Selmer Zodiac Twin 30 Truvoice 212 Combo

My Selmer Zodiac Twin Thirty is a 1963 vintage unit,, bought on Ebay with power transformer and speakers missing. I rebuilt it using a 120 volt primary transformer with correct output voltages, so I have a 120 volt Selmer! The output transformer is original, and I made no mods to the tone circuit or power amp (just new filter caps and a grounded plug), so I can safely say that the amp sounds as close to original as can be expected of a 44-year-old amp. I used 1960's vintage Rola 8-ohm 12" Alnicos wired in series for the original 16-ohm output transformer. The Rolas are as close to the original Celestion Blue Bells as us mere mortals will get!
The power amp is composed of two EL-34's putting out 30 watts, with an ECC83/12AX7 as the phase inverter. The preamp uses two EF86 tubes, ECC83;/12AX7 tubes for the tremelo, and of course, the glowing green eye tube that pulses to the tremelo! It's got a rich, full tremelo with speed and depth controls, and a footswitch- and the pulsing eye makes you want to find uses for it!
It has 2 channels, Channel 2 has button presets (or a single tone knob)- one of the buttons allows you to choose between the button bank or the tone knob. Channel 1 simply has a single tone knob. Both channels are essentially the same, when the buttons are bypassed. The Tremelo is on Channel 2 (the button bank channel). I'l describe the tone in the next section.

Ok, tone is subjective, and one player's Heaven is another player's Hell. Having said that, I will say that this amp fulfills all my needs for british invasion, blues, classic rock, punk, anything gritty and tough. I won't say that it sounds like a Vox AC-30, but it hints at it. It has some natural EL34 breakup at full volume, not quite a Marshall but getting there. With a little help from an overdrive pedal (not much), it will get you there.
I will also say that the button presets are mostly variants of too much treble, but the Contrabass is usable. My favorite way to use this amp is with buttons switched out, volume and tone pegged, with no effects for rock and blues, and roll off the volume on the guitar when I need to clean it up. When I need Marshall crunch, Just a very little bit of overdrive from a pedal will push the preamp into distortion. With only 30 watts, it's great for bars and band practice, places where they typically tell you to turn your Marshall down. It has replaced most of my amps in my lineup, except my 1965 Fender Showman (for Rockabilly and Surf). In my arsenal, it has replaced a Mesa Blue Angel, and a JTM45 clone, and kept me from lusting after an AC-30.
Mostly, I use a 1977 Gretsch Country Club with Filter'trons for Rock, Surf, Blues, Punk, etc., but I also use a stock Strat, a 1968 SG with Humbuckers, and a Gretsch Silver Jet with DeArmonds occasionally. The amp loves them all with the exception of the Silver Jet, which is a little thin sounding.
For everything except rockabilly and Surf, it suits me perfectly. Actually I can pull off Surf with it too but I don't bother since I have the Fender.
By Design, it's a quiet amp. Mine has a tricky jack that I need to replace, but I've got it rigged to be quiet until I can get back in there to replace it.

This amp needed some putting together when I got it, but only because it was most likely cannabalized to repair a cleaner-looking Selmer (mine looks beat-up!). Electronically, it is built like a tank, with one and two-watt resistors where you would expect half-watts in anyone else's circuits. I doubt it will ever need anything but tubes. The Cabinet feels a bit light, but a light cabinet can make an amp come alive- Ask anyone who uses a 5E3 Deluxe! I believe the cabinet is a part of this amp's sound. I have used it 4 hours at a stretch with no problem. I never gig without a backup amp, but I would trust this amp, no problem.

Selmer hasn't built amps in at least 30 years, I think. It is simple and rugged, and if I (an electronics hobbyist) can work on it, I imagine that any competent amp tech can. I wouldn't worry about it.

I've been playing (not pro) on and off for 31 years, since I was a kid. I've got tons of amps- 1965 Fender Showman, 1966 Bandmaster, 1972 Dual Showman Reverb, A Fender/Marshall Hybrid custom job, a 5E3 Deluxe Clone, A Tweed Champ clone I built, a Marshall 18 watt clone I haven't finished building, and Mesa Blue Angels, and a 1968 Univox U-1050B (think 6G5 Blonde Showman without tremelo). Guitars- 4 Gretsches, Strat, SG, Italia 12-string electric, Mosrite knockoff, a couple of basses and acoustics. Vintage keyboards- Farfisa Compact Combo organ (Red), chopped Hammomnd L-100, and a modern Yamaha to fool around with.
If the Selmer were Lost or Stolen, I would try to replace it, or build a clone of it without the tone buttons. No clone would be as cool though!

The other reviewers have said it all. Imitation crocodile 2X12 with two channels, minimal knobs to turn and tone selected by pushbuttons. Tremelo circuit with beautiful glowing green tube in front panel that pulsates in time with tremelo. An absolute object of beauty and one of the best looking combos I've ever seen.

For me this is not a piece of desirable vintage gear from the days when amps were amps. I owned and used one live and recording for five years between 1980 and 85. A long time ago, but my memory is detailed and very clear! And I stuck with it so long because I SO MUCH wanted to love it.

But I never found a way of getting a decent sound out of it. The tone selector buttons were all pretty much unuseable. The only one that didn't take the top of your head off was the 'contrabass' button. Using the tone knobs didn't improve things much.

I couldn't get useable valve distortion. Just sounded nasty and loud and felt more like turning up a transistor amp. Couldn't get body and depth. Couldn't get singing or biting or jangly or sixties scratchy or superclean or cutting. Just weedy, nasty tone lacking useable poke. Played through at length with a Burns Marvin, Hofner Galaxy, 70s tele, Yamaha SG. Even put an acoustic guitar through it once as an experiment - that actually sounded interesting. I used the original speakers for a couple of years then tried replacing with Celestion G12s. Didn't help. Tried various tone altering devices to shape the input sound but never got a good result. It just lacked body and warmth and clarity whatever I did. After a year of struggling replaced all the valves with good quality new ones. That didn't help. But, oh my god, I just so much wanted to love it! I really, really tried.

I remember that some Burns guitars used to have a setting on the pick up selector called 'wild dog'. Applying the same logic to this amp, most of the tone controls should have said 'Tame dog with loveable face but nonetheless annoying and gutless yelping'.

To be specific, the sound wasn't extreme/interesting/penetrating/snarling/superclear/biting/incisive. It was just poor. To give you some context on my opinion I was and am into sixties garage punk, 70s punk, raw early blues and R&B, guitar noise primitives of all kinds, as well as super clean high end scratch merchants. But it didn't work for me.

It's all about taste, of course. All respect to the other reviewers, and good luck to them for finding the tone they want. I tried and I couldn't. I'm stating the obvious, but all vintage equipment is not great. For me this amp was not a winner, and I look on with bemusement when I see it being groomed to join the holy ranks of venerated ancient gear. Especially when I see the current prices people are trying to attach. For me this simply isn't a classic or a venerable old beast. It's a low grade amp that happens to be old and cute.

It was fairly reliable although the tremelo unit sometimes didn't kick into life properly, spluttering a bit then giving up. It was fairly noisy at high volumes but I didn't mind that.

I don't the think the company existed anymore when I bought this

Giving it a 5 only because it was so beautiful. I sold it for not much more than I paid for it to a guy who collected selmer stuff as a hobby. Last heard from him a few years back that he still had it and played through it, so as far as I know it hasn't ended up on the market as a desriable vintage item, thank god.

I scrimped and saved for a secondhand Fender Twin and that amp has made me a happy man. Subsequently bought an old Musicman RD50(?) head which was even better. Both of these amps can do everything I wanted the Selmer to do, plus much more. Still playing my Burns Marvin through both, also a Shergold Masquerader and a Gretsch Electromatic.

This amp used to belong to Aspen Pittman's personal collection (he of Groove Tubes fame). A 1963 Selmer "Croc-skin" Selectertone Zodiac Twin. Two channels, one with a simple volume and tone, the second with the classic Truvoice Selectortone pushbutton tone settings (can also default to a standard tone control), and a footswitch selectable tremolo with depth and speed controls. Plus big points for being way more quiet than most amps from this period, because of the power amp in the bottom of the cab and preamp in the top panel (like Supro's). Only reason I give it a 9 is that it's big brother, the Thunderbird, is all this PLUS reverb! So, obviously, it could have more features.

It runs two EL34's in the power section with a GZ34 rectifier and ECC83 phase inverter. Each channel in the preamp has it's own EF86 (the original AC-30 preamp tube, also used by Matchless more recently) plus an ECC83. And lest we forget, the most obvious tube of all, the throbbing, "blue light special" grille cloth mounted tremolo tube that throbs at the speed of the tremolo when it's turned on. If you're wondering about the tone of these, imagine a 1960 black panel AC30 preamp run through an early '60s JTM45 power section. Very defined and chimey but with a deep, mean-ass BARK to it! I love it! Mine is the model with twin Goodman Axioms 12" ceramics in it (they also came with two Celestion G12 Alnico's-- I've owned both, the Goodmans offer up more tight rock tones, while the Celestions play up the jangle).<p>
My main guitars are a '51 Fender Broadcaster, '52 Gibson ES-125, and a '74 Telecaster Thinline (dual Seth Lover humbuckers). ALL sound phenomenal through this amp, with tons (I mean TONS) of harmonic richness and the unique features of each guitar shining through. I also own an original '64 Vox AC30 with factory Top Boost, and a 50watt Hiwatt combo-- the Selmer literally sounds like these two "blended" together. The amazing thing is that moreso than any of my other amps, your picking technique controls the growl of this baby. The lighter you pick the cleaner the sound, but slam through a few chords and big, snarling teeth come out.<p>
Also of note, unique to this amp is it's tremolo circuit. The fact that it runs through a vacuum tube when you engage it (the rad blue light in the front grille) means that it has a "soft" on/off... as if you are turning up or down the depth knob to engage it or turn it off. A GREAT feature, because when you turn it off (with the footswitch) instead of just instantly disappearing, a very pronounced effect with most tremolo amps or footpedals, it gradually gets softer and disappears over a matter of a second or two, as the tube shuts down. VERY cool.

Any amp that's still around and performing this well, after 41 years, deserves a GREAT reliability rating. Granted, I got a great deal on this amp because it's original, cheapo plactic power tube bases were both cracked and arcing into the chassis, but for roughly $10.00 in brand new ceramic bases, and 4 or 5 new resistors, I restored this amp to better than new condition and tripled its value. But the fact that it is a vintage amp, with a very cleanly laid out, hand-wired circuit makes it easy to work on! It gets gigged with and rehearsed with often, and has never given me any additional problems (other than EF86 tubes have by far the shortest lifespan of any preamp tubes-- probably why Vox stopped using them as the company got more popular).

Selmer doesn't exist as an amp manufacturer nowadays. Zero deserves a zero score right? But one is the lowest allowed, so be it. Although every amp tech whose ever seen it at a show has offered on the spot to work on it for cheap, with a big grin on their face, just so they can get a look inside! *laughs*

I don't care what anyone says about Selmers being Vox's ugly, cheaper step brothers, the comparison is just wrong. This isn't a Vox and of its own right is a GREAT vintage amplifier-- and without ANY QUESTION one of the hottest looking amps of all time (two-tone black and silver croc-skin leather covering, an oxblood and shiny gold thread, interwoven grille cloth, huge "SELMER" gold metal logo on bottom of amp front, and very nicely laid out gold powder-coated faceplate).
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The tone is what sold me though. It's got the gutty, ballsy growl of a Supro Thunderbolt but with the super rich preamp harmonics of an early Vox. My guitars love this amplifier. There is no bad sound in it, at any setting. You won't get modern rock, high gain distortion out of it-- but you SHOULDN'T want to! If you want '60s British Mod tones, or Uncle Tupulo-ish modern retro tones, search high and low and buy one of these beauties, for whatever it costs. Trust me. (FAMOUS FOLK WHO USE THEM- Paul McCartney in the earliest Beatles lineup, The Animals- "House of the Rising Sun" specifically-, Jack White of White Stripes currently- for recording).

1963 Selmer Zodiac Twin 30. These amps were often used by The Beatles and The Stones as back up gear. As you know, the Beatles and Stones used VOX amps in the early days. Vox amps would frequently blow up and need replacement on stage...enter Selmer. It is my understanding that music/gear snobs in England thought the Selmer name should have nothing to do with guitar amplification. Selmer made wind instruments and still do. (very high-end stuff btw).

There are two channels on this amp. One is a straight up volume & tone and the other allows you to dial in just about any tone you want with the push button knobs. I use the #2 channel b/c it seems a little warmer than #1. However, the greatest feature on this amp, aside from the bizzar crock skin cover, is the green eye on the front. This eye thing pulses in time with your tremelo setting...it's really fucking bizzar in a cool sci-fi way. WTF were those Selmer people smoking back then?!?!?!

It's an old tube amp so it's sounds great with any guitar. I do wish it would break up at higher volumes hence the 9 rating.

I use old Strats, an ACE FREHLEY LES PAUL and an old Gretsch Nashville. Best sound thus far is my '89 Clapton Strat...great jangle! The amp is loud, but like I said above, it needs a bit more head room before break up. Over all this is great tone. I'm running an old TS 808 through this and it sounds like shit. So far it's clean and clean only.

A lot of people compare this amp to a VOX AC-30. Obviously those same people have never owned an AC-30. You will not get a VOX tone out of this amp...ever. The AC-30 might be the best sounding amp on Earth...the Selmer is not the same.

This amp is very old and I may never move it out of my house...it just seems like a good egg fart would render it useless. It is VERY heavy but it also seems very delicate. When it arrived from FED-EX the cabinet had split at a bottom joint and the tubes popped out...it does not travel well.

Great sound, cool looking, delicate amp. These were never sold at retail in the USA. Mine is still wired for UK electricity. You never see these amps for sale. They are very underrated and deserve a higher place in rock history. I will buy a Zodiac Twin 50 if I ever find one.

This amp was made in about 1965, and it looks like it hasn't been altered at all since then. What makes it stand out from the crowd most would have to be that wild imitation alligator skin covering around the sides and top, it's crazy! and then on top of that there's a remarkable little blue flickering light on the front of the amp, which sways in time with the tremolo setting, so you can see your exact speed. castors. It seems to have either influenced, or been influence by the vox ac30 design, it, like the vox, has 4 inputs, so a whole band could theoretically all plug their instruments in to this baby, i've tried that, with two guitars, a bass and a microphone for vocals, and it works like a treat, the separation of channels is quite stunning, it's a whole band in one box. there are two straight thru channels, which you control with the treble, bass and volume knobs, and two other channels which are controlled by extremely unique push button tone settings from hi treble, treble , middle, bass and hi bass, like the buttons on an old car radio. It also has the name selmer written extremely ornately on the bottom front, in huge germanic script. personally i wish this amp had reverb like a fender, but nothing's perfect, it also doesn't have a dirty channel for distortion, but that's ok, cuz this has to be one of the loudest amps ever made so you won't need it if you've got a good quality fuzz box. So apart from the quirky sixties design features, it doesn't exactly have the features of a fender cyber-twin, but it does have a million times more character and tone to die for.

With my main git of choice, a fender telecaster custom, this amp sounds absolutely amazing, it just barks and bites at you like a little mad dog. the punch of the tele's humby really comes thru very powerfully, whilst the sharper bite of the twangy single coil bridge pickup is reminiscent of those old muddy waters licks,it's a perfect blues or jazz sound. Really if you're careful and intelligent with how you use any amp, you should be able to get a sound which is good, (unless it's some $50 piece of junk) it's as much down to the player as it is doen to the amp to produce a good tone, and for the tone hounds out there, there's nothing more surprising than the sheer tonal
variety this zodiac can offer. i play mostly post rock sonic youth and low and mogwai, minimalist rock styles and this is the best amp i ever played. better than a cornford easily, (they're shit)

Reliability of course is probably this amp's low point, altho i would have to say in it's defence, it's been around since the mid sixties, and it still works perfectly, i've been told it's only ever had two owners, and they both gigged with it extensively, so what you hear about old valve amps falling to pieces on the road just ain't true. ANyway it looks more like an antique sideboard than a rocknroll amplifier, so you have to treat it like a vintage piece, and take good care not to damage it. It appears to be in almost mint condition, the only thing slightly worn is the gold effect cloth covering on the front which is slightly dog chewed on one side. The valve housing looks like it might have witnessed a bit of a melt down, but that's no biggy. The only real problem i've experienced with this amp was a very painful crackle sound (xtremely loud) which happenned when i tried to turn up the volume, this was just dust, 35 years of dust! a bit of spray took care of that, and now it's fine. I wouldn't use this amp on a gig without a backup, i would use it as my main amp, and i would place it centre stage with great pride, but i'd probably bring along my little vox pathfinder to lend it a hand anyway, the more amps the merrier i say, and i couldn't ever envisage it breaking down, unless i dropped it off a high building, it's just too damned solid. That's why this thing is so damned heavy, a pain in the arse to carry around, but well worth it, and a good exercise!

i don't even know if they stil exist, there's probably some dusty papers in a darkened transylvanian castle vaguely relating to them somewhere. i heard woody allen has a selmer clarinet, and they make things like oboe's and woodwind instruments mainly, i wouldn't bother with selmer, i know a guy who can fix any amp with his eyes closed, thank god! and i have a lifetime warranty.

I've been playing for about ten years now, mostly with vox solid state 15 watt pathfinder, which i love, and it sounds like a dreamy creamy valve amp, but the problem with it was the tiny 8 inch speaker couldn't handle all the power it had, and so had an irritating buzz sound at high volume, i simply had to upgrade to the selmer for more volume and a clearer sound. if it were stolen i would cry like a little girl, because i know how hard it would be to find another one exactly the same, because they're so rare and underrated. Having compared it to a fender roc pro, which i liked for it's reverb, and a fender concert which i also liked for it's reverb, and a marshall '75 jmp mark 1 stack, which i loved for it's sheer stupidity, i chose the selmer because it totally enthralled with it's charm and grace.