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I fell under the spell of 60's Teisco guitars a few years back, and so the obvious obsession to follow was the early Teisco amplifiers. They are way under the radar, and in fact I haven't been able to track down a single schematic, or much of anything in the way of technical info. I hope that by posting what I do know, that more info will come forward, so please write to me with pictures, tube charts, schematics, stories etc.
I bought my Teisco #72C from ebay and it happened to come with the original sales receipt from a military base in Japan, dated 1963, Also included was an info sheet on a bunch of other Teisco amps from that era. I need to get it translated to see what clues it might offer. I'm not sure that the Teisco amps will rival the early Fenders, Ampegs, or anything else out there, for that matter, but they sure look cool and have the warm tube sound associated with that era. Most have only 6 or 8 inch speakers and are low wattage, so the most you can hope for is a blues overdrive studio toy. I used one with a bullet mic to sing through and it was a way cool sound. There were some larger amps made and I look forward to playing through them. Here are the photos and details that I've managed to gather so far:
These are the mid 50s to mid 60s tube amps, all with a vintage tweed vibe, prior to the 1966 introduction of the "checkmate' series. The Checkmate series began in 1966 in black tolex , beginning with tubes and gradually built only as solid state.
Teisco was founded in 1946 by Atswo Kaneko & Doryu Matsuda and called 'Aoi Onpa Kenkyujo' (roughly: Hollyhock Soundwave or Electricity Laboratories). In 1956 the name was changed to 'Nippon Ompa Kogyo Co'. and was taken over by Kawai in 1967.
In 1954 four tube amps were available- in two-tone light and dark tolex. The colors ran vertically with a wider band in the center which was slightly narrower than the grill cloth. They had round edges and looked a bit like '50s TVs. One was a small practice amp, two were about 15" tall and the fourth was very large with six 8" speakers!
In 1961 the amps offered came in a variety of shapes. The majority had a single color covering with a tweed grillcloth. At least two of the models - the Amp-15 and Amp-30 - were two-tone and had a cross-shaped grillcloth area. All had the Teisco 'Swan-S' logo and were probably still tube amps.
The models were: Amp-4C, Amp-15, Amp-30, Amp-71A, Amp-71B, Amp-71C, Amp-72A, Amp-72B, Amp-72C, Amp-73C, Amp-75C, Amp 78-R (a Fender twin style with 2X12" speakers, with tremolo & reverb in red tolex with black & silver flecks!) and the Amp-86 bass amp. There was also the huge HG-8 which was recommended for use with the EG-TW and Harp Guitar.
1964 included the first solid-state amps although tube amps continued to be available at least up to1966. There were at least seven amplifiers, three Teiscos and four Checkmates. The three Teisco amps known of were the Miny, the Amp 71R (purple with just a sprinkling of glitter) and the Teisco-88. They were rectangular cabinets with top-mounted controls. The Miny had the italicized T logo on the front. The Amp-71R had reverb and the Teisco-88 (probably a tube amp) had "Teisco" and a big "88" on the grillcloth. In 1966 came the Checkmate series.
Flickr
slideshow of various TEISCO amp models
Known models so far: (note-the '1' in these model listings refers to one speaker and the '2' refers to 2 speakers, i.e. model 71 has one speaker and model 72 has 2)
"Echo Box"- 1-6" speaker, tubes: 2@6AV6, 1@6AR5, 1@6X4 rectifier
The Teisco Echo Box was made as a 'reverb signal only' amp meant to be attached by alligator clips to the speaker posts on a 'master' amp. A spring reverb gives you reverb only through the 'echo box' .It could also be used as a stand alone amp with a dry sound i.e., no reverb coming through. Low wattage, perhaps 5-8 watts through a 6' speaker. Red/White/Black speckled tolex approx 12' x 16" x 5' deep. 'Swan-S" Teisco logo in center of beautiful enamel logo attached to front of cabinet with 'echo' and 'box' on either side of Teisco logo, Very unique half curve front grillcloth section.
#4-C
#5A
#5B
#6
#7
#15 3watts, 1- 6 1/2" speaker,, tubes: 4@ 6AR5, volume knob only
#17
#28
#30 4watts, 1- 6 1/2" speaker, tubes: 4@6AR5, volume knob only
#40
#61 4 watts?, 1-6' spkr, red tolex w/ black lines design- 15" X 12" X 6" 2 tubes: 1@12AU(6)?(12AU7?) 1@50C5. Has metal "T' shaped Teisco logo on top front cabinet part of TV cabinet
#71-A 4watts, 1- 6 1/2" speaker, tubes: 4@ 6AR5, volume & tone
#71-B
#71-C 4watts, 1- 6 1/2" speaker, tubes: 5@ 6AR5, volume & tone
#71-R with reverb
#72-A 10 watts, 2@ 6 1/2" speakers, tubes: 5@ 6AR5, volume & tone
#72-B
#72-C 10 watts, 19 &1/2" X 15" X 7", tubes: 4@6AV6, 2@6AQ5A, 1@6X4 recitifier( note-there seems to be a version with 7@6AR5 tubes0, volume & tone, 2-6 1/2" speakers, tremolo w/ off, & S (slow) to F (fast), plain grey grillcloth with 'swan-S' teisco logo silver glitter on grillcloth, tolex is 1" block pattern of red/black/silver- on back of amp is black felt badge w/ unusual raised cursive lettering that says Teisco with long 'T' over 'eisco' and 'Amp 72C'
#73-C 12watts, 2- 8" speakers, tubes: 2@6F6, 1@6SN7, 3@6AU6A, 1@5Y3 rectifier -volume & tone & tremolo
#74-C 15watts, 4- 6 1/2" speakers, tubes 6V6, volume & tone
#75-C 20 watts, 1- 12" speaker & 1-8' speaker, tubes 6L6, 2 channels , tremolo w/depth, speed , on/off
#77-C 1-6' speaker 17" X 12" X 6" volume & tone, tremolo with single control
#78-R 2- 12" speakers, 2 channels, volume, treble, bass, reverb, tremolo w/ depth & speed knobs
22" X 27" X 10" deep red tolex with black & silver speckles
#86 25 watts tubes 6L6 bass amp
#88 '88' logo on grillcloth
#HG-8 very large amp!
Beltone #AP-12 1-8" speaker, volume, tone, tremolo
10 watts?, tubes: 3@6AV6, 1@6AR5, 1@6X4 rectifier
Amps were manufactured under: Teisco, Melody, Beltone, Sears, Northland ( these previous 3 were for Canada) & ?....
tolex coverings came in purple!, red with black & white speckles, fender-like early tweed, &?
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