new sound city amps?

[mynameisjonas]

i just found out about these, but apparently they've been around for a while. has anyone tried one?
http://www.arbiter.co.uk/soundcity/soun ... erview.htm

[analogsystem]

I think someone bought the name. 

The original Sound City amps from the 60s and then kind of turned into Hiwatt, which was started by a Sound City employee and based on Sound City designs I think.

[mynameisjonas]

yeah, dave reeves worked for sound city before he started hiwatt, and some of the sound city amps he designed were pretty much identical to the hiwatts. the company remained after he left, but the amps they came out with later were not as good as reeves' designs.

as for the name, it appears that arbiter are putting these out (since the website is on their domain), and dallas-arbiter were the original owners of sound city... but i guess it's possible that they're making them in china or something like that, they're pretty cheap.

[GUITARmole]

Damn...those are cool!  I didn't know they existed.

I took a look at the pics and thought the back panel had "made in China" written all over it just from the looks of it...then I looked closer and it literally did have "made in China" written on it 
Not that it's necessarily a bad thing...they could be cool amps if they're not overpriced.

[mynameisjonas]

ah, i didn't think to check... regardless of where they're made, they certainly look nice. kinda hiwatt meets vox

[Pacafeliz]

i have two 60s Sound City amps (50 and 100w) - Great stuff.

the new stuff is indeed made in china, and from what i've heard don't compare to the old ones. haven't seen gutshots but i think it's only the name that's left... and that arbiter distributes them.
it seems they sound kinda sterile and lifeless out of the box, but it could be the tubes. who knows what happens once you throw something decent in there. anyone can go try one of these out as-is? it seems they are only available in the UK for now.

a pal had a collection of 30+ original old sound city amps for sale, and arbiter ended up buying the whole lot. so MAYBE we'll see a reissue of the old ones soon? - hopefully!!! i mean, hendrix, townshend, pink floyd (take a CLOSE look at the back cover of Ummagumma), Jack Bruce, etc. COULD not all have been SO wrong, right? 

Pat.

ps: i'd LOVE to get some of them 4x12 cabs to go with my two heads... 

[mynameisjonas]

as you may know i had this MkIV 120 that i bought in non-working order with the intent to rebuild the preamp to hiwatt specs, but it didn't work out. the amp came back from the tech incredibly noisy and with a real birds nest inside. it sounded pretty good when you cranked it, but you could clearly tell that something was wrong, even though i specifically told him to change out all the parts/wiring that needed to be changed. i let it collect dust for several months until it sold a few weeks ago. i really wish i had had the money and time to get it properly sorted out...

[JJ Gabor]

I tried the 20 watt and the 30 watt frm the mark 6 range.  They sounded ok clean, the drive was pretty terrible. Nothing like my Mark iv B120 (my main guitar amp).

Unfortunatley my B120 really needs new power and pre tubes. It also needs a service because the volume has started dipping intermitently.  I have been gigging it for 3 years and have never had a problem up until now so I can't complain.

6 x EL34
5x 12ax7/ay7

+ service

= $$$$$$$$

I hope I can get it up and running again soon.

[Deckard]

Just quickly nip over to the petrol station and go fill up some canisters then charge people double for it on Sunday evening Easy money

[JJ Gabor]

Good thinking Deckard.  A 3am pump raid might be the way to go.

[GUITARmole]

ah, i didn't think to check... regardless of where they're made, they certainly look nice. kinda hiwatt meets vox

I didn't mean that as I thought they'd sound terrible (because they were made in China)...I like the new Voxes...I just meant that I'd hope they would be inexpensive as a result.