I saw this amp in a used music gear store last week -- They wanted $59 for it. I went back today and offered $50 and bought it.
I thought it was a 50's Champ clone, but after looking closer it is more of a 60-ish clone of a Premier Twin 8, with its single ended 7591 power tube and a 12AX7 preamp tube. When I first played it there was some crackle and static so I replaced the preamp with a known good vintage 12AX7 and it sounds better.
The video has no pedals or effects, just my 440SL Shure mic straight into the first Instrument input. The volume on the amp is about 2/3 up, and the volume on the mic is about the same.
It has raspy vintage tone. I like it! Check that sparkle tolex in the photos. I won't do anything to it except install a grounded 3-prong power cord.
50$, nice score Rick! It reminds me of the Silvertone I once had. I like the cosmetics, the store label from Pierre, SD, excellent! Happy Xmas to you indeed!
Premier, Strad-O-Lin, and Marvel were trade brands owned by the Peter Sorkin Music Company, which was based in New York City. In the late 1940's Sorkin created the Multivox subsidiary to manufacture amps and guitars for his brands.
So, it might be a Multivox, cousin to a Premier.
I played it today for 30 minutes or so with just a touch of slap back. Whoa, this little amp sounds nice. It's what I think of as a 40s juke joint tone, kind of ratty but not harsh.
It's very similar to a Multivox Model 45 I have, except my amp also has a tremolo knob, a tone control and a twelve inch speaker. It has the 7591 power tube and a 12AX7, plus a 6AV6 for the tremolo; the cabinet looks like it's the same shape and size. I think I saw an amp just like yours on eBay, but it was branded Multivox.
It is definitely a Multivox. I have 2 Multivox combo bass amps with 12" speakers that sounds better to me out all the other amps of its size I have owned so far. One of the 2 own has the same exact grill cloth with sparkles. The other has a black grill cloth. I've also had a model 45 with tremelo. The combo bass amp smoked it.
