Teisco Checkmate 17

Just to clarify, this amp came out in both a solid state AND tube version.

Teisco Checkmate 17, "35"w amp, more like 8. Reverb and Tremolo, neither work on mine., not surprised. 10" original speaker. Ungrounded plug....etc..

Wasn't impressed.

My amp had some strange electric problems, and was extremely quiet, im guessing a transformer problem? Not sure. The amp itself wouldn't break up into any sort of distortion, changed tubes and everything, same low volume, and same un-interesting clean sounds. I cant give a very critical overview of the amp, as mine was obviously flawed.

But ill give it a 1 anyways, because the clean sound was ugly.

Amp was broken before I received it, luckily it didn't cost too much.

I wouldn't count on its reliability if I were you.

Probably doesn't exist anymore.

The only reason I give it a 4 is because it is, in-fact a tube amp. Im sure it sounded good once, but the problems with mine are very numerous, and im no amp technician, so it will sit in my closet for years, im guessing.

Oh yea, and the ***** almost killed me! I was using a mic through it one day (probably not smart to begin with) and I touched the mic and another piece of metal, suddenly I couldn't ******* move! If I am right about the transformer being broken, then I could've received more of a shock and died. Anyways, story ends with me leaning over and flipping the switch off with the headstock of my guitar. Scariest moment of music I have ever had.

This amp was made in the 60's by Sears. Contrary to the almost useless reviews below it is an ALL TUBE AMP. Is it possible that it came out in a solid state with the same name? I don't know. This is a single-ended Class A amp, sort of like a Fender Champ or a fancy boutique amp. Output is about 8 Watts, using a 6x4 rectifier, el84 power amp, a 12ax7 for preamp, and additional 12ax7 for reverb/tremolo effects. Cabinet is made of 1/2" plywood, loaded with the factory 10" alnico speaker.

Good blues or indie-rock style breakup at quite reasonable volume levels. Tremelo and reverb (dials) volume and tone too, 2 input, on/off switch..

This amp was made in the late 60s early 70s. This guitar has Tremelo and Reverb controlled (on/off) with and optional footswitch input. It also has one tone dial. The Tremelo and reverb effect (two sep. knobs) are very unique. This amp is generally a novelty amp for me but i do enjoy the cool sounds i can get out of it. I play punk rock and alt-rock, which play somewhat well with this amp.
There are 3 inputs on this amplifier, without channel switching. It has a headphone jack but no effects loop.
I wish this amplifier had came with gain control for more distortion.
None of the features on this amp go unused with me because the reason i play through it is because of the distortion. I use this amp for its cool sounds. By the way, this amp is Solid-State.

I use a Fender Squier Stratocaster (a 96 or 97) equipped with 3 singlecoil pickups. The sounds are out of my musical league for the most part but i still like them. as i said before,i play punk rock and alt-rock. Not very noisy, very little feedback ever as long as a guitar is plugged in (mics work somewhat well) no particular settings make it noisy.
This amp can make very cool echo (tremelo) and reverb sounds, they are very unique sounding. Not a whole lot of variety ( you have 1-10 on tone, tremelo, and reverb and thats it)
The clean channel is not very easily corrupted by high volume since this amp is not very high-watt. There is no real gain type distortion but the skys the limit when used with other pedals.

Very reliable. I wouldnt use it for a gig but yes i could depend on it if i wanted to use it.

It has never broken down to my knowledge.

teisco is dead as far as i know. again, this is an old amp

if anyone has any more info about these amps or the teisco del-ray guitars please email me

i have been playing 2 years. I own a Zoom 505 effects pedal, a Zoom PS02 pocket recorder, and a Boss DS1 pedal.

I can't find year on this model but from what I have read in other reviews i would guess late 60's maybe 70's. I've just got this amp reciently and just getting the bugs worked out of it cleaning the knobs ect. This model has a 18"x12" cabinet with a 10" speaker (8ohms 20 watts) It's a 35 watt amplifier tube type with two imputs power switch,volume tone, reverb,tremelo it's a good little amp for what it is. I would like to find out more about it was given to me by a friend and I plan on keeping it for a while because it's in excellent condition. while.has

I play a Takamine 541c electric cutaway acoustic guitar and the cleans are just that very clean. I play classic rock and some new stuff too. On the other hand I love a nasty throaty distortion and with a small 15 watt preamp it will definitley get your attention.

I would depend on it because for acoustic guitar's in a small venue it would be perfect.I have a weak tube and I'm checking around to see what avenue's are available. I'm very good with my hand's and fix my own stuff most of the time so If it is not very durable it won't be a problem.

I know there's little or no information out there but I feel lucky this amp has the original service record inside on the side panel and it has serial no. tag and are all of you READY FOR THIS? the name on the model tag is W.M.I Corp. I hope this tidbit of info is helpful to some of you.

Twenty year's of jamming on a yamaha acoustic and one year on my Takamine both of which they pry from my cold dead hand's maybe this Checkmate amp will be as loyal faithful.