beck at the bridge,an Ibanez Tubescreamer,and two 4x12. That's all I use!
Then as I turn the amp up, I get some of the most amazing,high-class tones I have heard anywhere!
WOWWWWWWWWW
I have had many great vintage amps ,but this amp is definitely a keeper. It's got rare and although Carlsbro is making Reissues,there's always a certain magic about the original amps.

If you want a really loud,powerful,simple but killer amp,this is the vintage Jaguar of guitar amps!

VERY well built,all the parts are really high quality. These amps are a lot easier to repair than amps with printed circuit boards,and thus the repairs would cost less.

Made in `74 or `75
No features, as you know. Bass, treble,middle, volume, 2 inputs, loud and very loud.and thats it

I??playing an `77 Strat, and for spare, an 72custom tele(mex)
Effects: Deluxe Memoryman(no reissue) boss sd1, and boss ch1.
I play Ac/dc, Stones, van Morrisson, Cream and so on.
I`ve been playing for 23 years, and tried all kind of amps: Ampeg V2, Marshall JCM`s, Fender bassmann , Soundcity , Carlsbro TC, Musicmann and so on And the 50top beats them all, in my opinion. Its Clean and nice, for country or ballads, but with a bit of "pedal" it takes off, and beats all other amps I`ve played...

I`ve owned this amp for 23 years, and played 100+ gigs, and it never broke down. I had it recapped 10 years ago, "just in case" changes the tubes when nesceray, thats it

10 years ago, I needed schematics to recap, and mailed Carlsbro. They send me Schematics(regular mail) within few days, for an 30 years old amp!!! thats customer support.
Their forum these days, are very helpfull too

As said before, 23 years of playing, all sorts of music, anywhere, anytime.
If I lost my 50top, I would by one again, no matter the cost, in fact I`m about to my a 50top combo, wich is exactly the same amp, just in case....

Very basic single channel amp, 3 band eq and a volume control - it's that simple, but that's the joy of it. Nothing extreme, just beautifully clean and warm tone (assuming your tubes are okay!). All I wanted when I bought this amp was a good clean sound, all my dirt/fx/ comes from a few stomps, and so it's ideal. It's the perfect gigging amp for pretty much all the venues I play up to about 250/300 and then it's mic'd for anything else.

With a few pedals I can get everything I need from this amp. It's really nice clean and sparkly when worked to a reasonable level, but unless you've got the room or a power soak to crank it to the max, it won't do higher gain rock - obvious really. It is painfully loud on the couple of occasions I've turned it all the way up. I run mine through a Marshall 1936 2 x 12 cab which suits it very nicely (and I can just about lift!). Mine's very quiet, which again is no surprise given its lack of multiple gain stages. The pots have become a little noisy but it's over 30 years old! Some judicious use of switch/contact cleaner and it's fine.

It's has been fine for loads of gigs but developed a very horrible noise only a few weeks ago which was diagnosed as a dry joint on the PSU and very easily remedied. I always take a spare amp with me as you never know. I've had brand new, expensive amps pack up with the strangest faults, so it's just common sense to take a back up.

Not had to use it

I've been playing for way too long - nearly 40 years so I am pretty well experienced in the ways of amps. This is amp is terrific - wish I'd found it 25 years ago - would have saved me a lot of time and money! I have a couple of other 50-60 watt British heads - similarly simple, which I use as back ups. This is the best of those. If this were stolen, I'd try to find another - no question.

Mine is an early 70's 50 top head...two el 34 and two 12ax7's. features...pretty basic...the way I like them! Vol,treb,mid and bass...2 speaker outs..selection the ohmage and voltage selcetion & low and hight inputs....thats it and you don't need more...simple plug in a play.10 cause I am not a feature guy...less is best!The player can make it versitile!
Very rarely available in the USA...and not well know here...man, a lot of folks have no clue what thier missing!

I play vintage strats...with old school analog effects...tape echo, tube screamer, kord ovd, aramat tremolo and an ada flanger...This amp is well suited for those kind of effects!
Sound is amazing...with no effects, crank it, ring a chord and your there...breaks up nicely with clarity. Volume is less than most Brit 50 watters...perfect amount when set about 3/4 up...with out making the ears bleed! Noise...NONE!You hardly can tell it's on until you hit a chord.The quietest tube amp I have ever owner. Tone is old Marshall with it's own sweet flavor...love it! Think Black Crows or Neil Young's Cinnimon Girl! Sounds better than the sound city I sold, better than my A/C 30TB ...I still like my blackface fenders...but thats because they are different beasts.
I recapped the amp and made one small mod...these amps have a capacitor that is like having the presence wired on ten(a bit too bright)...I removed the cap and wow, it warmed up...A guy from the carlsbro site (forums)gave me that info...thanks Sixten!
Sound is as good as it gets! 10++++

Looked through it quite well and I have no worries! After 30+ years it's in great shape inside and out!

They reissued this head...so I suppose they could service it! Cost a lot to ship to the UK...I work on my own amps anyway.

Fantastic amp...I have owned bunches of well known amps...vintage mostly.This is on the top of my favorites list! Ebay got this one here...two years looking for one to pop up in the states...finally purchased from over seas...the amp cost around $430.00 but with shipping ended up a little under $700.00 us. Still a great price for what this thing does!See one...ask no questions and quickly fork over the cash...or better yet, email me!

this ia an all vavle 50 watt amp, 2x el34 and 2x ecc38 i think this is a re-model of the 70's version not sure, its got a yellow front with red dots on the silver knobs. This is very versatile, the most basic and easy amp to use ever, perfect for my style, that is alternative and experimental rock, ala pink floyd, the smashing pumpkins, radiohead. it is a songle channel amp and thats it, a high and low gain input and speaker out. it would be better if it had and effects loops but they all sound awsome through the front of the amp anyway maybe a bit of reverb aswell.

US start with seymour duncan little 59, AWSOME, the best clean i have ever hear din my life and ive played every amp out there, cant beat it! so warm and clean sounds like its coming from a cd such an epic sound! no noise no hum or his. this distortion is obtain by crankin the amp on almost full and BOOOM ul get blasted away its awsome best vintage distortion ever very punk and AC DC

Like a tank

had faulty tubes when bought, soughted an replced straight away went on forum almost instant reply cheers

AWSOME, buy it you wont be disapointed i dint hear the amp b4 i bought it coz i knew it would sound this good i love it

Hi everybody, I have all the Carlsbo schematics, if I can be of any help?


Website: www.chambonino.com

As far as I know, mine is a '74. Features? It doesn't lack anything the coveted M'shall Plexi has in features; two ins, and switchable impedence speaker outs - and tonewise it blows AWAY any M'shall I've played or heard, IMO. It does everything a vintage british tube-head should do. Probably doesn't deserve even an 8, but folks look at the overall rating when the Sounds (TONE) rating is really the only one that really matters (excepting inferior, unreliable junk).

Anything I throw at it sounds fantastic. I have about 20 guitars at any point - Gibsons, Hamers (mostly Daytonas, the superior US-Made Strat), assorted others - single/HB equally covered.

This amp's natural distortion, which shows up somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the volume knob, is about perfect. It is the quintessential (trying to get the point across, pardon the pretensiousness) output-stage distortion - tube's overdriving, transformer saturating - luscious british distortion tone.
A couple of the power caps have been replaced, sometime ago, apparently with very-near-to original spec. caps. The turret board, etc... is so elegant and simple - but there's magic going on there.

This thing has either the original, or very near-to-original, tube set. The 2 el34s are "Brimar" tubes, the 12ax7s are equally old - while not telefunken or other "elite" vintage tubes, these Brimars sound so damn sweet they may as well be vintage Mullards. They're still full of tone and volume, and must be 25 or 30 years old anyway.
Anyone know anything about this tube? I only use this amp for recording now and let it warm up for a few minutes, etc.. I baby it.

I would not use this amp on a gig - mostly to preserve the power tubes. The componentry, save the power caps, is all original, and (under heavy use) might not be too reliable at this point. It's never failed me in the three years I've owned it.

One interesting thing - this amp is stenciled with the name "Mother Earth" - apparently was used for a lot of recording over the years, as well as gigging in the '70s. Just after I +won+ the eBay auction for an excellent price (I _think_ about $300), the seller told me a well-known producer who was familiar with this exact amp contacted him and was willing to pay a lot more for it - as he'd loved it in the studio and wanted it for his own. Hah! It's MINE! :)

N/A
The company is around but don't believe in it's original incarnation - I tried to get schematic or any other product literature to no avail.

This is the perfect vintage british tube head, in the Marshall vein but (IMHO) even more special and rare.

Mine's a '75 that was overhauled by the guys at Carlsbro before I bought it. It looks immaculate. Features? I'll be honest and rate it down but the fewer the knobs the better I say. Single channel, 2 inputs (loud and louder), 4 coloured knobs and a pretty yellow panel. Perfect.

Ah yes. Sound. Tone. This thing throws bucket loads out. I've had Marshalls and Boogies and Fenders and Laneys but they all bow down in awe of what this little fellah can do. The only amp I've had that beats it for tone was an early 60s AC30. The louder input and a Les Paul is classic 70s rock territory. The other input keeps things cleaner - ideal for pedal users. To be fair it really just does one thing but it's the one thing I want it to do and I can't smile wide enough.

Built like a tank. I'll probably keel over and expire before it does. However it's nearly 30 years old valve technology so I'll keep the rating real.

Had no contact personally but they did a real good job for the previous owner in renovating its internals.

We all have differing opinions regarding what sounds good. Not everyone will like this amp. It's not got the huge distortion that metal players crave. It's not as sweet as a Fender Twin or as gnarly as a wound up Bassman. However, to my ears, this makes the classic early 70s rock noise that inspired me to pick up a guitar in the first place - and I'd have had a miserable life without that. I'd even rate it above non-master vol Marshalls although it's a close thing.

Ok then. Grey hair, wrinkles, big belly and a 50 Top through a couple of 2x12s. Yeah, that'll do me nicely.