Polytone Brute S15L 115 Combo

this combo amp has one channel, with three analog knobs labeled bass, treble, and volume in white letters on its black finish. there are two inputs stacked vertical next to a 'high-normal-low slidable switch. The power on togo switch allows for either normal or reverse polarity and is to the right of the knobs. The cabinet holds a 15" speaker. There is a line-out in the back, near the bottom. There's a single handle,located on the amps top,parallel to the controls. It probably under 25lbs. I see 160 watts on the ID plate, but I think it cranks out between 50 and 100.I bought it new (in 1980?) This amp works well in all but the loudest of music; and rates with your high end amps on an intimate club gig. I don't know a lot about this company, but they had the right about jazz bass amplification before almost everybody. I have a SWR combo that use more these days cause it more powerful; therein lies the 'Brutes only real failing.

I've a 80 year old carved upright, a '73 Fender jazz and a 5 string JB that bought 3 years ago. When I got this amp 25 years ago, it was very popular with upright basssist. It has a warm yet fat sound for a solid state amp, and it does not give you feedback like a tube amp can when your playing upright bass(even with out EQ or pricey pick-ups.) If I'm playing in a larger venue, without a P.A.,well this just isn't the amp I'll use, for obvious reasons. But I love the sound I get out of this amp; more today than yesterday. I've always used this amp for bass guitar practicing because it sounds great at low volumes. I have found more recently, that with the help of a tube preamp, I'm able to achive just the sound I'm looking for on bass guitar with it.

look, I've used this amp for 25 years. I remember getting it fixed one time 8 or 9 years ago. It just needed a transister or something replaced. I replaced that crappy foamy sponge- -like speaker cover with a circle shaped grill years ago.They built these amps to last. I would not hesitate to use it in a nightclub!

OK, this is the mystery category for sure. These guy don't comunicate so well. There's no website, no online support; none of that. Apparently, no long term warranty. If it breaks, find a good technician in you vicinity.

I've started studying bass 35 years ago. my amps include a SWR Basic Black combo and a GK 800 w/ a mongrol collection of Speaker cabinets in addition to my Polytone. If I were somehow seperated from it, I'd try to find something like a Edens piggy-back w/a vented 15" (but then we're talkin' a bit more money ain't we?)I love most both the sound and the size/portability of the 'Brute'. Honestly? when I got this amp, I don't believe it had any compitition in its price range. Ampeg's B-15 was alot heavier, and would feedback if you went direct from an up right bass. If anything, I wish it had 50 more watts of power and a 18" speaker!

possibly made in 81 82? the internal components date to 1980

has two channels, reverb, distortion, octave and chorus/univibe effects. brite / dark switches on each channel, bass treble and volume controls on each channel.
one 15 inch speaker and two horns.

it has channel switching via a huge six switch footswitch.
it's solid state and rated at 100w i think. Its a closed back combo and it's solid state so it is not super loud, probably silghtly softer than a 50w valve combo.

the amp is very clean all the way to full volume, so for rock look towards a vox ac30 or a marshall. it has that typical 'flat' solid state tone which can be a good or a bad thing, there's none of the hig mid 'brilliance that you get from a valve amp and not much compression at high volumes like you get when a class a valve amp is cranked at high volume. it's very quiet. It sounds very jazzy with an es175 and a strat can sound suprisingly good. I got it as an alternative to my silverface twin (which is very bright)
the distortion is crap (imop) and the octave doesn't track very well but the 'chorus/univibe' is the sweetest i've played! i wish i had a pedal that sounded as good as this, it gives you that hendrixy 'univibe sound' i have tried lots of pedals (but not the jimdunlop reissues yet)and it is by far the best univibe sound i've heard. it is not as wet as ive heard on the records but it is a millimeter away from being the same.
i really can' get over how good it sounds.
i give this amp a 9 for its univibe sound, and because i like to jazz out, but if youre after a bit of grunt, don't bother.

it works which is good for a 20+ year old amp, the reverb has died though.... i hear that this is pretty common, i plugged in my twins reverb tank, i still got no reverb so i figured that somethings gone wrong in the circuitry. I traced it to an op amp that appears to drive input of the reverb tank (the tank makes a noise when you kick the amp so the tank and reverb return stage work). this op amp appears to have been changed so i would believe that this is the problem, unfortunatley it is a rc4739 dual op amp (14 pin)that is discontinued. there isint an equivalent with the same pinout to my knowledge, it has been changed to an 8 pin tlo72 wired onto a ic socket, so it has blown before, i am going to wire a replacement chip on another socket hopefully it fixes it...

i guess the circuit design fries these chips, i'll post again if this is the culprit, if it aint its going to a repair shop...

this amp has been made with pride, it is really well built, the pots are quiet, the circutry is neat, glass epoxy circuit boards, and high quality capacitors througout.

i cant fault the workmanship apart from the common reverb faults these amps get

havent dealt with them yet, i'd love to get a schematic for the amp, i can't find even a mention of this amp anywhere on the net.

ive been a part time player for 13 years, i play a 70's ibanez175 which is the one! and a mediocre 90's american strat.
i also got a fender twin silver face, and a gibson goldentone
overall i like this amp, but i'll sell it once i fix the reverb, i simply don't have the room. i got it before i had the archtop because my strat combined with the twin was just too bright for jazz (jazz on a strat what was i thinking?) now i got the archtop and it is so mellow, it is just right with the twin.
I am a sucker for its univibe sound though, i might just hang onto it for this.

Overall, if jazz is your only thing and you only can afford 1 amp i reccommend it highly, but if you like to rock/blues out a bit, i believe a good valve amp is the way to go.

if it was lost or stolen i would not get another one, simply because i have too many amps,