Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

This months Vintage Guitar Magazine features a really nice article by Dave Hunter on the Trans-Sonics. Just an FYI

Thanks for the heads-up! I really LOVE Transonics!

Nice article with some interesting photos and information. The role of Bob Rissi is featured. Starts on page 60 of the December issue, just out.

Bob Rissi still lives here in Orange County, CA and works on amps. He did some work on my '65 Fender Vibro Champ earlier this year and signed underneath the head of my Transonic.

He is very proud of the Transonics. Good guy!

Hmmm, I'll have to keep an eye out for that issue. Thanks for the info!

I've seen several issues (last six months or so) that have an ad from Rumble Seat Music. The ad showed the highly coveted Transonic. It looked to be in mint condition.

Retrospect is the right word. Highly coveted? Ten years ago you could scarcely give these things away.

tracy wrote:Retrospect is the right word. Highly coveted? Ten years ago you could scarcely give these things away.

That's why I bought mine twenty five years ago!

fabandgear wrote:

tracy wrote:Retrospect is the right word. Highly coveted? Ten years ago you could scarcely give these things away.

That's why I bought mine twenty five years ago!

How's it held up over all these years?

Ric N. Backer wrote:

fabandgear wrote:

tracy wrote:Retrospect is the right word. Highly coveted? Ten years ago you could scarcely give these things away.

That's why I bought mine twenty five years ago!

How's it held up over all these years?

keeping in mind that I'm a hobbyist and don't use this amp a whole lot, it still functions as well as the day I bought it. The only thing I've ever had to replace on it was a defective speaker jack. Of course it's had it's pots sprayed out occasionally, but other than that it performs well.
A recent picture...

tracy wrote:Retrospect is the right word. Highly coveted? Ten years ago you could scarcely give these things away.

I think that's a little harsh. I think a better phrase would be to call them "forgotten". There weren't too many of them to be had and someone who wanted one had to do some digging to find them, which was much more difficult in the pre-Internet era. And if you didn't know they existed, how could you want one?

Didn't Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick buy up all the ones Led Zep used at the end of their first US tour?

johnhall wrote:

tracy wrote:Retrospect is the right word. Highly coveted? Ten years ago you could scarcely give these things away.

I think that's a little harsh. I think a better phrase would be to call them "forgotten". There weren't too many of them to be had and someone who wanted one had to do some digging to find them, which was much more difficult in the pre-Internet era. And if you didn't know they existed, how could you want one?

I first became aware of the Transonic amps from the back of the '68 Rick catalog and KNEW I had to have one. The first one I saw, I bought! My decision took all of five seconds and I got my wallet out so fast it left scorch marks on it! This baby is a masterpiece of space age art (and it plays good, too!) I've always considered it one of the crown jewels of my guitar collection.

In all fairness, the stigma regarding transistorized amplifiers is really hard to shake. The comment I still hear today is, "too bad it doesn't have tubes". Well, as any of us who have one knows, the Transonics are truly the best of the transistor amps. My comments were basically referring to the scads of orphaned heads and cabs showing up at conventions in the nineties and the deer-in-the-headlights stare from prospective buyers.

tracy wrote:In all fairness, the stigma regarding transistorized amplifiers is really hard to shake. The comment I still hear today is, "too bad it doesn't have tubes". Well, as any of us who have one knows, the Transonics are truly the best of the transistor amps. My comments were basically referring to the scads of orphaned heads and cabs showing up at conventions in the nineties and the deer-in-the-headlights stare from prospective buyers.

I'd always wondered about the early "Transistor Stigma". I think a lot of it was based on Fender's lack of success with them. VOX and Kustom actually seemed to have been able to sell theirs, and Gretsch offered a few from about 1968, their "Nashville" and "Fury" models coming to mind. It's funny that so many of us Baby Boomers are tube freaks, while our younger brothers in the '80s Heavy Metal era have no problem with playing transistor jobs. I guess it's just what you grew up with.