Univox E-3 head

Got it of Ebay a few months ago. I believe the amp is one of the early models, it has the silver front logo. As other reviewers mentioned the amp doesn?t have many features, only a bounch of nice tonecontrols ("deep"- and "sharp"-switch, "bass"- and "treble"-knob) all in 1 channel with "bass", "high" and "low" inputs. A reverb and tremolo could be nice, but then the price would be 300$ or more!

I use a old Vester Stage series cheap strat. The amp is just perfect for classic rock rythm and can do anything from mellow to very bright (allmost Fender), I can get real nice tube-breakup when cranking the volume. The amp gives about 35W in original setup with 2*6L6 and 3*12AU7 at full bore.

I have done the following modifications: Powertubes run in triode operation (about 20W) and substituted the preamp tube with a 12AX7 (more gain = earlier breakup). The result is a more mellow and vintage sound and a more crunchy Marshall-sound when cranked.

The amp has a OK noise floor, however it can be recommended to substitute the existing powercapacitors with larger values for even better noiserejection.

The chassis and circuitboard was in poor condition when I got it and need a good cleaning job. However some jerk had removed all the wires inside the chassis in the past, so I had to do a complete rewiring job, Univox.org did have a schematic for a very similar amp (U-246). The output trafo wasn?t the original causing the feedback loop to oscillate (instability) when amp was turned on, so I had to change the feedback resistor.

The amp works fine now. But it?s not a Fender or Marshall.

As a skilled electronics engineer with tube amps as a hobby I will fix it myself.

I have been playing guitar for 10 years and working on tube amps for 5 years. I would buy one again or something similar if it was stolen, however I have noticed that the price is rising on these "lowcost" amps on Ebay, so finding one cheap there is getting more and more difficult.

I was parking my car the other day and came across the a pile of trash- bed parts, a dresser, a tv, etc. I spied a couple of tubes and knew right away I had a guitar amp. Actually it's a bass amp but I really have yet to try it with bass. It was pretty filthy, coated with a layer of grime and scum that definitely revealed it's been stored in a basement. Based on some of the gravel and unmentionably-disgusting-other-stuff I'd guess it was near a cat box as well. Great.

Of course I lugged it home anyway and checked it out. All of the tubes appeared to be there and the front-panel-mounted fuse was intact. The connection on the back of the speaker cabinet was blocked. This proved to be the only problem. After running into a dead end with the back of the cab (which seems like it WOULD open) I went in through the front. The grille is velcroed. The construction is not really that bad- It's not solid wood or anything but it's braced between the speakers (which are stock and rather generic) and actually seems road worthy. Anyway, once the baffle was off popping the broken plug out from the jack was pretty simple. Then I zereoed everything and fired it up.

Not much in the way of controls- Bass and Treble, and then the two redundant switches (as on a Fender Jaguar, Jazzmaster, etc). Redundant USUALLY being the case, as the glitch where you put the switch between two poles absolutely makes a difference in the sound. It elevates it from cool trash score to ultra secret weapon. Three inputs- for guitar use 'HIGH'- and one volume, quite crackly but working in my case.


These amps date from 68 and then 69-71 (the block logo with the red dot). The latter is what I'm reviewing. Made in the USA.

Here's what Univox.org says:

5 tubes (2 6L6, 2 12AU7, 12AX6) and solid state power supply, 50W, 3 inputs (bass, high, low) w/ deep and sharp selector switches, , 2x12 cabinets with Eminence special design speakers. Controls: volume, bass, treble. Apparently there was a guitar version made too, the only known difference was that it had reverb and tremolo. Speaker cab are rear loaded and is not ported. It has matching red and black dot in the center. The dimensions are 30 1/2" High x 22 1/2" Across and 13 1/2" Deep. There are two handles located on the sides and a single input on the back. Also know as the U-1235.

I don't know about that tube spec- as mine came with 3 12AU7s.

I was surprised it would even work- but it did. The real surprise was when I plugged in and adjusted the 'deep' switch. Wow- a compressed, cleanish, trebly, tube sound. Despite the compressed nature of the amp still maintains dynamics as well as pickup switching differences. I'm really curious to try it with bass- but so far with guitar it's proving to be something really special.

So far I've tried it with three guitars:

An 80s tele really worked the barking high end of this amp while the added humbucker at the neck showed off it's bass reponse. Sounded very nice, but didn't shimmer like the Twin.

A late 80s les paul really conjured the 'bluesy, bassman like' overdrive ability other reviewers noted. Sounded very meaty- didn't get muddy on the lower strings as my Twin tends to when set up to overdrive (using the Master Volume).

I was blown away when I plugged in my late 90s Rickenbacker 360-12. Perfectly clear and bell like. The compression absolutely fine-tuned to match the guitar. Every string rings out equal and this is the first amp to do that. I've been on a quest for the perfect amp for the 12 ever since I started playing it and this is the one! I've tried Fenders, Peaveys, Marshalls in various situations and was able- with some work- to get something suitable. While my Twin Reverb does the guitar some justice it just doesn't POP. The Univox POPs. I had high hopes for the Vox simulation (and compressor) on the Line 6 Pod but even that left me with a lot of tweaking to do. The Univox is way better than any of the above for this particular application. I keep trying it again and again- to confirm that I'm not crazy- but this amp, with it's broken switch and (perhaps due to) lack of real tone controls, delivers stellar sound- and is just amazing for the Rickenbacker. Excercises in 'Mr Tamborine Man' and 'If I Needed Someone' sound gorgeous.

The preamp tubes are Mullards- which from the beginning struck me as odd. I'd heard the name and had a feeling they were praised among audiophiles... it doesn't seem like they would arrive stock. The power amp tubes look pretty fried- they are japanese/taiwanese, mitsubishi or toshiba or something. But they work. My roommate suggested that perhaps the amp had been modified when I ranted how amazing it was and while I'm not really sure, the presence of those really high quality tubes indicates someone knew what they were doing at some point in the history of this beast.

I'm anxious to try it with bass. As for guitar it's downsides are no reverb and no mids control (I dont miss it). My other amp is a silverface Twin reverb so this one is acutally quite a nice complement.

It worked after spending X years in someone's basement. It's well built- maybe not as nice as Fender or Marshall stuff from the time period but we're talking about that era's Peavey. The electronics cannot be too complex- I'm confident I could have it repaired if needed, and replacement tubes are gonna be there.

I'd like to get the switches modified for true 3-pole operation. I'm not sure if that's even possible without losing the magic however, and I'm a bit afraid to take it in without at least getting some good recordings with it first. Same goes with the speakers- they may look cheesy and generic but it might be part of the equation.

I hardly ever take this into account as most of my purchases are used. Find a good independent shop and your repair needs are taken care of. Even if this WAS a current model, do you really want to ship an amp and wait 3 months?

I've been playing for 10 years or so and I consider myself quite familiar with guitar gear in general. I may be flushing it all down the toilet by praising this amp in spite of the usual stuff you see from Univox. But I trust my ears, and finding a solution to the problem of getting the Ric to sound like it does on 60s LPs without all the production (for instance, most of the classic Byrds 12 string runs owe a lot to the big old limiters applied in series) really, really made me happy.

This is a great value in a vintage amp that most 'experts' would dismiss without hearing. Pick them up cheap (you're not going to have to pay too much) and you won't be disappointed. For that classic 12 string sound, Run- do not walk.

Late 60s bass amp. My parents bought this new in about 1968 to go with their new Farfisa organ. Years later when I got into guitar I discovered this amp made a decent guitar amp. The amp has 3 inputs,
volume, bass, treble, and two tone switches, one "deep" and one "sharp". One day I discovered that if you put the "deep" switch in the middle (where there is no detent) the gain came WAY up! The amp really is mild UNTIL you put the switch in the middle. Obviously the switch was supposed to stay up or down, but the middle setting was HOT! The amp really has just one basic decent sound, but it is quite touch responsive and you can go from clean to very dirty just by working your guitar controls. For a number of years this was my favorite amp with a 1959 Les Paul Junior, through a mid 70s Marshall 4/12. At the time I also had a 73' Marshall 100 superlead, and an Ampeg VT-22, but the Univox was much smoother and not so darn loud...

The amp is a bit squashy with humbuckers. I liked it best with my P-P-90 (single coil) LP Junior. Also the stock speakers in the matching 2x12 were junk and blew up long ago. Like I said, put the "deep" switch in the middle and it rocks. Try a nice 4x12.

One day when I was about 11, I decided to hook the amp up to some headphones and blew the output transformer. Had it replaced long ago.
Not as solid as an old Marshall or Fender, but more rugged then alot of newer gear.

Long gone I think...

I been playing professionally since 1977. I have owned about 6 Vintage Marshalls, and over 20 Vintage Fenders. Also currently I have a Trainwreck Express, and a 1969 Fender Vibrolux. Mostly Vintage Fender and Gibson guitars. Funny as it may sound, to this day the Univox still gets pulled out on occasion...
If you ever see one of these for cheap go for it.

This head was made around 1968 according to a Univox home page. It is actually a Bass head but seems to work well for blues and even heavy rock rhythm. One channel (no switching), three inputs Bass, High and Low. Two switches: one for bass and one for treble. Three knobs: Bass, Treble and Volume. I wish it had a midrange... This amp is being used as a gigging amp in a classic rock band. As long as the asshole with the 100 watt Marshall who can never seem to hear himself turns down a little so you can hear yourself think, this amp is plenty good enough for small club gigging. It originally had three 12au7s and two 6l6's. I switched out the au's for 12ax7's for more gain before distortion.

I use a Les Paul standard with 496R and 500T pickups so I get plenty of input to the preamp. I play mainly classic rock live but I do write original music. This amp gives me another flavor which I could not get out of my Marshall unless I had it cranked to ungodly levels. It gets a really heavy scooped mid crunch like you'd never expect from an amp of this vintage. If you peg the volume, hit the bright switch, and adjust bass and treble to suit, you can run your guitar wide open through it and it gets an awesome heavy crunch. The lack of a reverb just prevents you from ruining a perfectly great rhythm tone. I you back off on the guitar volume, you can clean up the sound, but because of the lack of a midrange, the highs really POP on this head, which makes playing clean sound like plucking chickens. You could probably remedy this with an EQ if you were going to use this amp to play clean, which I hardly ever do, but I plan on experimenting with one. The only time it gets to be a problem is if you want to play a clean lead and it sounds like you're plucking every note instead of picking it. Right now I get around the problem by only using the neck pickup for lead work if I'm playing without an additional overdrive. I use my TS9 with my bridge pickup for lead work with the gain set level and the distortion full up. I normally don't use it that way with my Marshall, but like I said the lack of midrange control in the amp really needs to be smoothed out if you're playing leads through the head. After you learn this about the amp, it is a beautiful little thing...

Ok I don't know about this little item. I have two amps already. I would never gig without an amp backup. As far as dependability, though, this thing's been around since 1968 - nuff said.

Never dealt with Univox

I've been playing for a bit. I'd definitely try and get another one if this were stolen. It is an awesome value for a vintage amp with a truly surprising rhythm sound. I love the fact that it is a straight forward one channel turn all the way up rocker that doesn't have to give you a migrane for you to enjoy the tone. None of my buds who's heard it has come away with anything but praise and surprise. Several of my friends are now true tube tone believers.

three inputs bass,high,low. three knobs. bass treble,volume. thats all this baby needs!!!

all i can say is FREAKING TONE!TONE!TONE!. i picked this head up for 40 bucks in a n.y. music store. the owner said it had been there for about six years. he asked me to please get it out of there. got it home plugged it in and it made noise and very little vol. i tapped the preamp tubes and they blasted so i swapped them with some i had laying around and this pup screamed. its got 2 6l6 power tubes and 3 12ax7's it originally had 12au7 but all i had was the others. should be about 40 or 50 watts but i think its only really about thirty five or so which makes it the perfect club amp. you can dime the vol. and get that great tone and the smoothest overdrive ive ever heard without clubowners yelling to turn it down. back off on the pick attack and it cleans right up, back off the guitar vol. and its as clean as a bell for rythym playing. this bitch needs no reverb at all! it shimmers so well you dont miss it. just pure TONE!!! im playing it through my 65 bassman 2/12 cab with mojo's. i plan to build a 2/12 for its very own with some jenson reissues. i have a black face bassman as my main rig but i think it might get replaced. this is the first amp ive ever owned that i didnt feel i needed an overdrive pedal with. i play blues and blues rock in a power trio and this is the perfect rig. if you have the oppertunity to get one of these heads...DO SO!!!

well its old who knows