Sound City Concord

This is a seven-valve (three ECC83s, two ECC81s, pair of EL34s) combo in purple(!) tolex from the early 70s. This particular Concord was apparently built circa 1972, with a serial number of 2108 if my memory serves me right, and is actually branded "Hayman" (not Sound City) - probably sold under that name in Scandinavia at the time. Reads "Dallas Arbiter England" on the control panel in small print as well as on the numberplate in the back.
And for the features - two channels (no switching) with reverb on one, volume/bass/treble controls plus a treble boost switch, no gain/master controls. There is a "sensitivity" switch in the back - I keep it in the louder position so I get the desired sound at a lower volume - and an external speaker jack.
The internal speakers are obviously the originals, Sound City 12".

I'm playing two totally different guitars through the amp - a Rickenbacker 330/12 and a Telecaster Custom copy with DiMarzio double humbuckers. Either way, the sound is great. Clean at low volume, but crank it up and you get the sweet valve distortion mixed with the resonance of the plywood cabinet... I can imagine the clean sound would suit an instrumental group well. The amp is a bit hissy though, but there's not much hum if biased correctly.

When I acquired the amp in 1980, the sound started to crackle when the amp warmed up. I resoldered all the connections and replaced the flaky bias trimmers - haven't had any problems since.
I don't do gigs with the amp anymore, so I've only changed the valves two times in the 20+ years. The caps are all original!

Are they still around? No problems with service however, this is a conventional valve amp.

I started on bass but switched to guitar sometime in 1979. Started to look for an amp, and a family friend had the combo for sale. The Concord was my first real guitar amp, and ultimately proved to be a great one. I would like to get another one to build a stereo set-up... Have found other things to do recently, but still like to pick up the guitar and strum a bit every once in a while, but really don't get to play often enough to maintain my dexterity.
I also have a solid state Marshall, which is OK whenever I just need to hear what I'm playing.

This amp dates to the early/mid 60's. recently serviced by Clark Amplification. New Tubes, Reverb panel that works w/ footswitch, plenty of power, Loud and Bright. Original speakers, Amp Is much warmer played through a 4x12.

A VERY CLEAN amp! It would be an AWESOME SURF amp. Clean and cutting.

Just keep fresh tubes and Rock on!

Company-Who? for Service Clark Amplification, Columbia, SC. Quote "If you have a problem with It just Bring It back, We'll Fix It"! Not Cheap, But painfully Honest and DEPENDABLE.

a VERY GOOD clean amp. No distortion, find a good stomp box and Kick It. My main amp is a Peavey EVH 5150, and a Marshall 4x12. The concord makes a very good portable writing tool.

very few features and a reverb that doesn't work

use with telecaster, it's noisy trebly and loud, very loud

never been serviced, new power amp valves el34s, reliable as death

no idea where the company is, dallas arbiter it says on the back, I'd love a new reverb tray for it

if any one has or knows of where I can get a reverb tray for it , please email <zxjl@waitrose.com>

1972 model combo with 2x12. Saw footage of a Stonehenge hippy festival in '68, there was one there! Vol-treb-bass per channel, plus reverb on one. This is ideal. I mean whoever needs tons of knobs can't play guitar, right? Could do with switching between channels and a gain knob. The whole package tends to be rather trebly, and there's a further "bright" switch per channel to make your ears bleed. Have used the amp for gigging, rehearsing & recording. Sound is straight-up clean, until cranked right up, so not very versatile. Nearly always use overdrive units with this amp, but now also own Crate VC2110R, and the combined sound (Crate fuzzed up)is awesome.

Been using this for ten years with my '75 Tele custom (with PAF replacing original Fender humb.), and it's an exceedingly beautiful, deep, clean sound. The overdriven crunch on the amp is wonderful, but to get there you have to crank it right up (and that's LOUD!!) as there's no gain control. That's it, as far as variety of sound goes, so I have used overdrive pedals until recently, now I combine with baby Crate, with hugely satisfying results. Reverb is good and wide (very surf!). Noise is a constant companion, even after recent overhaul (first set of replacement valves in 26 years), and even picks up Russian SW radio on a clear night. Rating reflects that it does a limited sound, but very beautifully.

One overhaul every 26 years sounds like reliable to me, although it maybe could have done with one earlier. Never let me down, and has taken some rough handling.

Does "Dallas Arbiter of London" still exist?? Your local amp man will enjoy fiddling with it.

Part of my life since 1988; it's been everywhere with me. Like a faithful dog. Irreplaceable. Guys with dead expensive amps get jealous of the Concord + baby Crate sound. Have seen a few in recent years in British second hand shops.

unbelievable. only problem is it only has treble, bass, volume, and reverb. very powerful and clean.

sounds great. crystal clear. all tube. needs more features.

VERY RELIABLE! my uncle gave this to me. he had it for, i would say 25 years. he never used an effect through it though. i have cranked it up with overdrives and everything and it still works great.

never a problem

i would buy it again if it had more features. good luck finding one.