Beatles Selmer Truvoice amp

[Tim_Fletcher]

PS - Peter, are you sure that what you're seeing isn't the two little "flying V's" on the grillcloth, bottom right of the speaker aperture ? These look a bit like the initials "JL" in the pic. They are plastic and often fall off old Selmers, but at the following link you can see a Stadium which still has them (scroll down to the Macaris amp)

Stadium Flying V's

[markthemd]

On the contrary ,I bet these are very HI-Fi oriented amps ,one reason that they are not around.

The Fender amps were based off of HI-FI circuits then modified to produce that tone.If you line up the 1950's deluxes (as an example ) you will hear (and very noticably) the tone evolution.

gibson amps stayed in HI-FI mode for a long time and the Fenders won out in the market place.

Marshall amps copied the Fender modes,twisted them to English specs and TA -DA! modern amps!.

The Vox amps were probably the best the Beatles could get and the sound and looks went hand in hand.

I doubt that in the Hamburg days they were too concerned with ultimate tone as they were using gear that was later replaced with more pro gear.

When they recorded Rubber Soul ,all of this gear was gone or in the closet gathering dust.

[admin]

Tim: Without question, the "Flying V's" it is! Thanks for the education.

[larrywassgren]

It took me awhile to figure out what those were too, Peter. At first I thought they were tears in the grill cloth, but then I realized they couldn't all be torn in the same place! Mark, we
all have our own opinions, but a '59 Fender Tweed
Deluxe like Lennon bought in Hamburg is one of the
most desirable amps around, tone wise. ZZ-TOP,
Eddie VanHalen and other great guitarists have said if they could have only one amp it would be
the late 50's Deluxe. The Gibson and Selmer sound great too. The Beatle sound didn't start when they got their VOX amps. John Lennon has said that their greatest work was never recorded,
when they played Hamburg and Liverpool what they
generated was fantastic. This sound would be the
'58 Rickenbacker 325 plugged into the '59 Fender
Tweed Deluxe, a '57 Gretsch Dou-Jet plugged into a '59 Gibson GA-40 LesPaul Model amp, and a '61 Hofner Cavern bass plugged into a Selmer Truvoice Stadium. A pretty impressive line up of gear. The Beatles were concerned about tone and how they performed as they were always pushing themselves to reach the top. They couldn't have made it if they didn't care about their sound.

[Tim_Fletcher]

Selmer amps (including the Stadium and Auditorium) were advertised as PA equipment in the mid-50's in England before the electric guitar became popular. I doubt that the circuitry was changed at all when the guitar was later added to the list of instruments which they were suitable for, but I've no doubt that their shortcomings as PA amplifiers (warmth, distortion) were a positive advantage for guitar.

The change to Vox was probably a quest for volume rather than tone, although the EL84-equipped AC15's and AC30's did have the advantage over Selmer's larger amps with EL34's for the sound of the early 60's.

[Tim_Fletcher]

The Nov 87 Guitar Player interview with George Harrison ID's his Gibson amp as a "Gibson GA-40T 16-watt combo model with a 12" Jensen speaker". Is this correct ?

[admin]

Tim: As you no doubt have read, in the Beatles Anthology Harrison expresses his fondness for this Gibson amplifier but acknowledges that it had insuffcient volume.

[larrywassgren]

Yes Tim, it was a Gibson Les Paul GA-40 Tweed amp,
I'm not sure about the watts but we should be able to find that out easy enough. I have one of these, and it sounds really great. I've been told it's built very similar to a Tweed Deluxe and they do sound close, although I prefer the Fender as the Gibson is a little bassier sounding to me. The older GA-40 amps were two-tone gray in color, around late '57 they went to all tweed
which is the Harrison type. Two neat features are the clear plastic handle which has a strip of
tweed running through it which says Gibson on it, and the football shaped plastic badge on the bottom of the grill cloth which says Les Paul Model on it. If you look at certain photos closely of George's amp, you can see this badge near the bottom on the front of the amp. Cool 50's touches!

[SoundAffectsMusic]

Bit of an old thread, but I have something to add.

Does anyone know what happened to the Beatles TrueVoice Stadium? I have just had a customer bring one in for me to repair in prep for selling. He bought it second hand at Hesseys in the early 60s. I know it would be too good to be true, but I have to ask. Will post some pics as soon as I can get them done.

Cheers
Tim

[jps]

Bit of an old thread...

Cheers
Tim

No kidding!

[jingle_jangle]

Tim is the winner of this week's "Lazarus" award...

[SoundAffectsMusic]

Ok, ok - I know its and old thread , and I know its a longshot, but..... as far as I know Harrison took out a finance agreement at Hesseys in 1960 for the Truevoice, which McCartney then took over paying (or not paying as the case may be). Epstein then settled the account in 1962. Then the Beatles got their Voxes of course - but what happened to the Selmer? Its possible, just possible...... I've seen a copy of the original finance agreement in The Beatles Gear Book, but its too small for me to make out any serial number if there is one on there - does anyone have a larger picture of this agreement?

And, yes I'll say it again, I know its a long shot but it has to be somewhere...

Cheers
Mr Optimistic......

[jps]

You know, it was so long ago, you could just say it just very well could be the amp! Who would really know? Of course, this is after you buy the amp from the chap. For cheap!

[SoundAffectsMusic]

Of course, this is after you buy the amp from the chap. For cheap!

Not my style - I like to sleep at night As you say long shot. I've told the customer what I think (without getting his hopes up). Even if its just am amp of the era, its the right one and still worth a bob or two. I'm selling it for him, so we'll see - would still love to give a bigger picture of that finance agreement.


Cheers
Tim

[SoundAffectsMusic]

Here are some pictures - happy to gather any information anyone has. Cheers Tim