Standel?????

[Willie]

Hey vintage gurus- anyone have any info on a Standel S53B bass/guitar head???I have come across one, and can not find any info on it...It is either all tube or a tube pre/solid state power section...some octals and 9-pins in there, but only got a quick peek...thanks

[michael.e]

I have always wondered about these amps as well. I recall visiting the website and seeing a more modern model on a matching 4-12 cab. Has anybody tried these amps? M.E.

[Bob Burt]

Not sure about the Amps but the cabinets are a unique design that have great tone and bottom end. They are well kept secrets.

If you can pick up one of the old 2 x 12 cabinets you would be well advised to do so.

They were way ahead of their time design wise.

Bob Burt

[HassanBinSober]

I have a 1960 Standel S-80, which is not the amp you're talking about but I just HAD to mention it (since this board is swamped with Standel threads ).

You should call Danny McKinney who heads up the new Standel company. Go to http://www.standelamps.com/. He's been very helpful to me on the S-80.

[jimberry]

I hate to dredge up old threads (yeah, sure), but...

I've been looking everywhere for info on a Standel S53T (that's T, not B) head that I've got - and this is the closest refernce I've found

...so whatever happened with the S53B?

-jim

[billyguitar]

My first amp was a Standell studio 15 or something like that. Tube with a Jensen 15". I think I traded it in on a blackface Bandmaster with the small 2x12 cab. I think the Standell was a better amp but I had to have a Fender. The Standell had two channels but no reverb. I don't remember if it had tremolo. It was a grey combo with a silvery grillecloth. I've never seen another but I have seen a couple piggyback amps, some all tube and some tube and solid state mixed, that had the same cosmetics.
John Cippolina used the big solid state Standells. They were vertical dark grey combos that had one or two speakers, 12s or 15s. Some had reverb and tremolo. The bass ones just had volume, bass and treble. Cippolina also used them with Wurlitzer Brass Horns. Kind of a tweeter thing with what looked like a trombone bell. He used two with the amp. The last Standells were all solidstate also. Black with a blue grillecloth. One store here in KC carried, and sold, the full line from little combos to preamp heads with 2x15 powered cabs. All of their amps sounded good to me.

[Mike]

Wierd coincidence - I'm selling this one if you guys know of anyone who's interested. It's got the 12" speaker.



These are the later SS ones, kinda like what Wes played.
The Chet era tube ones are cool, but they weigh a TON.

Mike

[billyguitar]

That looks similar to the one I had except mine was wider than it was tall and was tube.

[Mike]

Cool. You said that yours was gray with a silvery grill cloth. You don't see those cosmetics every day, so I thought I'd post a pic. I'd love to play through one of the new 25L15's - bet they play great. Some of the trick cosmetics I've seen are cool, too.

Mike

[billyguitar]

I've seen the reissues at some big Vintage Guitar Shows. Funky cowboy looking things. Never heard one though. Supposedly Joe Maphis used them. His Fire On The Strings album sure doesn't sound like Fender. The guitar is REALLY bright on that and thin on the bass. Not what I would expect it to sound like.
I wish someone would copy a Butts amp like Scotty Moore and Chet used to play. Those used weird tubes like 814s I think for output tubes. One time about 10 years ago I was in Nashville for a Vintage Guitar Show and I went into a hardware store that also had some old hi fi stuff for some reason. The guy there said Chet used to come in looking for odd tubes now and then. He didn't know what Chet was doing with them.

[jimberry]

Well, this thing of mine is older than all of that (hell, it was given to me back in, I dunno, maybe '78?) - the pots on the front panel date from April, 1963.

If I recall, however, it _did_ used to be gray - the covering is gone now. Also - it's a separate head - there was a speaker cab with it but someone else got that...

Anyway, I'm sitting here looking at it trying to decide what to do.

My guts say I should sit down and draw a schematic myself (nice thing about old PTP tube amps - they're just not that complicated) and then find myself a good book on tube amp servicing, and then do a cap job.

On the other hand, I don't want to "un-vintage" something that might be a big deal to someone else. I'm just looking for a relatively small amp to use around the house. My Super Twin Reverb is, well, quite frankly, too much amp for pretty much anything I do - or probably ever will - but fun to have around ...it probably need new caps by now too, though...

-jim

[billyguitar]

I wouldn't worry too much about the vintage value. That would vary greatly with cosmetic value and the age. I've seen the two piece ones like you're describing. The one that used to be here in KC in a pawn shop about 15 years ago, had a small 2x12 cabinet that matched. That whole amp was extremely tattered. The value of one of those mint couldn't be more than $1,500 and I'm thinking more like about $1,000. rarity doesn't equal value, as we all know. The only Standells of value are the original ones, 1x15 combos, about 25 watts, chassis in the back, weird aluminum trim and some had tooled leather accents on them.
I'm sure the combo I had would've been about that vintage. I bought it in 1968 probably and it was probably the cheapest full sized amp in the shop. In those days the newest stuff was the most expensive. The old tweeds were cheap. A friend of mine bought a 4x10 bassman and 1955 les paul junior, both for $100. That was the going rate on old stuff. People wanted new and improved!