SoundCity 120

[SPHDS]

As the title implies.....a query about said head....

Seen one for sale.....I like the look.....
But are they any good......and are they good/loud enough to be gigged?

Thanks

[Lozz196]

I used one years back, with the matching 4x12 and it was loud enough for indie/rock covers with guitar (Les Paul & Marshall half stack), drums & keys.

[inthedoghouse]

Good amps - lots of them around back in the day

[Pow_22]

The Mk4’s are generally a bit useless for bass. Very noisy and become “squishy” way too quick. Can be had fir around £350/£400 tho so cheap enough to scratch an itch i suppose. 

[Phil Starr]

Back in the day I had two of these which I used as amps for my mobile disco. I absolutely loved them at the time and clocked them at the time pushing out short term undistorted peaks at well over 120W on an oscilloscope. I had to replace the output transformer in one of mine and did the same job for someone else but this was way back in the early 70's. They'd certainly be loud enough but you'd need to pair them with something fairly efficient in the way of speakers, think in terms of a 4x10 or 2x15 unless you can afford something exotic and expensive.

Might be worth messaging Oli Foxen who used to be a regular on BC. He was a real valve man and restored a lot of old valve amps including some of these old Sound City's. He's based in Bristol

[Steve Browning]

Check out Southsea Guitar Centre where they have a Bass 150. Not sure of the price. 

[Painy]

2 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

Back in the day I had two of these which I used as amps for my mobile disco. I absolutely loved them at the time and clocked them at the time pushing out short term undistorted peaks at well over 120W on an oscilloscope. I had to replace the output transformer in one of mine and did the same job for someone else but this was way back in the early 70's. They'd certainly be loud enough but you'd need to pair them with something fairly efficient in the way of speakers, think in terms of a 4x10 or 2x15 unless you can afford something exotic and expensive.

Might be worth messaging Oli Foxen who used to be a regular on BC. He was a real valve man and restored a lot of old valve amps including some of these old Sound City's. He's based in Bristol

He's an admin in the Ashdown Amplification Fans Facebook group. Link to his Facebook page below if it helps:-

https://www.facebook.com/oli.foxen

[Bigguy2017]

Great amps for guitar but too much early breakup for bass, unless you like a dirty sound with a bit of fart...  😉

Solidly built. Our guitarist rated them better than Marshalls in the '80s.

[gjones]

I found an old Sound City 50 watt head in my attic (have no idea where it came from). 

I gave it to my brother in law, who is a pro guitarist.

He owns Marshall and Fender combos but prefers the Sound City.

It does the Marc Bolan, 70s sound, to a T.

Edited September 30, 2020 by gjones

[Chienmortbb]

Bolan was often shown with a Vamp 100W stack but live almost always used an HH IC100 plus HH 4x12s as far as I know.

[BassmanPaul]

The SC120 was a very good amp. Six EL34s in fixed bias. Partridge transformers A good all around amplifier.

Edited November 8, 2020 by BassmanPaul