Premier Twin Eight

I'm sorry to say, this amp is soon to be extinct. The ones that are out there are national treasure's. It's a great livin' room amp for honkin' the blues, etc. It ain't gotta lotta' range, per se, but it kicks arse, as the Brits wouuld say. The tremelo stays om zero unless we're doing 60's material.

I run this amp thru Fender and G&L single coil p/u's It's very quiet for such an old amp. It's easy to get a violin sound w/your guitar vol knob. It doesn't actually distort, it just rocks & sutain's the louder you run it. It's very old school tube amp, in orignal condition.

I have replaced booth speakers and one pre-amp tube at a cost of about $40. So I got $60 wasted and an e-wife to prove it. I tried to bring it to a jam once and it was quickly overcome by the current crop of tubers. They got no respect!!!

Like I said: This amp is soon to be extinct, unless someone out here in cyber space has a schematic of this little jewell. Please come forth if you do.

I got friends that want to "fix" the handle in order to abscound w/my amp. And I would be in line too, if I didn't already own it. It is always the life of the party/gig whenever I pull it out. (no pun intended). If you are lucky enough to run across one, try to talk 'em down, if that fails, just pay them what they want.... It's worth it. Just ask my divorce attorney!!

PREMIER TWIN EIGHT " R "
THE RARE ONE WITH REVERB AND TREMOLO.
THREE INPUTS-ACCORDION, MICROPHONE, AND GUITAR.
BUT IT REALLY SHOULD SAY HARP ON THERE SOMEWHERE.

I USE A STRAT STYLE WITH ONLY A NECK AND BRIDGE LINDEY FRALIN WOUND FOR ME AND A JAGMASTER THAT HAS ALSO BEEN MODIFIED WITH BLUESY SINGLE COILS AND CUSTOM WIRING.THEY PUSH IT RIGHT TO THAT SWEET SPOT YOU WANT AND IT TAKES IT ALL IN STRIDE WITH NO NOISE TO SPEAK OF. MOST AMPS NEED RE-TUBED AND RE-CAPPED WHEN THEY COME INTO MY LUTHERIE SHOP, BUT THIS ONE WAS ALL ORIGINAL AND NEEDED NO SUCH SERVICE. I'VE BEEN CRANKIN ON IT FOR A SOLID YEAR NOW WITH NO PROBLEMS. THE AMP WILL GO TO ABOUT 7.5 BEFORE YOU START TO GET ANY OVER-DRIVE OUT OF IT AND AFTER THAT IT IS A VERY SMOOTH FULL GROWL. THE REVERB IS VERY SWEET ALSO. I DON'T LIKE TO USE A LOT, BUT I LIKE IT OPEN AND AIRY. IT WILL DO THAT AND SO MUCH MORE. AS FAR AS THE TREMOLO, I COULD CARE LESS. BUT FOR THE RECORD, MY FRIEND J.M. WITH THE S.N. ZIPPER BAND AND THE KNOCK-DOWN SOCIETY BLUES BAND WANTS ME TO LEAVE IT TO HIM IN MY WILL. HE'S A REAL BIG TREMOLO HOUND. WE'RE ACTUALLY TALKIN' ABOUT BUILDING US BOTH ONE FROM SCRATCH AND TRYING OUT SOME DIFFERENT TYPES OF ALNICO SPEAKERS WITH THIS CHASSIS. I CAN HARDLY WAIT.

I'M ON THE EAST COAST AND I WOULD SCREW SOME WHELLS ON THIS LITTLE RASCAL AND EXPECT IT TO GET ME TO SEATTLE.
NUFF SAID

COMPANY'S GONE BUT IF YOU HAVE HALF AN HOUR YOU CAN FIND A QUALIFIED TECH TO DO WHAT EVER YOUR'S MIGHT NEED.
TUBE AMP 'GURUs' ARE A DIME A DOZEN AND REALLY, YOU COULD SOLDER IN ALL NEW PARTS ( AFTER FINDING THEM) IN ABOUT 2 HOURS IF YOU WERE WANTING TO.
WE'VE WORKED ON LOTS OF AMPS HERE AND THE LAYOUT FOR THIS ONE IS SO SIMPLE THAT ANY TECH ANY WHERE SHOULD BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND IT IN A FEW MINUTES.
FAIRLY BULLET PROOF
ANYONE HAVING ANY SCHEMATICS FOR ANY PREMIER AMP, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME WITH THE INFO.
I'VE ALSO GOT A PREMIER CLUB BASS 160 THAT DOES NEED SOME WORK DUE TO THE PREVIOUS OWNERS BLUNDERING INTO THE CURCUIT. AND I'M A SUCKER FOR AN OLD CURCUIT DIAGRAM ANYHOW.

THE OVERALL ON THIS ONE WOULD HAVE TO BE GREAT.
HONESTLY SPEAKING, I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THIS AMP, THAT SOUNDS THIS GOOD, IN THIS SIZE, AND ONE PUSHING TWICE AS MUCH WATTAGE, AND THEN ONE THAT WOULD DO THE FILLMORE !!!
BUT FOR IT'S INTENDED PURPOSE YOU CAN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS.

This is similar to the Ampeg Jet re-issues you can find in stores today. Similar sounds and features. Must be about 40 years old, it is an antique. It was my first amp. Jazz teacher across the street gave me it when I took up guitar. One channel, three inputs. This was nice because Me my brother and my dad all used to plug into this little 20? watt tube amp and it was great.

Why don't amps nowadays offer more than one input? It is stupid that only one person can plug into an amp. Two 8 inch speakers, with 3 knobs for tremolo, tone, and volume. I used to love to turn it all the way up and strum as hard as I could, I'd get that early Who sound like on My Generation, not distorted, not even really overdriven, I'd say it was almost overdriven but not quite.

I used to wish it had more modern distortion, and a reverb, but I think learning to play guitar on such a simple amp helped me as a guitarist.

My friends all learned on Crate or Gorilla practice amps with lots of distortion, and I see that they have trouble playing unless they have distortion on all the time. I used to use this all the time in junior high and high school in bands.

By todays standards it gets a 5 for versatility. It is an antique.

With tremolo and a reverb pedal this sounds like that Neil Young tone on For What its Worth by Buffalo Springfield, or like the sound on the Door's' Riders on the Storm. Think American sixties bands like CCR that didn't use too much distortion.

A 10 for sounds. I used to play a strat copy and a les paul copy through it and a Boss super feedbacker distortion and a Boss chorus and it sounded great. I used to sing through it too at the same time. I wish amps today allowed more than one instrument to plug into it. The amp didn't have any variety to it at all. It was an AMPLIFIER. It AMPLIFED you. It made what you were playing louder. End of story.

I give a 7 for reliability. It stopped working eventually, I was a teenager and didn't know about tubes or solid state or anything it was just my amp. I used to ride to friends houses to practices holding it in one hand while on my bike. I got it working again recently. The speakers blew out. But the tubes still work. It broke down but I fault myself not the amp.

I took it to an amp place and the guy was like, "Just buy a new one. It will cost more to restore than the amp is worth, and anyway, nobody likes Premier amps, nobody cares about them, they aren't very good."

After that conversation, i am more determined than ever to restore it!

I think the other reviewer said the company is defunct.

Been playing since '84 when I was eleven and hear EVH for the first time and I got this amp. I later switched to bass and drums. Now I am back on guitar. I use a JC-120 because it is more powerful but has a similar vibe as the Premier.

It has been sitting in the basement for the past few years. I plan to restore it and use it for rehearsals with the others in my band for just going over songs minus our drummer. I also plan to get a booster pedal to drive the tubes a bit more instead of using a distortion pedal.

If it were stolen or lost that would suck because they don't make em anymore. I love the small size, the fact that more than one person can plug into it, and the old fashioned style sound. I wish it had reverb, oh well.

I was going to buy at a 50 watt Ampeg Jet reissue. It is just like my Premier but nicer and louder. But at 500 dollars it is a bit much for me. I have the JC-120 for loudness, I just want something small. I'd rather just retore mine. Anyone have any tips, email me, since I don't know any one with this amp.

Early 1960's amp with two eight inch Jensens, 3 inputs (one for accordian!), and Tone and Volume controls. Low wattage. Fake two-tone wood grain finish.

I am a harmonica player and have found this to be one of the best sounding small amps for blues harmonica, ever! I plug a Shure green bullet mic into the "Accordian input" and fire it up with tone on 5 and volume as high as I can go before feedback. The little eight inch speakers break up beautifully, a warm sound with nice edge and overtones. I don't know how guitarists might feel about this, but this is a dream amp for harp players. Good for practice, studio, or very intimate gigs.

I dropped it once and had to have a little repair work done, but otherwise it's fully reliable for lo these many years.

The company's defunct.

This is one of my favorite small harp amps. I've had thirty or forty small amps over the years, and thix is one of the best for harmonica I've ever had. If I had a big amp that sounded this good only louder, I could die happy. I like to use it with my Premier reverb unit. The closest thing I could compare it to is a blackface Champ, but it's warmer sounding.