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Epiphone Electar 110 Combo

Summary
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Manufacturer URL http://www.epiphone.com/
Features 9.0 (1 response)
Sound Quality 9.0 (1 response)
Reliability 5.0 (1 response)
Customer Support 7.0 (1 response)
Overall Rating 9.0 (1 response)
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Product: Epiphone Electar 110 Combo
Price Paid: 200 (pounds sterling) used
Submitted 03/02/2005 at 01:40pm by Graham Haynes

Features : 9
Well, there's no other reviews of this amp so here goes.
My Electar is S/N 6214, which dates it to circa 1937. This makes it one of the first guitar amps.It has a very simple single channel class A cicuit, driven by a pair of 6V6's, volume control only and three inputs. The speaker is a field coil 10" Rola. I have read reports that it is around 15 watts RMS but my local friendly valve expert recons it is more like 20 watts.
I use it as a home practice amp for blues and jazz and basically it is plenty load enough for home use, even at half volume. I guess in 1937 they might have used all three inputs, which would explain the amps high gain circuit.
If anyone's got a copy of The Guitar Handbook from 1982, there's a picture of Django Reinhardt using one with a Gibson, late in his career.
Features: Well it just looks so cool with it's fret saw cut Epiphone logo on the grill and stainless steel handle, pure thirties. Compared to modern amps you could say it has no features but hey, this is an original boutique amp at one third the price. It cost me #200.00 UK pounds. It's main feature is that it hasn't got any modern features but you wouldn't want to gig with it too much!


Sound Quality : 9
I use strat's, a tele, a Samick JZ3 and a 335 through it and they all sound great. It breaks up warmly at around seven with single coils and around 5 with humbuckers. It is a very warm 'brown' sound and you should never expect country twang from this one. I love it because you get smooth break up at low volumes. It's also got a great sound when driven hard but I try to avoid this for the sake of the original speaker, although it's a hefty old job and would probably cope. Also, with it's simple circuit, I don't think it would be a good idea to use boost pedals.
It hisses only quietly at higher volumes, nothing intrusive.

Reliability : 5
What can you say about a 1937 amp. It was virtually original when I bought it. Two caps, the power valves and the grill cloth (I've got the original) had been changed but the amp did not have a lot of volume and it was starting to distort when warm. I wanted to use it, so I had all the caps and resistors replaced, keeping the originals in storage. With all original values restored, I was surprised by the extra gain and volume.
It's given good service for the past four months but it's early days yet! The score reflects this.

Customer Support : 7
I think it's out of warranty?
I'm lucky to have a local valve repair guru, who likes to fiddle with this type of equipment, so keeping it going should not be a problem, as long as the speaker holds out.

Overall Rating : 9
I've been playing on and off for 40 years. If I lost this amp I would try to get another. They do appear on ebay occasionally but I would be hard pushed to get another in this condition. I love the sound and looks. I hate the thought of the speaker blowing. I also have a 1972 Fender champ, which doesn't sound as good as the Electar.
I wish I had a spare speaker.

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