Kalamazoo Model Two

i traded in a cheesy crate FX amp for it. i paid nothing for the 'zoo, and i got 20 bucks to take it! my kalamazoo isn't exactly stock. it has an 8 inch speaker, and i built a new cabinet for it... the old one basically crumbled. i play a gibson sg through it with a daddy o overdrive. most people use this amp for harp, but i like the dirt i get from it with my SG. it has 2 inputs, volume, tremolo and tone. that's all it really needs. who can complain about a 5 watt tube amp?

i LOVE the sound from this thing! mine starts getting dirty around 6, and when it gets really hot i crank it to maybe 9 for a heavy overdriven sound. even though mine has an 8 inch, it still has a heavy bottom and a nice tight high. i use an SG with stock humbuckers. i haven't tried single coils on it. i would, however, like more clean at a higher volume, but i can get really decent dynamics if i pick right. it handles effects pretty well, minus a wah. i can't seem to get a good sound, but that's just a stupid gripe. it does hum quite a bit, but i think that has to do with the 2 prong plug. if you have the chance, definitely change that to a grounded cord.

i can't say this amp has ever failed me, but i'm not in a band, use it on stage, etc. i'm a rec-room warrior, i guess. i moved and it sat for a couple years without any use, and one of the tubes went out, but that's going to happen to any amp. the original cabinet is only particle board so i doubt it could handle too much abuse.

haha.. i ain't no marty mcfly.. kalamazoo has been out of business since the 70s, i believe.

i've been playing for about 10 years, no training at all so i'm not much of a guitar player. plus, i mainly play acoustic. i would definitely try to replace it if anything happened, but with the price they're going for on ebay i might have to sell a kidney. i just flat out love this amp. i'd love to get another one if i can. when i bought it, i just wanted a tube amp so i didn't really compare it to anything. but, it's made by kalamazoo, which is a gibson company. i'm guessing it's comparable to other 5 watt gibson amps...maybe? anybody have any ideas about that?

The main "feature" is it's major tone and crunch for harmonica. It's actual physical features have been covered by others. I like it simple -- hey, the Model Two has tremelo -- that's deluxe! And unlike my champ clone, this Kali even has a tone control! At first I was putting a reverb pedal in front, but that was largely to counter it's raspiness with the "stock" speaker (in this case stock means how I got it - a light weight alnico, not sure how it came from the factory). I put a Weber 10F150-O with H dust cap (ceramic, larger voice coil, more wattage, big bottom end) and no more raspiness now -- gives me more options on the tone control and microphones. FYI, a Weber alnico (10A100) didn't fit -- the 6X4 rectifier is a touch too long. I guess a lineout would be nice for running it's sound to a larger cleaner amp (jeez, that would sound great), but that's a fairly simple thing to add.

WOW. As I said in the features section, this amp sounds great. I play diatonic harp; mostly blues and rock when amplified. With the 10F150, it's huge for a 5 watt amp. I haven't gigged with it yet, but in my current band, I'm sure I'll have to mike it into the house and probably get some in the monitors. YMMV; we mike the drums (3 mikes I think), and the guitar and vocals are pretty loud on the stage.

Harp players often like to experimnet with lower power preamp tubes -- with the Kali, if you drop too low you lose the tremelo or even the sound. Any lower than 2-5751's and I lost trem (not necessarily a big deal, but I like to have it functioning just in case). With the "stock" speaker, I preferred lowering to at least 1-5751, but with the new speaker, 2-AX7's is fine. Right now I do still have a 5751 in V4 -- it gets plenty driven as I nudge the volume up.

Hmmm. How might I compare it to a Champ? I have a tweed Champ clone that I love, but I think the Champ's 8" alnico makes a bit more one dimensional (raspier) and a bit lower in volume. I just ran the two amps together with a Y-cord out of the reverb pedal, and it was heaven!

I got this amp from Greg Heumann of blowsmeaway dot com. Greg is a harp player who (among other products and services for harp players) purchases these specific amps off ebay (or whatever) and makes sure they are in good shape. I'm no tech by a long shot, so this was well worth the money for me. I've wanted to try a Kali Two for some time now -- they are developing quite a rep as a harp amp -- but I don't have the skills to get one up to speed that might arrive falling short. Even paying whatever extra I paid for Greg to provide this service, it was still less expensive than an old Champ (way less expensive!) or a Champ clone. Greg was very good about explaining on his website how he works and good about follow-up questions. He warranties the amp for 90 days. I have no affiliation with Greg.

I've probably only been playing amplified harp for about 5 years. I've only had this amp about a week, but I've spent a lot time with it -- but not gigged. I like small amps and have a 1941 National (2-6V6), a Champ clone (by Brian Purdy of Harpgear), A Fender Pro Jr, a BF Princeton Reverb, an '67 Ampeg Reverbojet, and a Harpgear Double Trouble. I also have a Sonny Junior 410 for thunderous waves of sound. I'm lucky to have a bunch of great harp amps. The Kalamazoo really holds it own, and is the amp I paid the least for (except for the Reverbojet that I got for a sinful price). Yes, I would get another Kali 2 in a heartbeat.

Great freakin' amps for harp! I'm a pro harp player but I also started reconditioning these amps as a business (see http://www.blowmeaway.com) I've bought, reconditioned and sold 8 of them so I know the amp inside and out. Do NOT assume one reported as "working fine" on eBay really is. But they're easy to fix if you're handy, and if not, I'll fix or recondition it for you.

As a harp amp the thing has crunch for days. Loud enough for any practice situation, some jams, not others, small venues (bars) not larger ones (big bars.) Helps to get it up on a stool. If you need more,mic it. I have played through FOUR at once - my band called it the "Wall of Zoo's". That's 4 10's - sounded pretty darn good, but certainly not as nice as my Sonny Jr. 410. More of a novelty. On the other hand, the Zoo AND the 410 together sound AMAZING - big fat bottom end from the 410, big warm crunch from zoo. For more fun and games, play through 2 - one at each side of the stage, and put the tremelos on different rates - the sound moves all over as the two amplitudes go in and out of phase. Also use it with the big amp as a stage monitor. I love these little guys! I rated them an 8 because there is always something better. I just haven't found it yet.

It is point-to-point wired so no circuit boards to crack. I have had mine fall over backwards and off a stool onto the stage - kept right on working.

It's a simple amp, so I don't expect too much, but the tremolo is a major plus. Yeah, you could wish for reverb and three band tone controls, but then it wouldn't be the same amp. I replaced the stock speaker with a Jensen from a recent Fender Bassman reissue. The old speaker was worn out, had a torn cone that was fixed with scotch tape and was just generally worn out. The speaker had a transformer mounted directly to the metal back that wasn't connected to anything. I don't know if this was standard for the Kalamazoo or what. The amp has also had the speaker baffle replaced with a solid piece of plywood, whch is good since I hear the original baffle was pretty flimsy. I plan on replacing the old output transformer and 2 prong plug, and replace the filtering caps, as the amp has a low level hum. That should get this thing up to working full strength.

The model 2 sounds pretty good. You can get some pretty gnarly overdrive with the amp maxed out, and the tones with the volume a little lower can range from nice clear ringing notes to a pretty heavy crunch. Considering how few options it has, it's pretty versatile. I use an old Ibanez parametric eq pedal to tweak the sound, which works pretty well, and a dyna comp to fatten up the sound a little. If you dial in just a slight amount of boost on the dyna comp it pushes the front end of the amp and gives you a nice, smooth overdrive. The great thing this amp introduced me to was tremolo. I'd never really paid attention to it too much, but the tremolo on this thing sounds so good I use it almost all the time. It sounds great set way playing chords to get a pulsing, organ-like effect that makes the amp sound like it's about 5 times its size. Set about halfway up, you get a trippy hypnotic pulse that sounds like Hendrix playing Machine Gun. FInally, the new Jensen speaker I put in sounds great, but it's not as mellow as the old speaker, Hopefully this will change after it gets played a little more.

Well, the amp is 40 years old and has issues. Nothing major, but a bunch of small stuff. The capacitors are old and fading, the tremolo switch makes a major pop every time it's turned on or off, and everything needs a general freshening up. On the other hand, It's still going strong after all these years, doesn't rattle or buzz, and is generally very solid. It's pretty good quality, and just needs some TLC, which I plan to give it. And this might be my imagination, but I think that the amp fluctuates in volume from one day to the next. Sometimes you crank it and it's very loud, other times the same volume setting will be much quieter.

So my overall rating isn't just an average of the other scores, but takes into account why I have the amp in the first place and what I want out of it. As a tube practice amp this thing is great. I don't bother the neighbors, even when I crank this thing. I've never played through it with a band, and I don't know if I'd try. The drummers I play with are usually too loud and I don't think it could keep up by itself. I can't wait to try some recording with it. I bought it from a sound engineer friend of mine who got some great, huge tones out of this thing. It should be fun.

Give it a 6, has all i want. Tremolo volume amd tone controls, real simple. Loud enough for jamming with a group. The tremolo sounds good, but I rarely use it. Early sixties I believe. Really light which is a big plus for me. Tired of lugging heavy amps around.

Give it a 10.I have a tele and a strat. I play blues, praise music and country. It does all three very well. If you plug it in upside down (old two prong plug) it hums.Reverse the plug and it is very quiet. Doesn't have the clean treble sound of a champ, distorts at low volumes. The distortion is really good. Bluesy old rock sound that my champ can't come close to. Cranked up all the way has a SRV sound- creamy smooth distortion.

Have to give it a 10. Forty + years old and still jamming. Not too much to break. Never had a problem with it. I keep a marshall 10 practice amp in my car for back up.

n/a

Give it a 9 overall. I have a peavey classic 30, old champ, harmony h304a (another great amp), a ss marshall 10,and a ss kustom acoustic amp. Been playing 3 years. If lost I would buy another one. For quality/weight this is as good as it gets. Reverb would be nice, but would increase the weight. These old class a tube amps give a real incentive to play and practice. I believe this is a cheaper model of the gibson skylark of it's era. The old fender,gibson,supro,airline, silvertone etc tube amps are an incredible bargain. If I had bought the kalamazoo or harmony first, I would never have bought the peavey, and it is a really good amp (awesome reverb).

The only extra feature this amp has is tremolo. Tghis is very basic, but nice with a 10' speaker and 5 roaring watts it is great for my uses.

I play a G&L Bluesboy and some other stuff though it. I also have some harps and an eggstatic harp mike that I fool around with when no one else is home. I will grow up someday, but not till I'm over 70. This sounds good because I changed all the caps and most of the resistors myself. Working on this thing is haalf the fun of owning it. I learned a few things about amp electronics and did't singe myself even once. See this cool site for info (http://www.rru.com/~meo/Guitar/Amps/Kalamazoo/M2/)
I use a rp300 pedal and a Boss SD-1. The pedal makes it sparkle. The native tone is a bit dry and flat. The pedal adds a lot. I play in a church worship team. I play the amp volume on 5 and I have plenty of power to keep up. I like a light functional rig. I also have a Fender Blues Jr. But that is much too loud for my application.

I can depend on it. I know all the solder joints are good. If it fries on me some Sunday morning I'll just stand there and grin, after I put out the fire of course.

This companys been dead longer than Jimmy Hoffa. I have a great amateur tech. Me.

I have been playing longer than Jimmy H...... Oh I used that already. If someone stole it I would get something similar in size. Small tube amps are where it's at. I love this little amp. My wife even made a black vinyl cover for it ala Fender. I choose this because I read some reviews that it was popular with harp players. I also noticed that the tubes where the same as the Gibson Ga-5 amp. My Blues jr also shares the same tubes 12ax7 el84. So I can have two amps and not have all types of tubes laying around. I'm gonna keep this one. The size, weight, sound, power is all at the sweetspot for me

I've been told these amps were built in '65, this amp is cool because you can play any style on it and if you cant 20 bucks in parts will make it so you can. one channel, no ammenities an amp for players who know what they're doing. I use this amp as a practice amp but could definitely see using it as a recording amp in the future

picture this,- a kalamazoo setting on a line6 pod, all of my guitars are modded out oddities, but i have the standard menagerie, semi-hollow, solid strat-style, shred machine, and paul type thick'n chunky and it seems to compliment them all quite well, i think it does the most for my acoustic, it really warms up those stale piezos, the fact of the matter is the thing is so basic it doesn't sound like anything exept the guitar you are using and the tubes- but this really does warm up and fill out your tone. it is a bit noisy though but everything was and for the most part still is original so it probably just needs some stuff replaced (38 year capacitors aren't good for much. oh yeah for those who know how these reviews work the "distortion" isn't very brutal

what's gonna brake on this thing? and if it does a well trained monkey with a soldering iron could fix it, even if you don't do electronics take the back panel off at least and bask in the utter simplicity of the circiutry these things are working for nearly fourty years and akt as if they don't even realize it

Kalamazoo, . . . isn't that a town in michigan? nice people, good food

this amp basically is a replacement for my peavey bandit i've been using a practice amp. I have a carvin mts3200 as my main amp, and i'm used to pristine tube tone snd the bandit just wasn't cutting it so I was looking for a little light-weight tube amp and this amp more than met my expectations, if mine needed replaced I'd definitely buy another one if i could find it, i had't even heard of kalamazoo until i bought this amp. I love it's tone and portability and the fact that it sounds good at low volumes (which is good for me since I live in an aptarment) I was considering a fender blues jr. but tonally and fiscally the choice was obvious

Cool little tuber! I believe this is a '66 from what I've been told. Tone/on-off, volume, tremolo. Nothing fancy but, I didn't buy if for a load of features. Oh, sure...a little reverb would have been cool but, hey...I bought it as a practice/recording amp and this little thing excels! Single channel so I do what every one else does and slap an overdrive or dist. pedal in front. Can go from fingerstyle to Townsend style without any pedals though! This amp moved from practice room to living room! Now, if that ain't love!

I have a load of guitars but, typically a mutated strat, Godin with Seymour P-90's and Les Paul with hummers are the first string team. I doesn't take much fiddling to make it sound great with all of them. The single coils at 1/2 or so, are beautiful sounding. With humbuckers at about 3/4 volume, this thing is just plain fun! I play (make that "try" to play) all styles but, do mostly original rock. That means I "noodle" a lot, trying to figure out parts, etc. Sometimes, just jammin' away. I play a lot of slide with the trem on and the overtones I get (any type of pickup) are amazing! A friend with an old Vibro Champ always wants to use the Kalamzoo-No can do!

I bought this amp at a musician's trade fair and the guy who sold it to me said it was shot. Bought it anyway, replaced the EL84 and it fired right up! After a couple of months, the filter caps went to heaven. Local T.V. repair guy (nice thing about old, simple circuits-almost any electrician can fix 'em!) cleaned it up, did the caps, and I replaced the rest of the tubes. This thing has been on for a couple of hours every day for about 3 years-no problem since the repairs. If I had to gig on tone alone, this would be the amp for me (NEVER without a backup). Volume considerations keep me using a Fender DeVille 2x12 and a Fender Super 4x10 for gigs, though.

Better find that local repairman I was talking about...Kalamazoo is long gone.

Been playing about 25 years or so. Have lots of amps, the Fenders I mentioned, Ampeg Gemini 1, Gibson Falcon RVT, Cordovox with leslie, several smaller amps and "cheers" to all of the other amps that have come and gone over the years. I try to take good care of everything so, all my gear sounds and works well, but if this little sucker were lost or stolen, I'd find another one. Fits me to a "T"!

Bought this little amp at a flea market. Don't know what year it was built ... early sixties maybe. Single channel; two inputs; Volume, Tremolo, Tone controls; 12AX7 pre-amp, 12AX7 tremolo driver, 6X4 rectifier, EL-84 power tube; 5-7 watt, I'd guess. Simple little practice amp.

Mods ... (per recommendations on the following web site http://www.rru.com/~meo/Guitar/Amps/Kalamazoo/M2/) ... new caps; modified tone control; grounded power cord; cabinet shielding; stand-by switch; hum reducing mod for the heater suppply; solid state recitfier mod; new Jensen C10Q speaker; new tubes (Groove Tube 12AX7s, and JJ Tesla EL-84). All I can say is that this little amp ROCKS ! Surprisingly loud for 5-7 watts. Window rattling bedroom volume at about 6. The Jensen speaker provided more volume and bottom. GREAT tone.

It's still ticking after 35+ years.

Kalama-who ?

My main amp is a '81 Fender 75 (probably the best Blues amp ever made ... 75 watts into a 15 inch Weber Cali speaker). The 75 weighs almost that much. The Model 2 weighs less than 15 pounds, and is great for practice and jamming at friends' houses. I love it !

Volume, tone, tremelo, one more knob than you need(tremelo)

This is a followup review of this amp so I will hit the highlights..
I retubed it with JJ/telsa for the power and preamp. It is much
louder now...7 on the volume is enough for bedroom practice.
10 used to be. I also installed a 10 inch Jensen reissue. Really
helped the bottom end and you can push it to much higher volumes
than the stock speaker using a pedal. I started to mess around with
Harmonica thru this amp...for this it really sounds great better
than a fender Champ. This amp does not do clean sounds very well
like a Champ. I use it with a tubescreamer pedal and humbucker
guitar for Marshall sounds, it excells at this. I will keep my
Champ around for clean sounds.

Did a full recap for about $5 myself, speaker was $24...
Should last another 40 years.

forget it.

A handy amp to have around for sure!