Woodson Tremelo/Reverb 150W Combo

I just acquired a very clean model via e-bay. If a Woodson guru will contact me, I can give the serial number of this amp for your calculation on the year of production. I'm a jazz / blues / rock playing baby boomer with 40+ years of guitar playing history. 30 years ago I started to buy and use an occasional solid state amp. Yhat phase in my guitar evolution lasted about 10 years. I then stopped because my Fender tube amps always did sound better and were just as reliable as the transistor models. I got this Woodson on a lartk becuae the price was low, and the owner crowed about how good it is. It is in prfect cosmetic and operating condition, practically new.

This Woodson is plenty loud for the restaurant gigs that I play with a blues trio and a Jazz Quartet. The amp is a straight ahead topology with a gain pre-amp stage called "tube effect", pre-amp volume and then a master volume. Tone controls are 3 parametric (Bass, Mid, Treble)that are quite effective. There is a mono line out jack on the back chassis for "tape recorder", but of course you can daisy chain to another amp from there. I currently own several Roland Solid State amps. The Woodson is certainly louder than the Roland Blues Cube 60 with one twelve inch speaker. The Woodson is not as refined sounding as the Roland which is good in a way as the Woodson in more dynamic and responsive to my picking technique. The Roland, though it is a faultless amp, seems to sound the same no matter how I express on the guitar. The Roland has amplitude changes but the tone stays more consistent and eventually, in my opinion, boring. But don't repeat that to George Benson as he is now using the Roland Blues Cube 60 as his stage amp.

I own a lot of guitars (40+) in all types, styles and electronic configurations. The Woodson works well with single coils and humbuckers. It's a quiet amp even when cranked, it doesn't have a lot of hum or hiss. I usually like to play with the guitar pots full on and adjust my sound at the amp. With the Woodson I feel that I can roll the guitar volume level down and not suffer loss of definition or tone. That means that the input impedance must be really high compared to most amps.

The Tube effect gives a shot of extra mid-range boost an adds distortion without adding more than 6db of gain. It does sound "transistor-y" in the worst sense of the 1970's term. I'm not going to throw away my Boss DS-1 Pedal and use the Woodson pre-amp distortion, 'fer sure.

Amazingly, the amp sounds its best with the Master Volume Cranked to max and the pre-amp Volume at 12 o' clock. With strong guitar pick-ups, this volume level will be quite punishing in a room smaller than 20' X 40'. I did not get my sound pressure meter out for the demo, but I'm sure at this amp setting I was pumping more than 110 db in my 2& a half car garage which is loaded with crap to the ceiling.

If I turn the pre-amp Volume pot any higher with the guitar volume at max the amp starts to distort in a tube-like manner. But it also continues to get louder as well! I did not have the audacity to turn everything up to max, my neighbors were already peeking thru the blinds wondering what the hell was going on as I played Stevie Ray Vaughn Licks. I didn't want to get a ticket for disturbing the surburban peace.

I've read from other owners that these amps are bullet proof. And my experience as a guitar player and Certified Electronics Technologist is that Solid State amps can be punished without bad outcomes. I've only repaired 2 solid state guitar amps output transistors in my entire life compared to 100's of tube amps that were "fried" which needed tubes, transformers, load resistors, etc....
I imagine that the all Original Woodson I have will go another 30 to 40 years without needing surgery.

The company folded up its tent and closed years ago. Nobody seems to know where the owners and designers went to. It's sort of a mystery in guitar player circles. Maybe someday I'll drive around Missouri to find out the story about these amps and write a novel about it...

Overall, I'd rather own this amp than a newer import Solid State amp in the same price range. This sounds like a real guitar amp compared to a Crate or a solid state Marshall. And don't even get me started on DSP and "amp modeling" which is the biggest pile of marketing crap to emerge in the guitar community in quite a while...
Do I like this amp better than it's contemporaries, like a 1978 Yamaha G-100 2X12". OH YES, I had that Yamaha in the Early 1980's and this Woodson blows it away. Am I going to give away my Roland Jazz Chorus 120 to play the Woodson exclusively? No. But I'm fortunate to have enough room in the garage to store several amplifers and can appreciate the ones that I do have. For now this Woodson is a keeper. Check back with me in a year, maybe it will be for sale in my E-bay Store.

According to the vintage amp guru at the Pawn shop, this was a late 1970's combo amp. It is SOLID STATE, but you'd never know it by the sound. It has a "tube effect" knob that add's alot of warmth to the sound (more as you turn up the volume), it also has Volume and Master volume. 2 Channels, Hi impedence and Lo impedence. As far as volume, I don't think it could match a fender combo (tubes are always louder) but it still puts out alot. Footswitchable reverb, Very nice tremelo (w/ depth and speed adjustment of coarse). It also has a 12 foot power cable! You can plugg this thing in next door! There's also a "tape record" out on the back that works very well for stringing up another amp to it to add some more sound. The only thing I wish it had is a footswitchable distorion channel.

I use a fender Tele with the amp, and I was blown away by the smooth warm clean tone. There's no real "gain" setting, but the "tube effect" and "volume" knobs can give you a little dirtier clean tone. Metal heads and punk rockers will hate this amp. It has volume, but it's beauty is in it's clean tone. If you have a cheap distortion pedal, this amp will make it sound twice it's worth. It does have a bit of a buzz but that could be cause somebody pulled the ground pin on mine and you can't even hear it when you crank up the volume. Basicly, Indie rockers & Emo kids who need volume at a low price, this is for you.

Mine looks like it's been sitting for a while (probably in this very pawn shop). I don't know how well it would take beatings or dropings. It's heavey as hell and there aren't wheels on it. I wouldn't take it on tour, but it would do fine for small shows.

I have no idea who the hell "woodson" even is, so good luck finding parts or support.

I've been playing for almost 10 years, part of that time touring nationally with the band Plankeye. I would've used this amp for local shows if I'd had it then. If lost or stolen, I doubt if I could find another, but if I did, and it was at the same price, I'd get it again. It looks like cheap crappy generic vintage but it sounds like a million bucks. The only comparison would be a fender twin (tube) of some kind.