Teisco Checkmate 88

everyones said it already, but this amp has reverb, tremelo, and semi-unintentional distortion. I play a good mix of the good stuff, rock, metal, funk and blues, and this amp fits...uhm...oddly more that youd think. by itself, I actually found this amp to sound quite nice. the low end gets pretty farty when its distorting, but what can I expect from crappy old japanese speakers in a 60's bargain amp. the tremelo is quite nice for what it is, though itd be nice to be able to select between hard and soft, but I cant complain for a 30 dollar amp. The reverb, however, sucks hard. Im not a reverb fan anyway, and dont remmber the last time I used amp reverb other than to test it out and see what it sounded like...but this reverb is the worst. Im gonna do some poking around and see if I cant turn it into an effects loop... dont know why...nothing better to do I suppose.

Ive got an american strat with stacked seymore duncan pickups and a washburn stratocopy that I modified quite a bit, I put in some 65 gibson les paul soapbars in the neck and bridge, and rewired the selector so its now Middle/Middle+neck/Neck/Neck+bridge. Gets quite a nice sound, it sounds a lot like a funky bass. anywho, those both sound quite nice through it, especially when it just starts to break up. Of course, keep in mind this is for this category of amp, which is rare/obscure cheap amp. with a distortion pedal, this sucker sounds quite spiffy, you can get a nice punk sound with it. Surprisingly good bass response for an open backed cab with crap speakers

reliability...hmm..I havent had it too long...I dunno. you couldnt hear it at all when I first got it...I looked in back, and there were no grounds connected to the input jacks, with no soldier or anything, so I wonder if there ever was...but I grounded em to a speaker and now everything is nice...I dunno if Id trust it for a gig..doubt it...plus Id have to mic it anyway....but then again, it has lasted long enough to be vintage now...so that gets it points

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I called em up, and ...its like the companys outta business or something. I mean, it sounded like everyone was dead.

if I found another one for cheap, Id definately buy it...I could make a big stack of these suckers! haaaa! overall, the best amp Ive ever paid 30 dollars for at a thrift store. it was pretty cool though, I had to sell my 70s peavey classic *hybrid solid state/tube amp*

I scored this thing in a parking lot garage sale in downtown Stockton, CA for 5 bucks. I picked it up remembering my first guitar being a teisco, biggest piece of crap I ever owned, then again, as a first guitar, its not like I deserved anything good right?

Plastic cabinet, junky ass speaker, sounds like absolute crap. Crap with tremolo, that is. I love it just for its uniqueness, goes to show that its not what you play but how you play it. Truely punk rock.

This thing aint never gonna blow up unless I start tweakin' and take it apart. Tremolo still works, which is more than I can say about ampeg's jet 12......

yeah right

this thing replaces the effects to make you sound like crap. (the grunge pedal, etc.) To truely sound like crap, find one of these, they rule, I wont trade it for the world.

Every one else pretty much explainded everything that there ever is to know about this little beast. I found it at my high school being thrown around by some kids, I rescued it. its is the worst sounding thing in the world yet I love it to death.

Broken glass falling into a meat grinder that hasent ever been cleaned.

its looksvery old and it still works

I cant find anything anywhere about it.

I love it. I want someone somwhere to make a loud halfstack out of this baby. it would be rad.

2 inputs, tone knob, volume, reverb, and trem speed.
2 small speakers (10"?)
no foot switch

Amp is very quiet unless turned up to at least 7.
distorts heavy at level 8-10
use for recording w/shure sm57 to much mid range

since day one and many moves its played the same.

none

Its cool for low volumes and to crank up when jamin out with dueling guitarist

Great 60's(?) soild state amp. Not very loud, Maybe 5 watts? It doesn't say. There is, however, a schematic of the amp on a label pasted inside the cabinet. It has two inputs, volume/on off switch, tone, footswitchable reverb and tremolo. Two lightweight 8" speakers.

This thing has a super duper crap-o-phonic sound! Total 60's trash rock right outta the box. Unfortunately, You can only use it for practice(by yourself) or maybe recording. With my electra Les Paul w/ dimarzio super distortion p/u's it starts to break up at between 0 and 1 on the volume. With my other crappy no name 60's guitars it doesn't distort real good until you turn it up to 3 or so. By the way, you have to turn it up to about 4 to be able to hear it over your own breathing. But it really nails that classic "ape man locked in a rusty tool shed" sound that all the kids are into now adays !?!?!? Clean sound? No.

I wouldn't trust this amp to even be working tomorrow when I wake up. The reverb doesn't work, but you can hear it if you turn it up all the way and shake it around. They were wise enough to include a schematic, so I suspose if it broke, I could probably just fix it my self. Why I would do that, I have no idea.

I had dinner with Mr. Teisco just last week. He's getting up there in years, but still has a lot of spunk. Actually, no. I am a liar. If anyone has seen Mr. Teisco, please congradulate him on his many accomplishments for me.

This amp rocks. I play alot of Gories/Pussy Galore type stuff and this amp is as trashy as any around. it rocks, it rolls, it squeals and pukes. I just wish I could find a LOUD amp that sounds this nasty. My Sunn 112 is pretty harsh, but doesn't sound nearly as cheap as this little turd.

Single channel, 2 inputs. Pots are Volume, Tone, Reverb, Tremolo Speed. (2) 20 cm speakers in a combo package, open back cabinet. Date of manufacture was around 1973, I am the original owner. Solid state design of about 6-10 Watts, purchased at a department store (Kings), this is a beginner's bedroom amp. Rating of 5 because it only has treble cut tone control.

Very grating solid state distortion. Volume is limited by the little speakers and their weak magnets. Trem would overload at high volume and after chop the sustain. Plug in a 12" 8 Ohm and there is much more volume, but the same grating sound.

Well... This was a *Smashing Reverb Amp* at one time. Trem is now dead but everything else works.

Unknown.

2. This amp sucks. I added an external speaker jack for the horn driver "Bag" gizmo thingy and as I recall, it sounded OK. Also sounded OK if the input was way over driven. (Review entered for historical reference only)