Airline Amps

[alciere@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hi all, 

Airline amps were made by Valco. Here's a review of mine: 

I just got my Airline amp back. The fuse holder fell out, making it a cheap 
fix. I thought people would like a review.
The amp was made by Valco for Montgomery Ward.
The amp looks beautiful. It's from the early 60s, low wattage (maybe 15 
watts?) with a Jenson speaker (8") with a tweed cabinet and cool gold grill 
cloth. It also has some nice cigarette burns for that worn in look. 

Looks are about all this poor puppy has. My amp guru called the reverb-the 
worst he's ever heard. It's kind of like playing into a tin can. She's 
underpowered too. Plenty of distortion, but it's a brittle harsh distortion, 
not the smooth distortion of an old Fender. Feeds back way too easily. My 
amp guru says there's too much voltage going to the tubes. 

I guess looks aren't everything. Not all old tube amps are good. I did like 
playing octaves on my chromatic through the Airline's vibrato. For some 
reason the vibrato didn't have much effect at all on voice or diatonic harp. 

I got the amp for free so I'm keeping it as a voice processor. I wouldn't 
pay money for one. 

Rainbow Jimmy
http://www.spaceanimals.com
http://www.mp3.com/spaceanimals