Elk amps

Therapy-

Hey all.

I'm just curious to know if anyone else is using Elk amps? I have 2 now, a 15w combo (ES-30 also known as a Stageman) and a recently acquired Twin-Amp 45 head and cab (presumably a 45w but it doesn't seem to put out more than an AC30 so I'd say its a 30w job).
Tones from both are very glassy and Fenderish but very bright. Having fiddled around a bit now I have what I consider to be a great sound. Both amps are still fitted with their stock tubes and speakers and are in beautiful condition.
I picked up the ES-30 for R2800 and was very happy with my purchase although it did take me a while to get the sound I was looking for. I was on the lookout for another (bigger amp) and eventually picked up the Twin-Amp45 for R800 on Junkmail. It needed some work as there was very little volume and some serious red plating on one of the EL-34's, so I handed it over to Benjamin Craig in Nelspruit for a good seeing to (thanks man!). Both amps are now as good as they'll ever be, but I'm wondering if a speaker upgrade and tube replacement will take them from great to bloody brilliant.
If anyone has done a speaker/tube replacement job on an Elk, please let me know what the outcome was.
At the moment I'm running my Aerodyne Tele with a Seymour Duncan Hotrails in the bridge and the stock P-90 neck pup through an old Ibanez UE400 multi-effects and I'm getting all the tone, but I'm seriously curious about what a tube/speaker upgrade will do and whether it'll be worth the money.
Ive owned an old AC30, a Fender Princeton, a 70's JMP and a horde of solid state amps, but these two Jap amps have given me the unique sound I've been after for years.
Thanks for reading and hopefully somebody has the info or advice I'm after.

IceCreamMan

post some pics please.

flatfourfan

speak with guidopimp, he's into Elks.............and not the furry types.

AlanRatcliffe

I'm not Knowledgeable about the Elks (Guys like Karel Mars and Matta could probably fill in the details). Seen a few, heard a few, but not enough to comment.

If you have good speakers in there already (and the benchmark is: if it sounds good, it is), changing speakers will change the character of the sound, but not necessarily make it sound better - just different.

LooneyAtTheGate

I have an Elk 8X2 cab for my Marshall head. It sounds great!

FenderBender

LooneyAtTheGate wrote: I have an Elk 8X2 cab for my Marshall head. It sounds great!

How is your rig doing mate?

LooneyAtTheGate

Thanks to you its ROCKING!
What is your technical opnion of Elk amps?

FenderBender

LooneyAtTheGate wrote: What is your technical opnion of Elk amps?

I have never had the opportunity to work or play on an Elk. They were built in Japan, so I reckon they would have been well designed and brilliantly built. Here is some info: http://www.drtube.com/guitamp.htm#Elk

bottledtone

The Elk Twin Amp 45 here that I worked on, was completely filled with wire wound resistors!! from the little half watts and up. The only thing is that they used oil filled caps and those were leaky and had to be replaced. Elk amps can also suffer from "fender rot" where the whole component board can become conductive. Thats a big problem.
They can look like Fender, but are quite a bit different in circuitry ?

guidothepimmp

i got an elk.. not the furry type either.. the viking 50 with 2x12 cab.

it sounded good when i got it but seemed underpowered. i wanted to rod the thing but realised i was out of my depth.

took it to jp who totally recapped it and retubed it. he also fixed one or two issues from prior tinkering.

now its super quiet and has great cleans. jp put jj tubes in. the amp lacked some low end balls and the prognosis was the alnico drivers so i got some nice jensen c12q in there and WHOA.. low end thump galore..

so to answer your q the speaker and tube change made an already good amp better.
i run a tonebone for crunch and get plenty of grunt.

the ojtput is around the 30w mark.

jp reckons this is because of how the rverb was built into the circuit.

needleshy

i used to have a twin amp 60, was a very nice sounding amp, singing cleans, sounded pretty dang close to a twin reverb. good quality and i drov that amp an max volume alot without any issues and it never broke down on me once. i think that they are very good bang for the buck, i am pretty sad i sold mine, the original speaker that the cabs came out with are not my cup of coffee, never used it much as i ran it through some sweet Vin30's.

Therapy-

Hey guys.

Thanks a ton for all the feedback, advice and comments. I'll see how it goes as far as upgrading goes, but so far I think I'm on to a good thing, so 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' would be the savvy way to go.

Later

MikeM

Tubes can be compared to tyres on a car. Cheap ones won't perform well or last long. And no matter what, using them will wear them. Over time they will need to be replaced. Electrolytics have a lifespan of like 20 years before they start degrading fast.

TS10

Just bought an early 70s Elk FS-62 tube amp, on its way to me from Durban 8)

Very little info on this amp on the net, two 10' original Elk speakers and a tremelo, reverb & distortion channel is about all I can make out from the pics.

Cant wait!

TS10

Got the Elk amp delivered today, ripped off the packaging and fired it up. An early 70's Elk FS-62 tube amp,with two Elk 10' speakers and everything else entirely original at first glance.

So how does it sound? Wow! Blindfold me and I would swear it was a vintage Fender Twin Reverb, on which I believe it was modelled. Looks almost identical (will post pics soon). In any event, it sounds amazing ? I played my 70s reissue Japanese strat through this baby and the highs were shimmering, the mids defined and the low end is nice and fat but not muddy-sounding. Tremolo and reverb both sound authentic, especially the reverb.

Admittedly I have not cranked it or tried with pedals as yet (or my 1978 Ibanez Artist, which could be very cool) - had my 3 kids running around and wanting to get involved in the testing, so made it brief :? But all 4 channels work, there was a bit of scratchiness in 2 pots but nothing major.

Anyway, I am super stoked. I now own a 1965 Vox AC30 head & custom cab loaded with a pair of vintage Celestions, a 1980 Roland Bolt 60W tube amp, a mid 80s Roland Cube 60W in orange tolex and this latest acquisition ? All of these I have picked up over a period of time, most for really good prices.

Had a feeling about this amp, initial indications are it is a major keeper. Love that vintage Japanese gear, as you may have gathered :yup:

psyx

TS10 wrote:
Anyway, I am super stoked. I now own a 1965 Vox AC30 head & custom cab loaded with a pair of vintage Celestions, a 1980 Roland Bolt 60W tube amp, a mid 80s Roland Cube 60W in orange tolex and this latest acquisition ? All of these I have picked up over a period of time, most for really good prices.

Ive heard some good things about Roland bolt amps! Apparently their owners tend to modify them quite a bit!

TS10

psyx wrote:
TS10 wrote:
Anyway, I am super stoked. I now own a 1965 Vox AC30 head & custom cab loaded with a pair of vintage Celestions, a 1980 Roland Bolt 60W tube amp, a mid 80s Roland Cube 60W in orange tolex and this latest acquisition ? All of these I have picked up over a period of time, most for really good prices.

Ive heard some good things about Roland bolt amps! Apparently their owners tend to modify them quite a bit!

Havent modified mine but it probably could do with some new tubes...they are supposed to be Roland's take on the Mesa Boogie, and while I have never owned a Mesa the Bolt has a real growl to it, big and fat sounding.

psyx

Wouldn't mind stumbling onto one of those in a pawn shop some day(either a mesa or a bolt!)