Mosrite amps

[Tommy W]

Boy I bet those early amps sound good ! I would like to see a picture of one .

[Dennisthe Menace]

Danny writes:
If they were tube, the would no doubt have been 6L6 since you can get a cleaner sound with them. I don't think the Ventures would like the early breakup of a 6v6.

Interesting that you mentioned this Danny. It sorta corresponds with Dumble saying "It was a little too much Rock and Roll for them." So I wander if those protos might of just been the 6V6 Set Up....??

Danny also writes:
I've heard scuttlebutt that Ed Sanner built Mosrite Amps, but that doesn't correspond with the story Semie Moseley told to Tom Wheeler as printed in the book. Since Ed Sanner was in Semie's employ, it would seem logical for there to be a Sanner designed and built Mosrite amp. One of these days I'll have to get with Artie and found out the story on those amps.

To the best of my knowledge, I only remember reading that Ed had helped incorporate the Fuzzrite Units into the Mosrite Amps. I can't recollect him actually designing the Amplifier. I had heard it was two young guys from the Mid West, and half way thru getting the operations set up for amp building, one of them had been drafted into the Armed Services. BUT, this is what I've read/heard many years ago, and this was before my time (before I got interested in the guitar itself!).

[Dennisthe Menace]

Boy I bet those early amps sound good ! I would like to see a picture of one .

I wander if Artie from "Front Porch Music" has got one of those puppies.....

[Desert Surfer]

Do any of you have any experience with the Mosrite amp?

I recall on another forum a couple of years ago we had a discussion about Mosrite amps but at that time no one had any first hand experience. I had never seen one, other than on the internet, until last summer Desert Surfer and I went to Artie's Front Porch Music here in Bakersfield. While touring through his massive collection of every model of a Mosrite imaginable, over in the corner we see a pile of amps stacked amongst a bunch of what appeared to be junk. They were all Mosrite amps. I haven't been back to the store since, but one day I'm going to make it a point to go back and play through some of those amps just to see if they sound as bad as reported. Even Semie stated in an interview that the were bad.

Danny

BTW: If you want to see the world's best and largest collection of Mosrite's, check out Front Porch Music. Artie's collection is what the Japanese used to depict in the the Mosrite book.

Here are the photos just in case anyone want to see:

[Dennisthe Menace]

Now, were these the 1st GEN or the 2nd GEN of Amps? I'm guessing 2nd.....??

[dubtrub]

I found this little tid bit of information seaching the net regarding Howard Dumble's involvement with the Mosrite amps. It seems to conflict with the story Semie told in Tom Wheeler's book. This is an interview with Dumble and his answer is quoted.

"How did you come to make amps for the Ventures?

I was an 18-year-old kid in school in Bakersfield, and I went to see Semie Moseley, who was the only person I had access to there. I walked in and just bold-faced said, "I've got something that sounds like nothing else. You better hear it." And it flipped him out; he said, "This is the best thing I've ever heard." He offered to go in with me to build 10 amplifiers. He bought the parts and paid me $90.00 a week--for about four weeks, and then I had to work for free. But I still got to build 10 amplifiers on a production basis when I was only a kid. They were called Mosrite amps, but they were my design. Actually, I built 11, so I still have the original one I built. The Ventures played through them and were really interested, but it was a little too much rock for them. They wanted me to go into business with them, but I decided against it, and went back to playing in studios and in rock bands."

Here's the rest of the Dumble interview. http://blueguitar.org/new/misc/gp_inter ... _09-85.pdf

[Dennisthe Menace]

Sorry about that Danny, when I posted this on the first page, I stopped after they moved on from the Mosrite Saga. I didn't know if anyone else would be interested in the rest of the story

[Dennisthe Menace]

Now, were these the 1st GEN or the 2nd GEN of Amps? I'm guessing 2nd.....??

Anyhow, back to my Original Question. The Pix above, are those 1st GEN or 2nd GEN Amps??

[arpsum]

Those amps loanched above were designed by Ed Sanner and built by Mosrite in 1967. On the other hand, Award BG series were made by The Ventures (Mosrite Distribution Company) also in 1967. Around in 1966, the Ventures asked Mosrite to design the circuits of new amps within only 3 weeks. Ed didn't accept such a stupid schedule, so The Ventures asked the other company to do so. In fact, those two kinds of Mosrite amps are quite different product.

For your reference, Ed designed and built the piggy back amps for The Ventures in 1966. Although they were played with at Japan tour in 1966, they didn't satisfy with the poor sound for a stage. I'll attach the image at that time. According to Ed, these were not solid state but tube.

[arpsum]

You can buy the circuit diagram of Award BG-500 at musicpatrs.com as follows. If you bought one, you would find Award BG series had a unique function.

http://www.musicparts.com/products.asp?Company=Award

As you realize from the panel layout, the product name of 'BG' means Bass and Guitar. But who designs such amps for both instruments in a same cabinet? This is only my assumption, The Ventures asked the designer to make such a strange amp. They wanted Bass amp of their own to sell, but Mosrite didn't have. I think The Ventures wanted to save money to design and deliver them into the market.

You can see this image at planktones.com, Bob and Don plugged in the opposite input jack and played. (left channnel is for Bass)