Epiphone Electar Century Tube Amplifier (1939)
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Item # 10499
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Epiphone Electar Century Model Tube Amplifier (1939), made in New York, Natural Laquer finish, maple veneer.
Many vintage amp connoisseurs have a special place in their hearts for these early Epiphone Electar amplifiers, which are not only well engineered and built but housed in some of the most stylish cabinets ever. The Century model was the smaller offering in Epiphone's 1939 catalog, intended as a high quality medium priced amp for general professional or student use. Its bigger sibling, the Zephyr, was advertised as the professional grade stage amplifier.
Made shortly before WWII, This Century features a beautiful cabinet of amber blonde maple with a cutout script "E" logo grille. This was a powerful amp for its day with a smooth warm tone that turns to furious overdrive when cranked. Armed with three inputs, a volume and tone controls, the Century is powered by two 6L6 power tubes, putting out around 10-15 watts of power into a single 12" speaker. Designed by future Danelectro maven Nathan Daniel, The Electar Century was a top-quality professional quality amplifier in the 1940's, and remains a great gigging amp in the 21st Century.
Height is 15 1/16 in. (38.3 cm.), 13 7/16 in. (34.1 cm.) width, and 7 3/8 in. (18.7 cm.) deep.
This Century is in superb condition for its age. The lovely blonde cabinet finish shows very little wear, the delicately carved-away front panel has little of the typical damage, only some corner wear. The often banged-up thin aluminum control plate has only a few dents and dings. The grille cloth appears original and is showing quite some slack but no signs of tearing or fraying. The aluminum handle is original.
Electrically, the amp has seen some restoration work. At one point, the power transformer was replaced, presumably to make the amp safe to use with modern standards in mind, as some Electar amplifiers were offered to run on DC input power. The speaker was also replaced with a newer Weber 12A125 AlNiCo speaker, which suits the amp very well and sounds great, allowing its natural overdrive capacity full reign. The circuit has otherwise been restored as true as possible to original early Electar schematics and includes our typical maintenance and servicing; replacement of electrolytic caps, cleaned sockets, pots and jacks, grounded 3-prong power cord and power section biased to spec.
This amplifier sounds absolutely incredible and is road ready for another 80 years of service. Excellent Condition.
Many vintage amp connoisseurs have a special place in their hearts for these early Epiphone Electar amplifiers, which are not only well engineered and built but housed in some of the most stylish cabinets ever. The Century model was the smaller offering in Epiphone's 1939 catalog, intended as a high quality medium priced amp for general professional or student use. Its bigger sibling, the Zephyr, was advertised as the professional grade stage amplifier.
Made shortly before WWII, This Century features a beautiful cabinet of amber blonde maple with a cutout script "E" logo grille. This was a powerful amp for its day with a smooth warm tone that turns to furious overdrive when cranked. Armed with three inputs, a volume and tone controls, the Century is powered by two 6L6 power tubes, putting out around 10-15 watts of power into a single 12" speaker. Designed by future Danelectro maven Nathan Daniel, The Electar Century was a top-quality professional quality amplifier in the 1940's, and remains a great gigging amp in the 21st Century.
Height is 15 1/16 in. (38.3 cm.), 13 7/16 in. (34.1 cm.) width, and 7 3/8 in. (18.7 cm.) deep.
This Century is in superb condition for its age. The lovely blonde cabinet finish shows very little wear, the delicately carved-away front panel has little of the typical damage, only some corner wear. The often banged-up thin aluminum control plate has only a few dents and dings. The grille cloth appears original and is showing quite some slack but no signs of tearing or fraying. The aluminum handle is original.
Electrically, the amp has seen some restoration work. At one point, the power transformer was replaced, presumably to make the amp safe to use with modern standards in mind, as some Electar amplifiers were offered to run on DC input power. The speaker was also replaced with a newer Weber 12A125 AlNiCo speaker, which suits the amp very well and sounds great, allowing its natural overdrive capacity full reign. The circuit has otherwise been restored as true as possible to original early Electar schematics and includes our typical maintenance and servicing; replacement of electrolytic caps, cleaned sockets, pots and jacks, grounded 3-prong power cord and power section biased to spec.
This amplifier sounds absolutely incredible and is road ready for another 80 years of service. Excellent Condition.