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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.



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.

How come Artie STILL doesn't have a WEBSITE???!?!? I HATE looking for a business on My SPACE.......

As far as the Mosrite Amps goes, I've only seen one, and that was like 26 or 27 years ago. But the story with the Amps are a touchy subject relating to the downfall of Mosrite. I KNOW there are CERTAIN Members on here that are very familiar with what I'm referring to......

I got my Sanner Fuzzrite from Artie.
Were the amps solid state or tube?

The Prototype WERE TUBE......which never saw production.....

Thanks Dennis.
Most likely 6L6 or 6v6?

Strat-o-rama wrote:Thanks Dennis.
Most likely 6L6 or 6v6?

Wow....Your guess is as good as mine....I'll just say.....Definitely maybe.....

Strat-o-rama wrote:Thanks Dennis.
Most likely 6L6 or 6v6?

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.

The story I read in American Guitars by Tom Wheeler, was that the Ventures found someone to build the amps in the Los Angeles area. They had a prototype and asked Semie to come down from Bakersfield and try it out. He was impressed with the amp and allowed his Mosrite name to be used. Unfortunately the amp that went into production was not the same amp he had given his approval. According to Semie they sounded horrible. The Mosrite Amps were strictly a Ventures project.

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.

I have no idea what Mosrite amps Artie has ( he has several different versions) as they were stacked and he is particular about anyone 'playing' with his collection. Kids come into his store and beat the crap out of his 'in stock' inventory, but the collection is off limits.

I read in a Guitar Player article on Dumble amps years ago that Howard Dumble built some amps for the Ventures in the 60s . Maybe the tube prototypes were built by him cause he said in the interview that they never went into production.

Tommy W wrote:I read in a Guitar Player article on Dumble amps years ago that Howard Dumble built some amps for the Ventures in the 60s . Maybe the tube prototypes were built by him cause he said in the interview that they never went into production.

Tommy, you're DEAD ON IT! 1965 to be EXACT.
I'm trying to find that article right this second.....

Taken from 1985 Guitar Player Magazine (it didn't say the month)

Interview with HOWARD DUMBLE of DUMBLE AMPLIFICATION
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."


So, this proves the theory that the one or two amps that Semie saw, tried and liked back in 1965, were most likely built by Howard Dumble, NOT the TWO guys from the Mid West,that Don and Bob eventually ended up going with to hold back costs production. And just about every one of the small model amps (those were the ones that had the design flaw in them) were bad. This would also prove that it WAS NOT the purchase of DOBRO (like some people believe) that was his downfall. As a matter of fact, they were doing quite well with the Dobro/Mobro line of guitars, even expanding the line in '66. But '66 was ALSO the Introduction to the Mosrite Amps..the Beginning of the End.