Teisco Checkmate 10 112 Combo

Mid-60s, MIJ; tubes are 2xEL84s, 2X12AX7s, 1x12AU7, 1x6AV6. It has two channels, great tremolo and surprising good reverb. 1x12 alnico speaker. Fender-like chrome tilt-back legs. Reverb and temolo can be footswitched, but both operate without switches. Everything you could want in a low wattage (~15 watts?) combo. Rare, never knew these existed...and it's HAND-WIRED P2P construction! No effects loop, so a 9 instead of a 10...but I'm being nitpicky.

It sounds great. Very clean. I play mostly blues, so I switched the 12AU7 phase inverter for a 12AX7 and it's now louder with just the right amount of breakup, but not over-the-top distortion. The tremolo and reverb sound great. Amp is very quiet, even though original filter caps haven't been changed. Has original Rubycon oil caps throughout. I love this for practice or small venue situations. It sounds good with my Strat and downright scary with my P90 Epiphone.

I haven't owned it very long, so I can't give an opinion here. But it has survived almost 40 years so far. The quality and level of workmanship is amazing. I think it would last another 40 easily. I always use backups anyway, but simply carrying extra tubes and fuses would probably be good enough.

N/A Original company is long gone.

I'd choose this any day over the current crop of 2xEL84 amps, such as the Fender Blues Junior (excludng the Vox AC15 TBX, but it's discontinued). The handwired workmanship rivals any boutique amp made today...and at a bargain basement price. And it's collectable, too. Sometimes I'm lucky, I guess.