Heath TA-16

This amp was made in 1978 By my self I paid $189 for right at the Heathkit facilaty in Michigan Your Sit say's it a 100watt amp but it is realy 25 watts RMS 2x12s it was a good amp and easy to sevise great 4 spring hammond reverb best on the market at that time I don't use the amp any more stupid me I sold it in the mid 80's

I used P90's, Dimarzio Super Distotion, Symore duncan 1\4 lb's
it will suit any style if you like clean
it picks up CB's
the sound is clean reverb and tremolo old clean twin style
the stoke speakers where not good for the amp I replaced them with music man 12 inch speakers then I could crank it to the max

Very dependably ,easy to repair

At the time when HeathKit was big the support was great
today you need to go on the internet for help

I recently inherited this amp from my uncle Alwood after he passed away in spring 2000. I'm quite certain that he assembled it in the late 60's. He was a masterful guitarist and 'toured' the local nursing home circuit with it well into his 80's with this as his main amp.

I use it with my Epiphone. I haven't turned it up all the way, but as loud as I've had it the sound stays very clean with a fantastic vintage sound.

My uncle carried this with him in active service for over 30 years. I haven't had any problems with it in my few months with it. Any problems though should be easy enough to repair. All compononts are on a single sided circuit board (easy to trace). I would really like to find the schematics for this amp if anyone comes across them please contact me.

Heath is still in business but they don't manufacture kits like this anymore. I am considering contacting them to see if I can get the schematics for the TA-16.

I am in the market for another one!

This thing looks old, I would guess late 60s-early 70s. It has two channels, one with Reverb and Trem and then just straight. There is a footswitch Jack but I do not have the footswitch so I dont know what it does. I have not started gigging with it yet, I just recently got it. I wanted to make sure that I run it for a while and that it has no issues. It does have enough power for me, it will get really loud. All and all I would say it is pretty good for being 30yrs old.

I am running mainly a STD Fender Strat through it, and it makes the singles sound meaty. I was getting a little too much noise with my Tele(but it is noisy). And when I plugged in the peddle board you could hear the electricty buzz, but that could probably be remedied by using batteries. With just a slight turn of the nob, I am as crunchy as I want to be, it gives a good Neil Young sound. With a little more time I am actually thinking about using it with no effects when gigging. Right now I am using a Fender Pro 185, and I love it, but this amp just has the sound I would die for. OH and the Tremolo set on 3 for the rate and 3 for the Depth is freakin awesome, I threw away the tremolo pedal...

So far so good, like I was saying I have not had it long enough to be able to tell if I would gig with it without a back up.. But I always bring two guitars so maybe Ill bring two amps...

I think I found the company that made them but I am not sure.
www.heathkit.com

Older amp - I'm guessing early to mid 70s by the electronics inside.

It's a wonderful amp for what I'm doing: running a simple Strat through it, running an old Shure mic mixer through it, or using it as a dual-mono amplifier for CDs. More than enough power to annoy the neighbors.

It has a spring reverb, controlled by a single knob. It gets a good sound at medium volumes, but tends to be overly springy at higher ones. It is also, unfortunately, overly sensitive to case disturbances and will rattle for practically anything.

The tremolo is good but a little erratic. Sometimes it will go much faster than other times; I'm not sure what to attribute this to other than 25 year old electronics.

I wish it had a headphone jack or some sort of lineout because of the direct recording I do, but I'll settle with miking it.

Good sound and tone, even though I'm using it with a Squire Strat.

It gets a little bit too much hum for my liking, especially when using the reverb, but this can usually be worked around by changing the phase.

The clean channel probably will distort at some point, being VERY loud, but I've never had the need to turn it up past 6. I think it would shake apart the room it's in if I did.

I attached a spare EPI tweeter I had lying around and it gets much better high frequency response now when I run a CD through it. It doesn't really make much difference for normal guitar sounds, other than improving the brightness a little.

Wow, this amp is great. I've never had to worry about servicing in the 6mos or so I've owned it. At first the reverb was a little flaky (cycle the power to get it to work), but now it seems fine after I poked at the cables and cleaned the amp.

nil - Heath still exists somewhere, but I've never contacted them.

Wow. For the sound, features, and power this amp has, it's wonderful. If you don't care about the brand of your amp, this is the thing to get, because it's an absolute steal.

This amp is thirty years old so it's main function is to make a clean an amplification as possible. There are two channels (clean and reverb with tremelo) and each has two inputs (very useful). There are treble and bass controls. Other than that it has few features.

This amp is quite loud and makes a good vintage sound. The reason for this is that it is a vintage amp. The clean sound distorts when I turn the guitar all the way up (with Gibson humbuckers) and when I play my bass hard (cheap p-bass). The reverb channel is quieter but makes some good sound. The tremelo is nice sounding.

This amp came in a kit (a circuit board, components, and the chassis and speakers) during the sixties and was constructed by my dad. It breaks alot though. I have had to replace a few resistors and a potentiometer in the inputs and preamp respectivly. I believe the input jacks are next. The amp gets quiet sometimes when I turn up the volume or the treble control and I have to hit it hard to get it working right.

The Heath Company went out of the kit business a while ago and I have never talked with them. The amp circuit is simple so it isn't difficult to fix yourself or get the local music guy to.

This is a cool amp for a beginning rocker (as I am) and the sound is good enough. A distortion pedal makes it more fun.

This old thing has reverb, tremolo (depth and speed), bass and treble controls, and 4 inputs. It's also solid state and powers 60 watts I think. Two 12' speakers.

Pretty good sound but distorts fairly quickly with bass and treble all the way up. It gets a real cool overdrive sound when its cranked to the max. The reverb and tremolo sound surprisingly good, even though this amp is about 20-25 years old.

This amp has been very reliable to me. It always sounds good except when something goes wrong and you have to hit the reset switch. The speakers are old so they are currently blown out.

I'm not sure if the company is around anymore so I haven't dealt with them.

Nice amp to have around for an extra, if your main one breaks down. This thing is loud so it's okay for practicing with my band.

This is one Ancient Amp. I was told it was about 25 years old when i bought it(although i think it is at least 35) at a yard sale for $75. It plays everything i want perfectly. It has 4 channels, two normal and two reverb. I think that it is too old for an effects loop and i don't think headphones were around when this was made. I use this amp at home to practice and to play gigs with my band. This has plenty power in the normal channel (100 watts) but is a little weak in the reverb jacks. This is a solid state amp with two jensen speakers.

I use a Yamaha Pacifica 302s and a Gibson Bluesbird with a pair of Blues 90 pickups in it. I play rock and this amp fulfills my every need when i play with the exception of the underpowerment in the reverb channel. It does emit a weird humming vibration noise when turned up to high volumes. Well, it doesn't have much in terms of sound variety because it is so old, but i do believe that it has a great reverb channel. I don't think that it is supposed to be distorted(which i don't mind) but it does get distorted after i play it awhile at loud volumes. I usually turn it off and take a brake at that point.

I am not to sure how much longer this will last (since it is between 25 and and 35years old) but it hasn't given me a problem yet.

Well, I can't answer this because i think that this company is now out of business.

I've been playing for about 2 years and i also own a Epiphone Viola Bass and an Epiphone Explorer. I would buy it if it was stolen but i don't think that anyone would steal it(its very ugly)but i would ATTEMPT to buy another one if i could. I like its versatility and its vintage sound that it produces.(You could buy an amp that CLAIMS to have vintage sound, but this is it!)I don't really know if i could compare this to anyother products since this is the only Amp Combo that i own. With the two jensen 12" speakers this one was a STEAL!