vad (vintage amp day )

Keira-WitherKay

hi ya all, walked into my pretoria music store , to find that only that morning a dude had traded in a vintage Elk (made in japan) ES30 amp it's a 1x12inch combo ..rated it seems about 18 or 22W still doing research but the control panel is a copy of the fender princeton ( surprise surprise ) it has volume /bass/treble/reverb/speed/intensity ..... and has onboard reverb and trem , also the 12 inch japanese speaker had been replaced by a fender speaker ( the previous owner , who was still in the store says came from some old fender amp) ... it has the original dual footswitch ( to switch off /on reverb and tram ) and is in mint condition for a late 60's/70's amp ........ and i believe it has point to point wiring making it a modders dream

the tone is yummy .... typical fender sound .... i dialed it in with little effort and it's the sound i like ......

the amp is a tad noisy as in noiser than the cub 10 , but it has way more tubes and is old .......

i got a very nice price ...so i'm happy ..

btw the cub is now on the market ...... if anyone is wanting a cheap but way cool tube amp ........

this amp will need a good service ........despite it being in full working condition

i been trying to find some info ...so if anyone knows these amps better let me know what you know.........

below is what i found to be the best info so far

Miyuki Japan made a series of Fender clone all-tube amps back in the late 60's that sold for about 1/2 of what the Fenders were going for. These amps were excellent copies with metal chassis and all point-to-point wiring. The Stageman 30, made in 1968-69 featured a single channel with 3 inputs, spring reverb, tremolo , controls for reverb, volume, bass, treble, trem speed and intensity. Off/on toggle switch and ground lift switch and RCA inputs for reverb/trem footpedals on the back. A single 12" 8 ohm alnico speaker in an open-back cab covered in black tolex. The cab also has those chrome legs for tilting the amp a la Fender. The tube line-up: 1 6AQ8, 3 12AX7's, 6CA4 rectifier and a pair of 7189's in push-pull config for the output, putting out about 18 watts RMS. About the same size as the Fender Deluxe and weighs about 30 lbs. These amps are scarcer than the proverbial hen's teeth. But, they were very well built and have a great tube sound. If you can find one for under $500, go for it. Being point-to-point wired, very easy to service and can be made to last for a lifetime or two.

needleshy

congrats, ELK amps are very cool IMHO, i had the twin amp 60 which was rad, would like to see some pics of that combo as i have never seen an ELK combo before, only head and cab configs.

bottledtone

? Cool amp! Looks like a fender, but not in circuit like most elks. Different valves, different tone stack, different reverb and trem circuit is preamp not in power grid bias like a princeton. So glad you said it sounds fendery, cause it shows that an amp can be built well and not have to be a copy of a fender to be a good clean sound.

Keira-WitherKay

bottledtone wrote: ? Cool amp! Looks like a fender, but not in circuit like most elks. Different valves, different tone stack, different reverb and trem circuit is preamp not in power grid bias like a princeton. So glad you said it sounds fendery, cause it shows that an amp can be built well and not have to be a copy of a fender to be a good clean sound.

yes very very fendery sound or i would not be interested in it ? it has that trademark fender snap to it ....and the cleans to my ears.. it sounds like a fender amp ....btw . i can't even at full volume get serious amp overdrive outa this....it stays clean with a fuzzy distortion halo all the way to 10 .so definitely meant for cleans ...... .. and it looks like a fender amp too... ? not that the looks worry me as much as the tone ..........