ELK Echo

[Arnieinthesky]

Anyone ever heard of these amps? I just bought a 45 watt head, reverb, trem for $100. It sounds amazing. I'm just wondering if anyone knows anything about these amps. The ohms more than anything. It's like a Super which was 2 but I'm not sure which this is. I suppose I could just go get it messured. But any info on these things would be much appreciated.

jl

[Whoopysnorp]

That's a new one on me. Is this a tube amp? If so, what tubes does it use? I'm surprised the impedance isn't clearly marked by the speaker output.

[Arnieinthesky]

All tube, 1965, Made in Japan. That's all I got. This is pre Japan high quality but I couldn't care less. A lot of the writing on the back is worn off.

[GearJunkie]

Does the amp resemble anything like this?


There were about 30 billion amp companies in the 60's coming out with stuff. I've got an old Holiday 1x8 amp that I've never been able to find any information on. I later saw the exact same amp under a different name. If it works, you can at least walk into a studio and say "yeah... well look what I'VE got..."

[Whoopysnorp]

Nice score man! How many speaker jacks does it have--one or two? I'm not sure how to go about figuring out what impedance it wants. 8 ohms is usually a safe bet.

[Arnieinthesky]

Originally Posted by GearJunkie

Does the amp resemble anything like this?


There were about 30 billion amp companies in the 60's coming out with stuff. I've got an old Holiday 1x8 amp that I've never been able to find any information on. I later saw the exact same amp under a different name. If it works, you can at least walk into a studio and say "yeah... well look what I'VE got..."

Hey Cool! That's it! Mines one of the back ones. Pictures to small to read but I'm surprised you found it! Yeah it's always cool to have something no one has, but bottom line, it has to sound good. I've got a Velvetone amp made from the 70's. The chassis is steel and it has 7 tubes in it. Only one power amp tube. You can't saturate it. Turn it all the way up, no break up. It sounds "cool" but the more I used it, (playing, recording) the more I found it lacking. This Elk amp is really sweat sounding.

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by Arnieinthesky

Hey Cool! That's it! Mines one of the back ones. Pictures to small to read but I'm surprised you found it! Yeah it's always cool to have something no one has, but bottom line, it has to sound good. I've got a Velvetone amp made from the 70's. The chassis is steel and it has 7 tubes in it. Only one power amp tube. You can't saturate it. Turn it all the way up, no break up. It sounds "cool" but the more I used it, (playing, recording) the more I found it lacking. This Elk amp is really sweat sounding.

so how would you compare it sonically to the fenders of that era that it is (seemingly....at least from a design standpoint) trying to emulate?

[Arnieinthesky]

Oh yeah, total Fender copy. A buddy of mine has original Fenders. 59 Bassman, 61' Bandmaster, 65' Twin. I'm gonna take this thing over to his place and run it through his single fifteen cab and compare it. It sounded super sweet regardless. But yeah, reeking of fender tone.

The thing I really liked about this amp was it's sensitivity. I turned the amp up to 11. I play light and the amp is clean. I dig in and then the amp gets dirty. It's not just rockin and distorted like modern amps, it's musical itself. I'm big on that kind of subtle stuff. I'll record it sooner than later and post a sample.

jl

And there's two speaker jacks on it.

[Whoopysnorp]

If there are two jacks, I think it's pretty safe to say that they're 8 ohms each. Is there nothing that might be an impedance selector switch? It's weird for a tube amp to have multiple speaker jacks but no selector switch, since if the impedance is going to be lower there is supposed to be a different tap on the transformer.

[Nubus]

Originally Posted by Whoopysnorp

If there are two jacks, I think it's pretty safe to say that they're 8 ohms each. Is there nothing that might be an impedance selector switch? It's weird for a tube amp to have multiple speaker jacks but no selector switch, since if the impedance is going to be lower there is supposed to be a different tap on the transformer.

Sometimes one will be 8 and the other 4, I've seen that before. Or they could be paralleled. It could be a good idea to have a look inside.