Simms-Watts PA 100 MK I (silverface): ***SOLD*** £330

[Etienne]

I bought this superb sounding amp from bobbass4k back in January 2013 on this very forum. Prior to this, I believe it was owned by tayste_2000, so it's been kept in the family! It's the earlier silverface MK I version, and I believe it dates back to the early Seventies.

Since buying it, I've spent a further £150 getting it fully serviced and made absolutely tip-top by Salford's valve amp guru Roland Lumby (The Amp Clinic). Aside from the service itself, some minor operational niggles (loose knobs) have been sorted, plus the wooden chassis sleeve has been reinforced, with additional battens glued and clamped to the internal corners. Both transformer's legs have been re-straightened. The original Bulgin power connector had already been upgraded to a modern IEC kettle-lead socket when I bought it, so it's much safer to use on a regular basis.

The amp operates either at 15 or 7.5 ohms (operationally, take this as 16 or 8 ohms). I will supply a series speaker connector box with the amp, which will allow you to connect up a pair of 8 ohm cabs and run off the 15 ohm tap if needed.

The input section has a quartet of identical ECC83 valves that came out of an old S-W PA 200 I used to own. They're all unbranded except for one ('EEC 83' in white block script). I've been running them in the amp for the past year with absolutely no issues, and they sound great.

The output section is running a quartet of Groove Tubes EL34s- these were all tested as good by Roland at the time of the service, and collectively produce the full 100 Watts that this amp is capable of.

I used this head along with my REDDI to track all the parts on my band's forthcoming album (using the exact same valve set), and we ended up favouring the mic'ed amp tone for the majority of the mixes... that should give you an idea of how good it sounds!

The plexiglass front panel has survived the years relatively unscathed, with just one minor crack to the left of Channel 1, plus a few surface scratches. All four channels work perfectly, and every control knob on the front panel operates smoothly and securely. There is a minor chip on the face of the Presence knob, but otherwise they're all in good order. Channel 1 was wired for a slightly darker, smoother tone when I bought it, and I decided to keep it this way- it sounds excellent for Motown/classic R&B with the tone knob backed off on a P-Bass. The other three channels are as standard, and a lot brighter- lots of fun can be had daisy-chaining multiple channels with different settings! My personal favourite combination is plugging into 1, then linking into 2, for a classic, well-rounded P-Bass tone.

This would make an excellent gigging/recording workhorse for somebody- with an efficient multiple speaker setup, it can definitely push some air! It's only been gigged once since I've owned it, and it performed faultlessly through the venue's Orange 4x10. Otherwise, apart from a handful of recording sessions during 2015, it's been kept safely in my flat as an occasional overkill practise amp, and warmed up/run/cooled down at least a couple of times a month.

I would like a firm[b] [size=5]£300[/size][/b] for this, which I think is very fair considering it owes me £500! No offers or trades please, I'm after a cash sale only.

***SOLD***

Edited March 22, 2016 by Etienne

[chriswareham]

This is a crazily great amp for a crazily low price! I had the AP100 version with fewer channels, and it's the best bass amp I've ever owned. If it wasn't for buying a Sound City 120 last year I'd be snapping this up myself.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Would Dartford be a mutually convenient location?

[Etienne]

Now sold

Edited March 22, 2016 by Etienne