Selmer Treble 'n Bass 50

I think my amp was made around about the early seventies. It's one of the ones with the unsightly aluminium fronts, although, personally, I don't really care. I generally play blues, rock and punk-rock amongst others and the sounds provided aren't really versatile enough at times although, a stomp-box can sometimes sort things out.
Single channel (3 ECC83, 2 EL34)
It's incredibly loud which is great, although this makes it harder to overdrive at low volumes.

I use a Fender Jag-Stang and a Gibson Les Paul Studio as my main guitars. At lower volumes you get an incredibly warm sparkly sound that I rekon Jimi Hendrix wouldn't be ashamed of. Crank it up, however and the beast is unleashed. It gains a sort of raunchy, bassy crunch that's not too far off of the sound of a Marshall. It is possible with the Les-Paul to drive the pre-amp tubes at low volumes although the sound can be a little rough (maybe I should change the original pre-amp valves for newer ones). Overall, as long as you can go somewhere to play this amp at full volume occasionally, (rehearsal rooms are great) then it will always put a smile on your face.

My 30-odd year old Mullard EL34 valves died about a year ago, so I got some Sovtek EL34 WXT valves which lasted two months. Fortunately they were guaranteed so I got some new ones for free. The guy suggested that I should have the bias adjusted, so I simply responded by saying "It's a Selmer, for Christ's sake, there is no bias adjustment." (I may have exaggerated a little there, by the way). Anyway, I had the bias voltages checked by a technician and he said they were fine. I don't know whether I should trust it or not.

Selmer now make saxaphone cases, I think. The guarantee is definately finished and so is the company for that matter. Repairs arent that expensive (#20 for 2 EL34s).

I've been playing for about 3 years. Ive owned my selmer for about half that time. I Love its sound as I know it could never be matched. I love its look (she may be ugly, but she's mine). As a matter of fact, I'd probably start crying if I lost it. #75 isn't a lot of money for years of enjoyment.

Mid-sixties valve amp. Bass and Guitar inputs. Syd Barrett used it on 'Piper at The Gates of Dawn'. It also has a clean 'Shadows'-ey sound to it, (if you play a Fender-type guitar with heavy gauge strings). Despite its' supposed British Beat-boom heritage, not a blues-players amp at all.

Before I acquired this amp I was under the impression that Selmers were just British Stoneage monster amps. I mainly use it with a Fender Strat, but everything I've put through it (inc. keyboard - not necessarily recommended!) has this glistening sound - kind of like the aural equivalent of melted Easter egg chocolate. It really is an exquisite sound! Totally dreamy.

No trouble thus far, but haven't gigged with it yet, so unable to submit judgement.

Not applicable

For my own personal taste, the sound of this amp is beyond my wildest dreams. If (God forbid) something happened to my Selmer Treble n Bass 50 MkII, I'd trawl the world 'til I found another one.

They say that it is from the early Seventies. I do not think so, because it has a rectifier tube. Guess it is an late Sixtie-Beast. (In Germany, we had an weekly TV-show 66 - 70; The Beat Club. The bands ? from Kinks, Moody Blues, Taste to Black Sabbath ? played live, the backline was Selmer). The early Pink Floyd used to play it. That amp has two channels: one for guitar, one for bass (big surprise). EQ is quite effectiv for an amp that age. Enough Power for almost any situation. I use that amp with an single 12" Celestion GK 80 Cabinet.

I use to play old R'n'B music with that old thing with my Strat, Tele and Guild Starfire 4. Not very noisy, the Selmer give me an lush, full sound, loud enough to cut through the mix easily. I prefer the bass-channel! But you gotta get your distortion with stomp-boxes. In the warm/clean department, that old Selmer is unbeatable. But there is no reverb, what a pitty! By the way; I had to get it to the local amp guru, a well-experienced dutchman, and he said to me: I am jealous for that amp!

Nonono! That ole beast coasts me lotta money. From all my amps, this one is my Little Miss Prissy. No gig without backup. I hate it! But when I hear it, all is forgiven. Don't blame Selmer, blame the Time...

Another time, another life. Don't wanna fight with Marlene Dietrich!

If this amp were stolen, a part of my youth were gone. And an excellent sounding, unique vintage amp too. Big regrets. But I would still have my '69 Vox AC 30, my Silverface Super Reverb, my Fender Princeton Reverb II. Cool amps for good musicians. But none of them could replace my Selmer...

2 Channels (Treble and Bass geddit?), Volume Bass and Treble on each channel, no fancy switching as this amp was made in 1966. 3 x ECC83s, 2 x EL34s and a GZ34 rectifier. This is a very loud 50 watts of vintage British amp. They were designed as dual purpose amps for bass and guitar. The volume pots only go upto 9 so in Spinal Tap world it cannot be as loud as an amp that goes up to 11..... but it is.

The sound is somewhere between a VOX AC30 and a Marshall JTM45 which is a very nice place to be. The tone controls make a big difference to the available sounds and both channels are good for guitar, fat on the bass channel and brittle on the treble channel. It is very versatile for a simple amp design because of the tonal range. Superb for blues, 60's and 70's rock, good clean sound too if you turn down the guitar volume. With humbuckers it starts to overdrive on about 4. I play it through a 4x12 cab with Celestion G12M's and it really needs old style speakers like the G12Ms to sound right.
It is pretty good as a Bass amp too but underpowered by todays bass amp standards.

Built in 1966, it doent look like it's been serviced since and when I bought it, it had been left in a cupboard for years. I put some valves in and powered up and it was fine first time. It looks very solidly built inside. Theres some hum but thats because the pre amp tubes are missing their alluminium covers

Selmer stopped making amps around 1980 but any good amp tech could fix this amp

I have a VOX AC30 and a Marshall JTM45 reissue and this one is better than the Marshall and nearly as nice as the VOX. Even with the cost of the valves I put in and shipping it is still great value.

this amp came to me in brand new condition, which is surprising
considering the age('61-'63 apparently) it even has its cover.
it has two channels ,guitar and bass, with a simple volume/treble/bass
layout on each channel.It has low and high gain inputs which can be jumped for a thicker tone.theres no standby switch which I thought was odd at first, but this turns out to be a commen thing on british amps of this age.
it has two speaker outs (7.5 and 15) and a sticker on the back with
tips on how to aviod 'unwanted' distortion!

I use a gretsch with filtertrons and a danelectro with this amp.
I think the danelectro works very well with the amp,yielding a raunchy
'stringy' tone which suits my style(british beat and surf)
the amp is surprisingly low in ugly noise and breaks up pleasently at
higher settings(depending on the speakers, I use two celestions of
roughly the same age)

the first time I used the amp in a club it quit halfway through the
set,but a set of new tubes seems to make it happy and I've had no problems with it since.

selmer no longer make amps, but there is a good and helpful community
of british amp freaks ready to help you out with info on these amps

basically the selmer range of amps are one of the most underrated
lines of product in my opinion.they can be found for under a grand
and stand up well to marshells and ac-50s from the same era.
the collectability of the amps is rising all the time and so are prices accordingly.
great sounding ,great looking and a good history makes them a good
overall investment for both players and collecters

this is an early 70's british made tube-head. it comes like a fender bassman head. bass and normal channels, each with vol, treble, bass and two (hi/lo) inputs. that's it. uses 4 ECC83 pre and 2 EL34 powertubes. 50watts i think. i got this used, including a huge 1x15" cabinet (which doesn't sound special) for - 40 DOLLARS! it's pretty ugly, but in good shape. it might need some work inside, but it looks original and works (and sounds) fine as it is.

i play in a sort of alternative rockband from soft to LOUD. my favourite rig is my us std. strat through a marshall jtm 45 ri-head with a 2x12"marshall-cab w/greenbacks. (i use a ts 9 and a boss dd 3 for effects) the selmer really surprised me. the quality of sound is almost right there with the jtm 45. very alive and "tubey". a bit like a cross between marshall and vox. it has a bit more headroom than the jtm 45 and sounds a bit tighter overall (perhaps due to the ss rectifier). i found my favourite setting on the bass-channel, though. the normal channel has WAY too much treble. but at least it offers some variations in sound. there's some overdrive when you turn it up. and it's similar to the jtm 45/rather warm and mellow, not the raspy crunch we all know from later marshalls. i havn't tried it yet but i think humbuckers or p90's would make a big difference. yes, it has some hum when you turn it on, that's what makes me think it needs some maintainance, but it's not that bad so far.

fine - it's almost 30 years, and it doesn't look like it's been touched, except for tube changes. (oh yeah, there's 2 of the original "mullard - BVA" ECC83 in it). i havn't had it long enough to tell.

does anybody remember SELMER?

i've been playing for more than 15 years and i own/have owned several amps, mainly fenders and marshalls. i stumbled upon this one at an incredible price, and no, i didn't NEED another amp, but you know... it's a funky old amp with some great sounds. it doesn't have the "vibe" of an old marshall, but if you see one - i recommend checking it out.