Comments on: 1960’s Kalamazoo Reverb 12 Combo Guitar Amplifier

By: Robert French

Robert French — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 21:46:55 +0000

I posted a while back about my Reverb 12 … Well I got it fixed new capacitors and EL84 Tubes and a newer speaker and wow I love it!!! I run it through a 4/10 cabinet and it sounds great

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 05:07:06 +0000

WHO HAS A DIAGRAM OF THE TUBE LAYOUT. I NEED THE NUMBERS, & WHAT SOCKET THEY GO IN!

By: Lesley

Lesley — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 18:38:47 +0000

I have (2) Kalamazoo Reverb 12 that I am looking to sell. Both in excellent physical condition. Both working. Original speakers one of which I had re coned some time ago. I also had the power cord replaced on one to the grounded type amp cord. One comes with the Original Kalamazoo cover. I did use one of these as my first amp and did a singing gig with it back in the late 60’s. Very excellent condition comparing to what I have seen out there. Well preserved.

By: AC

AC — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 20:11:57 +0000

Any pics of the back? I have one of these and the on/off function doesnt work on the front. Does yours have a sliding power button on the back? I have someone telling me that isnt original.

By: misha

misha — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 14:17:32 +0000

i can confer with the Bass 30. I picked one up on craigslist for a decent price. Its a great sounding amp in the vein of the old Amped SB-12. The circuit is actually very similar to the SB-12 except that it uses a cathodyne phase inverter followed by a dual triode post phase inverter driver to the 7189s. The tone stack is Baxandall similar to the old Ampegs. I’ve found it usefull on guitars as well as studio bass. For big gigs it can’t quite carry a venue on bass but in the studio its great. The old Ampeg B15n and SB-12 were only 30 watts as well. The closed 2×10 gives some nice punch to the bass.

By: terry schrock

terry schrock — Sat, 06 Jul 2013 19:36:30 +0000

I just got one of these reverb 12s for free it was sitting outside , it even got rained on but she works ,the speaker is toast and will replace with a weber vintage alnico , she looks super rough and I had to splice on a power cord it fired right up anyways thanks for the info on this amp ,mine looks just like the one in the picture , I have also seen this amp with an on off toggle on the far right where the fuse is in this unit ….thanks again terry

By: marcus

marcus — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 19:31:05 +0000

KALAMAZOO!!!
i (sort of) collect them. i have each model except the Bass 30, which in my experience is the most expensive to get (reason i dont have one yet). Ive gotten Bass 50s for far cheaper than what the Bass 30s go for. So cheap that, as far as rare goes, I have THREE Bass 50s (though only 2 are fully functional, the other one is the parts amp). one of them even got the holy grail- ORIGINAL British EL34 MULLARD tubes, tested strong!

there’s a “woody” version of the Model One and Two with black grill cloth, and they look ugly! i got a Model One of that version, and imediately sold it to a harp player (he loved it). I opted to just get the original models (with the silver sparkle grill cloth).

I got a Reverb 12 off fleebay for cheap – listing said it had no output. Turns out the input and output to the reverb tank was in reverse. a simple switcheroo, and it’s working 100%!

i did replace the old caps, and put in a 70’s 10″ jensen C10N. i decided on the C10N based on the comparison of this amp to a Princeton. I may experiment with other 10″ speakers in the future, but it already has great tones on it as is.

i ended up putting different convenience mods (power switch on the front, easier chassis access, new footswitch, removing the PHONO/TAPE INPUT RCA jack and replacing it with the reverb jack, etc), as well as changing to a 3prong cord.

well, duh, i forgot i wrote about it:
http://www.chosenfool.com/home/tube-amps/kalamazoo-amp-project-5-reverb-12/

I love this amp! heck, i love the whole line itself! It’s REAL simple circuitry, translating to real simple plug-and-playability. If people expect these amps to be distortion/overdrive machines as is, they may be very disappointed. Some finagling will have to be done to even get the modern grit. But for the sheer tone you get from a true vintage amp, it can’t be beat!

By: Robert French

Robert French — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 21:53:47 +0000

I have one of these I got for next to nothing at a yard sale. It needs rebuilt but overall it is in darn good shape for the year. I also have a Harmony H1722 Piggyback guitar amp that sounds GREAT I so want to get the Kalamazoo rebuilt.

By: Michael Welch

Michael Welch — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 14:32:36 +0000

I have a Model 1 that I’ve used for recording.I got it from my Daughter in law,as payment for some financial help.I consider myself caretaker and executor,I intend to let it stay in her family.Anyway I had some work done on it,replacing the tranformer and general cleaning as it sat unused for years.Ive thrown a Zoom505II,Line6 Floor Pod,ZoomG2.1u,Vox Ice9 at it and it sounds killer. It doesnt break up at all on 10,but thats ok,nice clean tube sound.Im tryin not to be jealous about lack of reverb and tremolo.

By: sonnny

sonnny — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 17:22:58 +0000

Hi,
I’ve got one but there is a “hum” that go up with reverb level…(filter caps changed) :o(