Here's an odd one - Audio Guild Imperial

[LeonC]

I heard one of these maybe 10/15 years ago and thought it sounded great. Ran across this one a few weeks ago and nabbed it. There's an interesting history to these amps. They were apparently made by the company Versatone in Van Nuys, CA. That's the company that made the Pan-o-Flex bass amps popularized (kinda, lol) by Carol Kaye and Jack Cassidy. This one is from '70 and like all Audio-Guilds, it features the same kind of bass-reflex cab design. It's powered by a pair of 7591s, has a tone circuit very similar to the James circuit--kinda like an Ampeg from this era--and includes onboard reverb (very nice!) and Magnatone-ish pitch modulating vibrato. The vibrato was developed by Don Bonham, of Magnatone fame, though this vibrato works totally differently. It's a cool sounding amp, very reminiscent of a late '60s Ampeg...like a GV22 or something similar.

Playing my 2013 Benchmark '54 Oxblood RI.

 

[Gary Ladd]

I wonder if Versatone was related to Acoustic Control Corp., another Van Nuys amp maker ~ I had my Model 164 serviced right before they closed the doors, it wasn't as cool as your Imperial though

 

[LeonC]

Interesting thought...but I don't think there was any kind of relationship between them--not that I've read about at any rate. There have always been plenty of musical instrument companies around great Los Angeles.