Danelectro Centurian 275 112 Combo

I think mine is a '63. Features have been covered, but it is true two channel amp, w/ verb & trem, 4 inputs with varying levels of gain & brightness. Prolly pumps out about 15 loud tube watts. Pretty feature chocked for the time???trem & verb. The point-point handwiring, fat Jensen C12Q, nice cab, smart looks, and tube cage make it quite feature chocked for these days, especially given it's real feature: tone, tone, tone. In my book, these features automatically get an 8, especially compared to the crap put out today. Tube cage is darn smart idea. Tubes don???t rattle, are protected, but don???t overheat. Good ideas, don???t persist, I guess.

It's hard to overrate the total musicality and tonality of this amp. Super warm, articulate, yet crunchy when you want it, extremely dynamic and sensitive to picking attack. I've had great vintage & modern boutique amps, but this really raised the bar, across the board.

Surprisingly flexible sound-wise--twangs with my single coil, singes with my Gretsch, smooth and warm with my acoustic-electric. Super cleans and amazingly rich harmonic breakup with stellar tube sag.

On a whim, I tried out substituting a pair of NOS 6L6s for the 6V6s and never looked back. They really fattened up the bass and sweetened the sound up beautifully. Dumb luck.

That said, the 'verb on mine is totally so-so, and I'd have it fixed, 'cept that since everything in the chain affects tone, I don't want to mess with the sonic bliss that this baby pumps out. Trem too is just ok, but again it don???t matter, this baby has got it.

I???d played other upper level vintage Dano???s & they were nice, but not stunning. Took a long time to track down one of these???seem to be very rare model-- but it was worth it. Maybe they???re hard to find, because nobody parts with ???em? This amp is Nathan Daniel???s crowning achievement.

It's more than 40 yrs old and plays without a hitch. Nathan Daniel knew what he was doing and built amps that are every bit on par with the best of his contemporaries or those that came after--this thing is wonderfully laid out. A total f*&^ng tone tank!

Gone, gone, long gone. But any decent tech can figure these out. Even me!

After 25 yrs of gigging/recording I thought I'd played thru some of best sounding & built boxes that there are, but this unit totally blew me away. I play a dizzying array of avant garde, Americana, blues, country, punk, and folk depending on my mood, and with this I don???t need to scramble for another amp, I just twist the settings on dis box.

Don???t get me wrong, this box was made to rock and it excels at producing at utterly delicious, complex overdriven tone. Having played thru or owned some spectacularly made & sounding amps like bad cats, matchless, & tone king, I???m astonished to say that this amp holds its ground with every one of them, though at lower power. Those are well made amps, but the Centurion has proved its durability, and the others still have to face the test of time. Color me super impressed. And no, mine is, and never will be, for sale.

refer to the other reviews about specs. i will say that the tremelo is the absolute BEST. the reverb on my '63 is surprisingly decent. if you crank it too much it enters the star trek zone but tuned in low, it is more than adequate. my amp tech told me that he wouldn't dare attempt to convert it without a schematic which i was unable to locate. since i only play blues and rhythm and blues it is as versatile as i could stand. so many knobs to turn. lol.

this is a blues machine! into chicago blues? nothing better. the ceramic jensen grabs the notes and takes them to that special place with all kinds of sweet sweet overtones. just awesome. i actually replaced the speaker with a celestion greenback. for a couple of weeks i wondered what happened to that sweet sound the amp had. i quickly yanked it and put the jensen back in...perfect!!

seems to be built like a tank. and you could drop a piano on that metal screen that protects the tubes and it would be fine.

it was built in 1963 and it is now 2006.....nuff said about that!

i have been playing 44 years now (damn i am old!). my first amp in 63 was a dano dm-25. then i was convinced that fender had all the answers. i could kick myself for taking over 40 years to realize that danelectro and other second tier manufacturers of the 50's and 60's were putting some serious amps out there. i switch off between this and my silvertone 1432 also built by danelectro(totally different sound but equally intense). all i can say is if you end up with one of these, you will be a very very happy guitar player. i would pay double what i paid for this thing it is that good.

Correction to previous post. Metal film NOT wirewound resistors were used. Metal film resistors helped with less unwanted noise.

You can play any style of blues on it! :-)

This Centurian is around '63. I mod-ed this one somewhat differently than the other one I reviewed. It has 2 channels that were independent which I rewired to be interdependent. This created far more usuable sounds and tones than the original schematic. Again, it is a fabulous blues amp but can cover the Jeff Golub tone ofjazz/blues very nicely. Reverb and vibrato on it. The original reverb actually was almost passable on this one but I still didn't like it. The vibrato was superb. The original amp prior to rebuilding it sounded very good. If you know Paul Black & the Flip Kings, it nails that tone. I also found that it could blend pretty decent with the Vince Gill country sound (in a bluesy sort of way). The mod on this amp involved removing the piezo transducer reverb and installing spring reverb.
The rebuild kept all caps and resistors in the original values wherever possible and I simply replaced the caps with orange sprague and the resistors with wirewound & sprague for the filter caps. Essentially, it followed the schematic for 95% of the amp (excluding the spring reverb). The amp came with the Jensen C12Q and a schematic and an original footswitch. Everything worked when I bought it. If you could hear the before and after tones, you'd know why I "rebuilt it". It takes the best of the original tone and makes more of it.

Using custom hollow Tele's, it has a phenomonal tone to it! Dead quiet at idle. This amp also has the great overdriven sound that captures every nuance of one's playing. It does not sound distorted or muddy.
It has a warm clean overdriven "honky" mid-ly type sound that lets every note ring thru easily. It sounds similar to the Tab Benoit tone I hear on his CD's. It overdrives with the controls on 5 and on 7 produces wonderful harmonics. It does not get a sparkly "clean" sound like can be dialed into my Princeton Reverb. I still think the "Shrunk down '59 Bassman on steroids" is a good description after the rebuild. Replacing the caps with orange sprague allowed more "natural" tone of the guitar to cut thru and at some level warmed up the tone also. It does sound stellar with my tube screamer wth 808 mod.

The amp worked great with all parts being 41 yrs old.
I found replacement caps and resistors at Hoffmanamp.com as well as the spring reverb parts.The amp is laid out in a fashion making it very easy to work on. I don't think there is anything electrical that you couldn't find a part for. I have emailed out
the schematic to several posts including schematicheaven.com and hope someone will post it. In some ways, the layout of the thing is very logical, innovative and has all point to point wiring.

None from DanElectro. Hoffmanamps.com has parts and alot of technical info plus an amp forum. I think that should suffice if one knows how to work on amps safely.

Yes I would buy another if this one disappeared. I still have my Princeton Reverb, but I parted with a blackface VibroChamp to get this Dano. This was a great amp prior to rebuilding and switching out to spring reverb. It is unbelievably wonderful sounding now. If you like the vintage pulsatng vibrato with reverb and a warm overdriven honky tonk blues tone at moderate volumes, grab one! As I said in my other review, for blues ..... it has that great tone and overdrive making it my favorite of all the amps I've played in 36 yrs. Replacing all the caps, resistors and adding spring reverb cost me $110. Tonally, I don't know how one could get more tone for the dollar? Amp with spring reverb and rebuild costs me under $350.

This amp is probably a '61-63 era. It has 2 channels w/4 inputs with 3 distinct sounds all usable. It is a blues or R&B amp. The amp has limits because of the incredibly warm overdriven mid(ly) sound. Not enough headroom for country or clean jazz. It has a great vibrato that is lush and a "piezo transducer" reverb that is totally goofy and almost not usable. Tubes are (2) 12AX7s preamp, 6CG7 reverb, 6AU6 vibrato, 6X4 rectifier, (2) 6V6s output. It has about 10-12 watts power. Comes with Jensen 12"speaker that is great! This amp is essentially a Silvertone 1472/1482 with a reverb added and shares around 75% similar components.

I can best describe this amp tonally.as a shrunk down version of a '59 Bassman. It is the best blues amp I have ever played thru. In 36 years of playing, I have playd thru blackface Fenders, Marshall, Gibson, MesaBoogie, Rivera, Music Man and other tube amps.
None of those match this amp for blues. It is reasonably quiet at idle. It does not have much headroom and breaks up on 5 volume. On 7, it is utterly ferocious with incredible harmonics and growl. (more harmonics than I have ever heard from 6V6 tubes). Notes sustain well yet articulate perfectl allowing all playing nuances to shine thru.
It has the "brown" sound emphasizing the middle tonal qualities. It does not have the crunchy sound of my Princeton Reverb or it's versatility. But for blues, I have never heard better. If you are familiar with Tab Benoit, it nails that type of traditional blues sound perfectly. I really don't use pedals much and to be honest I can not imagine a pedal improving the sound with this amp, it would only add a different sound. I play blues, rock, some country and trying to learn jazz. The overdrive sound never muddies at any volume and lets chords and notes cut thru very nicely.

This amp had original everything and all of it worked! Since this amp is a keeper. I replaced all caps in it with Orange Sprague and used wire wound resistors. I replaced filter caps. Replaced the original Jensen with a reissue that was also a C12Q and kept the original sound. Everything was replaced to specs EXCEPT the reverb. I rewired the reverb tube socket for a 12AX7 and added a spring reverb circuitry that is similar to a Gibson Hawk. The original amp was very good sounding! With new caps/resistors and new spring reverb, ...... it is off the chart in wonderful warm harmonic overdrive! If I could have given it a 15 tonally, I would have.
I used the Silvertone 1472/1482 schematic as a guide for the rebuild and took 80 digital pictures of all the original part. Tonally, it took the original sound added a great reverb and put it on steroids!
So think a shrunk down '59 Bassan on steroids! It is all hand wired point to point and I would say is reliable given that it was played alot for over 40 years and still worked. Finding parts to replace is relatively easy to do. I never could find a Centurian schematic though.

DanElectro essentially slammed the door in my face when I asked for a schematic letting it be known they have nothing to do with the "old" DanElectro.

Been playing 36 years. Own a VibroChamp and Princeton Reverb. Guitars are custom made Tele's Figured maple with hollow sides over southern ash. One with dual-single-dual coil pickups. The other with strat pickups. This amp is unbelievably bluesy and I find the notes get overdrive perfectly without ever getting muddy or fuzzy sounding, so all chords and note articulate great. It really lets the nuances of your playing cut through. Kind of an odd looking amp in some respects but it is laid out well, easy to work on (if you know how safely). I can not imagine any blues amp under $1000 that would sound better. i sunk around $150-175 into it to replace parts and add spring reverb. So the entire amp has less than $400 in it and sounds "boutique" quality with great tones and quality. I am going to try and buy another one and would replace this one in a heart beat if lost or stolen.